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 Advancing Overcalls "Everything's Better" by Marti Ronemus

And the good news pours in. At the top of our list today: Researchers at Newcastle (England) University's Centre for Life has discovered that eating a bacon sandwich can help cure a hangover. Is this great news or what? We already know that everything's better with bacon, but who knew that a bacon sandwich could cure something?

Imagine. This was discovered way back in 2009 and we're just finding out about it now. You can thank me later. Meantime, let's get to work.

We're going to look at responding to Pard's overcall. Whether a NEW suit by overcaller's Pard (the advancer) is forcing or not is a bone of contention between many players. Here is an agreement that may well work for you. A new suit by advancer is passable at the one-level, but if possible should encourage you to try to find another bid. At the two-level, it's forcing--after all, Pard's got at least an intermediate hand. Talk this over.

The only absolutely forcing bid by advancer is a cuebid of the opponent's suit which promises a FIT and 10-plus points. So, for our purposes, a new suit is invitational but passable (at the one-level), a cuebid is not.

So let's see what we'd do in these instances of Pard's overcall.

Question 1

  Your Hand
♠ Q J 9 5 4
♥ 9
♦ A J 10 5
♣ J 3 2 		 
Q: 1 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-1♣1♥p
?


 Your choice:
A: 1♠: With a singleton in Pard's suit and a reasonable-ish suit of our own, and being at the one-level, let's take a bid. It won't be forcing.

Your result so far:
Open Question

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Question 2

  Your Hand
♠ J 9 5 4 3 2
♥ 9
♦ J 10 5
♣ J 3 2 		 
Q: 2 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-1♣1♥p
?


 Your choice:
A: Pass: This is so horrible, we really can't bid. Let it go. Yes, we only have a singleton in Pard's suit. If it would turn out that Pard's 1♥ bid would be doubled and the double left in, we would then bid 1♠, but not unless. If we bid with this one, we'll smell bacon cooking.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
♠ Q J 9
♥ 3 2
♦ A Q 8 7 6
♣ K 4 3 		 
Q: 3 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-1♣1♠p
?


 Your choice:
A: 2♣: Why would we bid the opponent's suit? Because we can't bid Diamonds, we want to play in Spades. We can't bid Spades, because any raise of Pard's suit IN A COMPETITIVE AUCTION is weak. Our cuebid says, "Pard, I have a fit with you. I have 10-plus pts. I want you to bid again and tell me how many points you have so I can place the contract." Is that a great bid, or what?

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
♠ Q J 9 4
♥ 3 2
♦ Q 8 7 6
♣ Q 4 3 		 
Q: 4 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-1♣1♠p
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♠: In a competitive auction, a raise of Pard's suit shows a BAD hand, and tells how many trumps we hold. We have a nine-card fit, so we raise to the level of nine tricks, which is 3♠. Pard will know we do NOT have 10-12 pts, because if we did, we would have bid the opponent's suit first. Got that?

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
♠ 6 5 4 3
♥ A 8 4
♦ 9 4
♣ K J 4 3 		 
Q: 5 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-1♦1♠Dbl
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♠: Once again, we're going to raise Pard's suit to the level of trump in our combined hands. We are showing weakness and four trumps. We would redouble if we had a decent hand, but this is so much better.

And now, let's have a nice hand.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

Overall Results

Your results:   out of    Average: 

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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