[Cthulhu D]

I currently play the Overcall Structure in competitive situations, a very aggressive natural overcalling system that sacrifices all weak jumps for two suited overcalls (so you can show all two suiters), and has a 1NT as a weak takeout.

We really like this, but we miss being able to make pre-emptive jump overcalls. In an effort to fix it, Canape Overcalls sprung to mind as letting us get both, but potentially compromising lead directing inferences.

So anyone got any experience with Canape overcalls? What's fun, what's good, what's bad and what's just ugly? How much damage does it do to lead direction? We were looking at Bocchi-Duboin and Mark Abraham's Catomult to make things extra festive. This is only for teams so it can be as brown sticker-y as we like.

Edit: I have used the search feature, and there is some discussion of defence, but not much. I also found Bluejak's post on another forum.

So something like (all credit to Mark Abraham, this is mostly stolen from him):

(1C) Double 15+
1D/1H/1S 7-15 Canape (can be good 10-14 6 carder) - Mark goes 1S-2S with a intermediate jump, but Bocchi always canape
1NT 8-14 3 Suited
2C 10-14 5 Diamonds & A 5 card Major - we will probably play this 5/4, but I guess you might be better of canape-ing?
2D 5-9 4+/4+ Majors
2H 4-9ish hearts or spades - we might swap this with 2D.
2S Good Preempt in any suit
2NT Good Intermediate Jump in D with a stop
3C 10-14 5+/5+ Both Majors
3D Good Intermediate Jump in D with no stop
3Maj Poor preempt

and

(1D) Double 15+
1H/1S 7-15 Canape (can be good 10-14 6 carder) - Mark goes 1S-2S with a intermediate jump, but Bocchi always canape
1NT 8-14 3 Suited
2C 10-15 Canape (can be good intermediate jump without a stop)
2D 5-9 4+/4+ Majors
2H 2H Multi - We might swap this with 2D, partner thinks that this might be a bit to festive.
2S Good Preempt in any suit
2NT Good Intermediate Jump in C with a stop
3C Good Intermediate Jump in C with no stop
3D 10-14 5+/5+ Both Majors
3Suit Poor preempt

These structures give us back weak jump overcalls (hurrah!), and lets us have all the two suiters as well, which is a major design objective. Any thoughts on the structure?

[dake50]

I play Overcall Structure and 1M may always be 4-suit with a 5-minor.
That Canape I suggest is 'MAF' MajorsAlwaysFirst.
What do others do?
A 2C overcall with 4xC and 5xS to rebid 2S?

[Cthulhu D]

dake50, on 2012-April-23, 18:36, said:

I play Overcall Structure and 1M may always be 4-suit with a 5-minor.
That Canape I suggest is 'MAF' MajorsAlwaysFirst.
What do others do?
A 2C overcall with 4xC and 5xS to rebid 2S?

Yeah that's the Bocchi Duboin and Mark's suggested style.

[Zelandakh]

The simplest way (imho) to get specific 2-suited as well as weak jump overcalls is to use a multi-2m.

Over 1♣
=======
2♣ = wjo in either major or strong with spades and diamonds
2♦ = wjo
2♥ = weak, both majors
2♠ = weak, spades and diamonds
2NT = weak or strong, hearts and diamonds
3♣ = strong, both majors


Over 1♦
=======
2♦ = wjo in either major or strong with spades and clubs
2♥ = weak, both majors
2♠ = weak, spades and clubs
2NT = weak or strong, hearts and clubs
3♣ = wjo
3♦ = strong, both majors


The weak 2M overcalls I play as 5+ in the suit bid and 4+ in the other but playing a 5-5 style is also fine. Your 4-4 assumed fit style looks pretty risky as an overcall!

[Cthulhu D]

Zelandakh, on 2012-April-24, 06:24, said:

The weak 2M overcalls I play as 5+ in the suit bid and 4+ in the other but playing a 5-5 style is also fine. Your 4-4 assumed fit style looks pretty risky as an overcall!

Yeah, we currently play it 5/4 (either way though), but have a understanding that in really juicy pre-empt opportunities you can be 4-4.