[peterk50]

After you open 1♣, LHO overcalls 1NT (11-14 HCP). What is 2♥ by partner?

a) Competitive and non-forcing. With good hand partner doubles. What would 3♥ be?

b) Competitive and forcing 1 round.

Peter

[Fluffy]

obviously A, against NT ther is no cuebid avaible, only double. Rest is weak.

[rogerclee]

All good hands start with double. 3H would be preemptive.

[ArtK78]

2♥ is to play.

It is not strictly true that "all good hands start with a double." I know that I have seen it discussed that with a strong, unbalanced hand one might bid 2NT as a "cue bid." I think I did this once, but my partner didn't understand it.

There is a danger in doubling with a strong unbalanced hand. It is very likely that 1NTx will be the final contract, and the declarer may be able to run 6 or 7 tricks (especially if he has a solid 6 card diamond suit on this auction). Also, you might have a game.

Suppose you hold:

---

You might think that 1NTx will get slaughtered. But the whole hand might be:

---

If you get all of your tricks, you will beat 1NTx 2 tricks. And if you slip up, declarer might make. All the while you are cold for 11 tricks in spades.

[pclayton]

We don't get a lot of weak NT overcalls 'round here, but I think any call other than double and 2N would be NF.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

2H: Non forcing, less than 9HCP,
but not (!) garbage
3H: fit jump

With kind regards
Marlowe

[ArtK78]

I apologize. I did not see that the 1NT overcall was WEAK.

Still, similar principals apply. I assume that the opponents don't overcall 11-14 notrumps when vulnerable. You might do better declaring than defending.

[peterk50]

Thanks for all your responses. They are what I thought they would be. There are occasions where you will get fixed (your game is worth more than you can set them or distributional hand does not defeat 1NT), but not much you can do about it.

Peter

[Echognome]

peterk50, on Dec 20 2007, 11:30 AM, said:

Thanks for all your responses.  They are what I thought they would be.  There are occasions where you will get fixed (your game is worth more than you can set them or distributional hand does not defeat 1NT), but not much you can do about it.

Peter

To consider the rarity of this, consider the following table. I am only going to consider 3NT by us vs 1NTX by them

None Vul (our score)
Tricks 1NTX 3NT
==== === ===
6 -180 -150
7 +100 -100
8 +300 -50
9 +500 +400
10 +800 +430
11 +1100 +460

We're Vul
Tricks 1NTX 3NT
==== === ===
6 -180 -300
7 +100 -200
8 +300 -10
9 +500 +600
10 +800 +630
11 +1100 +660

They're Vul
Tricks 1NTX 3NT
==== === ===
6 -180 -150
7 +200 -100
8 +500 -50
9 +800 +400
10 +1100 +430
11 +1400 +460

Both Vul
Tricks 1NTX 3NT
==== === ===
6 -180 -300
7 +200 -200
8 +500 -10
9 +800 +600
10 +1100 +630
11 +1400 +660

It should hopefully be clear from the table that we'd rather defend 1NTX than bid to 3NT.