IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
The
weak jump overcall has been popular for several decades. Years ago the jump overcall was used to show
strong hands but the bid was used so infrequently, the weaker version became
the standard. Here is the weak jump
overcall used very effectively.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
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BIDDING: West held a weak suit
but with three quick tricks, he was strong enough to open. East made a 2/1 game forcing bid and then
South made a weak jump overcall (good suit, weak hand). West’s hand was now worth a raise but North, noting
the favorable vulnerability, applied maximum pressure by jumping to the
five-level. East wanted to raise spades
but finally decided it was too high and ended the auction with a double.
PLAY: West led the ace of
diamonds and the defense collected four tricks: one spade, one diamond, and two
clubs. That was down two for -300, a
good result for N/S. Most of the E/W
pairs were allowed to play game in spades scoring +650 losing only one spade
and one heart. Looking at the results
East should have supported spades but…well, sometimes preempts work.
Copyright ©2010 Larry Matheny.