Take out double with weak hand?
Given the following auction:
(1C)-P-(1NT)-P-(2C)
I then made a take-out double with shortage in clubs but only 7 HCP.
My partner and I usually typically make a take-out double with around 12 pts.
However, on this occasion, I decided to make the double with a weak hand because:
- Opener's partner has shown weakness (6-9pts) with the 1NT response
- Opener has shown a minimum hand (rebidding 2C and not jumping to 3C)
- My partner can bid any suit at the 2 level
My partner bid 2H and we went down 1 (vulnerable) for a 57% score, i.e., a reasonable sacrifice.
One of my opponents was not happy about my weak take-out double.
Are there any laws that forbid it, or is it perfectly reasonable?
Thanks,
John.
Comments
There are no regulations for forbidding take-out doubles on the second round of the auction, however weak. A weak take-out double is a reasonable agreement.
I don't think it is alertable. It is not unexpected that actions on the second round by a hand that passed on the first round are weak(er). I would expect a hand that made a take-out double of clubs on the second round, having failed to make a take-out double of clubs on the first round, has less values than would be required for a take-out double on the first round.
My partner and I play that a takeout double by a passed hand shows approximately 9 HCP (and if there are two unbid suits, always has at least 4 cards in both of them). I've been unsure whether I should be alerting this or not – I don't think it's a common agreement but I also don't think it's particularly unexpected.
Your double seems, to me, to be conceptually similar to mine – in both cases the hand is limited by not having acted on a previous round, so the double has to mean something different from normal, and "correct shape but a weaker hand" is a plausible interpretation of that. Note that it's possible that the typical player's expectations would be different depending on whether the double was made in direct seat or after two passes.
I don't think it matters (your double was legal either as an agreement or as a psyche/deviation, so the only question is about the alerts), but out of interest, was your partner surprised by the sort of hand you'd doubled with?
My partner was a little surprised I was so weak but not overly so, given I had passed on the first round of bidding.
One wonders on what grounds your opponent was surprised. Not only a perfectly legal call but not an unusual way to lay it either.
I would have been surprised if my partner (the doubler) had turned up with close to 12 HCP or more