[han]

Red against white.

Qx
AJxxx
Qxx
xxx

RHO opens 1C, do you overcall? How close is it?

[cherdano]

1H, not close for me, but I guess you knew that.

[rhm]

I would pass. I think an over-call is unlikely to gain and could clearly loose in many ways.
Among others you provide information to a gifted declarer in the play and at this vulnerability getting doubled can not be discounted. Also partner will expect a better hand and might drive you too high.
If partner is on lead it is anything but clear that your side needs to start with a ♥ lead.
Pass looks clearly better to me.

Rainer Herrmann

[marcD]

Pass, not close for me . Guess I now qualify as a conservative bidder. Bidding will be an occasional success when partner has a big heart fit but will lead to a lot of minuses (phantom defenses/ tip off declared on how to play the hand; so i guess pass is even clearer at MP)The 2 queens are really minus factors as is the like of intermediates in the heart suit. Same hand with spades , I would definitely consider bidding.

[gwnn]

yes please. I'm willing to bet a large amount of money that han also overcalled.

[han]

What if everybody is vulnerable, does that make a difference?

[gwnn]

by the way, there's not much point of bring for/against arguments in "overcall?" threads, they are mostly exactly the same, it's just that different posters draw the line at different hands.

edit: there have been a number of funny/instructive threads that have said just about everything that there was to be said about this topic, but I've sadly lost my touch in searching. there was one where fred asked some good players whether they would overcall on some hand and jdonn half-seriously observed that old people were more likely to pass? 655321? could you find it?

[whereagles]

Depends on opps, pard and what I had to drink. Really a toss-up for me.

[Free]

1♥ wtp for me.

[han]

gwnn, on 2011-June-28, 04:17, said:

by the way, there's not much point of bring for/against arguments in "overcall?" threads, they are mostly exactly the same, it's just that different posters draw the line at different hands.

edit: there have been a number of funny/instructive threads that have said just about everything that there was to be said about this topic, but I've sadly lost my touch in searching. there was one where fred asked some good players whether they would overcall on some hand and jdonn half-seriously observed that old people were more likely to pass? 655321? could you find it?

I've read the thread, I don't need to see it again. I'm still interested in what people do today with this hand.

[gwnn]

Of course han. I never said that asking these questions is pointless. I said that the for/against arguments are generally the same, so talking about over and over again is not so interesting. I think these threads are useful in that you can find out where other people draw the line.

[kayin801]

Overcall.

[andy_h]

I overcall too.

[mtvesuvius]

Even I overcall this one

[daveharty]

Pass. Very close. Even the H9 might sway me.

[rhm]

gwnn, on 2011-June-28, 05:44, said:

Of course han. I never said that asking these questions is pointless. I said that the for/against arguments are generally the same, so talking about over and over again is not so interesting. I think these threads are useful in that you can find out where other people draw the line.

Maybe I am missing something and I do not know to which threads you are referring. None of the over-callers have so far given any arguments for their action, at least not in this thread. I find this pointless. For that we have polls
The passers have.

Rainer Herrmann

[gwnn]

I just put in "overcall" in the search box, ticked the "titles only" box, and asked for sorting by replies in a decreasing order. Some results:
http://www.bridgebas...o-you-overcall/
http://www.bridgebas...call-1-diamond/
http://www.bridgebas...th-an-overcall/
The reasons for overcalling are always the same (please note that they are written in random order, just as for the section below):
-we might find a good partscore
-we might find game
-we might give partner a good idea of what to lead
-we might find a good save
-we might make opponent's lives harder in finding their best contract
-it just seems to work/it makes me feel better
-other stuff

The reasons for passing are always the same:
-we might go down in a partscore when opponents did not have a good partscore to make
-partner might take us too high/double them because he was hoping for a non-minimum
-our suit might make for a bad lead after all
-our opponents might be pushed to a contract they might not have found
-our opponents might stay away of a non-making game
-they might play the hand better because of additional inferences thanks to our overcall
-it just doesn't seem to work/it makes me feel sick
-other stuff

For almost every hand almost every reason above applies and when someone says "pass" they usually mean "pass because I think the reasons in the section below are, for this hand, more important than the ones above", and the opposite goes for someone who says "1H".

I apologise if this counts as hijacking a thread or if I misrepresented/forgot some of the reasons - I did not mean either.

[Phil]

Pass, but its close. Our ODR really sucks, and our suit isn't that great. I'd probably overcall at any other colors, or if my suit were spades, or if I had the ♥T, or if I were 5422, or....

Thanks for the old threads Gwnn. I always enjoy reading everyone's thoughts from the past, even my own.

[OleBerg]

1♥ for me, but relatively close. Remove a Q, and I'm gone.

The pro's and Con's of overcalling this type of hand has been discussed a gazillion times, here and elsewhere. Really no reason to repeat them.

[gwnn]

sorry, it's me again... this was the thread I was thinking about

http://www.bridgebas.../27250-balance/

the hand in question was AT9xx QJTx x xxx, 2nd hand all vul imps over 1♦.