[plaur]

Scoring: XIMP

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You hold this hand as North. West opens 1♣. Pass, 1♥ or 2♥?

For me this hand is not close to a vul overcall, but a weak jump would be ok if feeling in aggresive mood :-). Teacher choose 1♥. Is it a matter of style?

Peter Laursen

[the hog]

Totally agree with 1H.
You have too much outside strength and the suit quality is not good enough for a vul weak jump overcall. You cannot pass this hand as there is far too much potential for a game.

[hotShot]

It is a matter of agreement. You need to be able to bid weak and strong hand in second seat. Your partner must know what you hold. Bidding both weak one and two level bids, leaves you with the problem how to show a strong hand.

I prefer to bid weak hand with a 6 card major making a weak jump. This puts the pressure on the opps, by taking a lot of valuable bidding space away.
Since the opening was 1♣, 2♥ will make it much harder for them to find a ♠ fit now, than a 1♥ bid would do.

[fred]

It is partly a matter of style, but my style is the same as your teacher's and The Hog's. I believe that this style is more or less mainstream nowadays. Having 6-4 distribution makes up for your lack of high cards. In my opinion it would be suicidal to overcall with the same high cards and 5332 distribution.

2-level overcalls are different. If the opening bid was 1S instead of 1C I would pass, but I would not feel good about it.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Walddk]

1♥. A weak jump overcall vulnerable should first of all have a good suit, and little outside. Here is a hand that is much more like a weak 2:

xx
KQJxxx
xxx
Kx

I would really have liked to add the 10 or at least the 9 too. Second seat is a dangerous position as long as we haven't heard anything from LHO, so look at suit quality first. It is rarely profitable for the opponents to double you at the 1-level, but from the 2-level and upwards they may very well do.

On a bad day AKJx is sitting over you with the hand you post, and then you know you are in trouble if it goes 2♥ pass pass X, all pass.

Roland

[cherdano]

Heh, this is an opening bid for Ben!
I would not consider not bidding 1♥. I don't think passing must be wrong, but 2♥ feels dangerous to me.

[luke warm]

well this *has* to be wrong, given the guns who are in agreement with 1♥, but i'd bid 2♥... i'd like to get this off my chest as soon as i can... i don't know what i'd do if, after 1♥, it went (p) 1♠ or 1nt... i'm thinking 2♦ is too much speaking for this hand, it might lead partner astray

[plaur]

OK, so the 6-4 distribution makes up for the lack of HCP. If p bids 1♠ (good 5 card suit - invit - say at least 9 good HCP since I could have up 16-17) I bid 2♥ since 2♦ would accept invit ?
Really in our system I should pass but that cant be right with single spade?

[luke warm]

that's the problem i'm having... what do i do over pard's 1♠? ... i can bid 2♥ to show weakness, hiding the diamonds, or 2♦ which in effect hides a 6 card major (maybe)... also, 2♦ can mislead partner into thinking i'm stronger than i am...

as i said, 1♥ must be correct cause of all the ones who are saying so, but 2♥ had the advantage of getting it off my chest

[mike777]

luke warm, on Apr 11 2005, 05:59 PM, said:

that's the problem i'm having... what do i do over pard's 1♠? ... i can bid 2♥ to show weakness, hiding the diamonds, or 2♦ which in effect hides a 6 card major (maybe)... also, 2♦ can mislead partner into thinking i'm stronger than i am...

as i said, 1♥ must be correct cause of all the ones who are saying so, but 2♥ had the advantage of getting it off my chest

Prefer 1H.

P is an unpassed hand.
If I bid 2H they will never play me for an outside A and K.
Overcalling 1 of minor with 1 of major should not cause opp. problems but seems it often does.
Some might say bidding 1H gets the hand off chest as well.

[fred]

luke warm, on Apr 11 2005, 10:59 PM, said:

that's the problem i'm having... what do i do over pard's 1♠? ... i can bid 2♥ to show weakness, hiding the diamonds, or 2♦ which in effect hides a 6 card major (maybe)... also, 2♦ can mislead partner into thinking i'm stronger than i am...

as i said, 1♥ must be correct cause of all the ones who are saying so, but 2♥ had the advantage of getting it off my chest

Just because some successful players would bid 1H doesn't mean that it is "right". As the original post suggested, this is partly a style question. If your style is to bid 2H with such hands then stick with your style. It is more important that you are comfortable with your bidding and your partner knows what to expect than that a bunch of stupid experts agree with you!

I admire your courage for admitting you would bid 2H when the consensus was very much against that call.

After bidding 1H, should your partner advance with 1S, I would rebid 2H. To me this doesn't show a "better hand" than jumping to 2H immediately - it just suggests a different kind of hand. Since the direct 2H overcall gets you to 2H anyway, I don't think you need to be afraid of getting there slowly.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[the hog]

One other point to bear in mind is that if you play light overcalls, there is some merit in playing a change of suit by partner as non forcing.

I am not necessarily advocating this as a method, nor am I saying I would pass partner's 1S here, (actually I would bid 2H over 1S). I am suggesting that maybe change of suit as nf should be considered.