This week’s quiz: Responses to overcalls and takeout doubles

With few opportunities to play cards in-person because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, bridge players are invited to test their skills by trying out the questions posed in our weekly quiz.

We continue this week with the current series of review quizzes on the allimportant subject of overcalls and takeout doubles. The responses to overcalls and takeout doubles have been covered in this space over the past 12 months.

Today’s quiz: Simply decide whether each of the following statements is essentially true or false. A brief explanation accompanies each answer.

1. It is possible that a player who could not open the bidding and passed originally can subsequently make a takeout double.

2. An overcaller holding two five-card suits would almost always bid the lower-ranking suit first.

3. A player who makes a takeout double expects his partner to bid even if he has no points at all. Answers:

1. True. This is the ideal way to show a hand not quite good enough for an opening bid, but with shortness in the opponents’ suit (or suits) and support for the unbid suits.

2. False. The rules are the same as those for an opening bidder or a responder. With two suits of equal length, the higherranking one is nearly always mentioned first, even if the lower one contains more high-card strength.

3. True. In fact, the less the partner of the doubler actually has, the more reason there is for him to bid, as he cannot afford to leave the opposition in a doubled contract they are virtually certain to make, possibly with overtricks. In such a situation, the responder must say something, even if this means bidding a three-card suit.