Barristan the Bold

On Saturday night me and Anna went down to St. Andrew Bridge Club. The hands were all hand dealt, which means no hand records, but with Anna's help I've reconstructed this board. Anna was sitting West, and me East.

No vul S deal ♠ J 6 5 ♥ T 7 6 4 ♦ K J ♣ K J 9 8 ♠ A Q 9 7 4 3 ♥ J 9 5 ♦ 9 4 ♣ T 2 9 7 11 13 ♠ T 8 ♥ K 6 3 ♦ A Q 6 5 2 ♣ Q 5 3 ♠ K 2 ♥ A Q 8 ♦ T 8 7 3 ♣ A 7 6 4

Anna Danny W N E S 1NT - - -

South opened a 12-14 1NT, passed out. Anna could have stretched a bit to bid 2♦, showing a 6 card major, but didn't fancy it. North passed, and so did I. Anna lead the fourth highest ♠7. When North put down her 9 point dummy she said that she could have bid, but didn't have enough points. She added that if she wanted to bid, she'd have to take here shoes off. I didn't know what this meant, but declarer seemed to understand, and called for the ♠6 from dummy. I covered this and she won the ♠K in hand.

Clearly, Anna has found the killer lead. From my perspective, sitting East, if the ♠7 is indeed fourth highest then I know that Anna has all the remaining high Spades, and probably five or six of them. I can also see my ♦AQ sitting nicely over dummy's ♦KJ.

After winning her ♠K declarer started on Clubs. She cashed the ♣A then finessed the ♣J. I eagerly took my Queen and returned a Spade, to Anna's delight. At this point I should paraphrase Mike Lawrence's Bols Bridge Tip:

You are now in charge. Each one a little firmer than the one before, you pound out your remaining Spades. You're feeling a little ecstasy mixed with a little power as you turn the final Spade. Feels good, doesn't it? Now what? Cutting through a euphoric glow, you reconstruct the last four tricks. Partner discarded the - what did he discard?

With my Club and Anna's five Spades we had six tricks. If Anna switched to a Diamond we had at least two more tricks. If she played something else, declarer could get all the last tricks and make the contract. I knew I wanted a Diamond switch, and on my first discard on Spades played the ♥6 - we play McKenny so this high card asks for a high suit. On my second discard I wanted to make it really clear that the ♥6 was a high Heart, asking for Diamonds, so now threw away the ♥3. This meant baring the singleton ♥K, but I figured it was worth it to make a clear signal, as I knew a Diamond switch would take the contract down.

On the next Spade I threw a Club. Then with West on lead to cash the last Spade this was the situation:

♠ - ♥ T 7 ♦ K J ♣ K 9 ♠ 3 ♥ J 9 5 ♦ 9 4 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ K ♦ A Q 6 5 2 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ A Q ♦ T 8 7 ♣ 7

Anna led her last Spade. Dummy threw a Heart, and I had another discard to make. Inspired by Barristan the Bold I decided that I might as well keep all my Diamonds, so threw away my ♥K. Declarer threw away a Diamond from hand. This was also bold, as she was keeping winners at the risk of throwing away a Diamond stop.

In her excitement at cashing all the Spades Anna had indeed missed my discards, so now had a guess. Although I didn't intend it this way, me throwing ♥K was a big clue that I didn't want Hearts, and she correctly switched to a Diamond. I then took five Diamond tricks, meaning declarer had only won the first two tricks. The result of 1NT-5 gave us +250. This was aggregate scoring, so didn't help too much, but nice anyway.

Later, there was some bold bidding.

♠ 7 5 ♥ K T 4 3 ♦ K Q 5 ♣ T 6 4 2 8 15 ♠ A J 9 4 3 ♥ A Q 9 8 ♦ A 4 ♣ 8 5

Anna Danny W N E S - - 1♠ - 1NT - 2♥1 - 3♥ - 4♥ - - - 1: Bold

I opened the East hand 1♠, and Anna replied 1NT. Since Anna has 6-9 points, and I only have 15, I was going to pass, especially as I think to rebid 2♥ I ought to have 5431 shape. I decided to bid, and it worked out well as Anna was able to raise, and I bid a good game. I got a trump lead, so was able to discard a Club, and made the hand on a cross-ruff.

Finally, here's some boldness that didn't pay off.

No vul E deal ♠ Q J 9 4 ♥ A K ♦ 7 3 ♣ A K J 8 5 ♠ A 8 6 3 2 ♥ T 7 6 5 4 2 ♦ - ♣ 7 3 18 4 14 4 ♠ - ♥ Q J 9 8 ♦ A K Q T 9 4 ♣ Q T 4 ♠ K T 7 5 ♥ 3 ♦ J 8 6 5 2 ♣ 9 6 2

Anna Danny W N E S 1♦ - 1♥ x 3♠ - 4♥ x - - -

I had the big fat East hand, and opened 1♦. Anna had only four points, but is well worth a bid. She bid 1♥, and North had an easy double. I was undeterred, and decided to go to at least game. I bid 3♠, as a splinter. Anna actually has quite a good hand opposite my splinter, with extra trumps and a seven loser hand, but wisely decided to sign off in game. It was still enough for North to double. I thought about redoubling, which I've never done before, but passed.

If Anna has any one of the four cards of ♣AK and ♥AK game would be easy, or even if we got a nice Spade lead. Unfortunately though North cashed the ♣AK, and it had to go one off. 4♥x-1 was worth -100.

Afterwards South said that she thought of bidding 4♠ - not sure what would happen then (would Anna double, would I pass?), but if everyone passes it might go one down.

In the end we finished the night third overall, with -170 points.

Bols Bridge Tips

I've just read The 2nd Bols Book of Bridge Tips, by Andre Boekhorst. Each chapter is a short tip about some aspect of the game, by a leading expert. Here are my favourites:

The Five Level Belongs to the Opponents

By Ed Manfield.

Suppose you've bid something like 4♥, then the opponents bid 5♦. Rather than ploughing on with 5♥, prefer to pass or double. You only go on with a five over five bid with an exceptional hand, such as one with a void.

Picture the Original Shape

By Matthew Granovetter.

During the bidding and play, try and work out declarer's hand shape. It's easier to match declarer (and partner) to a particular hand pattern, 4-4-3-2, 5-4-3-1 etc., than counting up all the cards in each suit.

Don't Think, always duck a repeatable finesse

By Alfred Sheinwold.

Suppose that you are defending, and are about to win a finesse. Don't win it! If it's not going anywhere it's better to duck. This makes life harder for declarer, who might waste entries taking the finesse again.

	A Q J T
5 4		K 3 2
	9 8 7 6

For example, if you're sitting East you should duck the King without a second thought.

This works best in trumps, because you know you'll get the trick later. There are dangers - such as ducking the setting trick or ducking with Kx.

If they don't cover, they don't have it

By Zia Mahmood.

	J 5
	A K T 7 6 3

Suppose you lead the Jack from dummy, planning to finesse. East will play the Queen whenever he has it. So if East doesn't play the Queen, you can conclude he doesn't have it, and you play off the Ace-King instead. Occasionally, you'll drop a doubleton Queen with West.

Lead towards the closed hand if possible

By Tony Forrester.

	K Q x x x x
	-

It's much harder for the defence if you lead from dummy, towards your hand. If you have the suit above in dummy, and a void in hand, then it's best to lead a low one from dummy. East might well play the Ace, thinking perhaps you have a singleton Jack.

Second hand high, to cut off entries to long suit

By Eric Rodwell.

	A J T 9 x
K x x		Q x x
	x x

Suppose declarer has that big suit in dummy, and no other entries. When declarer first leads low from hand West should pop up with the King.

No talking at the table

By Kitty Bethe.

Don't discuss a hand afterwards, especially if it goes badly. It's better just to move on. Also, don't say anything when you put dummy down, such as "Could I have bid 2♠ instead?", as that will disrupt declarer's concentration. It's better to save the discussion until the end of the session.

Rubbery Bridge

In preparation for the Peebles Congress (which Martin thinks is in Harrogate), the four of us met up this Sunday in John's flat. Me and Anna are honing our simple system, Martin and John were for some reason trying to play a system written by Jake, which neither of them had read. There was a lot of talk of Bergen Raises, but in the end I don't think they ever came up.

Martin brought a bridge table and bidding boxes, John made a stew. What a day! We played rubber bridge. Twice in the first few hands John and Martin made games and claimed extra points for honours, and Anna said Rubber Bridge was stupid. Once you already have a part score, like 1NT= for 40, there's no point bidding anything that scores more than 60 points unless you're interested in slam. So, bids like 3♥ become slam invites. That's the theory anyway, often the team with a part score forgot they had a part score, which John scrupulously alerted each time.

Me and Anna lost the first two rubbers heavily, despite the occasional victory in making 2♦x= and 2♥x=. Then we had the following strange auction:

Martin	Anna	John	Danny
W	N	E	S
			1♦
1NT	-	2♣*	2♦
x	-	2♥	-
3♥	-	-	-

I opened 1♦ and West overcalled 1NT. East bid 2♣ as Stayman, and I boldly weighed in again with 2♦, with a good six card suit. Then West doubled. At the time it wasn't clear what that double meant, and East-West went on to play 3♥. Afterwards though we all thought that the double should be penalties, as West has already shown a good Diamond stop with 1NT.

A similar auction happened later:

NS vul E deal ♠ A x x x x ♥ J x x x ♦ 6 ♣ K T x ♠ K Q J ♥ K Q x ♦ A Q 7 2 ♣ x x x 8 17 8 7 ♠ x x x x ♥ A T x x x ♦ 8 4 ♣ A x ♠ x ♥ x ♦ K J T 9 5 3 ♣ Q J 9 x x

Martin Anna John Danny W N E S - - 1NT - 2♣ 2♦ x - - -

I dealt myself the tasty South cards. We do now play three Weak Twos so I could have opened 2♦. Given I have such short Majors, I also considered 3♦, but with partner being an unpassed hand decided not to risk her wrath. I went for a modest pass, planning to weigh in again later to show both my minors.

West opened 1NT showing 15-17 (it's the only option in Rubber Bridge apparently), and East bid 2♣ Stayman. I want to get involved now, and can see three ways to do it. The tamest is just to double, showing Clubs. I could also overcall 2♦. Lastly, I could bid 2NT, which would show minors. At unfavourable vulnerability I chose the middle road, and bid 2♦. West doubled, and East left it in.

West led the ♠K, and Anna rather bashfully put dummy down. It's rather poor, with just one trump. The upside is that the opponents having eight Spades and 25 points (and the Diamond finesse is sure to work) so you know they have a game on. I can't remember the hand diagram exactly, but the North and South hands are right.

There's only four obvious losers - two trumps, a Club and a Heart. And with the strong Club suit I've got enough winners too. The problem is, I'm going to lose trump control. I've got two more trumps than West, but I'm going to have to lose the lead four times. Once on opening lead, twice on drawing trumps, and once on losing the ♣A. Even if the opponents run out of Hearts after making me ruff three times (and then have to play Spades), ruffing three times is still too many, as I have only two more trumps than West. I should always come away with at least six tricks though - four trumps, a Club and the Spade Ace.

If I concentrate on Clubs, without drawing trumps, it doesn't help me keep control. Each time West ruffs a Club he can just play a major suit to make me ruff once more. And it might even be that East ruffs the Club. The final option is to try not to establish Clubs, and just ruff lots of times in my hand, but I think that fails from lack of entries to dummy.

I got a Spade lead. This is a slight reprieve, as I don't have to ruff straight away, but doesn't really help. I still have to lose the lead three more times. My only hope is that one of the trumps is onside, so I began with a trump to the ♦9. West could duck this, but it's dangerous to duck too many trumps, as then I might be able to start on Clubs and force her to ruff with top trumps.

West won the ♦Q and returned a Heart, which I ruffed. I played a Club to East's Ace, and John went into a think. The defence have taken four tricks so far:

♠ x x x ♥ J x ♦ - ♣ T x ♠ Q J ♥ x ♦ A 7 2 ♣ x x ♠ x x x ♥ A x x ♦ 8 ♣ x ♠ - ♥ - ♦ K J T 5 ♣ Q J 9 x

He made his first blunder of the day (since revoking earlier) and played a trump to West's Ace. I'm now home. Whatever West plays I can ruff, draw trumps, and take all the Clubs. The final result was 2♦x+1.

Despite one good result we lost this rubber too. As a Gentleman I settled up on behalf of me and Anna. Then we played an exciting variant of bridge, where at your turn you produce two cards out the box, and flip a coin to see which one is your actual bid. I think it might need some work, as on the only hand we tried it the result was 4♣x-7.

We're ready for Peebles.

Unpopular bidding

Here's another hand from the aggregate pairs at St. Andrews last Monday. I faced two tough dilemmas. Not ethical dilemmas this time though, just straight up bidding decisions.

Here's my big hand:

♠A3 ♥74 ♦AKQT8 ♣AT84

Lovely. At favourable vulnerability, my right hand opponent dealt and opened 1♠. This was a five card major. I've got three options now:

• Double - it's a 17 point hand
• 1NT - it's a semi-balanced 15-17, with a Spade stop
• 2♦ - a maximum overcall with a good suit
• 2NT - Showing minors

I think the modern style is to go for 2♦, as it makes things easier in later rounds. I didn't like that as it doesn't get across the strength of the hand, and we might easily miss a game. I didn't even consider 1NT, but maybe I should have. It's maybe too strong for that though. In the end I doubled, planning on bidding Diamonds on the next round.

Double might not be the best, but me and partner have agreed that doubling then bidding a suit shows 16-18 and a good suit, so at least we'd know where we stood. In fact, later in the night we had that auction, when the opponents opened 1♦ and I had ♠AQ ♥AQ82 ♦T2 ♣AQT72 I doubled then bid 2♣.

Over my double though things took an unexpected turn. Left hand opponent bid 2♥ and opener raised to 4♥. Here's my hand and the auction so far:

♠A3 ♥74 ♦AKQT8 ♣AT84

Danny Anna W N E S 1♠ x 2♥ - 4♥

Now I have another dilemma. I'd originally doubled because I have such a good hand. Am I going to go quietly now, or will I bid again? Here's the options:

• Double. Two ways to win. It might be going down, or if partner has a really distributional they might sacrifice.
• Pass - They're probably going to make it.
• 4NT - for minors.

I think bidding 4NT is definitely wrong, as for all you know 4♥ is going down. It's better to involve partner. The problem with doubling is, partner might still think that you have Hearts for your first takeout double. I thought 4♥ was probably going down, but I convinced myself to pass. This was the full deal:

NS vul S deal ♠ K ♥ K J T 3 2 ♦ J 6 3 ♣ K J 9 2 ♠ A 3 ♥ 7 4 ♦ A K Q T 8 ♣ A T 8 4 12 17 4 7 ♠ Q 9 8 7 ♥ 5 ♦ 9 5 2 ♣ Q 7 6 5 3 ♠ J T 6 5 4 2 ♥ A Q 9 8 5 ♦ 7 4 ♣ -

Danny Anna W N E S 1♠ x 2♥ - 4♥ - - -

So 4♥ was passed out. When dummy (South) came down we were all a bit surprised. Not wanting to open a hand with such good majors he's opened a cheeky seven point hand! Risky, but hit the jackpot when partner bid Hearts. Anna, sitting East, lead a Club. Rather than ruffing, declarer discarded a losing Diamond from dummy, and let me win the trick in West. I cashed a top Diamond then played Hearts. When declarer lead a Spade from dummy I ducked my ♠A, as I thought that maybe if he had something like ♠K9 he might have a guess, and could go down if he got it wrong. As it happened he had singleton ♠K, which won the trick for 4♥+1.

There were eight tables altogether. The others had North-South in 3♥+1, 4♥=, 4♥x= and 5♥x=-1. On the other three tables EW played, and scored 5♣-2, 5♦x-2 and 5♣x=.

According to the hand records, there are nine tricks available in Diamonds and ten in Clubs. But you could get more if they defence fails to take their Heart, or less if you don't drop the singleton ♠K. But it looks like it's a good sacrifice against 4♥. The problem is, if I double on the second round, will partner pass or bid? Anna was coy about this, and said she might have bid 5♣.

I posted the problem of what to do on the second round on the Bridge Base Forums. Most people ignored my question about what to do on the second round, and just commented on how much they hated my first double. As for the second double 5/7 people favoured Pass, and 2/7 Double, so I feel vindicated.

Bridge Base Forums comments here.

Dodgy ethics

Me and Anna played at St. Andrew's Bridge Club on Monday. I've been on holiday quite a while now, and have slightly lost track of time. "Is it normally aggregate scoring on a Saturday?" I asked irrelevantly. I'd forgotten that it was Monday. It was indeed aggregate scoring though.

Me and Anna played well, with no mistakes. We bid and made all of the games we were dealt, and did well in the partscores. We were even lucky the opponents missed a slam against us, but unlucky that they made a lot of games too. In the end we finished 3rd overall.

In my featured hand we got a very good result, making a part score our way when everyone else went minus. But it came at quite a price, as I made a dubiously ethical bid. I didn't know at the time what the law was, and bid it because I wanted to, but now I know that I was very wrong.

Here's my West hand and auction, leading up to my crucial decision. No one vulnerable:

♠ K 7 6 5 2 ♥ 8 4 ♦ K 6 3 ♣ Q 8 3

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - - ?

North opened a 12-14 no trump. Anna sitting East paused for quite a while, then passed. South transferred with 2♦, and North completed the transfer. Anna paused again over 2♥, and it was passed round to me.

Even though it's aggregate scoring, I'd like to bid 2♠ here. After they pass out 2♥, partner rates to have some points (at least 8 or so), and we've probably got a Spade fit. It's a risky bid, but it's what I want to do. But after partner's two big pauses, it's sort of clear she's got a decent hand.

Ethically, I have to pass. Even though I think I would have bid 2♠ even without the help of partner's pauses, that's not good enough. I think the law is that I have to be actively ethical. I can only bid 2♠, if it's really the only sensible bid. Here that's not the case, as pass is certainly a logical alternative. I wasn't sure on this, but have since got some expert help (more on that later). In a tournament if the director was called, he would probably rule that my 2♠ bid was suggested by partner's hesitation, and rule the score back to 2♥ their way, making.

In the end though I did bid 2♠. Here's the full hand and auction:

No one vul s deal ♠ A Q 4 ♥ K T 9 ♦ J T 8 5 4 ♣ A 6 ♠ K 7 6 5 2 ♥ 8 4 ♦ K 6 3 ♣ Q 8 3 14 8 10 8 ♠ J T 9 3 ♥ A J 2 ♦ - ♣ K J T 9 5 4 ♠ 8 ♥ Q 7 6 5 3 ♦ A Q 9 7 2 ♣ 7 2

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - - 2♠ - - -

After I did bid 2♠, it was passed out. South had a good think about this, and I would certainly have bid 3♦ with his hand, as you've got a 5-5 hand with short Spades so don't want to defend. If you do bid Diamonds, it works out great as partner has five of them, and three card Heart support too.

I get a great dummy in 2♠, and it looks like I could make loads of tricks. Actually though it was hard going. Both Spade honours offisde, repeated Diamond leads, and forgetting how many trumps were left, meant I made just eight tricks. Still, 2♠= was a very good score. On the other tables North-South were playing in Diamonds or Hearts making overtricks. North-South have such a good fit in fact I think you can make 4♥, but the analysis sheet says you can only make nine tricks (why is this?).

Here's the results of the deal on the St Andrew's website.

Finally, as mentioned above, before writing this I wanted some expert advice. So I wrote a poll about what I should do on the Bridge Base Forums. You can see the results (and vote if you want) here. Almost everyone thought that I should pass out 2♥, most because I'm ethically barred from bidding, and some because they wouldn't bid anyway.

Tourna-mental

Last night me and Anna boldly decided to have a go at an online tournament. This is the first time we've done this.

We entered "SpHiNx Pairs", along with 369 other pairs. Anna was pretty nervous, and I certainly didn't help. On the first board I miscounted my losers and put Anna in a hopeless 6♠, off two. Then she passed my takeout double of 1♥, and declarer made it with three overtricks. 1♥x +3 was not a good score.

These two bad boards were followed by two very good ones, which were a bit wild too and did nothing to settle the nerves. The opponents went way overboard in 4♠, doubled, then Anna bid an impulsive 5♣, doubled, and made it. though.

My featured board is that 5♣x=, which gained us 7.6 IMPs.

All vul N deal ♠ Q 6 3 ♥ J 4 ♦ Q 7 4 3 ♣ A 8 3 2 ♠ K 8 4 2 ♥ A T 8 5 2 ♦ K 5 ♣ J 6 9 11 4 16 ♠ J T 9 7 5 ♥ Q 9 7 6 ♦ J 6 2 ♣ T ♠ A ♥ K 3 ♦ A T 9 8 ♣ K Q 9 7 5 4

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1♣ 1♠ 2♣ 2♠ 5♣ x - - -

Anna opened the big South hand 1♣, which West overcalled 1♠. Why West overcalled 1♠ I have no idea. I had the decent looking North hand, and settled for a modest 2♣, prepared to bid 3♣ later if I had too. East raised to 2♠ and Anna had a rebid problem. With four losers and a ten card Club fit, she went for 5♣, which looks fine to me. Afterwards she suggested she could have bid 3♦ instead, which would probably have got us to a rather dodgy 3NT (which does make - eight tricks on top, extra tricks in Diamonds, and opponents can't attack Hearts or Spades without giving you tricks).

5♣ potentially has four losers - two in Hearts and two in Diamonds, if you are very unlucky. West lead the ♥A, which limited us to one Heart loser straight away. So Anna drew trumps then got ready to play Diamonds. The normal way to play the suit is to finesse twice, but since West doubled there's an arguement for playing him for holding ♦K and ♦J and leading up to dummy's Queen. Anna went for the standard double finesse, leading the ♦Q from dummy, which worked nicely. When West won his ♦K he made it easy for Anna by returning a Diamond, for 5♣x=.

Perhaps West played that second round of Diamonds as he was reluctant to lead a Heart and give a ruff and discard, or a Spade away from the King (although actually on this layout that is safe). Declarer could try and make it harder for the defence, by eliminating the other suits before tackling Diamonds. You could just cash the ♠A, or better eliminate all the Spades. Then, even when West has ♦KJx, once he wins his ♦K he might be forced to returning Diamonds as he knows the other suits will give a ruff and discard. In fact, with four Diamonds in each hand, you don't gain anything by a ruff and discard, but the defence don't know that.

This would be the position after Spades are eliminated, with dummy on lead about to run the ♦Q.

All vul N deal ♠ - ♥ - ♦ Q 7 4 3 ♣ 8 3 ♠ K ♥ T 8 5 ♦ K 5 ♣ - ♠ J ♥ Q 9 ♦ J 6 2 ♣ - ♠ - ♥ - ♦ A T 9 8 ♣ Q 9

After that third doubled hand in a row, things settled down slightly. I made a poor 1NT, Anna squeeked home in 3NT, then made another 5♣. Then she lost her connection, was replaced by a Sub, and had to sit and watch this extraordinary auction.

EW vul S deal ♠ 8 ♥ 8 5 3 ♦ K T 9 8 7 ♣ Q J 8 3 ♠ A 5 ♥ A K Q T 7 ♦ J 6 ♣ 7 6 5 4 6 14 15 5 ♠ K Q J T 9 6 4 3 2 ♥ - ♦ Q ♣ A K 9 ♠ 7 ♥ J 9 6 4 2 ♦ A 5 4 3 2 ♣ T 2

Danny Sub W N E S - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♥ - 3♦ - - -

East opened 1♥, West replied a simple 1♠, and East rebid 2♥. Now West made up the forcing bid of 3♦, which gave East a rebid problem. He found it such a big problem he decided to pass, leaving them in 3♦, a nice 2-1 fit.

Declarer has six top tricks outside trumps, and somehow, through terrible defence, made it up to eight tricks. Me and the Sub both trumped each others winners. I did it accidentally, then I think he got upset and did it on purpose, then he deliberately crashed his ♦A with my ♦K. The end result was for 3♦-1. But since everyone else was in 4♠+2; or 6♠=, we gained an undeserved 15 IMPs here.

In the end, with a lot of help from that last hand, me and Anna finished 67th out of 370 pairs.

System On - Defence

This is the last blog entry in a series describing the basic Acol system that me and Anna play in Glasgow. Hope you're reading this Anna.

Carding

This is pretty standard.

• Reverse attitude on partner's lead.
• Standard count on declarer's lead.
• McKenny discards.

Defence to Multi 2♦

Our defence to 2♦ is a bit controversial, as we tried something else and Anna didn't like it so we've switched. This is what we've agreed on now.

• Double shows a weak NT, or 18+.
• Overcalls are natural two level overcalls.
• Once they've bid a suit doubles are takeout.

Defence to Short 1♣

Just ignore it and treat it like a normal 1♣.

Defence to Lucas Twos

Pretend it's a normal Weak Two opening (2NT overcall is 15-19 with a stop, etc.)

To finish, here's a picture of a horse stuck in a fence: