Page 29 - ABF Newsletter December 2024

WORKSHOPS WITH WILL with Will Jenner-O’Shea
POWER DOUBLES OR POWER OVERCALLS
The Workshops this year have featured a lot of con- tested bidding. One topic that many players have a basic awareness of but have not mastered is the Power Double. The concept of a Power Double is a way for the overcaller to show a very strong hand. Originally, a Power Double was used to show 16+ points, but I recommend only making a Power Double with 18+ points.
If your opponents open the bidding and you have a very strong hand it is hard to show. Note that the overcaller can’t bid 2{ (since that is a real suit by the overcaller), and often can’t use 2NT (since that might be a convention, like the Unusual 2NT). The way that overcaller shows a strong hand is to start with a double. At this stage, partner will think that your double is simply a takeout double, showing around 12+ points, and support for every unbid suit. Note that if you double, you will always get an- other bid. Either your partner is forced to respond to your double, or if the opponent bids in between, and partner doesn’t have to respond, but you get another go anyway.
After doubling, if you then overcall with a suit, or notrumps, it shows that you have a very powerful hand. If you had a simple double (12 points, support for the unbid suits), then you generally pass the next time around.
Note that is not the double that necessarily showed the strong hand. It is your two calls together, dou- ble-then-overcall, that shows the powerful hand.
Here are some specific situations. Your opponent opens 1}, and you double. The opponents are now silent for the rest of the auction. Your partner re- sponds 1] to your double. If you have a ‘normal’ takeout double, you would typically pass the 1] call, or perhaps raise to 2] to confirm that you have four trumps. Instead, if you now bid 2[ it is a
double-then-overcall, and shows five or more hearts. The reason that you didn’t simply overcall 1[ the first time is that you are very strong, 18+ points. Part- ner is not forced to respond, but should look for any reason to get to game.
Here is another example where the auction again begins 1}, double by you, and pass by your oppo- nent. Partner again responds 1] and you now bid 1NT. If you had 15-18 points, with a balanced hand and a diamond stopper, you would have bid 1NT at your first call. If you only had 12-14 points, you should settle for partner’s spades. To bid again after doubling, you must have more than a 1NT bid on the previous round. You are showing 19-22 points.
One common question that always comes up, is why don’t you jump to 2NT to show that many points. The simple answer is that after an opening bid by your opponents, even 2NT might be too high! Some- times the double-then-overcall auction reveals itself at a lower level, and also you get to hear about part- ner’s best suit on the way.
Everybody refers to these as Power Doubles, but it is actually the combination of doubling first, and then overcalling, that reveals that you are very strong.
In one last example. Your opponent opens 1} (again) and you double (again). Your opponent is quiet, and partner responds 1] to your double. In this auction, raising partner’s 1] forced response to 2] just shows that you have four spades and a normal double, around 12-15 points. Jumping to 3] is inviting game and shows around 16-18 points. You could jump to game if you were very strong.
Power Doubles don’t come up very often, but it is important to know how to handle them when they do, since it could be your game, or possibly slam!
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: December 2024
Page 29