Sunday, June 06, 2004 12:57 AM

D.S.I.P. - Weak Jump Overcalls

PITBULLS:

Whenever the opponents make a weak jump overcall at the two level , it robs you of the opportunity to show a good minor hands below 3NT . The 2 level pre-empt as taken away your jump to the 3 level to show invitational hands. The natural 2NT bid by opener should be sacrificed in all these auctions . Play it as Lebensohl ( good bad 2NT ) so natural bidding at the 3 level can show extra . Also use Lebensohl when the opponents jam you past the two level in the sandwich position after your partner makes a negative double. Without a negative double by partner & they pre-empt in the sandwich position, also use the double as D.S.I.P. as your initial action & that replaces the natural 2NT bid. The double still right sides the NT as the stopper is behind the jump overcaller . If responder does not want to play the NT, he can Q bid which puts the NT played by the doubler.

!♣-2♦-Dbl-P ? ♠A ♥Axx ♦Kx ♣AJ109xxx A natural 3♣ bid is strong as you did not bid 2NT Lebensohl and forcing partner to bid 3♣ ( good-bad 2NT ).

Say you had this hand ♠xx ♥AJx ♦K ♣AKJ10xxx and you open 1♣-P-1♦-2♠ ? You can bid 3♣ knowing partner will take you for a very good hand. Say you decided to open ♠x ♠Jxxx ♦K ♣AKJ10xxx and the same auction . This time you bid 2NT Lebensohl and partner bids 3♣ which you can pass. Lebensohl and D.S.I.P. go hand in hand . The old natural 2NT bid is replaced by a D.S.I.P. double when possible. Free bids now show good hands as the 2NT bid shows the bad ones.

When balancing or re-opening after a weak jump overcall, you are robbed of your space to make invitational bids. A rule should be to use Lebensohl with D.S.I.P. doubles to counteract the opponents taking away your invitational sequences. Take this hand for example .

A	K	A	A
x	10	K	10
	x	x	9
	x		X

You open a club so LHO bids 2♠ and around to you for a re-opening double . Partner bids 3♦ or 3♣ now what ? You gamble and bid 3NT and partner has nothing for you and you are –300 . The next time you try this auction you hit partner with 8 HCP and a useful diamond suit and you make 630 . The best way out of this dilemma is to play  Lebensohl by passed hand partner in this auctions . Partner did not bid 2NT going in , so 2NT now is an idle bid over your double as apassed hand. You are forced to relay to 3♣ so partner chooses the contract. Bidding 3♦ or 3♣ directly will show some values so 3NT should make . Still another auction where Lebensohl clarifies things !

The following is from Stan Cabay on the subject of D.S.I.P. and Lebensohl :

“When we open the bidding and the opponents "pre-empt” at the 2-level removing our ability to make game invitations (as in 1♦-2♠-?, 1♦-2♠-Dble-P-?, 1♦-P-1♥-2♠-?, 1♦-1♠-Dble-2♠-?), it is far more useful to give up the natural meaning of 2NT and instead to use it as Lebensohl.( good-bad 2NT ) Then, after 1♦-1♠-Dble-2♠, for example, 3♣ shows a minor 2-suiter with about 15-17 HCP's, 3♦ shows a 1-suiter equivalent to a jump rebid, 3♥ is highly invitational to game, and so on. Weaker distributional hands are shown by preceding your natural call with 2NT requesting partner to relay to 3♣. So, then what is to be done with a hand containing a stopper and invitational values when the usual meaning of 2N is denied? We can sometimes make a DSIP double, or if that is unavailable just take a shot at 3N hoping to bid and to play those 23-point games as well as Hamman or Meckwell. Notrump contracts are often difficult to defend. In return, the accuracy in bidding suit contracts, whether they be partials, games or slams, greatly improves. “