Weak Jump Overcall

Situation: Partner passes, RHO bids 1 Club, and you hold:

ª AKJxxx
© x
¨ xxx
§ xxx

4 Hearts Coming Up. You can practically see the 4 Heart game that your opponents are about to bid, can't you? Your Spades will get one or maybe two defensive tricks if you're lucky. With another Spade card, you might preempt Three Spades.

But with Weak Two Bids, you should bid Two Spades over the One Club:

N       E         S        W

P        1§        2ª     ?

What does West do with this hand ?

ª xx
© AQxx
¨ Qxxx
§ xxx

Would you like to bid Three Hearts, Vulnerable?

Take Their Bidding Room. South's Two Spade bid has taken valuable bidding room and may prevent the opponents from finding their best contract - that's the whole purpose of Weak Twos, of course. They're really mini-preempts. (Incidentally, the answer to this dilemma for East/West is to Negative Double. It shows 4 Hearts and Diamonds and some points)

Not vulnerable, these may be very weak hands if partner has passed:

N       E         S        W

P        1©        2ª     ....     May be ª KJ9xxx with only 6 points

Strength: 6 card suit, 6 - 12 HCP. No real value in the hand outside the bid suit, including no other 4 card major if partner has not passed.

Usage: Very common, especially with Spades. Alertable.

---

Examples of Weak Jump Overcall Sequences

N       E         S        W

P        1§      2ª*     Dbl*

3ª     3NT    . . .

South WJO's. West Negative Doubles, showing Red. North advances the preempt and East tries the NT game.

---

1ª   3¨*        P     P

Dbl    P         P   . . .

East interferes. but South does NOT double. Uh oh ! North makes the re-opening double and South leaves it in. East's in trouble now.

---

1§     2¨*     Dbl*    5¨

West really takes it to North/South with a nifty preempt. North has a real problem with his next bid.

---

1¨    3ª     . . .

Higher level preempts are OK too, of course - and sometimes with only 6 cards.