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The Negative Doubles, aka Sputnik double |
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| ♠ |
75 |
Your partner opens 1♦ . No problem, you simply bid 1♥ (you would not, course, not even dream of bidding 1NT and suppressing the 4 card ♥ suit ). |
| ♥ |
AJ96 |
| ♦ |
Q4 |
Unfortunately, RHO intervenes with 1♠ . So what do you bid now? |
| ♣ |
98732 |
Under traditional methods there is no sensible bid. |
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You have to employ a Negative Double. |
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There are various different ways of playing them, but I think the easiest (and best) is that they simply promise unbid majors(s) and sufficient points to compete (but they are unlimited – just the same as a new suit if RHO had not intervened). So with this hand, a double of the 1♠ overcall promises a ♥ suit and enough points to compete to 2♥. And how should opener respond? |
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- Just the same as he would have if his LHO had passed and partner had bid 1♥. So 2♥ by opener is non-forcing. Easy eh? |
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But some people may say ‘I like to have my nice juicy penalty double – especially if playing against some of the wilder elements in the club'. The answer is that you can have your cake and eat it too. And very often you get a much bigger cake! |
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So you do not lose your penalty double when you play negative doubles – you simply need a disciplined partner. And sometimes the opposition don't know what's happening until it's too late! In principle, opener should always re-open with a double (there are a few exceptions, but generally speaking, opener will double 95% of the time, just in case partner has a penalty pass). Occasionally this tactic can lead to a bonanza. This is a hand from the club. It is a typical penalty double of 2♣ , so I passed awaiting partner's re-opening double. West did not like ♣ 's so (unwisely) bid 2♠. Unaware of the mis-fit and impending disaster, East re-bid his ♣ suit. Who says you cannot give a penalty double when you have to pass initially? – I managed four having passed initially!! 1100 thank you. |
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| South (me) |
West |
North |
East |
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South |
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| ♠ |
AJ3 |
1♦ |
2♣ |
pass |
(1) |
2♠ (2) |
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93 |
pass (3) |
3♣ (4) |
dbl |
(5) |
3♠ |
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| ♦ |
K75 |
pass |
pass |
dbl |
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4♥ |
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| ♣ |
K8753 |
pass |
pass |
dbl |
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pass |
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pass |
4♠ |
dbl |
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all pass |
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| (1) |
either a penalty double hand or a hand too weak for a forcing bid. |
| (2) |
unwise with a mis-fit |
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no need to re-open now |
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unaware that south had a ♣ stack. |
| (5) |
I wanted to defend 2♣ doubled, so this is fine. |
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This bidding was a bit freakish, but you really do get the opponents one level higher quite often, and the penalty doubles are not often (never!) missed if opener re-opens with a double when he should (nearly always). |
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When you do not re-open with a double. |
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I was asked under what circumstances opener should not re-open with the automatic re-opening double when playing negative doubles. |
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Now as I have frequently said, every pair plays negative double differently. I won't go into my preferred treatment again, but I will answer the question. |
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When you play negative doubles; you open, LHO overcalls and this is passed round to you, it is usually correct to ‘automatically' re-open with a double. But there are hands when you should not. The hand types where you should not re-open with a double are as below where you have opened 1♣ and LHO has overcalled 1♥. |
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| (a) Hand A |
When you have a very powerful hand with game virtually in your own hand and where you may well make slam opposite very little. With Hand A, I would jump to 2♠. I guess that some would have opened 2♣, but I prefer the natural slow approach with two-suiters. |
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| ♠ |
AKQ97 |
| ♥ |
7 |
| ♦ |
7 |
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| ♣ |
AKQ953 |
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| (b) Hand B |
When you have a decent opener but have so much in the opponent's suit that you know that partner cannot possibly be sitting with a penalty hand. I would pass with Hand B |
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| ♠ |
J32 |
| ♥ |
KQ103 |
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| ♦ |
Q4 |
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| ♣ |
AJ76 |
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| (c) Hand C |
When you have a weak distributional hand with little defensive values. I think that 1♠ is reasonable with Hand C although I would not argue with double. Some might say that they would not have opened, but it does conform to the rule of 20 and a 1♣ opening would be a popular choice these days. |
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| ♠ |
KQ54 |
| ♥ |
72 |
| ♦ |
Q |
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| ♣ |
K96532 |
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There are hundreds of examples of negative doubles and automatic re-opening doubles in the news-sheets. You can look for them using one of the the site's search engines but probably the best method is to open up a news-sheet yearbook in (pdf or Word doc) and search it using cntrl+F. |
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For more about negative doubles, with plenty of examples, here are a few books: |
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Negative Doubles: A must read for every partnership - Marty Bergen |
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Negative Doubles for Acol Players (Master Bridge Series) - Marty Bergen & Tim Bourke |
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Negative doubles (Championship bridge series) - Alvin Roth |
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Negative, responsive, and other competitive doubles - Harold Feldheim |
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Pattaya Bridge Club - |
www.pattayabridge.com |
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