How strong a suit do you need for an overcall above the one level in direct seat?

Question

If someone opens say, one club, the next person will mostly likely overcall, say, one spade with a decent five card suit and about ten high card points, even though the hand is slightly too weak to open.

But if an opponent opened one spade, and I needed to overcall diamonds at the two level, my personal standard is six diamonds, headed at least one sure "top' trick. That is Axxxxx, KQxxxx, or even QJTxxx. For a pre-empt or a three level overcall I would need a seventh diamond. I would also overcall with five and six respectively, with a strong top sequence such as KQJxx(x) ore better.

But in a recent game, we were not vulnerable against vulnerable opponents at matchpoints, Left hand opponent dealt and opened two spades (weak). My new partner* overcalled three diamonds with the following: ♠A2 ♡ Qt9 ♢ KT873 ♣ k74.

Right hand opponent raised to four spades, and I decided to sacrifice at five diamonds, with the following: ♠T65 ♡ J8 ♢ A964 ♣ T953. I have been told that my overcalling standards are "light," but I still expected more than partner had. If the suit were King high, I would expect something like KT87532. With a five card suit, I would expect the holding to be KQJT2 or better.

My goal was for us to go down no more than three, -500, against the opponents' 620 spade game (which made at other tables).

We went down five with his actual holding. Part of this was unlucky, my right hand opponent had QJ52 of diamonds versus a void in the other hand, meaning that we would have been down four against a 3-1 distribution, (and down three against 2-2). Counting this, we went down one more than expected.

Did it make sense for me to expect partner to have another honor or two more small cards for his overcall than he did, to limit the likely loss to down three? Or was the problem with my raise, egen given my goal of down three. One of my opponents offered the opinion that my trump and high card holdings were fine but that I should have had more ruffing value for my raise.

*(I'm on "rotation" at a new club)

Answer 1

Partner’s bid with ♠Ax ♡QT9 ♢Kxxxx ♣Kxx is OK

In my book, (2♠) 3♢ shows 11+H, 3 or fewer hearts, and 5 good diamonds. KTxxx is not really "good diamonds", but I would not blame partner - the favorable vulnerability protects them against a 18+H LHO looking for a penalty, and the only alternative is doubling which is not very informative.

The risk of 3♢ is to make -1 in a part score when 3♠ makes -1, or to play 5♢-1 instead of 3NT= thanks to the spade stopper; it sucks, but it is not very likely.

On the other hand, double can easily lead to disaster. As soon as partner holds four hearts, it is going to be very hard to avoid playing in hearts. Yes, double does not show four hearts in my system, but you have no real option but to pass after

• (2♠) X (3♠) 4♡
• (2♠) X (pass) 3♡

...and either sequence is really likely.

Your turn: what is going on?

The first step is to realize that something is off from the bidding.

The opponents claimed ten spades between them (2♠ shows six spades, 4♠ shows four). If that is correct, partner is void, and the opponents’ spade honors are wasted points.

But... what does partner then have, to say 3♢? Surely, with a 0463 or 0364 hand of 12+H, they would double first; if they are weak but distributed, say with a 6-5 bicolor, they either do your system’s bicolor bid or double. But maybe partner is weak in honors, and possibly longer in diamonds - maybe they have something like ♠- ♡xxx ♢KQJxxxx ♣xxx, give or take a queen.

But then... what is RHO doing? You have nothing in hearts and clubs, so they must have ♠Qxxx ♡AKQx ♢x ♣AKQx, give or take a queen, and they do not even try to investigate a slam opposite a spade pre-empt?

One of the following is happening:

• partner failed to double with a strong-ish hand, or they made a big psych;
• LHO or RHO lied about their spade holding, and they are in significant danger of going down (the actual game);
• RHO has a strong hand, and is actively preventing their team to find a slam.

We assume case #1 to never happen, otherwise your partnership becomes a game of second-guessing.

The proper action in case #3 is definitely to pass; any overcall allows RHO to wake up and try to fix their underbid. (LHO will surely pass, since RHO’s 4♠ could come from a hand with 0H and four spades, and 4♠ will make between +1 and +3.)

I submit to you that while 5♢ might be the correct call in some subset of case #2, it usually is not. The correct call is to pass.

The actual hand: the opponents should have found hearts

I infer from the comments that the spade-player hands were (Alice) ♠KQxxxx ♡xxxx ♢- ♣xxx and (Bob) ♠Jx ♡AKxx ♢QJ9x ♣AQJ.

Bob’s bid leads their pair to play 4♠. It turns out that it makes as long as hearts split 3-2 (or the defense fails to find the ruff, or the club finesse works), but that is a rather lucky placement of cards: in Bob’s hand, put a jack in hearts instead of that of club or spades, or move a small heart to spades (which would usually be an improvement!), and it becomes difficult. Again, in your seat, it is absolutely not clear that 4♠ makes.

I believe the "book" bid for Bob would have been 3NT (18H, a good diamond stopper, regular hand). Now, Bob can anticipate that entry to dummy will be difficult if the ♠A or an offside K♠ is missing; depending on what the hearts are, 3NT might go down against a competent defense. (At any rate, maybe Alice will overcall 4♠ with her void.)

If you do not like 3NT, then Alice and Bob are likely to find 4♡ (absent a jump to 5♢ from OP, which would be more defensible now that we know the opponents have a double fit). This is definitely a better contract: playing a 4-4 fit is much better for ruffing diamonds than a 6-2 fit. The declarer has no real trouble unless the spades split 4-1 and the defender short in spades is also short in hearts.

Answer 2

Let's suppose partner held the same hand, and you held instead xxxx AKx AQx Jxx. This is a good hand in that situation, but hardly exceptional.

If partner had passed, supposing RHO passes, are you coming in (with what?), or are you missing a cold 3N?

If partner doubles and RHO passes, how do you get to 3N?

(With partner's 3D bid, if RHO passes, you bid 3S with my example hand, and partner bids 3N.)

Over a preempt, overcalls have to be based more on general strength, and less on suit quality. That's because you have to worry about missing game if you pass a strong hand with a not so good suit, whereas when the opponents open at the 1 level you're much less likely to have a game.

I wouldn't bid 2D with your partner's hand over 1S; I'd double instead. Over 2S, you don't have as much room to find the right strain after a double (particularly if you're not playing Lebensohl) and 3D is better.

(I absolutely wouldn't bid 5D with your hand there. Partner's overcall promised an opening hand or better, and they could easily have 3 defensive tricks in their own hand, in which case your sacrifice would be a phantom.)

Answer 3

First, good thoughts about "playing the hand during the auction". I can understand your issue with "partner needs a good suit and a decent hand to come in at the 3 level", and with that, you can "see" 10 tricks. But preempts work, and sometimes you just have to get in with imperfect hands, or you get talked out of way too much.

I, too, would double with partner's hand. I would consider this a dead minimum, and yes, we might be playing 3 or 4 hearts on the Moysian, but I don't want to "show" diamonds only with support for three suits.

Note: I am known to be very conservative against opponents' preempts - I am willing to just let them play a lot to avoid partner having a bad "can we make game" guess. I also count on partner to balance knowing this. That does, and will colour my thinking here.

I wouldn't be bidding 5♦ for any reason that involves "going down". RHO's 4♠ says one of two things (yes, even at unfavourable):

• we have 10 trump, and I think "putting them to the last guess" is our best hope for a good score; or
• we have 10 tricks if you have the suit you promised. Hopefully.

How strong does partner have to be to "double and bid"? 20? How good a suit does partner have to have to "double and bid"? Especially against 2♠-X-3♠-p; p? Do you play lebensohl over weak 2 doubled, so that we might survive a 3 count? Those questions will determine what hands you have to think about partner holding.

Given answers to all that, if the opponents have the first type of raise, you need to be making 11 tricks for your plus - even with the "known" spade void, you're providing exactly one trick and preventing exactly zero losers (okay, maybe a slow trump loser). If partner has that hand, they'll do something. And if we can set 4♠, which is very possible, you've just converted a plus (even +100) into a minus.

If the opponents have the second type of raise, well, maybe opener fudged their first-seat red/white preempt a bit. Maybe the "outside K" is worthless given your partner has all the cards. Maybe there's a transportation problem, or. Maybe, at matchpoints, even the fact that the diamond ace is in the wrong spot might make them misplay and give away the overtrick, and at least we beat the -650s.

Or maybe 5♦ is a good sacrifice, going for -500 or even -300. The other question to ask is "how many are getting to game their way?" or, if it's a tough hand, "how many are making it"? Because -300 loses to those pairs just as much as -620 or -650. And if you expect it to go -500, then a bad break is -800.

And remember, when your side is playing, the points are still "over" the strong hand. Even if your partner had the KT-sixth or KQJ-fifth you're asking for, you're still losing a spade (only one? pretty nice), and all your round cards (okay, only three clubs). Even that is 3 clubs, two hearts and a spade for -800. Okay, sure, opener should have an outside card, and it pretty much has to be an ace. So -500; but now you're taking two Aces and the offside K, and if it's the 5-card suit and the diamonds break 2-2 as well, or if you get to resolve the heart ruff (diamond to the Ace, heart through when you see weakness in dummy; when partner takes their trump and cashes the heart K...) it's -500 into +100.

So, one good case, that does not guarantee to swing the full amount. Three bad cases (I don't think 5♦ is ever making), one of which might even convert a good score (rather than an average one) to a minus. My "last guess" (which isn't; partner might double or bid 4NT or...but likely it is) is pass.