Probably, You Are Too Quick to Overcall on Hands with which Stronger Players Choose a Different Call
Less experienced players tend to overcall whenever they have a five-card suit and at least opening-bid strength, but stronger players are much more discerning about when overcalling stands to gain (or lose) matchpoints. Here are factors that point us toward overcalling:
| Favorable Factors for Overcalling |
| There is at least a moderate chance that your side has a game |
| You have spades |
| You are short in opener’s suit |
| Your suit is six or more cards long |
| Your suit is five cards but is strong (say, KQ109x or better) |
| You are not vulnerable |
| The opponents are vulnerable |
| You stand to take a lot of tricks if you declare |
| It’s likely that your side can win the auction (and declare) |
| It’s likely that your side can find a fit, push the opponents up one level, and that the opponents will go down |
| It’s likely that partner will be on lead and that leading your suit will be the best start for the defense |
| There’s no reason to consider overcalling in notrump instead |
| If your suit is clubs or diamonds, your hand is not suitable for a takeout double instead |
When relatively more of these factors are present, overcalling stands to gain matchpoints in the long run. Conversely, when relatively few of these factors are present, overcalling risks losing matchpoints.
When a less experienced player overcalls, typically it’s with “an opening bid and a five-card suit”, often with quite a weak suit. When a stronger player overcalls, typically it’s with these sorts of hands:
| Characteristic | At the One Level | At the Two Level |
| Minimum Suit | KQxxx or similar | KQxxxx or similar |
| HCP | 10-14 | 12-16 |
| Losing Trick Count | 8 or better | 7 or better |
What do stronger players do, with “an opening bid and a five-card suit” that doesn’t fit the patterns shown above? Stronger players are much more likely to make a notrump overcall or make a takeout double, and they might even pass when the clues are unfavorable for overcalling. The result is that, while stronger players sometimes will have the “opening bid and weak five-card suit” hand type, that’s much less likely than it is for less experienced players.
The bottom line is that the typical overcall for a stronger player is a rather different hand than the typical overcall for a less experienced player.