Support Doubles

Support Doubles

You LHO Pard RHO

1♦ Pass 1♥ 1♠

Dbl

How do you play this Double by Opener? It does not seem too useful to play this for penalties, so most tournament players employ another treatment. It’s called the Support Double, and it shows 3-card support for Partner’s suit. Yes, with a 3-card fit for Partner you could just support Partner with a 2♥ bid, if push came to shove. But, surely it’s better to be able to distinguish between 3-card support (the above auction), and 4-card support, as in the following auction:

You LHO Pard RHO

1♦ Pass 1♥ 1♠

2♥

Yes, needless to say, if we raise Partner’s suit directly, we show a 4^th trump. And if we neither Double nor raise Partner? Then we have fewer than 3 cards in Partner’s suit. To recap:

(a) A Support Double applies to Opener’s rebid, after RHO has bid something;

(b) It shows 3-card support for Partner’s suit;

(c) If we are in a Support Double situation, but, instead, we choose to raise Partner’s suit directly, then this shows 4-card support;

(d) If we are unable to raise Partner, and unable to make a Support Double, then we probably have 2 or less in Partner’s suit.

How High?

Most partnerships play that Support Doubles are only on up to two of Partner’s suit. For example:

You LHO Pard RHO

1♦ Pass 1♥ 2♠

The Double here is not a Support Double, as this would force us to the 3-level. If it’s not a Support Double, then what is it? It’s a penalty double.

1NT Doubles

Suppose that the auction goes as follows:

You LHO Pard RHO

1♦ Pass 1♥ 1NT

If that 1NT is the so-called “Sandwich No Trump”, showing a distributional hand with the unbid suits, then Support Doubles are very much on. But, what if the 1NT bid is natural? Is the Double for penalties? Or is it a Support Double? Different partnerships play it different ways, either approach is eminently reasonable. If you are playing Support Doubles, make sure that you discuss this particular situation with Partner. Playing this as a Support Double has the benefit of being simple and consistent, but, once in a while you will miss the opportunity for a big, fat, juicy penalty. Our own preference is that this is a Support Double, our tendency is to gravitate towards simplicity and consistency.

Support Redoubles

Next, try this auction:

You LHO Pard RHO

1♦ Pass 1♥ Dbl

Yes, indeed, there is also such a thing as a Support Redouble. As expected, the Redouble here shows the 3-card support, and a direct raise to 2♥ shows 4-card support.

Some Exceptions

You LHO Pard RHO

1♣ Pass 1♦ 1♠

You could use the Double here to show 3-card support for Partner’s Diamond suit, but, really, why bother? The game nowadays is mostly about the majors, and most tournament players would see no purpose in devoting a conventional double to showing 3-card support for a minor. So, in auctions such as this, where Responder’s suit is a minor, and where there is an undid major, the double shows 4 cards in the unbid major.

Consider this situation:

♠ QT54 You LHO Pard RHO

♥ Q74 1♣ Pass 1♥ 1♠

♦ QJ8 ??

♣ KQJ

The question here is whether or not Opener is obliged to make a Support Double when he holds 3-card support. Most of the time (some partnerships would say all of the time) you will make that Support Double with 3-card support, but there may be occasional exceptions. Here, for example, surely a rebid of 1NT is more descriptive than showing Heart support.

Extra Strength

You LHO Pard RHO

1♣ Pass 1♥ 1♠

After this auction, what is your rebid holding the following?

♠ A4

♥ KQ3

♦ A76

♣ AJT65

With a fourth Heart we would be able to jump to 4♥ to show our extra values. But, holding only 3 Hearts that would be inappropriate, we cannot be sure that the hand belongs in Hearts. So, we make a Support Double, the point being that this bid has nothing to do with strength, it merely shows 3 Hearts. Showing the extra strength of this hand will have to wait until later.

For examples of Support Doubles from actual play, please follow this link to the Archives