Action Doubles

 

Elsewhere we discuss doubles of various persuasions, such as Takeout, Negative, Support, Responsive, maximal, etc.  The Action Double is less well-defined than the aforementioned, it's basically an "I don't know what to do but I want to do something" Double.  The most common situations are (a) when we are in balancing seat and don't want to sell out, but don't have an obvious action, and (b) when we have limited our hand already, but have maximum values, again with no clear-cut action.

 

28th February, 2007         Board 31      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

As passed hands go, West’s hand is quite maximum, and the way to show that is with a Double.  North’s auction shows 18-19 HCP’s, but there’s still the prospect of a juicy penalty if Partner has a decent overcall.  Not such a difficult problem, but it’s worthwhile considering the difference between the aforementioned Double and the one that follows:

            West    North   East     South 

                                                Pass

            Pass    1♣       1♦        Pass

            1♥        2♣       Pass    Pass

            Dbl

What does this Double mean?  Well, what is doesn’t show is a maximum original Pass (though West might also have one of those).  No, it merely shows a hand that does not want to sell out to 2♣, and which would like Partner to make the decision.

 

The basic message here is that a Double of 1NT is value-showing and primarily penalty-oriented, whereas the low-level Double of a suit bid is generally takeout-oriented and could be made on lesser values.

 

 

28th February, 2007         Board 13      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

First of all, how about that 2♥ bid on the previous round of bidding?  We are pretty much maximum for that bid, with a bit of shape or a tad more in HCP’s we would be jumping to show invitational values.  Does that mean we should compete to 3♥ now?  Maybe 3♥ is the place to be, but we don’t know for sure, and we cannot even be certain that Partner has 4 Hearts.  It must be better to offer Partner a choice, we would double here, showing general values, and letting Partner decide.

 

On the actual deal, after our Double of 2♠, Partner will have a tough choice between Pass and 3♥.  Pass is the winner (+200), and 3♥ is touch and go for -100 or +140, but at least our Double gives Partner the chance of doing the right thing, whereas bidding 3♥ gives her no options at all.

 

 

11th October, 2006           Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

Whenever the auction is at a low level, and we are in the balancing seat, and we are not sure what to do, but we really think that we should be doing something, the answer is invariably to double.  Call it an “action Double” or a balancing Double or whatever you like, it simply says to Partner “I don’t want to sell out, but I don’t know what to do, hopefully you can help me out here”.

 

And so it is here.  North has the values to compete, but no direction.  Doubling here says just that.

 

 

23rd August, 2006             Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

The question is … “Should North take some kind of balancing action?”  Yes, we think so.  North was extremely close on the previous round of bidding to making a stronger call, her hand is within a whisker of qualifying for a limit raise bid of 3♣ over their 2♣ (some would say that it does qualify).  Does this mean that North should balance here with a 3♠ bid?  No, we’d prefer a Double, which basically says “I don’t have an extra (fourth) trump for you, but I do have a good hand, make an intelligent decision, please”.

 

 

21st November, 2007        Board 13      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

Some players don’t bother using Stayman when they have square distribution, arguing that, with nothing to ruff, there is no reason to play in a suit contract.  That’s not good logic in our view, more often than not the No Trump opener will have a ruffing value.

 

Having said that, we agree that it is most aggravating, after using Stayman with this hand, to find the 4-4 Spade fit and then discover that Partner has the identical square distribution.  Here’s a solution to the problem, but it involves giving up your current use for 1NT 3♦.  If you haven’t used that sequence lately, you may want to try Square Stayman.  It’s used only when holding a square, game-going hand with a 4-card major.  After 1NT 3♦, Opener bids his 4-card major only if his hand is not also square, otherwise he conceals his major and bids 3NT.  Pretty simple, eh?  It won’t come up very often, but then again neither do most other treatments of 1NT 3♦.

 

© BES, Inc

All Rights Reserved