[msheald]

Hello! During a recent hand, the bidding went 1C,1H,P,2NT - with me being the 1H overcall and my partner the 2NT advancer. I had 7 points and I passed. My partner had 18 points and 3 card support for my hearts.

My partner said that she understood 2NT to be a powerful hand - 17+ HCP. I indicated that I thought it meant 10-12 HCP and a balanced hand. I suggested that she should have jumped to 4H since she had 3 card support or 3NT, since she knew that we had HCP for game.

What would have been the best response for my partner in this situation? Thank you.

Mike

[mw64ahw]

Id take it as 4♥ support with the strength to play in 3♥ opposite a minimum overcall

[jillybean]

My auction would start like this

---

2♣ is a cue raise and tells partner that I have a good heart raise or other, GF hand and want more information about their hand.

[Stephen Tu]

You have the cue for hands with heart support, so without special agreements, you kind of need 2nt for hands that are too strong for 1nt. Unfortunately with the wide and often weak range of 1 level overcalls, 2nt probably has to be some unwieldy range of maybe 13-15/12+-15, and you have to accept the fact that you will occasionally be under or overbid on the final guess.

I would NOT want to have 2nt be merely 10-12, given the very light 1h overcalls I want my partnerships to be able to intervene with. I don't want to only be able to overcall on hands I would open the bidding with!

[msheald]

Thank you! So, either 2ckub cue bid or 2NT, and I should have bid 3 hearts rather than passing. Thank you for your guidance.

Mike

[jillybean]

I would not bid 2nt with your partner's 18 count. 2nt can be passed, I need a forcing bid.

[bluenikki]

jillybean, on 2025-September-04, 10:58, said:

I would not bid 2nt with your partner's 18 count. 2nt can be passed, I need a forcing bid.

I am convinced that after a competitive auction we shall not declare 2NT: either go on to game or chicken out at 3 of a suit. So 2NT is forcing.

(Exception, maybe (2X) - 2NT.)

[Stephen Tu]

msheald, on 2025-September-04, 10:33, said:

Thank you! So, either 2ckub cue bid or 2NT, and I should have bid 3 hearts rather than passing. Thank you for your guidance.

No, your partner should have cue bid, 2nt should deny heart support, and also with 18 they are too strong for 2nt.
And passing 2nt is reasonable if you overcalled on 7 and have no shape.

[WasWinM]

In responses to an overcall with no intervening bid out of RHO you should add about a king to your normal ranges. 2NT should be around 13+ to 16+ and suggest a double stop in the opened suit.

[DavidKok]

jillybean, on 2025-September-04, 08:48, said:

My auction would start like this

---

2♣ is a cue raise and tells partner that I have a good heart raise or other, GF hand and want more information about their hand.

This is one way to play 2♣. I prefer for 2♣ to always show the fit, and non-fit hands bid their own suit instead. I play a change of suit here as forcing, and am happy with the system. Superior alternatives exist, but they are beyond the scope of the N/B forum.

Anyway, all that to say, there's two different common styles. Make sure to confirm that partner is playing the same one.

[P_Marlowe]

msheald, on 2025-September-04, 08:17, said:

Hello! During a recent hand, the bidding went 1C,1H,P,2NT - with me being the 1H overcall and my partner the 2NT advancer. I had 7 points and I passed. My partner had 18 points and 3 card support for my hearts.

My partner said that she understood 2NT to be a powerful hand - 17+ HCP. I indicated that I thought it meant 10-12 HCP and a balanced hand. I suggested that she should have jumped to 4H since she had 3 card support or 3NT, since she knew that we had HCP for game.

What would have been the best response for my partner in this situation? Thank you.

Mike

Given that a simple 1 level overcall starts at 8HCP, 10-12HCP is not enough to make the 2NT call.
Add a Ace, and you arrive at a range, that would work.
The bal. inv. 2NT response to an opening bid, also denies a primary fit for partners suit, hence it
should also deny a fit for overcallers suit. There are schemas out there, that use the 2NT as fit
showing bid, but this would include other bids.

[Knurdler]

Some time ago, I also asked on here about advancing an overcall.
There is no correct system - you and your partner have to agree what your bids mean.
I do think that 2NT was not an appropriate response.

Jillybean response is closest to what might be classified as "standard".
I recommend you google Audrey Grants Better Bridge Whats Standard Advancing a Simple Overcall.

When I asked at the club where I play, the majority played similar to the way David Kok suggests.
At least 2 of our regular partnerships clearly had not agreed what their responses mean!

As for me, I am still waiting for my partner to pick a system.

Regards

[jillybean]

DavidKok, on 2025-September-05, 10:58, said:

This is one way to play 2♣. I prefer for 2♣ to always show the fit, and non-fit hands bid their own suit instead. I play a change of suit here as forcing, and am happy with the system. Superior alternatives exist, but they are beyond the scope of the N/B forum.

Anyway, all that to say, there's two different common styles. Make sure to confirm that partner is playing the same one.

Now that we are coming back to this thread. David, did you notice msheald’s P had 3 card support and 18 hcp?
Without a fit, I bid my suit,

Coincidentally, I’m having cue raise discussion with others but in the context of a passed hand showing 9-10hcp support for partners overcall. Without the cue raise, partner is jumping to 3or4, with poor results opposite a minimum overcall.
P (1C) 1S (X)
2C*

[helene_t]

If you don't have any specialized agreements it means that advancer has the values for 2nt opposite a minimum overcall. So a simple way to reason about it would be that if an overcall is four points lighter than an opening, i.e. 8-16 as oppposed to 12-20, the responses are four heavier, i.e. 14-15 as opposed to 10-11.

In practice the resonses to overcallstend to be a bit stretched because we want to repond with a bit less than a combined max of 25 HCPs for tactical reasons, so maybe it is something like 13-15.

[DavidKok]

I did notice, but thought it would get complicated. To me discussing the style still seems like a good idea.
I like for the cue to confirm the fit. This puts partner in a good position to evaluate their hand, especially if they stretched to show shape or a good suit.

[blackshoe]

Knurdler, on 2025-September-15, 14:05, said:

As for me, I am still waiting for my partner to pick a system.

Heh. I know pairs who have been playing together for years who could say that. :-)