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 "Old Habits Die Hard" Responding to Overcalls by Marti Ronemus

Here's something interesting I came across, and it's a good example of old habits dying hard.

"Back in the Day" when an officer stopped a driver, it was common practice for the officer to touch a car's taillight. It's a behavior that dates back decades, and many officers still retain the habit. I have personal experience of this and always wondered about it. Here's why:

Before cameras were installed on the dashboards of most police cars, tapping the taillight was an inconspicuous way for officers to leave behind evidence of the encounter.

If something were to happen to the officer during the traffic stop or if the driver denied the stop, their interaction with the driver could be traced back to the fingerprints left on the vehicle.

Interesting, no? But what about us? What old habits do we have that we can't let go off? Where have we left OUR fingerprints? Let's work on responding to Overcalls and see how our habits are.

Question 1

  Your Hand
 
 K 9 8
 K 10 9 8 7 5
 9 8 4 3
 
Q: 1 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-11Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: Pass: Listen, you have no responsibility to save your Pard. Yes, we know, you hate to leave him in this horrid spot. You don't have the cash to name a new suit at the two-level and without a stopper in their suit, you can't bid No-trump. Just be quiet and hope the opponents get back in the auction. Don't form the habit of making a bad situation worse.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 A J 10 9 4
 9
 A Q 4 3 2
 3 2
 
Q: 2 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-11Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1: A new suit by Advancer (that's us!) promises a nice five-card suit and 10 plus points. This is what it looks like! You heard it here.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 Q J 4
 9 4
 A J 10 5 2
 A Q 9
 
Q: 3 -
SouthWestNorthEast
-11Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 2 No-trump: We have game-going values IF IF IF Pard has a better than minimum overcall. At the one-level though, he could have as few as 7-ish points. We're going to invite. If we bid 1 No-trump, we'd be showing 8-ish to 11-ish points. Advancer points need to be a little stronger than responder points.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 A Q J 10 8 4
 J 5
 A 9
 A 8 4
 
Q: 4 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-11Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1: The better your hand, the slower you tippy-toe up the bidding ladder until you find the perfect spot. Our 1 bid is forcing, and that's all we need for now. Pard's rebid will show us more about his point count and we'll know what to do.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 K J 8 2
 9
 J 10 8 7
 K 5 4 3
 
Q: 5 - South:
SouthWestNorthEast
-11Pass
?


 Your choice:
A: 1 No-trump: Perfect. We've got the 8 points we should to Advance with a 1 No-trump bid, and we've got stoppers in their suit. Life is good.

And now, let's test our play habits.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

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Overall Results

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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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