East Dealer, both VUL, Teams

All Vul E Dealer	♠ 8 6 ♥ 9 8 5 4 ♦ A K Q 9 ♣ Q J 4
♠ A K Q 7 3 2 ♥ K 3 ♦ 3 ♣ 9 8 7 3		♠ J 10 9 5 ♥ 10 7 6 ♦ 8 6 5 2 ♣ 10 5
	♠ 4 ♥ A Q J 2 ♦ J 10 7 4 ♣ A K 6 2

1. Should West have overcalled weak 2♠ (maybe 3♠)?

2. After North’s X should have East bid 3♠ (LOTT,preemptive)? He was apprehensive about helping NS to judge their combined values and reach a slam or partner being strong and 4♠ being a phantom save.

3. After North’s 4♥ bid, should East sacrifice in 4♠?

Hi Arie,

1) West’s 1♠ overcall is definitely correct – with such a great hand, a game in spades is not out of the picture, even if his partner was a passed hand. Thinking about making a weak jump overcall of 2♠ or 3♠ is more of a “hindsight thinking looking at all 4 hands” – just because the opponents had an easy time getting to 4♥ doesn’t always mean we should have done something different in the first place. Next time you make a weak jump overcall of 2♠ or 3♠ with this type of (strong) hand, your partner can then misjudge later in the auction (i.e. make a phantom save).

2) That’s correct, East should not be bidding 3♠ (preemptive) as 4♠ might have too many losers! You should definitely be careful about making these weak preemptive support bids with a balanced hand at vulnerable. In particular, with only one HCP, it is way too dangerous to bid anything at all since, again, West may then misjudge.

3) Again, no. Especially if West has only overcalled 1♠, East has no idea what type of hand West has – for all East knows, West might just have an ordinary 1-level overcall with five spades and a 10 count, so no, East should definitely not bid 4♠.

Hope that helps,
Andy