Did I overstate my values on the following bidding?

Question

Nobody vulnerable, partner, South, dealt and opened one spade. West overcalled 2C.

Sitting North, I called 2H holding (s) xx (h) KQT8xx (d) xx (c) Kxx. (All x's are 7 or lower.)

Partner bid 3d, so I bid 3S (see why below) and partner raised to 4S. He had 14 hcp points (plus a singleton and doubleton for distribution), with 5-5 in spades and diamonds and we went down one.

Partner accused me over overbidding. With 8 hcps, I would have bid 1NT, but West's overcall precluded that option. So I said that my 2H suggested a strong suit, not a "two over one" hand, and a desire to compete. Partner also expected three spades for my three spade bid, I said that this bid was a"preference" for his first suit with my two cards in each, not a desire to go to the four level.

Did I, in fact, overbid? Or did partner take my bids out of their proper context?

Answer 1

Normally your 2H bid would show around 10 points in that situation, so the question is whether you consider your hand to have that value. You have 8 HCP, plus some bonus for the heart length; so maybe you could stretch that to a 2H overcall. I don't think I totally mind it, but it's aggressive for neutral vulnerability; and you shouldn't mind the game push by partner after it. Personally, though, I wouldn't bid it.

You do have a legitimate alternative that you're discounting, though, which is the negative double. Normally that shows 4 hearts and 6+, but it can also be used with a below-game level heart hand with more than 4. It's not an ideal bid for your hand, of course, but it keeps the auction lower. Imagine this auction:

1S - 2C - X - P
2D - P - 2H - P
2S - p - P - P

Your partner might bid 3D instead of 2S, and you'd pass that as well with no preference between the two I imagine (or you could bid 3S, clearly not wanting a game then).

Either way you stop well short of game, and you adequately describe your hand, as that's the way you bid 6-9 5+ hearts. The 2H bid after the X perfectly shows your hand, your partner knows what you have, and you end up in a reasonable contract.

Answer 2

Yes, your 2H call was an overbid.

Your 2H call is showing values for a Game Invitation, and despite your nice shape you have misfit concerns, weak spots, no aces, two doubletons, and that ugly Club tripleton with no spots. Better to limit your values right away, so Partner doesn't get excited if you compete aggressively in Hearts.

It is right to compete with such a nice suit, but you must be careful of a misfit holding only 2 Spades. Make a Negative Double suggesting interest in Hearts (and possibly Diamonds) with a hand competing more on shape than strength. If partner shows Diamonds at the two level you can now bid 2 Hearts to deny both Diamond interest and the desire to make a Spade preference, showing five Hearts and suggesting that you have six Hearts:

• You don't have 3 Spades;
• You don't have 3 Diamonds;
• A hand with 4 Clubs might be either silent or looking for NT; and
• That leaves probably just 2 + 2 + 3 = 7 cards outside Hearts.

This Negative Double auction was designed for just the type of hand you have here.

Answer 3

It was an overbid, but you rather answered the question yourself!

First some kudos to opponent for taking away your 1NT response.

You recognised 1NT was the suitable response for the hand but it was not available. 2H was not an equivalent strength alternative, however a negative double was.

In this particular hand, although it meets rule-of-14, your long, broken hearts are totally worthless because you don’t have the entries needed to run them out (with AJ hearts and trumps allowing defence plenty of stoppers). however if you found partner with 3 hearts then game is a quite reasonable prospect. You shouldn’t add those extra length points until you find a heart fit.

Looking forward in the bidding: You couldn’t bid 2H then 3H to show your long suit because you are not strong enough, but you may bid a negative X and rebid 2H. If opener voluntarily supported your hearts then upgrade them and look for a game, with only 7 losers playing hearts, but otherwise let opener choose to sign off at 2S or 3S.

Once opener reversed to 3D over 2H, then a game force was in place and it would always end too high. However I think 3H was then better than 3S, as that might make opener think twice about which game.