"Talk About Long Shots" Resp. Overcalls by Marti Ronemus

It was 1984 and it was a VERY bad year for NBC. All nine of their new shows had failed...a record that remains unbroken to this time. BUT!! Salvation was at hand. Out of sheer desperation, they gave a chance to a long shot... "ALF," a show where the star was a puppet.

The premise was risky.. an Alien Life Form crashes into a family's garbage and ends up moving in. Among NBC's many worries was that Alf, a beer drinking, vulgar, cat-eating, wise-cracking barbarian would be seen as a "bad example." (Hey, it was 1984... standards were a little different.)

But this was a long shot that paid off. "ALF" became a fixture on "Hollywood Squares," his posters outsold Bon Jovi (true!!), and he became a pop culture icon.

For those of us who, upon reading the above description of ALF, had a fleeting thought that it sounds like a partner, let us remind you that the long shot was a success. And how about us? How will we respond to Pard's overcalls?

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ 10 9 8
♥ 5 4
♦ A K 9 4 3
♣ 5 4 3

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♥	1♠	Pass
?

A: 2♠: Pard's overcall shows a Darn Good Suit of five-plus cards, but point count can be anywhere from 7 to 17-ish. Here, we don't care how many Pard has. We can't have game, so we just advance the overcall, showing a minimum hand with support. No long shot involved here.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 10 9 8
♥ 5 4
♦ A K 9 4 3
♣ A 5 3

Q: 2 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♥	1♠	Pass
?

A: 2♥: Here is a hugely important concept in bridge: IN A COMPETITIVE AUCTION, ANY RAISE OF YOUR PARD'S SUIT SHOWS A WEAK HAND. With that said, how can we show a GOOD hand with a fit? We "cuebid" the opponent's suit. By bidding Hearts, we are saying to Pard, "I have ten-plus points, and a fit with you. Tell me more about your hand." It is forcing, forcing, forcing!

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ 10 9 8 7
♥ 5 4
♦ K 9 4 3
♣ A 5 3

Q: 3 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♥	1♠	Pass
?

A: 3♠: We've said that in a competitive auction, any raise of Pard's suit shows a weak hand. The rest of the story is this: Our raise shows the number of trumps we hold. The Law of Total Tricks says (oh so briefly!) that we raise to the level of trumps in our combined hands. Pard has five, we have four... that's nine tricks, which is 3♠. Got that?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ 10 9
♥ 5 4
♦ A K 9 4 3
♣ A J 5 3

Q: 4 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♥	1♠	Pass
?

A: 2♦: We are very interested to know more about Pard's hand. Naming a new suit after Pard's overcall is forcing for one round. We are showing a nice suit of our own, and probably lack support for Pard's suit. We would cuebid if we had support.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 10 9
♥ A J 5 4
♦ Q 4 3
♣ J 10 5 3

Q: 5 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	1♥	1♠	Pass
?

A: 1 No-trump: Shows 6-9 pts and stoppers in the opponents suit.

We've made a success of our new show so far. How about a hand?

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

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

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