This week's hand is by no means controversial, but it does offer a little insight into the devolution of the concept of suit quality. I was sitting North.
Board #5
North dealer
North-South vulnerable
| | North
♠ Q 6 4
♥ K 5
♦ K 10 8 7 4
♣ Q J 10
| | West
♠ 9 8
♥ J 9 7 4
♦ A Q 6 5 2
♣ 6 2
| | East
♠ K 10 7 5 3
♥ Q 6
♦ J 9 3
♣ A K 8
| | | South
♠ A J 2
♥ A 10 8 3 2
♦ ——
♣ 9 7 5 4 3
| |
|
| | | | |
| South | West | North | East |
| | P | 1♠ |
| 2♠ | P | 2N | P |
| 3♣ | P | P | P |
North's hand does not meet the rule of twenty (hcp plus number of pieces in two longest suits). It does not have two quick tricks. It does have only seven losers, but that is really its only redeeming factor. I did not even consider opening it.
East's opening bid of 1♠ is automatic. South's reaction is a little less so. In the old day's that club holding would not have been considered worth mentioning. The modern emphasis is on number of trump and total strength. With such a nice holding in spades, South might be tempted to sit in the weeds in the hope that the opponents might have trouble finding a comfortable resting spot. However, most good players today would stretch to use conventional tools to describe any hand with two five-card suits. South bid 2♠ to indicate five hearts and five pieces in a minor suit. It would have been nice to be able to specify both suits with one bids, and there are treatments that allow this. However, they are much more taxing on the memory than the Michaels convention that was used by South.
The primary problem with Michaels and the other five-five conventions is that the advancer (in this case North) does not know the overcaller's strength. There are at least two ways of playing these conventions. One approach is to use the appropriate convention whenever you have enough strength to overcall. Another popular method is to use it for very strong hands and very weak hands and to bid both suits when one has a hand with minimal opening count. In the latter approach overcaller always takes a second bid with the strong hand ("moose") and always passes as soon as possible with the weak hand ("mouse"). This approach is sometimes called "mini-maxi", after Minnie and Maxy Goldberg, who popularized it in the late sixties.
For those who do not follow the Goldbergs' approach, Michael Lawrence has developed a very nice system of responding to Michaels bids. I wrote about it here. Unfortunately it does not apply when Michaels is used after a bid in a major suit.
One last note: it is sometimes not possible to use Michaels or the Unusual No Trump. For example, if the opponent opens 1♣, and you hold diamonds and spades, neither 2♣ (both majors) nor 2NT (diamonds and hearts – the two lowest unbid suits) describes your hand. Similarly, if the opponent opens 1♦, and you hold clubs and spades, you must overcall in one of the two suits.
It was important that South used Michaels. If he had overcalled 1♥, West could bid 1NT, and North-South would probably never bid clubs. This underscores the crucial preemptive value of the two-suited overcalls. North-South were able to play in the comfortable fit in a partial in clubs that would be very difficult to reach in any other way. At the table South actually managed to score ten tricks when West led the A♦, not bad for a 20-point hand with only eight trump missing the ace and king.
By the way, North's 2NT bid asked South to specify his minor. I have seen people bid 3♣ (pass or correct) to serve the same purpose, but that is just wrong. 3♣ should be reserved for the rare hand with lots of clubs and no tolerance for either hearts or diamonds.