[hrothgar]

The ACBL's District 25 is possible the last place in North America that runs large Individuals. I was bored on Saturday and Newton is only a 15 minute drive so I decided to spend a day reminding myself why I stopped playing in these events years back...

Things were pretty much the same, though everyone is 5+ years older. The one big change is that everyone seems to be playing "Stolen Bid Doubles". If partner open's 1NT and THO is nasty enough to overcall 2♥, a double shows a Jacoby transfer to Spades.

Everyone seemed to be playing this odious convention, with absolutely horrific consequences. By the end of the night, I was overcalling NT openers one doubletons...

[Gerben42]

Do you know who their teacher was? Must be someone craving for MP, keeping his customers bad enough to be no threat but allow them to crank up the table count...

[jtfanclub]

hrothgar, on Jan 7 2008, 08:53 AM, said:

Things were pretty much the same, though everyone is 5+ years older. The one big change is that everyone seems to be playing "Stolen Bid Doubles". If partner open's 1NT and THO is nasty enough to overcall 2♥, a double shows a Jacoby transfer to Spades.

Everyone seemed to be playing this odious convention, with absolutely horrific consequences. By the end of the night, I was overcalling NT openers one doubletons...

Huh. Mine is actually similar...X of the 2♥ overcall asks partner if he has a 4 card spade suit (in other words, it's takeout), but it also shows enough count that opener can, and frequently does, pass....

[pclayton]

Stolen bid doubles are one of those 'sophisticated' conventions for the masses. They are so easy to adopt and propagate. You will win the praise and respect of your local duplicate if you employ these methods.

Eddie Rose is a local pro that developed 'Rose Doubles' which are stolen bid doubles taken to an unhealthier extreme.

[barmar]

As far as I can recall, stolen bid doubles have been common in this tournament for as long as I've been playing in it. But I don't remember when I first played -- maybe it was after you quit.

There is no "teacher". About half the people in the room are not regular duplicate bridge players, they're social bridge players and this is the only tournament they ever attend. I'm not sure why they come -- I guess they see it as being somewhat like rotating partners in an evening of rubber bridge.

They play very few conventions, and something like Lebensohl is way beyond them. Stolen bid doubles, on the other hand, are very simple. This is much more important in a game like this than how effective a convention it is.

[kenrexford]

I personally find the "stolen bid double" OK after a 2♦ overcall, in conjunction with Puppet Stayman 3♣, because Opener reopening over 2♦ is not so bad. I think that negative/values makes more sense over 2♥, but stolen is not all that horrifying.