Thursday, February 4, 2010

How low can you go?

One of the things I've noticed about my bidding is that I'm more solid than most of my peers when it comes to 2-level overcalls. One of the most annoying overcalls to deal with is 2C over 1D because it's hard to sort out major suit fits. A common continuation is a negative double (only promising one major), and a club raise, and now a minimal opener with only one major doesn't know whether to compete. So I've been trying to be more aggressive in that specific auction.

I held this at matchpoints in fourth seat with two passes and a 1D opening to me:
S A53
H J104
D J7
C QJ983

I'd like to hear opinions on whether this is an appropriate overcall. I did at the table and we had this full auction:

(P) P (1D) 2C;
(X) P (2D) P;
(3NT) AP

And now we get a defensive problem. Partner led the SK, and this hand came down in dummy:
S 1062
H A
D AKQ63
C 10742

What do you play to trick 1?

I lazily played an encouraging spade (low for us), so partner would continue the suit and we could run it. Partner switched, and they wrapped it up. Originally I was annoyed, but I realized I should have done better. Although you don't normally unblock with Axx, I can tell it's safe to do so here. I know partner has at least KQJx because the 10 is in dummy (ruling out KQ10x) and she led the suit when I bid something else (ruling out a lead from shortness). Thus we have the first 4+ spade tricks as long as we cash them.

Partner actually holding KQJ74 switched at trick two thinking I had a stiff and the negative doubler had four. It's probably right from her side to continue anyway to be sure, but I shouldn't have given her a chance to go wrong.

1 comment:

  1. I think there's a huge difference when partner is a passed hand and when they're not (a distinction I know you recognize as well). I would also bid 2c on this auction, but not in second seat, non-withstanding the preemptive value of 2c over 1d. I think I am more conservative with my simple overcalls than anyone in my peer group, so I doubt you'll hear many objections.

    Brian

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