WEAK TWOS, WEAK JUMP OVERCALLS AND WEAK JUMP SHIFTS

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Caitlin Little
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1 A hand that can be opened as a Weak 2 has other options in competition. For example, as a Weak Jump Overcall [1-2 ] or a Weak Jump Shift. [1 - P - 2 ]. All 3 choices show decent 6-card suits in a hand with less than 10 HCP. They all produce the same result: heavy disruption of low-level bidding space. Opponents will usually end up as declarers, but are they in their best contract? Maybe: hopefully not. Get Doubled and Set a Ton? Do not fear being doubled and set 500. (That could even be a winner for you if they miss their vulnerable game.) To double and set you two or three tricks at the 2-level, opponents must take 7 or 8 tricks playing in your trump suit against your length-strength. You have your chunky 6-card preemptive trump suit with honors, so the doubler would have to take some trump tricks in your suit and several others in side suits. And, if you only have 8 HCP and they aren t in game, then does your partner maybe have some HCP worth a trick or two or more? The net is that very few pairs, at any level of Duplicate play, will actually double a weak 2-level bid for penalty. That s because if they do, they must have tricks in your trump suit, so they should be in a game of their own or 3NT. That s why your trump suit texture and chunkiness is the key not HCP. 10 HCP is the max for your Weak Two hand. There s hardly any minimum maybe 6 HCP? Competitors won t penalty double someone they know has a decent 6-card suit they have to play in as trump, at only the 2-level. So do it often and confidently. The old Down Two if Vulnerable or Three if not Vulnerable Rules are gone nowdays. Why? Because how can someone with a 7 HCP hand know how many tricks she is going to be down before she makes a preemptive bid? She can t, of course. That s bidding from a negative viewpoint with no way to evaluate the probabilities: Wrong. The positive competitive view is Look at all the bidding space I m taking away from these gals. No question there: how many bids does your opening 2 bid remove from opponents repertoire? [1, 1, 1, 1, 1NT, 2, 2 and 2.] And, by taking away all those low-level bids, it eliminates many higher bids too. 3 rd seat can t make a Splinter bid if Dealer can t open a major, right? And no 1NT or 2 openings. What Are Weak Twos? Right now, change your whole view of Weak Two bids from an attempt to find a contract for yourself to the following: They are strictly to interfere with - destroy my opponents bidding space. And my odds of being doubled and set even with my 8 HCP hand, are low. I ll forget that issue until I ve been doubled and set 500 at least 4 times this month. Then I ll do it again it s the winning competitive bidding technique of all time, at all levels. Pg. 1

2 Responses to Weak Two Openings Single Raise. [2 - P ]. This is not an invitation: it s an extension of your tactic to remove as much bidding space as possible at low and high-levels from opponents. Jump to Game or Beyond. [2 - Dbl ]. If you think that opponents will bid a vulnerable Spade game over partners 2, make them decide whether or not to take the push before they have a chance to chat with each other. Not vul vs. Vul, this could be the winning bid in the auction. Looking ahead, if you expect that you will sacrifice later if they bid 4, do it right now. Cut off their conversation before it happens, whenever possible. A New Suit. When partner opens a Weak Two, is a new suit by you forcing? If so, what does that mean? [2 - P ]. Is it an implicit single raise, suggesting a lead suit if partner ends up on lead? Is it an alternative, allowing opener to Pass or go back to her suit? Is it an arbitrary transition to your suit instead of hers? That s how I play it: New Suit Not Forcing Alerted. It means I simply cannot stand your suit, but I have a really good alternative preemptive one. Partnership Agreement. 2NT Ask. A popular convention when responder sees the possibility of making 3NT if she can run the preempt suit. [2 - P 2NT - ]. Not Alerted. It means that responder is strong enough to try 3NT if she can get back to the preempt hand often enough to play the suit for several tricks. The Ask is for an outside entry an Ace or King outside the preempt suit to get back after losing a trick in it. No one expects partner s preempt suit to be solid from the Ace down: that wouldn t be a reasonable expectation or requirement, would it? If responder has stoppers everywhere and a running side suit, she might just respond 3NT to start with. [2 - P - 3NT ] THE OTHER 2-LEVEL PREEMPTIVE BIDS: WJO and WJS. A Weak Jump Overcall (WJO) is a jump overcall of opponent s opening or response, showing a weak HCP hand with a 6-card, chunky suit. [1-2 ]. Had the dealer not opened, this hand would have opened 2. [P - 2 ] It s that simple: a WJO is a Weak 2 bid as an overcall instead of an opening. It can be higher than the 2-level, too: [1-3 ] Bidding space for the opponents? Lots of it is gone, right? Pg. 2

3 Old-fashioned jump overcalls showed big game-forcing hands. But if it s not weak nowdays, it has to be alerted. No one does Strong Jump Overcalls anymore. N E [P 2 - ] A standard Weak Two opener hand by East... but what if North opens first? N E [1 2 - ] Is there any lesser reason for a weak 2 bid by East after North s 1? No. West knows East has nothing but some Spades and can bid accordingly, and many N/S continuations after 1 are now gone. Example WJO hands: AKJxxx or KQJTxx, etc. with nothing outside, HCP-wise. Competing after a WJO. [1 2???]. Responder is now forced to bid at the 3-level to show her Heart suit, for example. With a 5-card Heart suit? The primary tool to combat WJO s is the Negative Double if responder can t raise partner or bid a new 5+ card suit. Because WJOs and regular overcalls are so common, you should play Negative Doubles at least as high as 2 - possibly 3 - to find your suit fits. [1-2 - Dbl ]. Showing 4 Hearts, some HCP and some Diamonds. Be aware of vulnerability, and expect to get a poor score sometimes, fighting WJOs. Like all preempts, WJOs do their job well - - that s why you should bid them aggressively whenever possible. No Whimps. A Weak Jump Shift (WJS) is an entirely different thing: it looks like a preempt of your own partner after he has opened. [1 1-2???]. Why would we ever bid 2 when we could bid just 1 to show partner our Spades in this hand? It s our primary competitive tactic: with a 6+ card chunky suit and nothing else, destroy as much of the opponent s bidding space as possible. Forget HCP and going down doubled. With these low-level bids, burn up their bidding space. They will rarely double you for penalty because you are telling them you are broke. Going down doubled may be the winning result for you anyway, and they know that, too. Your WJS hand must be totally useless in any other suit. Partner should not bid again except to raise your suit. You won t bid again because you ve said it all in one bid. A WJS hand must have no outside Aces or Kings. With an outside major honor, bid at the lowest possible level or pass, planning to later consider balancing. A WJS has no more than 5 HCP not 10. With 6 HCP, you can simply bid 1, no? Pg. 3

4 ============================================ Notes: 2-Level conventional bids such as Mini - Roman 2 and Flannery 2 are NOT Weak 2 s they are opening hands and are never bid as overcalls. E.g.: [1-2...] is not Mini Roman it s a Diamond WJO. [1-2...] It s not weak or Mini Roman, it s just a normal Diamond overcall. Ask opponents about 2-level openings or WJOs or WJS bids before you bid. Opponents may have Partnership Agreements you are entitled to know about before you bid. Remember to ask the partner, not the one who made the bid. ============================================ Pg. 4

5 COMPETING OVER WEAK TWO BIDS Dealer opens a Weak Two before you can bid. Now what? [2 -????] Here s some choices, although he has preempted away many of your low-level bids. Overcalls Suit overcalls: Use The Rule of Seven: if you think that you and partner can make the overcall you are considering if partner has 7 average HCP, then make the overcall: otherwise, Pass and maybe partner will bid. Average doesn t mean 7+ HCP of your choosing: it s any random 7+ HCP. At the 2-level: [2-2 ] If you would overcall 1, why not overcall 2? Partner will expect you to have a 2-level overcall strength hand according to your Agreements: 12+ HCP and a good 5-card suit minimum suit; preferably 6. At the 3-level. [2-3 ] An opener: stronger than a 2-level overcall? These are the problems Weak Two bids introduce to opponents: What are our Agreements here? NoTrump Overcalls. 2NT = (Not Unusual 2NT) [2-2NT ] A full 1NT opening hand with stoppers. Systems are On for responder. A Partnership Agreement. Takeout Double Use the same Rule of Seven, except your question is Might we make what I am asking partner to bid with my double if she has just 7 average HCP and some cards in my asked-for suit? Responses to Takeout Double. Lebensohl 2NT* in 4 th Seat (Advancer). If partner doubles the opening Weak 2 and you 4 th seat - don t have a fit or can t bid at the 2-level (weak), then bid 2NT*. Alert. ThIs is the Lebensohl bid saying, Partner, I don t fit with you: please bid 3.. Then 4 th seat passes with length in Clubs or corrects to 3 Diamonds. Pg. 5

6 Non Lebensohl Responses to a Takeout Double. With the 7 average HCP that partner expects from you, make a minimum bid. [2 - Dbl - P - 2 ]. With 10 HCP, raise one and with 12+, bid game. Direct Cue Bids over Weak Two Openings. Direct Cue bids of Weak Two openers can be Tops & Bottoms or Michaels hands with an opener or better. A Partnership Agreement. Over 2 : 3 = Both majors (Michaels) or (Tops & Bottoms) Over 2 : 3 = Spades and a Minor (Michaels) or (Tops & Bottoms) Over 2 : 3 = Hearts and a Minor (Michaels) or (Tops & Bottoms) COMPETING OVER WEAK JUMP OVERCALLS. [1-2 - P -???] A double would be a Negative Double, with 4 Spades and some HCP. A Spade bid would show 5+ Spade cards and some HCP. A Club bid could be considered an Inverted Minor weak raise. A NT bid would be natural at the 2 or 3 level. COMPETING OVER WEAK JUMP SHIFTS. Remember that WJS s are VERY weak, HCP-wise: 5 HCP max, usually. [1 - DBL - 2 -???] Respond to partner s double if there has been one. [ ???] Respond to partner s overcall if there has been one. 3 rd Hand Weak Two Bids. ==================================== If partner and 2 nd hand have passed and you have a weak suit of any kind, is it the same Rules as in 1 st Seat? NO. The rule for 3 rd hand preempts is All Rules are Off. You know 4 th seat has a monster, so take her bidding space away: you can open a normal Drury 1 or 1 with any decent 5-card major and 8 10 HCP, as usual. But with anything else a long minor suit or a really weak major of even 5 cards, open ANY Weak 2 Bid in your system. [P P - 2 -???]. Any Weak 2 is strictly destroying as much bidding space as possible before opponents start bidding. [P P - 2 -???]. Remember, any 2-bid takes away 6 or more levels of bidding from opponents. DO IT. NOW. You won t get doubled for penalty. Promise. ================= Pg. 6

COMPETITIVE CONVENTIONS P a g e 1. *TONT Transfers over opponents 1NT Opening Page 6.

COMPETITIVE CONVENTIONS P a g e 1 Conventions with an * have a separate page. See page number. Others follow this page. Note: This document only explains how to open and respond to conventions. How to