Hilo Bridge Club Updates
Here is an interesting hand from yesterday. South opened one heart in 3rd seat. West overcalled two diamonds with a nice 5-5 holding in the minors, correctly bidding the higher-ranking suit first. North passed, and East found it difficult to act with a doubleton diamond and five cards in South’s suit.
In the postmortem EW noticed their club fit. The hand would easily make six clubs their way. How do they find the club fit?
Had EW been playing the unusual 2NT convention, West would jump to 2NT rather than overcalling two diamonds. The jump to 2NT over an opening bid of one of a suit shows 5-5 in the two lower ranking unbid suits (diamonds and clubs in this case). It’s a useful convention that helps overcome situations like yesterday’s dilemma. Check out the link for guidance on how best to use unusual NT and how to respond to it.
You are in 4th seat (vul vs not vul) and player on your right opens one Spade. What action are you going to take with this unbalanced hand?
You could pass, but that doesn’t seem right with all that playing strength (those little spot cards are going to take tricks in a minor suit contract). You could overcall two diamonds, planning to bid clubs at your next turn. That’s what I did.
Also, I could have made an unusual notrump overcall of 2NT, promiising at least 5-5 in the minors (two lower unbid suits). What would you do?
I will follow up on this problem tomorrow.