Hand of the Week - Glenna and Vic- July 27, 2020

Problem: North and South have excellent hands to overcall except that neither have a five card suit to overcall.  What do you do?

Glenna:

   You are totally correct that you must not bid unless it’s a 5-card suit. So the person in 2nd seat had to pass. When 3rd seat passes. 4th seat becomes the "balancing seat” which has totally different requirements than the other 2! 

   Balancing Seat:   Needs a K less than in regular seats to do any of the following actions

               Takeout Double: 10 or so points and at least 3-cards in the unbid suits

               Overcall: 5-card OR longer suit and the suit should hold 3 of the top 5 honors - especially if vulunerable

               1NT:  Shows 11-14pts and 3 suits stopped, but 1 of the stopped suits has to be the enemy’s opening suit

  If you and your partner had known the requirements for balancing, whoever would have followed the above guidelines in 4th (Balancing) Seat.

   Sometimes you balance and it helps the opponent to get a better board. For instance they open 1 ♣️, 4th seat balances with 1 ♥️ and opener jumps to 2 NT so you have just helped him describe his hand!!! So nothing you learn to do will work all the time and it’s important to remember that. Sometimes it gives you the top board.

Vic:

As you point out, North has enough points to overcall, but no 5-card suit. North should definitely Pass.

Once East also Passes that leaves South in what we call the "balancing seat". A player is in the balancing seat if they Pass will end the auction. South  does not only have enough points to overcall. South has enough points to open. South should not Pass.

South knows they have 13 HCP's. They have reason to believe West also has at least 12-13 HCP's, maybe as many as 21. They have reason to believe east has less than 6HCP's. They know it is very possible that partner (North) has some points (maybe even an opening hand themselves), but lacked a way to show those points (no 5-card suit, for example). It is possible in other words that South & partner deserve the auction. They need to compete.

South should "balance" the auction by making a takeout DBL. North should subsequently bid their longest suit at the lowest available level. Having their choice of hearts or spades, North should bid 2H. I would expect East to then Pass again. South should subsequently Pass as well, ending the auction at 2H in the North.

West, by the way, made a very poor choice of opening bids. Clubs are longer than diamonds. West should open 1C not 1D. If west opens 1C, EW may be able to push NS to 3H where they deserve to go down one trick.