Defense Against Weak Twos by David

A: Double. A double of a weak two-bid is for take-out. This will be useful some twenty times more often than a penalty double would be.

Here, you have around a minimum double. One plus-feature is that you have four cards in the other major, spades.

Your result so far:

A: 3♣. If you don't play a convention when responding to a take-out double of a weak two, you will be in trouble. You would be forced to make some response, such as 3♣, even when you had close to a zero-count. If you make the same 3♣ bid on this hand, where there may be a chance of game opposite partner's double, how would he know how strong you are?

Nearly all good players use the Lebensohl 2NT convention when responding to a double of a weak-two. (You will recall that we saw the use of this convention opposite partner's 1NT in the last quiz.)

Here, you can bid 2NT (a transfer to 3♣) when you have a weak 0-7 point hand with any long suit. Partner will generally rebid 3♣, and you can pass with clubs or correct to 3♦.

When instead you have 8-10 points, you bid three of your suit directly. Partner knows then that he can head for game with something like 16-17, not fearing that you may be very weak.

Place this hand opposite the ♠AQ87 ♥83 ♦K1092 ♣A65 that we saw in problem 1. Partner will pass 3♣ and you will end in the right contract.

Your result so far:

A: 2♠. Although your hand is suitable, in a way, for a take-out double, it is much better to bid a 5-card major directly here.

If you double, partner may respond 2NT Lebensohl on a weak hand and you will get too high. Even if you were not playing Lebensohl responses, and partner responded with a wide-ranging 3♣, you would be reluctant to continue to 3♠ on only 14 points.

Your result so far:

A: Pass. You cannot bid 2NT, remember, because that is a conventional Lebensohl response, showing a weak hand. Bidding 3♦, showing 8-10, would not be best because you have a chance to pick up a good penalty.

You should 'pass for penalties'. Your trumps lie over the opener. You should score three trump tricks and the ♦A, plus a few tricks from partner's hand.

Your result so far:

A: 3♥. You are too strong to say 3♦, which would show only 8-10. Just as you would if the opening bid was just 1♥, you must cue-bid the opponent's suit to show your strength. The bidding will then continue naturally.

(It's true that you may have to guess what to bid next if partner says 3♠. Will it be 3NT or 4♠? But pre-emptive bids often cause problems of this sort. At least you are solving a good number of them by adopting the Lebensohl 2NT facing a take-out double of a weak-two).

Your result so far: