Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - May 16, 2022 - Overcall of Stayman

 

Question: N opens 1 NT, S bids Stayman with 4 H and 8 HCP. Is W’s bid appropriate ? Should W count the pts for the void in D or pass?

Glenna:

   I personally would not overcall a NT opener and his partner’s Stayman request with such a bad suit. How does W know that S isn’t sitting there with 4 beautiful ♠️. As it is, N has the 4 beautiful ♠️! In an open game 2 ♠️ would be doubled for penalty because N is much too good. Sure 2 NT makes, but figure out what happens to 2 ♠️ doubled!!

  To compete with a NT opener, I think the overcaller should have a solid 5-card suit or a good 6-card suit. The other time to compete is when the overcaller has 2 good 5-card suits. That allows him to pull trump and have another suit that will provide discards for other losers. You need to remember that the NT opener is OVER the overcaller and  will be able to win most tricks that declarer plays.  

  Often the best thing is to have your 5 nice ♠️ as a surprise for declarer and let them do most of the work!

Hope this helps,

Glenna


No comments:

Post a Comment