This Week in Bridge
(527) Advancing Partner’s Overcall without a Fit
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Levels: 4 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
When partner makes a 1-level overcall it is a very wide-ranging action in terms of strength and shape – about 7 to 18 HCP and a 5+card suit. Advancer generally assumes Overcaller has at least 10 HCP, to narrow down the range to a more reasonable number. Here we look at Advancer’s options for bidding and what partner should expect. Our focus is on what Responder needs to bid a new suit or to respond NT.
New Suits by Advancer
As Advancer when we do not have a fit for Overcaller’s suit, to bid we need some additional values than when we have a fit for partner’s suit. With a long suit of our own, we may want to bid that suit. How many values we need in order to bid a new suit depends on our partnership agreements.
There are two common approaches to new suits by Advancer after a 1-level overcall. If we play a new suit as forcing, then we need to have more values for bidding that suit than if we play a new suit as non-forcing.
Forcing (F) – If this is our partnership agreement then a new suit by Advancer is forcing for 1-round. Most partnerships here play that a new suit is a 5+card suit and about 10+ HCP.
Non-Forcing Constructive (NFC) – If this is our partnership agreement then a new suit by Advancer may be passed. Most partnerships that play this play that a new suit shows a 5+card suit and about 8 to 13 HCP.
Note: Some partnerships even play a mix of these agreements, where new suits at the 1-level are forcing and new suits at the 2-level are NFC. When partner overcalls a suit and we bid a new suit at the 1-level, some partnerships even allow this be done on a good 4-card suit (one that is strong enough to play opposite Honor-third support from partner.
As we can see, this is something we need to discuss with our partners. Playing new suit forcing is simpler, but playing NFC allows the Advancer to bid more often.
Example 1
1♣ 1♠ P 2♥
Playing a new suit as forcing, this 2♥ bid by Advancer shows a 5+card ♥ suit and a good 10+ HCP.
Example 2
1♣ 1♠ P 2♦
Playing NFC, this 2♦ bid by Advancer shows a 5+card ♦ suit and about 8-13 HCP.
Playing new suits NFC, Advancer must do something forcing with a 14+ HCP strong hand - Advancer must find a way to show a strong hand. That can be done in one of two ways. The first option is by agreeing to use the cuebid with these hands as well as with hands that have a limit raise. The second option for showing a strong hand if we play NFC is to use a jump shift in a new suit to show a strong hand with a long suit – as forcing for 1-round. As we can see, playing NFC makes showing a good hand by Advancer more difficult.
NT Bids by Advancer
When partner makes a 1-level overcall, they could have fewer HCP than an opening bidder. That means that when we bid NT as the Advancer, we need to have more points. We generally play partner to have at least 10+ HCP for their overcall and thus want to have about 2 HCP more for bidding NT as the Advancer than we would as the Responder.
Example 3
1♦ 1♠ P __?
1NT 8-11 points, usually with a ♦ stopper and not 3-card ♠
2NT 12-13 points, usually with a ♦ stopper, not 3-card ♠, and a relatively balanced hand
3NT 14+ points, usually with a ♦ stopper, not 3-card ♠, and a relatively balanced hand
When we bid 2NT or 3NT we usually have a balanced hand, because with these many values and a long suit of our own we would show it in a forcing fashion. But when we bid 1NT as the Advancer, we do not promise a balanced hand, as we may not have enough values to bid a new suit.
Note: 1NT bids by the Advancer are more likely to be balanced when we play NFC, as we can bid a new suit with more of our shapely hands than we can when a new suit is forcing. Some players frequently bid NT as Advancer even without a stopper after the opponents have opened 1♣ -- a 1♣ opening bid by the opponents could be made on three small cards.
Conclusion
Partner makes a lot of overcalls, especially at the 1-level. That makes it important for us to have good agreements about how to bid after partner makes this overcall. As Advancer, the most common thing that we do is raise partner. But we also need to have lots of agreements about what to do when we have values and no fit. The key thing is that it takes a bit more values to bid as Advancer than it does as Responder. Make sure that you spend time discussing your methods with partner and that you know how to describe your hand as Advancer.