Takeout Doubles

 

Most of the examples below feature Equal Level Conversion.  Do you play it?  Should you?  Please read on.

        

2nd May, 2007                  Board 19      Dealer South       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      Dealer North       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      Dealer East       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      Dealer East      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      Dealer South       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      Dealer South       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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