Let's go over the double of 1NT. This is about as annoying, maybe more annoying, than people not knowing about responsive doubles. Most players, even inexperienced players have some sort of agreement about what they play over the opponents' NT openings - DONT and Cappelletti are two of the most common ones, and in those systems X is a one-suited hand (in DONT) or a penalty double (in Capp). But if you haven't talked about your defense to NT, it shall be assumed you're playing natural suit overcalls, but what does that mean for double? A "natural" double of 1NT is a penalty double. Unquestionably. And responder is supposed to pull only if very weak and with a long suit.
Lately, I have seen a lot of people play something like a takeout double of 1NT, which is kind of silly. Twice in the last 3 days at the bridge club, my opponent made a "takeout" double of my partner's 1NT and when LHO bid a suit, RHO bid 2NT. Both times, I had enough points to know our side had over half the high cards so I doubled, later to find that the doubler has something more like a minimal takeout double of the suit her partner bid. Why don't people know that doubling 1NT is basically a penalty double and that doubling and then bidding 2NT, shows about 20 hcp?
Apparently beginning bridge teachers and books do a really crappy job of teaching the concepts behind doubling. It's pretty simple. If the opponents have bid one suit, double is takeout (or negative or responsive if your partner has opened or overcalled). If you double NT, it is penalty. Doubling and then bidding a new suit or NT shows a huge hand - too big to overcall. This is standard. Learn standard so that I don't keep getting irritated with such silly auctions, and pissed off when such an auctions gets me a zero.
On another note, Saturday afternoon, Sean and I got a near-top for going down 6 vulnerable in 5S. We may have run to our better fit (6C) if the lady with KT9xx of spades found a double, which I may have been able to hold to -2. But the field was in 4H or 5H making 5 the other way. It's not often you can go down 6 and get a good score.
Online last night, Sean and I had another score that you rarely see: +4000. 2NTXX -7. LHO decided to open 2NT with 8 solid clubs and not much else. Partner had AKQTxx of diamonds and dummy came down with Jxxx of diamonds, so after cashing a high diamond, he underled his honors and my 9 won trick 2 so we wound up taking 6 diamonds, then ran 5 hearts, and had the ace of spades. If declarer guessed correctly to play the jack at trick 2, it would have been -1280 for us, quite a large swing on that one play.
Showing posts with label takeout doubles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label takeout doubles. Show all posts
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
More on Responsive Doubles
The weekend in Orlando didn't yield many things that I would want to blog about - I spent most of the time at the bridge table being frustrated. In the second round I made a claim - a totally legitimate and proper claim, stating that I was pitching 2 losers from my hand on good cards from dummy, and then showing my hand. LHO pitched a bit of a fit because I played before she did and then didn't understand that me stating a line of play and showing all my cards face up on the table was a claim because I didn't use the word claim.
On Sunday, I pitched a fit because we had an auction 1S-2H-2S-X-all pass. I was the 1S bidder and I checked their meticulously filled out convention cards to see if responsive doubles were marked. Both cards identically showed the only doubles they played are negative through 3S, so I felt no need to ask as this is more than enough information to indicate that RHO, the doubler, has the spade stack. I proceeded to misplay it, eventually letting rho trump something with her singleton trump and going down in what is a cold contract if I take a normal line of play or if the doubler actually has 4 or 5 trumps. I guess I could have asked but I hate asking if it's something that's clearly on the card. After the hand, I question them about the double and they say it was a negative double and that they do not play responsive doubles (and don't understand how that is relevant here), I tell them they are wrong and summon the director. He quickly agrees that my assumption about who had the long trumps is reasonable and says he'll look at it more closely. Eventually the director ruled that other people went down in 2S and that I, as the seeded pair playing against a pair that was clearly not very sophisticated at bridge, could/should have done more like ask a question, to protect myself from being misled, so the result stood. Grr. In a more serious game, I think that one I may have taken to a committee.
Responsive doubles are takeout doubles when the opponents have bid and raised a suit and partner has bid something or doubled in between. Why doesn't everyone know this?
Quick quiz to name what kind of double is applicable in various situations:
1S-X-2S-X responsive
1S-2H-X negative
1S-X-2H-X penalty
1D-P-1S-2H-X support (penalty if you don't play support doubles)
1D-1S-3D-X responsive (penalty if you don't play responsive that high)
1D-X-1NT-X penalty (many people wrongly believe this is negative as well)
1D-1S-2H-X snapdragon would apply (but penalty is standard)
1H-1S-1NT-X penalty
1S-2H-2S-3H maximal (the only way to invite to game as 3S is just competitive), but penalty if you don't play this
On Sunday, I pitched a fit because we had an auction 1S-2H-2S-X-all pass. I was the 1S bidder and I checked their meticulously filled out convention cards to see if responsive doubles were marked. Both cards identically showed the only doubles they played are negative through 3S, so I felt no need to ask as this is more than enough information to indicate that RHO, the doubler, has the spade stack. I proceeded to misplay it, eventually letting rho trump something with her singleton trump and going down in what is a cold contract if I take a normal line of play or if the doubler actually has 4 or 5 trumps. I guess I could have asked but I hate asking if it's something that's clearly on the card. After the hand, I question them about the double and they say it was a negative double and that they do not play responsive doubles (and don't understand how that is relevant here), I tell them they are wrong and summon the director. He quickly agrees that my assumption about who had the long trumps is reasonable and says he'll look at it more closely. Eventually the director ruled that other people went down in 2S and that I, as the seeded pair playing against a pair that was clearly not very sophisticated at bridge, could/should have done more like ask a question, to protect myself from being misled, so the result stood. Grr. In a more serious game, I think that one I may have taken to a committee.
Responsive doubles are takeout doubles when the opponents have bid and raised a suit and partner has bid something or doubled in between. Why doesn't everyone know this?
Quick quiz to name what kind of double is applicable in various situations:
1S-X-2S-X responsive
1S-2H-X negative
1S-X-2H-X penalty
1D-P-1S-2H-X support (penalty if you don't play support doubles)
1D-1S-3D-X responsive (penalty if you don't play responsive that high)
1D-X-1NT-X penalty (many people wrongly believe this is negative as well)
1D-1S-2H-X snapdragon would apply (but penalty is standard)
1H-1S-1NT-X penalty
1S-2H-2S-3H maximal (the only way to invite to game as 3S is just competitive), but penalty if you don't play this
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Responsive Doubles and Other Competitive Doubles
Online I ran across a few situations where there was some confusion as to what double means: when the opponents interfere after a 2/1, when the opponents preempt after 1X-P-1Y, and the misuse of responsive doubles after 1M-X-2M.
A responsive double is generally defined as a double when the opponents have bid and raised a suit and partner has either made a takeout double or overcalled. When partner has overcalled, for example 1D-1H-2D-X, the double is clearly takeout for spades and clubs, without heart support. When partner has doubled and the opponents bid and raised a minor, for example 1D-X-2D-X, the double is clearly asking partner to bid a major, presumably showing 4-4 in the majors and not suggesting clubs at all.
There apparently is some confusion, at least amongst some juniors that I was watching yesterday, about what a responsive double means when it goes 1S-X-2S-X. This responsive double is not takeout for 3 suits. That would be a bit too vague as the chances that responder is 1-4-4-4 is minimal and with any other takeout shape, you're really not any more likely to find the best fit by passing the decision of which suit back to partner. A responsive double in this situation (1M-X-2M-X) should be takeout for the minors, i.e. "I don't have support for the other major and want to compete to 3 of a minor but I want you to pick which minor." This is based on the idea that if the responsive doubler has 4 of the other major, he would just bid that suit because the original takeout doubler is extremely likely to have 4 as well.
A second double that I have come across lately is 1H-P-2C-2S; X. We are in a game force and this guy comes in a bids. This is a penalty double, probably something like KJx, AKxxx, Axx, xx. It may make sense for this to just show extra values or show some club support or something else that probably is only useful for marginal slam hands, but being able to punish the opponent for sticking his neck in our auction.
The third double is in an auction like 1D-P-1H-2S; X. This time we are not in a game force and this is too high to be a support double (committing to 3H with a minimum could be dangerous). Penalty doesn't make as much sense here because we don't have as good an idea of where we are headed with this auction when we do have a good hand. This double should be just general extra values, probably a hand that would have rebid 2NT if RHO had passed, maybe a hand like Qx, Axx, KQJx, AQxx.
A responsive double is generally defined as a double when the opponents have bid and raised a suit and partner has either made a takeout double or overcalled. When partner has overcalled, for example 1D-1H-2D-X, the double is clearly takeout for spades and clubs, without heart support. When partner has doubled and the opponents bid and raised a minor, for example 1D-X-2D-X, the double is clearly asking partner to bid a major, presumably showing 4-4 in the majors and not suggesting clubs at all.
There apparently is some confusion, at least amongst some juniors that I was watching yesterday, about what a responsive double means when it goes 1S-X-2S-X. This responsive double is not takeout for 3 suits. That would be a bit too vague as the chances that responder is 1-4-4-4 is minimal and with any other takeout shape, you're really not any more likely to find the best fit by passing the decision of which suit back to partner. A responsive double in this situation (1M-X-2M-X) should be takeout for the minors, i.e. "I don't have support for the other major and want to compete to 3 of a minor but I want you to pick which minor." This is based on the idea that if the responsive doubler has 4 of the other major, he would just bid that suit because the original takeout doubler is extremely likely to have 4 as well.
A second double that I have come across lately is 1H-P-2C-2S; X. We are in a game force and this guy comes in a bids. This is a penalty double, probably something like KJx, AKxxx, Axx, xx. It may make sense for this to just show extra values or show some club support or something else that probably is only useful for marginal slam hands, but being able to punish the opponent for sticking his neck in our auction.
The third double is in an auction like 1D-P-1H-2S; X. This time we are not in a game force and this is too high to be a support double (committing to 3H with a minimum could be dangerous). Penalty doesn't make as much sense here because we don't have as good an idea of where we are headed with this auction when we do have a good hand. This double should be just general extra values, probably a hand that would have rebid 2NT if RHO had passed, maybe a hand like Qx, Axx, KQJx, AQxx.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
My favorite bid in bridge: the takeout doubler makes a subsequent double which is penalty. Generally this only happens against me and one or both of the opponents has a misguided idea of what the doubles mean. And often times I get doubled by such opponents when we have an actual fit but I go down 1 and get a bad score.
An example of this is 1D-X-2D-P; P-X-P-P; P. OR 2H-X-3H-P; P-X-P-P; P.
If you make a takeout double, and then later double the same suit again, it is not a penalty double. I've seen this work both ways. One where the doubler's partner bids and the doubler thinks his 2nd double, with something like a 15 count and 4 good trumps, is penalty. And I've seen it where the doubler's partner leaves the double in with a nothing hand, thinking it was a penalty double, but in fact the doubler has an appropriate 17 count.
An example of this is 1D-X-2D-P; P-X-P-P; P. OR 2H-X-3H-P; P-X-P-P; P.
If you make a takeout double, and then later double the same suit again, it is not a penalty double. I've seen this work both ways. One where the doubler's partner bids and the doubler thinks his 2nd double, with something like a 15 count and 4 good trumps, is penalty. And I've seen it where the doubler's partner leaves the double in with a nothing hand, thinking it was a penalty double, but in fact the doubler has an appropriate 17 count.
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