What should I bid? - Best enquiry for April 2010

The best submission for April came from Brian Thorp.

 Hand:     With East the dealer and EW vulnerable, I held the East hand :

J52  K862  A  KQJ52

Bidding:	East	South	West	North
	1	Pass	1	2
	?

Brian: Matchpoints. We play a 12-14 1NT and do not play support doubles. What would you recommend bidding here?

Kieran: 2. Actually the same as I'd do if they hadn't bid. I strongly prefer a 3 card raise to rebidding a five card suit, which is usually about eleventh on my list of options.

Brian: What would you recommend as the agreed meaning of a double?

Kieran: I'm comfortable with support doubles, which I play in virtually all partnerships up to and including two of responder's suit. That said, they're more useful in a strong notrump system than a weak notrump system. Many weak notrumpers might play double here as showing a strong notrump (without four spades) or better, perhaps including some strong one-suiters in clubs which they're willing to describe as balanced. This is probably a good choice, and can quite easily be passed when your partner has some trumps (or, perhaps with a couple of trumps, a good hand and the vulnerability on your side). I think that traditional penalty doubles are a poor choice, not least because you can catch them for penalties when partner reopens with a double anyway, and sometimes you get to take a swing one level higher when they raise or overcaller bids again.

Brian: How would this meaning differ if responder had bid at the 2 level in a sequence such as:

1 (P) 2 (2) X?

Kieran: I like this double as cooperative-penalty. This isn't very fashionable in Sydney, though, so most of my partners play this as some variation on a takeout double. Few would play it as support.

Brian: And how should vulnerability affect such agreements?

Kieran: No need to have your methods change by vulnerability - that's more work than it's worth. Most people have enough trouble playing one system well. However, implementation can change with vulnerability - at favourable, particularly with lots of high cards, you can be much keener to spring the opponents for penalties. Curiously, the other best vulnerability to catch people is "nil" - mathematically, it's similar to all vul (three down outscores a game, etc) but their overcalls are so much looser, particularly at the two level.

Brian: More generally, your views would be appreciated on the value of agreeing to play support doubles for pairs playing a weak 1NT. Most of the example hands I can find in the literature where support doubles would be valuable show opener as having a hand where an Acol player would either be opening a weak 1NT, or happy to support responder's major with 3-card support because, for example, he has a singleton or void somewhere.

Kieran: A good question. You're quite right - support doubles are most useful for strong notrumpers. Playing double as a strong notrump is probably your best bet. Also, you can observe some inferences about your 1NT and 2NT rebids - they should be positionally sound (not Axx, for example, which would prefer to be dummy) and would probably have an offensive twist, like a five card (or longer) suit. And there's no reason to ever shade a 2NT rebid again - 2NT over a 2-level overcall can be 18-19 as it should be (or equivalent power, perhaps with a six card suit and a 16-count) and the lesser hands can double. Three card raises aren't too painful with unbalanced hands, and there's always a pass card for lesser misfitting hands.

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