Singer Willie Nelson said, "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results."
As we saw last week, negative doubles can lead to positive results. (A negative double is made by responder after partner's opening one-bid has been overcalled in a suit by the next player. Its primary aim is to find a fit in an unbid major.) However, although the negative double is an excellent competitive-bidding tool, how does the responder double the overcaller for penalty?
He is not allowed to stand on his chair before booming, "I double!" Instead, the responder must pass, preferably without more than a momentary pause. He must hope that, if the next player also passes, his partner will reopen with a double. Then the responder will pass again, turning the takeout double into one for penalty — as in today's deal.
When South's one-heart overcall is passed back to East, he must resist the temptation to rebid one spade. He must double, which West happily passes. (If North runs to one spade, East should double and that contract should go down three, the defense taking one heart, two diamonds, a diamond ruff, a heart ruff, a second diamond ruff and three spades.)
Against one heart doubled, West leads his singleton diamond. East wins with his queen, cashes the diamond ace and continues with the diamond seven, the high card asking for a spade return. East then takes two spade tricks and gives West another diamond ruff, who has three more trump tricks to come. That is down three, plus 800 for East-West. Yummy!
As we saw last week, negative doubles can lead to positive results. (A negative double is made by responder after partner's opening one-bid has been overcalled in a suit by the next player. Its primary aim is to find a fit in an unbid major.) However, although the negative double is an excellent competitive-bidding tool, how does the responder double the overcaller for penalty?
He is not allowed to stand on his chair before booming, "I double!" Instead, the responder must pass, preferably without more than a momentary pause. He must hope that, if the next player also passes, his partner will reopen with a double. Then the responder will pass again, turning the takeout double into one for penalty — as in today's deal.
When South's one-heart overcall is passed back to East, he must resist the temptation to rebid one spade. He must double, which West happily passes. (If North runs to one spade, East should double and that contract should go down three, the defense taking one heart, two diamonds, a diamond ruff, a heart ruff, a second diamond ruff and three spades.)
Against one heart doubled, West leads his singleton diamond. East wins with his queen, cashes the diamond ace and continues with the diamond seven, the high card asking for a spade return. East then takes two spade tricks and gives West another diamond ruff, who has three more trump tricks to come. That is down three, plus 800 for East-West. Yummy!