Takeout Responses When Third Hand Passes

Three Choices.  When third hand passes your partner's takeout double, you have three choices.

(1) Pass -- which guarantees you'll defeat the doubled contract a lot -- more than any possible gain you might make on offense, or

(2) Bid one of the suits implied by the takeout doubler's call, or,

(3) Bid Notrump with good stoppers in the opponent's bid suit.

(The first option is misused a lot in beginning bridge, but not by anyone reading this series!)

                Example Responses To A Takeout Double When Third Hand Passes

N              E              S              W

1§              DBL          P         ???

West's Hands

ª AJxx	ª AJxx
© Kx	© xx
¨ KQxx	¨ KQxx
§ xxx	§ xxx
4 Spades	2 Spades

The © K makes a big difference.  East can bid 3ª or 4ª with good values over West's 2 ª call.

(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998  All Rights Reserved