[Antrax]

Matchpoints, all vul.

♠J
♥J742
♦AQ2
♣AQ752

The bidding goes:
P-(1♠)
Your bid?

[aguahombre]

??? There must be something more to this question. What happens after I double?

[the hog]

Double?

[Antrax]

I can ask about the rest of the auction, though I think I did okay. It's from a simultaneous competition and for some reason the hand booklet says 2♣ with my hand and doesn't even mention X, which sounded very wrong to me. To me it seemed like a very clear double, and I wanted to make sure I'm not completely off-track.
The auction continued

---

Which went for 1100. Probably their agreements were at fault, the 1NT bidder had a 4-HCP wonder with 2=4=3=4 pattern.

[gordontd]

You got lucky, because you showed more than you had with both the second double and the 3C bid.

[Antrax]

Bummer. Why is that? (wrt to 3♣). When the bidding dies at 2♠, isn't it reasonable to expect RHO not to have a monster and partner to have some clubs?

[gwnn]

You would bid a 20-count with 6 clubs the same way (double, double, 3♣), something's gotta give. Usually when you want to play 3♣ with this hand (the 1-4-3-5 13 count), your partner will have done something other than stack his green cards on top of each other.

[Antrax]

Oh. I thought with a monster + clubs it would go double then I bid my suit. I wonder where I can brush up on this?

[gwnn]

Well double+bid a suit is also strong but double+double+bid the suit is even stronger (because double+bid the suit is NF). Sorry I have no good websites that I can think of right now.

[pooltuna]

X is a hardly a sanity check as it is so obvious. 2♣ is an insanity check however if you chose that you are a regular at the Bedlam Bridge Club

[aguahombre]

Antrax, on 2012-January-23, 03:21, said:

Oh. I thought with a monster + clubs it would go double then I bid my suit. I wonder where I can brush up on this?

Right here on the fora There are degrees of monster. Gwnn "brushed", above.

I imagine there are texts which cover plans: overcall, versus double and bid a new suit, versus double and cue and bid, versus double and double and bid. But, It all starts with your agreed overcall range and whether you have a one-suiter (or a shape where you want partner to select the strain).

You have to develope your criteria based on the above, with help from the Gwnns. I could offer some ranges, but they would be based on a minority opinion about how strong a simple overcall might be.

Other forum regulars are better placed to describe the mainstream.

[ArtK78]

First double is clear. Why the second double? With the exception of the 5th club, you showed your hand with the first double.

When and if the auction dies in 2♠, it is not unreasonable to bid again. However, I would probably reopen with a double rather than bid 3♣, just in case partner chooses to defend.

[the hog]

The second double is poor and the 3C bid is atrocious. How many times are you bidding your hand?

[Bbradley62]

ArtK78, on 2012-January-23, 11:23, said:

First double is clear. Why the second double?

This is the key. Rather than telling you what various sequences should show, we should ask: What did you intend for your second double to show that your first hadn't already shown?

[MrAce]

Antrax, on 2012-January-23, 02:07, said:

Bummer. Why is that? (wrt to 3♣). When the bidding dies at 2♠, isn't it reasonable to expect RHO not to have a monster and partner to have some clubs?

Just like everyone else said , why the 2nd dbl ? At the time you doubled 2♦ you were not in pass out seat and you did not know the auction was gonna end in 2♠, and even if it would as it did then u can still balance if you want to without worrying that pd may misunderstand it IF u passed 2♦.

[Antrax]

Bbradley62, on 2012-January-23, 20:53, said:

This is the key. Rather than telling you what various sequences should show, we should ask: What did you intend for your second double to show that your first hadn't already shown?

The intent was to show ability to penalize diamonds.

[gwnn]

Antrax, on 2012-January-24, 00:56, said:

The intent was to show ability to penalize diamonds.

And that's indeed what it means, at least to a first degree, but it also shows more than a bare minimum - don't do it on xx QJxx KQJx Axx, there's not much upside since LHO will most likely pull to spades anyway and your partner is left with no useful information (whether you have more than a minimum - something that would help him compete).

[Antrax]

Ah, okay. Yes, it makes sense to want to penalize if you're sure you have enough strength to, even opposite a broke partner.