Different view

My views on 2-level overcalls in lower ranking suits differs from the expert community at large. For one, I like 5-card overcalls and I think diffently about suit quality requirements (and more). That's for another entry or article.

One of my 'theories' is that you shouldn't overcall 2x over 1M with 4-cards headed by a top honour in their suit. Not even with a good 6-card suit of your own. It's not that it might not work out fine. It's that the odds of it not working out is so much greater that it's no contest. None. Zip.

I'm not in the mood right now for laying down the reasons why. Either accept it, reject it or think about it. As ususal, you decide for yourself.

(Btw don't confuse this with the writings of Mike Lawrence where length in enemy suit is considered a positive factor when overcalling. He writes about 1-level overcalls in a higher ranking suit.)

In 2005 I played the Open Europeans Champoinships in Teneriffe with Fredrik Nyström and told him about it. He was sceptical, of course, and the second day he couldn't contain himself and overcalled 2H over 1S with length in spades. The cost was 11 imps and that's one of the few times I've smiled while recording a double-digit imp loss ;-)

Anyways, this weekend I pulled up, playing imps:

Q743
J93
AKJ973
----

Partner passed and Cecilia Rimstedt opened 1S (11-16 5+) and I passed of course. How did this end up?

This was the full deal:

_____J86
_____T85
_____QT8
_____A754
5_________AKT92
KQ7642____A
5_________642
KQ632_____JT98
_____Q743
_____J93
_____AKJ973
________

They subsided in 2S after Pia Andersson responded 2H and passed a 2S-rebid. Cecilia made it while our teammates (Berteau-Nyström) played 4H making for +420 (the board was played 24 times, making a game 16 times). See how much easier to manage the auction after a 2D-overcall. Strange, right?

Some imps won feels better than others. Yet, I did nothing.