Posted 2021-March-12, 16:41
I do not like:
north's 3H. yes it is generally played as less than invitational, but it ought not to be played as 'preemptive', since opener has no room to enquire...he has to decide whether to bid game or not, and since say Kxxx Axxx xxx xx is a normal 3H raise, and we are about a trick less than that, bidding on garbage turns the game into a guessing contest. We pass, and either balance 3H over 3m, if passed around to us, or we hope partner can take some action. Does this mean that occasionally we miss a good result? Yes, but so what? Don't go chasing tops on every board
South's 4H. Yes, he has a right to expect a better hand from partner but we barely have an acceptance of an uncontested limit raise, and partner doesn't have a limit raise, plus we can expect (more often than not, and yes I do see that on this hand the club Queen is onside) the AQ of clubs too often be in the wrong hand AND east often to be overruffing dummy in clubs.
West's 5D: for the reasons given by Douglas. 4D was merely competitive, and west's clubs are weak, he lacks any shape beyond what he's promised and he has better defence than he promised... that spade King is potentially very well positioned, and he has the club Ace, as opposed to say KQxxx, which might or might not be a trick, but which in any event requires a loss of tempo when trying to set it up.
As for the discussion about 2N: historically it was common to be taught that 2-suited overcalls should be weak or strong, and never intermediate.
However, as best as I can tell from my expert partners, the expert opps I sometimes play, and the reading/kibitzing I have been doing, that is no longer the expert consensus, although I am sure some good players still do this. Nowadays the consensus appears to be that one has to 'get in' with the descriptive distributional information as soon as possible.
Here's some of the rationale:
Say we consider the west hand as intermediate (I wouldn't...to me this is a normal range vulnerable 2N, but if we were white v red then it would be intermediate)...and we have a style wherein we do not show a 2-suiter with intermediate hands.
Our choices then are pass(!) or 2D...obviously we'd opt for 2D.
Say it then goes 3H on our left, P by partner and either Pass or 4H by RHO. How happy are we?
Well, say partner has Axx xx xx Kxxxxx?
Improbable, but definitely not impossible. We are cold for 5C.m But can we bid 4C over 3H or 5C over 4H?
Only if we have a combination of a death wish and a deep dislike for partner, who happens (when they bid 4H) to be looking at QJxx QJ10x xx xx
The problem, in other words, is that when we hold an intermediate hand, and our style prevents us from showing both suits, we will frequently find ourself in a position in which we cannot afford to show our second suit because when we have shape, often times the opps also have shape and can be raising the level based on their fit plus their hcp, and we can't tell if they are bidding on shape alone or on strength.
Bidding 2N on intermediate hands is imperfect...that's why (historically) it wasn't done much. But decades of high level play is the crucible in which styles are explored, tested, modified, rejected, etc.
One other plausible reason for the change to wide range treatments is that these days most people bid (including opening and raising) on hands that, 50 years ago, would have been routine passes. Plus even many non-experts are much better at relatively sedate competitive auctions than was the case many years ago. A 2D overcall of 1H really doesn't do a lot to disrupt their auction, while 2N can wreak havoc even against solid pairs...you've simply taken away valuable bidding space.
Btw, see what a 2D overcall might have led to: North bids 3H, preemptive, east bids 4D, and south, opposite a preemptive raise, has no reason to bid over 4D...if 4D makes, it is only 130 or 150, and 4H rates to go down 200 opposite many weak raises, even undoubled. Thus the 2N overcall was actually working, due to poor competitive choices by N-S, until West committed his own error.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari