[Antrax]

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All vul at matchpoints, what is your bid playing "standard" 2/1?

[Endymion77]

1NT

[hrothgar]

I think that there are two reasonable calls here: 1NT and 1♥

1NT gets the shape and range right, but has the obvious risk of wrongsiding the contract.
If you can't stand 1NT, I think that a 1♥ overcall with the strong 4 baggers is reasonable.

X strikes me as very bad. You have no rebid if partner shows spades.

[kenrexford]

1NT. The upsides to 1NT for me are:

(1) you put your points and shape on the table

(2) you enable partner to bid his 5+ spade suit

(3) you enable partner to bid his 5+ diamond suit

(4) you occasionally block LHO's spade suit from being introduced

The 1♥ alternative suffers in these respects because:

(1) you do not put the points on the table and have a difficult time ever doing it later

(2) partner's 5+ spade suit may be hard for him to show if LHO bids (and he might bury it if he has three heats)

(3) partner is much less likely to show diamonds

(4) you end up actually improving LHO's ability to show spades

The downside to 1NT is the dubious club stopper, but that does not trouble me too much.

An alternative is a 1♦ overcall. This has some appeal because:

(1) 1♦ overcalls of 1♣ tend to be stronger than major overcalls, which is a correct read by partner

(2) A diamond "fit" from partner is less likely to induce not showing a major

(3) 1♦ does not help spade definition by LHO as much as 1♥

(4) 1♦ might get out of the way if the opponents want to play in hearts

Thus, IMO, 1NT>1♦>1♥

X and P are not worth mentioning, IMO.

[kenberg]

I also choose 1NT. (Added: I see KR also got his 1NT in while i was typoing this, and checking the votes it seems to be a strong favorite.) If partner has as little as Qx in clubs we are ok and,at least woth that holding, it doesn't matter which side it is played from. For that matter, of W holds Axx in clubs it will be far from clear to him that he should lay down the ace, and for that matter maybe he shouldn't. We will play in spades if partner has five, we will play in hearts if partner has four along with some values, and if I play in NT it is likely to go fine.

So 1NT for me.

[Trinidad]

A confident 1NT. If we end up playing in NT, I expect a spade lead, so who cares about the club stopper?

The interesting part comes when partner shows 5 spades and invites or bids 3NT. I think I will correct to 4♠.

Rik

[MrAce]

1NT

[kenrexford]

Trinidad, on 2014-January-17, 07:57, said:

A confident 1NT. If we end up playing in NT, I expect a spade lead, so who cares about the club stopper?

The interesting part comes when partner shows 5 spades and invites or bids 3NT. I think I will correct to 4♠.

Rik

Actually, if partner is a thinking partner, we will have more discussion here:

If he invites 3NT by bidding 2NT, we can now bid 3♣ as "I was kidding about that club stopper."

If he wants to bid 3NT as choice, he has two routes:

1. 3NT (I have clubs stopped too)

2. 3♣ (were you being funny?)

[nigel_k]

1NT.

The heart suit is good enough to overcall but I wouldn't do it on this hand type because it just shifts the problem to the next round in most cases. For me the options are 1NT and pass.

[Antrax]

Good feedback, thanks. My personal preference would've also been 1NT, GIB holding this hand bid 1♥ which was interesting because I didn't know it even considers four-card overcalls. I wondered if I'm missing anything, I'd expect even simulation-logic to show 1NT to be better.

[Cyberyeti]

Am I the only person to consider 1♦ ? My style is for my overcalls to be sound, particularly the non preemptive 1♦ over 1♣ so partner more or less responds to 1♦ as if I'd opened it, and now if I play in hearts, they'll be 4-4 rather than 4-3 and I'll know that immediately.

[Antrax]

Kenrexford also considered it. That was interesting to me because I only put it in there for completeness' sake.

[the hog]

1NT without any great conviction.

[cherdano]

I hate 1♥. How are you planning to show your extra strength without distorting your hand further over any possible rebid by partner?

[Cyberyeti]

cherdano, on 2014-January-20, 04:44, said:

I hate 1♥. How are you planning to show your extra strength without distorting your hand further over any possible rebid by partner?

What range do most people play (1♣)-1♦/♥-P-1♠-P-1N/2N as ?

[Endymion77]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-January-20, 05:28, said:

What range do most people play (1♣)-1♦/♥-P-1♠-P-1N/2N as ?

Depends if 1♠ is forcing or not.

[Antrax]

Why would it be non-forcing?

[Cyberyeti]

Antrax, on 2014-January-20, 06:01, said:

Why would it be non-forcing?

I presume if you overcall on 6-18, you might want it NF, but I'd always play it forcing

[Zelandakh]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-January-20, 05:28, said:

What range do most people play (1♣)-1♦/♥-P-1♠-P-1N/2N as ?

About 10-12/13-15 I would think. It depends a little what range the overcall showed and therefore what the minimum for partner's advance is. In any case they should show a better than minimum overcall unless you are doing something clever (which you can but most don't).

[Cyberyeti]

Zelandakh, on 2014-January-20, 10:11, said:

About 10-12/13-15 I would think. It depends a little what range the overcall showed and therefore what the minimum for partner's advance is. In any case they should show a better than minimum overcall unless you are doing something clever (which you can but most don't).

Interesting, I'd certainly have treated the 2N rebid as stronger than that, but not sure by how much. I'm probably influenced by overcalling rather than doubling on some pretty good hands.