[csdenmark]

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The auction goes in this way: 1♣ - 1♠(ALERT) - ????

Your partner South opens 1♣(standard opening)
Opps overcalls 1♠ which is alerted as a canape' overcall(2-4♠, second best suit, Brown-sticker feature)

What is your call as North?

[helene_t]

I try 1NT. 2!h would be an overbid, and dbl might be confusing. Besides, I have soft values and all suits seem to be more or less guarded. If partner raises to three, LHO has to guess his partner's suit and might guess wrong. So missing a hearts fit rates to be not so bad.

[Codo]

2 ♦ as a transfer to hearts, showing 5 Hearts would be my choice, if I have this agreement and a good agreement about the later bidding.
Else, I would bid a simple 2 Heart and not even care whether this is forcing or not.
I would simply treat this as a 11 HCP hand as all my values besides the Queen of Diamond are surely working.

[hotShot]

Holding 5♥ and a good ♠ stop are the main features of my hand.
Possible bids are 1NT and 2♥. 1NT is defensive and i think holding the majority of HCP we should not give in, too early.
So i prefer 2♥.

[pbleighton]

2H, though 1NT is a reasonable alternative.

Peter

[P_Marlowe]

1NT

Shows the stopper, just because
it maybe a Canape Overcall, it does
not mean, he has two suits.

The alternative would be a neg. X,
I dont like the suit quality / the shape
to make a 2H bid.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[csdenmark]

P_Marlowe, on Jan 1 2007, 05:53 PM, said:

1NT

Shows the stopper, just because
it maybe a Canape Overcall, it does
not mean, he has two suits.

The alternative would be a neg. X,
I dont like the suit quality / the shape
to make a 2H bid.

With kind regards
Marlowe

Correct it does not necessarily mean 2 suits. Overcall suit is 2nd best suit(2-4 cards). The options for distribution are 4♥+4♠ or 5+♣♦♥ with a possible side feature in ♠.

As is normal for canape' bidding it is forcing. After intervention from the opener side it is certainly no longer forcing but natural. This therefore means pass will be an option and DBL responsive.

For your information the italian top pair Bocchi/Duboin employed canape' overcalls over natural 1♣♦ openings until 2005.

[hrothgar]

Couple comments about canape overcalls:

Canape overcalls can be a royal pain in the butt to defend against because a lot of the standard treatments don't work all that well.

Negative doubles don't make much sense: In this case, a negative double should show Hearts and Diamonds. However, the overcaller will typically hold 5+ cards in one of these two suits. A "pure" negative double isn't going to come up much. In a similar fashion, a natural 1NT advance is a lot more problematic because you don't know which suit you want to stop. The 1♠ could be based on a three card fragment, so using a 1NT advance to announce a Spade stopper probably is suboptimal.

Personally, I'd like to have some kind of transfer scheme available to me

1NT = Clubs
2♣ = Diamonds
2♦ = Hearts
2♥ = Spades

And use double to show values without a clear direction

Absent this special agreement, I'm bidding 1NT, but only because I have the Qx of Diamonds and might be able to protect this on opening lead.

[the hog]

Canape overcalls over 1C/D work very well, because as has been pointed out, they largely nullify the value of Sputnik doubles - see Richard's post above. They also add a surprise value to those who are too lazy to have meta agreements.
We used to play that a X showed a good 4 card holding in the suit bid, and bids were puppets to the next suit up - Rubensohl style.

I spent quite some time playing these and also discussed them on rgb and per email with some members of the Dutch National team.

Claus has actually not got it 100% correct - the canape overcall is NOT forcing. eg
1C (1S) P
Holding xxxxx ? ? ?
and a weak hand you pass - this is clear cut. With a good hand you frequently raise the overcaller's canape suit, as most of the time the overcaller will have 3 card support - see below.

Also the overcalled suit is usually 3 cards. It is only a 2 card suit when you have a holding of 4 in the opps suit eg with
AKxxx Kx xx xxxx you would overcall on opening bid of 1C with 1H - the better of the canape suits.

[whereagles]

Being brown sticker, shouldn't opps provide you with a defense to the overcall?

[the hog]

whereagles, on Jan 2 2007, 12:17 PM, said:

Being brown sticker, shouldn't opps provide you with a defense to the overcall?

Depends where you play Whereagles. Also I think you know my views on providing defences....

[neilkaz]

I have 10 HCP and 5♥ so would bid 2♥ vs a standard 1♠ O/C so I'll do it here and hope the overcallers main suit isn't ♥

.. neilkaz ..

[the hog]

So Neil, how do you find your 4-4 S fit - if you have one??

[csdenmark]

whereagles, on Jan 2 2007, 04:17 AM, said:

Being brown sticker, shouldn't opps provide you with a defense to the overcall?

I really dont know. I think it will be wise to pass the overcall and wait for the feature to be disclosed. Then you via Lebensohl will have excellent options for continue - even better than those you had without interference.

[whereagles]

csdenmark, on Jan 2 2007, 11:24 AM, said:

whereagles, on Jan 2 2007, 04:17 AM, said:

Being brown sticker, shouldn't opps provide you with a defense to the overcall?

I really dont know. I think it will be wise to pass the overcall and wait for the feature to be disclosed. Then you via Lebensohl will have excellent options for continue - even better than those you had without interference.

Well, the point is you probably should have a prepared defense to this sort of overcall. Be it done by you or by opps

Without any agreements I suppose I'd dbl to show spades.

[helene_t]

csdenmark, on Jan 2 2007, 01:24 PM, said:

I think it will be wise to pass the overcall and wait for the feature to be disclosed. Then you via Lebensohl will have excellent options for continue - even better than those you had without interference.

I don't think so. If LHO bids 3♦ (P/C) and RHO raises to 4♦ (barage) we're hardly better placed than if I'd made some descriptive bid now, let alone better than without intervention.

Even if LHO passes, we have less bidding space than without the intervention, and unlike a natual 1♠ overcall, the canape overcall does not give us much useful in exchange for the lost bidding space.

[Free]

Pass, the auction isn't over and I want to know what suit his main suit is. I don't think LHO has a ♠ fit, so I'll get my chance later. If I double later, partner will know I have the Majors.

[the hog]

To the passers - I would find it very amusing if the auction went "All Pass", as it certainly can do.