Our Overcall Response System

Don't Penalize Yourself.   Our  responses to suit overcalls are designed to avoid overbidding when overcaller has made a suit overcall with a minimum hand. There is good competitive value in making overcalls, but the subsequent bidding must not penalize such bids.

We normally bid Limit Raises - a jump raise to three of a major - with as little as 9 HCP.  But, if overcaller also has about 9 HCP, we could go down a large amount if we jump to 3ª /3© after a simple overcall. So,

  • If the overcall is 1 or 2 of a suit over 1 of a suit, the following understandings apply.

These bids are a vital part of our competitive arsenal.  (If you don't like these, that's OK -- but you must know what your partnership bids mean in these situation.  Work out a reasonable system as soon as you start to play Duplicate.)

                        N          E          S          W
                1§     1 ©      P     ???         West 's bids mean:

2 ©   Normal (6 - 8 HCP with 3+ Hearts).

3 ©   Preemptive raise with 4 - 5 Hearts and less than 7 HCP.

4 ©    To play, even against a minimum dummy. May be preemptive or quite strong.

2 §    Limit Raise (9 - 11 HCP with 3 or 4 Hearts).

3 §    Strong Raise (12 - 15 HCP with 4+ Hearts).

1NT   Not forcing - to play.

2NT   Balanced (12 - 15 HCP with less than 3 Hearts).

3NT   Balanced, to play.

1ª or 2¨     Forcing 1 round

All other suit bids are preemptive -- not forcing and not very helpful to overcaller, who will probably pass.

2 Neat Cue Bids. As a result of using this overcall system, good things sometimes come up:

(1) An important bid for responder is a Cue bid of opener's suit (1§ - 1 © - P - 2§ ). It's bid with the hand that would make a Limit Raise (9 - 11 HCP) if partner had opened. By making the cue bid instead, East can simply bid two of his/her major to indicate a minimum overcall, and the partnership won't be at an unmakeable 3 level contract. It also stops opener from rebidding his suit -- usually he'll double. Cue bids are NOT alertable, even though uses of them are so often conventional.

(2) A Jump Cue bid (3§ rather than 2§) is used to show a hand of opening strength and Heart support.  However East may still bid 3 © with a minimum overcall hand -- it  may be only four long or in a weak hand.