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Minimum strength?

Modern guidelines are quite different from the traditional ones.

At one time the emphasis was on locating a making contract - possibly at game level - and the strength requirement was accordingly much the same as for an opening bid.

No longer is your primary aim to locate a possible game contract your way (though you must not miss one on those occasions when it does exist).  Now, you are at least as interested in disrupting your opponents’ bidding machinery, indicating a defensive lead, and/or finding a profitable sacrifice.

With these thoughts in mind the modern player will frequently overcall on a much weaker hand provided that his suit is of sufficient quality to justify the lead directing implication and of sufficient length and strength to give some protection if he is left in the contract, possibly doubled.

The minimum requirements for a suit overcall should be based on suit length and quality (see SQUOT) rather than on points.  In meeting the necessary suit quality requirement it will be rare that the overcalling hand contains less than the oft-quoted six points for an overcall at the one-level or eight points for an overcall at the two-level, but a minimum points count is, if anything, something of a red herring.

Most experienced players would overcall on a suit such as  K Q J 8 6 at the one-level even if these were the only six points they held (note the SQUOT count of eight), and probably also at the two-level if not vulnerable, but such a choice would be a matter for partnership style and agreement.

As indicated, vulnerability is a consideration.  If overcalling vulnerable at the two-level then you will usually have an extra trump and quite probably an extra point or two, but at the one-level you will only rarely come to great harm, vulnerable or not.  Bear in mind that you will hardly ever find yourself playing in a contract doubled for penalties at the one-level, and even at the two-level it will be a relatively rare occurrence.

Upper limit

I have discussed the lower bounds of a simple overcall with reference to points and SQUOT above.

The upper limit is another matter.

There is a school of thought that any hand with opening values or better will commence proceedings with a double, and that any other overcall will be weaker than an opening hand.  This is a dated line of thought, and even in that context it was never quite mainstream.

It is not a method which you will find in the hands of many experts.

Such an agreement will leave you perilously short of constructive sequences when the hand is rightly yours.  Frequently you will also lose the opportunity to show your suit as your opponents raise to great heights with unseemly haste.

The modern norm is that a simple overcall in a suit should be much more wide-ranging.

Many excellent partnerships play that at its upper end a simple overcall could contain anything up to sixteen points where there is no more appropriate bid available.  Only with a genuine seventeen points or more would they start with a double on a hand which does not satisfy the basic shape requirements for a weaker take-out double.

More recently the trend has been to make a simple overcall with anything up to eighteen points, and this will be the assumption which I shall build on below.

Quite simply the importance of getting your suit into the auction at the earliest possible stage has been recognized as of paramount importance.

Double

The use of the take-out double is something which most beginning to intermediate partnerships could work on to their advantage.

The possible uses of a take-out double will be selected to fit with the choice of maximum for a simple suit overcall (above) and an overcall of 1NT (below).

The double is primarily about shape.  It should be saved as the first bid on specific hand-types - not, as some play it, on any opening hand.

Typically it will show a hand with at most two cards in the opponents’ suit and at least three cards in each of the other three suits so that it can stand a response in any suit.  The strength will always be in the region of an opening bid or better, but that is no more than a loose generalisation.  With ideal shape such as 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0 then you might make such a bid on as few as eleven (even ten) points.  More often you will hold 4-4-3-2 shape, and such a hand will typically contain about twelve points or more.

With up to about sixteen points your usual action will be to double and then to pass any lowest-level response from partner (partner will usually make a jump response with as many as nine points).  If an excellent fit is located you will usually bid again with seventeen or more points.

The double has a secondary use and that is to show a hand whose shape is unsuitable for an immediate take-out double but is too strong for a simple overcall.

On a single-suited hand of nineteen or more points you will double first and then bid your suit.

Whether or not you need to jump in your suit at this point will depend on whether or not you have agreed some other interpretation for the double followed by a bid in a new suit at the lowest level (such as the ‘equal level conversion’).

You might extend this method to hands with slightly fewer points but worth seven or more playing tricks.

On a balanced hand you will also double first before rebidding in no trumps.

Typically, you might overcall 1NT on fifteen to eighteen points in which case you will overcall first and then rebid in no trumps on hands of nineteen or more points.

This page last revised 4th Mar 2019

A cue-bid in the opponents’ suit was also traditionally used to show a powerful hand, and, more recently, an intermediate holding of better-than-opening values.  Both methods are perfectly playable, so by all means continue to use one of them if that is what you are familiar with.  However I shall not be discussing this bid at this time, saving it for the two-suited overcalls which I will introduce later.

The same applies to an immediate overcall of 2NT which can be used in a natural sense (particularly in the protective seat) if that is your partnership agreement, but is more commonly played with a conventional meaning.  I shall follow the ‘conventional’ route in due course.

For a consideration of your options specific to the opponents’ choice of opening bid go to the page ‘overcalling’ and follow the links from there.

Context - overcaller - considerations and principles.