Hand of the Week #19

The average bridge player falls in love with his strong hands and overbids them, and often fails to appreciate the useful qualities of his weak hands and underbids those. We had a lot of average bridge players at the Friday 25 July club game. Vulnerable against not, you held in second seat:

Q 9 5
A Q 2
A J 2
A K 7 5

After 1 is opened on your right, what is your plan?

Had you been opener, you might have opened this hand 2NT. But for most people, a 2NT overcall is artificial, showing the two lowest unbid suits. Start with a double, but choose your rebid carefully after it goes Pass - 1 - Pass back to you!

If you double and then take a second bid, you show a hand too strong to have overcalled directly. If your 1NT overcall shows 15-18, doubling and rebidding 1NT shows 19 or 20. If you doubled and then jumped to 2NT over 1, you showed your partner an even stronger hand. (Partner, expecting 22 from you, should raise 2NT to 3NT with his 4HCP.)

Dealer East NS vul	8 7 3 J T 6 Q 6 5 4 3 J 2
J 6 4 2 K 8 7 4 3 8 7 T 6		A K T 9 5 K T 9 Q 9 8 4 3
	Q 9 5 A Q 2 A J 2 A K 7 5

Justice was served at the table. If you double and then rebid 1NT, that will likely end the auction, and you will take seven tricks against good defense -- for a top! The five scores on the traveller Friday were 2NT going down twice and 3NT going down three times.

The Farthest North Sectional starts Thursday afternoon, 31 July. Watch for Hands of the Day posted daily at the tournament! Email Shirley Liss if you need a partner.