I presented a mini lesson on Counting Like the Experts this afternoon at the St. Louis Regional.  Shout out to those who were there…your were a great group!  Afterwards, I was asked about a hand from the Wednesday evening pair session.  You hold:

♠ K3
♥ J4
♦ Q543
♣ K8432

You hear the auction go 1♦ pass 1♥ to you. The question was whether to overcall 2♣. First, a two-level overcall promises a six-card suit or an independent 5-card suit (4 of the top six cards) and 11+ points. Second, anytime you have queens and jacks in the opponents’ bid suits, you want to subtract those from your total value. Based on these guidelines, this hand has neither the suit length/quality nor the strength to overcall at the two level.

I would say, however, if you were able to overcall this suit at the one level – Non-Vulnerable – then I would do it all day. There is a big difference between one and two level overcalls…And yes, I know, you can’t overcall clubs at the one level so use your imagination and pretend that it is the spade suit!