Overcall or not?

Here is your hand:
♠Q2
♥A4
♦AT43
♣KJ753

Your LHO is Dealer. They Pass. Partner also Passes. Your RHO opens the bidding 1♠. Your turn to bid.

What is your call? You are playing match points.

Show Answer

To make a 2 level overcall you should have at least an opening hand. You do have the values. But you need a GOOD SUIT to make a 2 level overcall. How many trump tricks do you think you can take?

Believe it or not you have 1 trump trick.

You overcall 2♣ on this hand and you are down three. If the opponents know what a reopening double is you are also down three but this time you are doubled.

Can the opponents make a game?

No. Funnily enough the only 2 level contract the opponents can make is 2♣! Ha! Irony.

If you only have minimum values when you make a 2 level overcall it is best to have a six card suit. A GOOD six card suit.

Here's a nice 2♣ overcall. This is what they should look like:
♠82
♥A4
♦AT4
♣KQJ753

Rebid Problem

Here is your hand:
♠A8
♥AT4
♦AJ94
♣KQT5

You decide to open the bidding 1♦. The opponents passed throughout the bidding. Partner responds 1♠.

What is your bid? You are playing match points.

Show Answer

First thing to think about is "Do you have a fit for Partner?"

When Partner responds they are only showing a four card suit. You do NOT have a fit.

Since you don't have a fit, you now need to describe your hand. You are balanced. How do you show Partner you are balanced? Yes, you bid NT.

The trick is what LEVEL do you bid NT?

Bidding 1NT shows a MINIMUM hand. A hand that was not good enough to open 1NT. So about 12-14 HCP. (With 15 HCP and a balanced hand you would have opened 1NT. So you would not have 15 HCP.)

You have 18 HCP. You cannot rebid 1NT.

Jumping to 2NT shows a balanced hand that was too good to open 1NT but not good enough to open 2NT. So about 18 or 19 HCP. That describes this hand perfectly!

So your response is 2NT.

Responding to Partner

Here is your hand:
♠AQT4
♥AQ42
♦K962
♣8

You decide to open the bidding 1♦. The opponents passed throughout the bidding. Partner responds 1♠.

What is your bid? You are playing match points.

Show Answer

First thing to think about is "Do you have a fit for Partner?"

When Partner responds they are only showing a four card suit. But you have a four card suit. You have a fit. You need to support Partner.

Bidding:
2♠ would show about 13 to 16 points with four ♠
3♠ would show about 17 or 18 points with four ♠
4♠ would show about 19 to 21 points with four ♠

So now the question is "How many points do you have?"

If you answered 15 points you were only counting your High Card Points. Since you have a fit you can also count Dummy points.

So the question (again) is "How many points do you have?"

You have 18 points. 15 HCP and 3 Dummy points.

Therefore your bid is 3♠.

This is actually the hand that goes with the hand from the last two posts.

Here is the other hand:
♠K752
♥3
♦AQJT
♣AQ32

♠AQT4
♥AQ42
♦K962
♣8

In the game only two pairs managed to reach the small slam. Good for you if you were one of them!