[saltymushi]

RHO opened 1NT 15-17, I bid 2S showing 6+ spades, and LHO bid 4D transferring to hearts. Partner was holding 11 points opposite my 12 but couldn't double knowing I could be holding around 6 hcp. We ended in 4H-4 undoubled. Is there any specific manner where we can show holdings like these?

[billw55]

I recommend not bidding over a strong 1NT with only 6 points; perhaps 10 is a reasonable minimum. With this understanding, your partner holding 11 can know that your side has the balance of points.

However, that by itself is not enough to double the opponents in 4♥. Correctly doubling for penalty is a difficult subject; there is no simple answer.

Also, your opponents have not automatically psyched just because they went down 4.

Can you present the full deal, including vulnerability and form of scoring? That would make it easier to give meaningful comments.

[mikeh]

we need to know the vulnerability and the hands.

I can say this: it is not that good an idea to overcall 2♠ with a 6 count. Thus even with AQxxxx, I would not dream of overcalling a strong 1N. Make it AQJ9xx, and it becomes somewhat more attractive, especially at favourable, when indeed I think bidding is mandatory.

Btw, the opps may not have been psyching....LHO was pre-empting, not psyching. A texas transfer isn't necessarily based on an expectation of making 10 tricks!

I suspect that if you show the hands, you will learn that the correct action would have been for partner to double to show cards, and I suspect that we'd be telling you that you should convert the double. However, in a vacuum, one cannot pretend to be giving reliable advice.

Edit: Bill got there first!

[Mbodell]

Also, for the most part you don't ever really need to worry about opponents psyching you. You do have to get used to and learn how to handle opponents misbidding (which can act very much like an unintentional psych and is thousands of times more common than genuine psychs) and also opponents preempting (which it could be what happened here) and also opponents bidding differently than you would (which it also sounds like may be the case here too - you might never stayman without 8 high card points and never texas transfer without 9 high card points - but many might make those bids with 0 or few high card points too with the right shapes or situations).

[helene_t]

IMO it is ok to bid over a strong nt with very few hcps. When RHO has 15-17 balanced it is unlikely that we have game, so especially at matchpoints I wouldn't worry too much about telling p how many HCPs I have. The 2♠ bid serves to compete for the partscore and disturb their bidding. Against opps who don't play transfers in competion it also serves to make opener dummy and directing the lead.

On the given hand, a wideranging overcall style would probably give partner a difficult choice between pass (risking taking a few undoubled downtricks when we should have been in game) or making a responsive double that could get usin troubles when overcaller is very light. But I think in the long run the wide ranging overcall style pays off. It is also better if the overcall does not give opps clues as to the location of honours (other than in the suit we bid).