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Takeout Doubles
Some of the examples below feature Equal Level Conversion. Do you play it? Should you? Please read on.
7th September, 2011 None Vul
Should West bid his better major (Hearts) here? The answer is an emphatic “No!” In this situation it is better to bid the Spades first. That way, after the opponents bid again, West can compete with 2♥, showing both majors and giving East a choice between 2♥ and 2♠. Remember, just because East has made a Takeout Double does not mean that he has to have four cards in both majors.
As it happens, after West’s 1♠, North bids 3♦, and West is presented with a new bidding problem: West North East South Pass 1♣ Pass 1♦ Dbl Pass 1♠ 3♦ Pass Pass ??
Should West follow through with his original plan of bidding Hearts, even though the bidding is at the three-level? Perhaps the vulnerability is sufficient excuse, though West is taking the risk of being doubled for down two if he does bid again. Bidding 3♥ turns out to be the winning call. East converts that to 3♠ and E-W escape for down one (a good board, even if they are doubled).
5th October, 2011 None Vul
Over 2♠, West has a fairly clear-cut Double. True, he’s got only three Hearts, but the 17 HCP provide plenty of compensation. We suppose that some will be tempted to bid 3♣ with that hand, but that hardly seems right with such a modest suit and with support for the other suits. How about the next time around, when West is confronted by North’s raise to 3♠? We believe that West should pass here, and not get too excited by those 17 points. After all, two of them are wasted, so it’s really just a shapeless 15, hardly enough to force Partner to bid at the four-level. Passing is the winner on the actual layout, as the highest making E-W contract is 2♣. As for 3♠, it is down a trick with accurate defense.
6th January, 2010 E-W Vul
Do you pass or double or overcall 2♥? We don’t like 2♥ at all, the hand is not quite good enough, and the suit is completely lacking in intermediates. How about the Double? Are you familiar with the Rule of 15 as it applies to Takeout Doubles? Assuming that you have support for the unbid suits (as West does), you count 6 for a void in opener’s suit, 4 for a singleton and 2 for a doubleton. Add that score to your HCP and if the answer is 15 or more then the hand qualifies as a Takeout Double. How does the West hand stack up after the 1♠ opening? 10 HCP plus 4 for the singleton, that’s only 14, it’s one short of the magic number. So, according to this Rule of 15, West should pass.
On the actual deal passing with the West hand is not a great success! E-W have 10 tricks in Diamonds but will never get into the auction. Oh, well, none of these rules is infallible. But we have noticed that the Rule of 15 may be inflated, and that the Rule of 14 may be the way to go.
7th October, 2009 Both Vul
You’ve heard of the Rule of 15 for players in 4th seat, that’s the one where (after three Passes) you add your HCP to the number of Spades, and if the answer is 15 or more then you have an opening bid. There is a less well-known Rule of 15 which can guide us when deciding whether or not to make a Takeout Double: - Count 6 if you are void in the enemy suit, 4 if you are singleton and 2 if you are doubleton - Add that to your HCP - If the answer is 15 or more (and the hand has a suitable shape) then you have a Takeout Double. By this reckoning East has a Takeout Double but we wonder if using 15 as the magic number isn’t a tad conservative. For example, we would certainly be tempted to Double without the ♣J. Consider adopting the Rule of 14 instead!
Here’s a similar situation from Board 24. East holds: ♠ Q642 ♥ K842 ♦ K7 ♣ A52 After RHO opens 1♦, the East hand scores 14 points on our Rule of 15 scale. But we know that we would want to be doubling here, so the Rule of 14 it is!
4th March, 2009 E-W Vul
South’s Redouble showed some values, what next for West? The first reaction here might be to bid Hearts, but there is no rush to pick the trump suit. Passing does not say “I want to defend 2♠ redoubled!”, it says “I have no particular preference, Partner, you pick the suit”. If East were then to bid 3♣, West would bid 3♦ saying “I have Diamonds and Hearts, choose between those”. Well done, West! If he had bid 3♥ over the Redouble, North would have doubled, and that would be -500 for E-W and a bottom board.
4th March, 2009 N-S Vul
Having passed originally, are your 10 HCP and 4-4 in the unbid suits good enough for a Takeout Double? In general, the answer is “Yes!” but on this hand we really wouldn’t bother. The vulnerability is most discouraging, the values are soft, and the ♥Q is more likely to be useful on defense than on offense. Now, suppose that the auction proceeds as follows: South West North East Pass 1♣ Pass 1♥ Pass 2♥ Pass Pass ?? Would you now make a balancing Double? This one is more tempting! The opponents have a fit, so we presumably do also … and the opponents have limited their hands and Partner is marked with some values. Tempting? Yes. Guaranteed to succeed? No!
1st October, 2008 E-W Vul
What does 2♦ show here? It could be made with various super-distributional and slammish hands, but more likely it is a hand with both majors and at least-game-invitational values. The idea is to get our doubling Partner to bid his better major, just in case he is 4-3 in those suits. Is that a good idea on this hand? Absolutely not! There is no good reason to think, if Partner has 3 Spades and 4 Hearts, that 4♥ is a better spot than 4♠. But, with East’s Diamond holding, there is every reason to believe that the hand should be played from the East side. So, an obvious 4♠ bid. Not surprisingly, right-siding the contract gets 11 tricks, playing it from the West side is worth just 10 tricks.
6th August, 2008 Both Vul
Partner has doubled and South interjects with 1♥, a suit in which we have 4 cards, and which we were planning to bid ourselves. Here are West’s options in this situation: - Double shows 4 Hearts which may expose a psyche by South or, more likely will suggest a 4-4 fit to Partner, regardless of the expected 4-1 break. In terms of high-card strength, West could have virtually anything, let’s say about 6+. - 2♥ shows 5 Hearts and less than game-invitational values.
That’s a fairly common (but not universal) agreement, and on this board it gets E-W to where they belong which is 2♥.
4th June, 2008 Board 17 None Vul
North is a passed hand so there is no possibility that 1NT here could be construed as natural, the obvious interpretation is that it shows both the unbid suits, a sort of Unusual NT but at the one-level. That being the case, North has three distinct ways of showing the unbid suits: - Double: Typically 4-4 or 4-5 in the unbid suits with 10 or 11 points. - 2NT: At least 5-5 in the unbid suits, with a weak hand, in other words it’s your classic Unusual NT. - 1NT: Also 5-5, but a better hand. Perhaps something exactly like the actual North hand!
Sure, North could double to show good values (for a passed hand) and the unbid suits, but 1NT is more descriptive, conveying also the 5-5 distribution.
2nd May, 2007 Board 19 E-W Vul
There’s not too much wrong with a 2♦ bid here, but this is a good hand for a Takeout Double, at least if the partnership is playing Equal Level Conversion (ELC). ELC applies after a Double of a one of a major opening bid. Normally, when we double and then bid a new suit, we show substantial extra values, but an exception is often made for this auction:
North East South West Pass 1♥ Dbl Pass 2♣ Pass 2♦ etc.
This “Equal Level Conversion” bid of 2♦ typically shows 4 cards in the unbid major, 5 Diamonds, two or less Clubs, and no substantial extra values.
19th September, 2007 Board 17 None Vul
With the South hand would you make a Takeout Double of 1♥? There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with doubling on 11 HCP’s, but when we do we’d like the hand to be closer to the perfect shape. Yes, we do have 4 Spades, but that doubleton Club is a defect, as is our Heart holding. No, it’s not quite a Double in our view, but, if we were to switch the Heart and Club holdings, then we might well scrounge up a Double.
14th February, 2007 Board 30 None Vul
Partner has doubled, we have 4 cards in the unbid major, don’t we simply need to decide whether this hand is a 2♥ bid, or a 3♥ bid? OK, let’s assume that this is so. How many Hearts do you bid? 2♥ seems rather feeble, but are you really sure that you want to commit to the 3-level? That Q♠ probably won’t be worth much in a Heart contract, and that reduces us to an 8-count. But it gets worse! We have Spade length under Spade length, and therefore they have Spade shortness over Spade shortness. In other words, they are in the overruffing position, which might well make the play of the hand uncomfortable. In fact, as it happens, in the play of the actual hand, that turns out to be the death of a Heart contract.
So, what we are saying is that we don’t think the hand is worth a 3♥ bid. In fact, Professor Oddbid tells us that he wouldn’t even bid Hearts, he would bid 1NT! Yes, like many of his bids, it seems somewhat strange at first, but there is some logic to the call. It lets us show some values (let’s say 7-10) without jumping to the 3-level … a NT contract will allow our Q♠ to play a role … and there will be no overruffs! The Professor’s plan is to chirp in with 2♥ if that turns out to be an option later in the auction.
2nd August, 2006 Board 14 None Vul
Normally, when we make a take-out Double, and then introduce a new suit, we are showing a very good hand, typically around 18 HCPs or thereabouts. But, some partnerships allow for one exception, which goes under the name of Equal Level Conversion … if the opponents open one of a major, and you double, and your Partner bids 2♣, then a bid of 2♦ does not show extras … typically, it shows 4 cards in the unbid major and 5 Diamonds. Anyway, playing ELC, such would be North’s plan, to convert 2♣ to 2♦.
23rd August, 2006 Board 15 N-S Vul
As on Board 13, where we also had 2 cards in an unbid minor, we recommend a Take-out Double. But here the Double is more comfortable, because of our extra strength and a little device known as Equal Level Conversion.
Let’s back up a moment. When we make a Take-out Double, and then bid a new suit we are showing a very good hand, typically 18+, a hand which was too good merely to make a simple overcall. However, there is an exception to be made in a couple of specific auctions, one of which is: South West North East Pass 1♥ Dbl Pass 2♣ Pass 2♦ Playing Equal Level Conversion, that 2♦ bid does not show a huge hand … please see the Link for more on this.
As it happens, North does have a very good hand, one which might consider jumping to 3♦ opposite Partner’s 2♣ bid.
20th June, 2007 Board 27 None Vul
After they open the bidding, our Takeout Double typically shows opening values and support for the unbid suits. But that’s in an ideal world, and in real life there is a trade-off between shape and values. For example, there’s nothing wrong with making a somewhat light Takeout Double when we have the perfect shape. Here, the perfect shape would be 4-1-4-4, shortage in their suit and support for all of the unbid suits, and with that shape we’d find it hard to resist doubling with as few as 10 HCP’s (or even less when non-vulnerable and feeling frisky!).
But, as the shape deteriorates to short of perfection we need compensating HCP values for our Takeout Double, and we would have to say that this 11-count is suffering from altogether too much of the aforementioned deterioration. The main defect is that we have only 3 cards in the unbid major … that and a mere 11-count is not enough for us to want to make a Takeout Double.
As luck would have it, the computer dealt East a similar hand on Board 17: ♠ KJ8 ♥ Q4 ♦ KT65 ♣ AJT7 Again, RHO opened 1♥, but this time we’d double. It’s the same imperfect shape, and the same 3 cards in the unbid major, but the extra beef of our 14-count makes it worth the Double.
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