TWO-SUITED
DEFENSES by Walt Sturm
If you believe that
preemptive bids are effective, you should love Two-Suited Defenses (TSD).
Simply put, a TSD amounts to a preemptive jump overcall in two suits at once.
As usual, partner is obliged to increase the preempt as much as is safe. He
should be most aggressive with good support in one of your suits and shortage
in the other.
TSD`s became so popular that
their original use only with weak hands was extended to better and better hands
until responding became impossible. The solution to this excessive range is to
only use TSD`s with either weak or very strong hands. The bidder passes with
the weak hand and raises with the big one. Intermediate hands are shown by a
sound overcall in the ranking suit followed by a rebid in the second suit, if
appropriate.
The eldest TSD is the Unusual
NT, which replaced the natural jump to 2NT showing 22-24 HCP, because of its
greater frequency of occurrence. A jump to 2NT may be used to show 5-5 in the
minor or, over a minor opening, to show 5-5 in the two lowest unbid suits. It
is also used by overcalling a 1NT opening with 2NT, and by bidding 1NT on a
passed hand after the opponents have bid two suits, to show the other two.
The Michaels Cuebid is a
similar TSD which caters to the major suits. Again, the original gameforcing
cue bid is much less frequent. A minor-suit cue bid promises 5-5 in the majors
and a major-suit cue bid promises the other major and an unspecified minor.
Responder may inquire for the minor by bidding 2NT.
It is also profitable to
compete when the opponents open an artificial, forcing 2C (or 1C, e.g.,
Precision). There is safety in shapely hands and it can be devastating to
preempt against an artificial opening before they have gotten in any natural
bid. The best TSD here is Truscott because it defines both suits immediately.
Any simple overcall shows the bid suit and the touching suit above it (clubs
are `above` spades). With non-touching suits, over clubs, a double shows clubs
and hearts; NT is for the other two; i.e., diamonds and spades. These two
reverse over a negative response in diamonds, i.e, after 2C-P-2D, the X shows
diamonds and spades, and NT shows clubs and hearts. A memory aid is that double
always shows the `suit` bid in front of you. Any jump shows an unlimited
one-suiter.
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