Bridge Tip #29
This may not apply if you play a specialized defense when your opponents
open a big club. However, sometimes it is not their hand. It may be yours.
Suppose the opponent opens a big club and your partner overcalls ( probably to obstruct the opponents auction) it’s impossible for you to force easily.
It is difficult for your side to have a constructive auction. I have found if my partner makes a one suit overcall of a big club my partner and I don’t have a forcing bid, so I arbitrarily play two clubs (or three clubs if responder bids on the two level) as a cue bid in this
situation, forcing one round, and saying nothing about clubs. You lose a
natural club bid, but that is usually unimportant versus the ability to have a forcing bid available for the overcaller’s partner. It also may help the
overcaller if she happens to have a very good hand. The alternative of using jump shifts forcing to accomplish this, precludes either partner from
preempting. If the bidding reaches a very high level rapidly, it’s up to
each defender to decide how high to bid , as they would normally have to
if the opponents had managed to get that high in some other way.
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Do you also play Mathe over a strong 1C?
No. I’m pretty primitive. wrote this may not apply if you play certain defenses to a big club because in some defenses two clubs at this point there may have a a conventional meaning. Many players have tools to defend aganst the opponen’ts big club, presupposing it is the opponenents’ hand. The difficulty is when it is not. Some big club openers may be able to steal the the hand or cause the opponents to save because the overcaller’s partner is never able to show strength.