M J Bridge
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Bidding
Overcalling
Oh for the good old days when, once you or your partner had opened, the opposition politely allowed you to develop the auction and so reach your optimum contract.
I don’t actually remember such times, and I am not totally convinced that they ever existed.
It is however certain that competitive bidding has become much more aggressive and widespread in more recent times. You have no choice -
However, these changes have not been uniform across the bridge-
Partly because of this many partnerships approaching an intermediate standard are hugely under-
Their methods frequently steal ‘a bit from here and a bit from there’ leaving a mish-
Even if they have an agreement on the basic strength of an overcall or a double what happens next tends to be an extremely random matter.
Any aspiring partnership should put considerable thought into this part of their game. The starting point is to have a clear understanding of the possible hands which might fit a particular overcall, after which it will be possible to look at the possible continuations.
In the following pages I will suggest the sort of agreements which you might have regarding the overcall.
Do not feel tied by my choices -
First you must be clear about your
when overcalling,
and various
which underlie the whole area of overcalling.
After that I shall consider in turn the options available in the context of the opponents’ specific opening bid:-
opponents opened one of a suit (natural)
opponents opened with a weak bid
opponents opened with a strong bid
Beginner and above
This page last revised 31st May 2020
Context -
Opener |
Overcaller |
Responder |
Advancer |
Opener's rebid |
Overcaller's rebid and beyond |
Responder's rebid and beyond |
The continuing auction |