Interactive Problem #5

[@harikannanramadas6564]

Great lessons / concepts. Thanks Gavin.

[@ESKU0905]

Thank you

[@youngstervideo]

Instead of trumping diamonds, is it possible for declarer to trump clubs in dummy hand and the last spade, making eleven tricks as well?

[@nicholas1460]

Thanks. I've been making a few takeout dbl's without the perfect "at least 3" shape in unbid suits with the intention of having a second bid ready if partner bids my short suit. One problem I once had though, probably my fault :), is that I did a TD on a 1 club open when I had 4423 distribution. Ops went 2C and partner went 2D and I felt I had to go 2NT. Unfortunately we didn't have C stoppers and got burnt on the hand.

[@andriyu]

When you bid again after making a takeout double, you are showing extra strength. Especially if you bid NT. If you make an offshape takeout double you often have to pass partner’s response hoping it’s not too bad of a contract. When you bid 2NT you were showing a balanced hand too strong for an original overcall of 1NT, so you must have had at least 19 HCP. The exception is if you agree to play “equal level conversion” but that only applies to a rebid of the lowest available suit and is not a standard agreement. You should not assume your partner will believe you have ELC unless you made that agreement.