When you partner opens 1NT and the opponents intervene, even simple overcalls can mess up your beautifully laid down conventions. Here are some hints on how to deal with such interference:
Lebensohl:
When the intereference is at the 2-level, 2NT can be played as lebensohl. The key ideas are:
- Bidding a suit at the 2 level is natural and weak.
- If you wish to bid a lower ranking suit, you will need to bid at the 3 level. In such a case, bidding 2NT is forcing the 1NT opener to bid 3C, pass or correct. Bidding in this manner shows seven points or less, and no interest in game. Eg. 1NT-2H-2NT-P-3C-P-3D is to play in 3D.
- Bidding a higher ranking suit in such a manner is invitational to game. Eg. 1NT-2H-2NT-P-3C-3S is invitational to game.
- Directly bidding at the 3 level is natural and forcing. Some partnerships prefer to play direct, non-jump overcalls in a minor as constructive and non-forcing.
- Directly cue bidding opponent's suit is stayman and denies a stopper; cue bidding via 2NT-3C shows a stopper.
- Jumping to 3NT shows a minor oriented hand without stoppers in opponent's suit. 1NT bidder is expected to correct to game in a minor of his choice if he does not have stoppers either.
- Bidding 3NT through lebensohl is to play and shows a stopper. Eg. 1NT-2H-2NT-P-3C-P-3NT is to play.
- Double is penalty.
Of course, all this applies for natural overcalls. With artificial overcalls, especially those showing two-suited hands, it is still possible to play lebensohl but you will have to work out a lot of details. It gets complicated, and I'm not going to explain them here.
A longer explanation of lebensohl can be found here: http://www.bridgeguys.com/Conventions/Lebensohl.html
Systems on:
Keeping stayman and transfers enabled on interference is called having "Systems on". If the interference is simply in the form of a double, you lose no bidding space and can bid as usual. If the interference is at the 2 level, you can play transfers on along with lebensohl if you wish.
To keep transfers on, you need to sacrifice the penalty double for the Shadow Double. Here, doubling the opponent's bid means "Hey, I was going to bid that." Eg. 1NT-2C-X is stayman and 1NT-2D-X is transfer to hearts. I personally prefer lebensohl with systems off on all overcalls except for 2C, in which case shadow double and systems on apply. The reason for this is if you need to cue bid via lebensohl for stayman with a stopper, 1NT-2C-2NT-P-3C-P-? leaves you hanging as the 3C relay takes away your bid.
Escaping a doubled no trump contract:
Playing 1NT doubled, vulnerable with a balanced hand and zero points in dummy can be quite a disaster - even more so if you are playing weak no trump! There are several escape sequences that can be followed to enable the 1NT opener to bid a 5-card suit or for finding a 4-4 fit. One that I like is the forcing pass in the sequence 1NT-X-?. A direct redouble shows values and is to play; a pass shows a weak balanced hand and asks the 1NT bidder to bid a 5 card suit if he has one, or redouble, leading to the partnership bidding 4-card suits up the line until they find a 4-4 fit or a 4-3 with good honours. In the sequence 1NT-P-P-X, the opener automatically has a chance to bid a 5 card suit, so a pass by him would lead to the partnership straight away bidding 4 card suits up the line, unless the weaker hand chooses to play in 1NT doubled, of course.
A variation that I found interesting is to bid in the manner of DONT. For example, 1NT-x-P is forcing to redouble, after which 2C shows a two-suited hand with clubs and higher ranking suit, and so on for the other 2-level bids. A direct redouble is also forcing to bid 2C, which is pass or correct to a single suited hand. If you really want to play in 1NT, you pass, forcing opener to redouble, and pass again.
Hope this was useful.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Interfering with opponents' no trump
1NT is a very descriptive opening, and it helps a lot in reaching the right contract... or in blocking the opponents if the opener's partner doesn't have much in the way of points! Here are some conventions designed to make the no trump bidder wish he'd never opened no trump instead of vice versa. These conventions are based on showing single-suiter and two-suiter hands; with a balanced hand you would prefer to defend.
Landy:
Landy is characterized by a 2C overcall showing both majors, usually 5-5. Can be 5-4 depending upon points and vulnerability, so with equal preference partner should bid 2D. Other overcalls are simple and natural. Double shows a balanced hand similar to a 1NT opening yourself, and partner has the option to pass for penalty or take out if he is weak. 2NT is unusual, showing 5-5 in the minors.
Brozel:
Brozel dispenses with the penalty double, so it should only be used against strong no trump openings. Double shows a single-suited hand (six carder usually, but with extra points and good suit, a 5 carder ought to be ok) with opening values. Partner must bid 2C as a relay to partner's suit, but has the option of bidding his own six card suit, if any. If there is interference, double shows some values and says, "Go ahead, bid your suit."
for HSimple overcalls show two-suited hands with a heart pivot i.e. 2C for C & H, 2D for D & H, 2H and S, 2S for S and a minor, 2NT for both minors. As always, 5-5 and an opening hand is the basic criterion for interfering, modified by actual number of points and vulnerability. Jump overcalls are natural and preemptive.
DONT:
Disturb Opponent's No Trump is similar to Brozel but negates the chance of going to the 3 level unnecessarily. 2C shows C and a higher ranking suit, 2D shows D and a higher ranking suit, 2H shows the majors, 2S shows a weak six card spade suit. Doubling and then bidding spades shows an opening hand with six carder spade. If partner does not have suport for the lower ranking suit, he bids the next one saying, "Bid your other suit."
The obvious problem with DONT is that knowing a double fit would vastly change your bidding from knowing one suit and a possibly worse fit in the other. The flip side is that Brozel gives away a lot of information to the opponents. Another problem with DONT is that if you have a major and a minor, it is difficult to find a fit in the major. If you are playing MPs, this can be a real problem, though at IMPs I would say DONT is preferable to Brozel.
Cappelletti:
DONT and Brozel work well against strong no trump, but against weak no trump you must retain the penalty double. In Cappelletti, 2C shows a single-suiter hand (2D is the relay now), 2D shows both majors, 2H is H and a minor, 2S is S and a minor, 2NT is both minors. This has the additional advantage of knowing the major immediately, which is crucial when playing matchpoints. Many people play Cappelletti even against strong no trump because 1NT is difficult for the declarer to play if the dummy has no points and no entries, even if the declarer has 16 points.
TONT:
Transfer Over No Trump is an interesting convention based on the premise that the no trump bidder invariably gives away a trick when he's on lead. So, when overcalling in the direct position, transfers apply. There are several modifications of the above conventions to effect such a transfer according to who will become the declarer. For example, you could modify brozel such that 1NT-x-P-2C-P-2D is in fact a transfer to hearts, or 1NT-2C shows D and H, 1NT-2D shows H and S, etc. TONT is a useful if confusing convention to use. I've seen people playing it with Landy and 5-card suit transfers to minimize the confusion and maximize the chance of interfering, even if double-suited hands are more difficult to show.
The Precision 1C opening is another bid where it is important to interfere, or the opponents will reach their optimal contract. Two nice systems for this are Suction and Crash. Perhaps I'll explain them later, but you could do a google search if you are really interested.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Landy:
Landy is characterized by a 2C overcall showing both majors, usually 5-5. Can be 5-4 depending upon points and vulnerability, so with equal preference partner should bid 2D. Other overcalls are simple and natural. Double shows a balanced hand similar to a 1NT opening yourself, and partner has the option to pass for penalty or take out if he is weak. 2NT is unusual, showing 5-5 in the minors.
Brozel:
Brozel dispenses with the penalty double, so it should only be used against strong no trump openings. Double shows a single-suited hand (six carder usually, but with extra points and good suit, a 5 carder ought to be ok) with opening values. Partner must bid 2C as a relay to partner's suit, but has the option of bidding his own six card suit, if any. If there is interference, double shows some values and says, "Go ahead, bid your suit."
for HSimple overcalls show two-suited hands with a heart pivot i.e. 2C for C & H, 2D for D & H, 2H and S, 2S for S and a minor, 2NT for both minors. As always, 5-5 and an opening hand is the basic criterion for interfering, modified by actual number of points and vulnerability. Jump overcalls are natural and preemptive.
DONT:
Disturb Opponent's No Trump is similar to Brozel but negates the chance of going to the 3 level unnecessarily. 2C shows C and a higher ranking suit, 2D shows D and a higher ranking suit, 2H shows the majors, 2S shows a weak six card spade suit. Doubling and then bidding spades shows an opening hand with six carder spade. If partner does not have suport for the lower ranking suit, he bids the next one saying, "Bid your other suit."
The obvious problem with DONT is that knowing a double fit would vastly change your bidding from knowing one suit and a possibly worse fit in the other. The flip side is that Brozel gives away a lot of information to the opponents. Another problem with DONT is that if you have a major and a minor, it is difficult to find a fit in the major. If you are playing MPs, this can be a real problem, though at IMPs I would say DONT is preferable to Brozel.
Cappelletti:
DONT and Brozel work well against strong no trump, but against weak no trump you must retain the penalty double. In Cappelletti, 2C shows a single-suiter hand (2D is the relay now), 2D shows both majors, 2H is H and a minor, 2S is S and a minor, 2NT is both minors. This has the additional advantage of knowing the major immediately, which is crucial when playing matchpoints. Many people play Cappelletti even against strong no trump because 1NT is difficult for the declarer to play if the dummy has no points and no entries, even if the declarer has 16 points.
TONT:
Transfer Over No Trump is an interesting convention based on the premise that the no trump bidder invariably gives away a trick when he's on lead. So, when overcalling in the direct position, transfers apply. There are several modifications of the above conventions to effect such a transfer according to who will become the declarer. For example, you could modify brozel such that 1NT-x-P-2C-P-2D is in fact a transfer to hearts, or 1NT-2C shows D and H, 1NT-2D shows H and S, etc. TONT is a useful if confusing convention to use. I've seen people playing it with Landy and 5-card suit transfers to minimize the confusion and maximize the chance of interfering, even if double-suited hands are more difficult to show.
The Precision 1C opening is another bid where it is important to interfere, or the opponents will reach their optimal contract. Two nice systems for this are Suction and Crash. Perhaps I'll explain them later, but you could do a google search if you are really interested.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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