Landy, Multi-Landy and Cappelletti

As a strategic principle, it is a bad idea to allow the opponents to open 1NT and play there, especially when they are not vulnerable. Research has shown that on average, you lose. Therefore, you should intervene whenever possible, to push the opponents out of this contract. Some pairs take this to extremes, overcalling on almost any hand. I don’t recommend that as an approach, but I do advocate an overcall of even a strong no-trump when holding 10+hcp and moderate distribution.

At the moment, agent 99 and I play simple Landy. An overcall of 2C shows both majors, at least 5-4 distribution, 10+hcp. If responder (opener’s partner) passes, advancer (overcaller’s partner) gives preference in the majors or bids 2D to ask overcaller to bid his better major. Passing 2C is possible, but only with long clubs (declarer may be void), no tolerance for either major, and a weak hand. It seems reasonable to play 2NT as natural, showing 12-13 points in a hand tilted towards the minors, while 3C would be a forcing advance, strongly interested in game.

If responder doubles, then advancer has more options. We play
Pass – showing clubs. At least 5, willing to play there if overcaller happens to have 3 clubs
Redouble – please bid your best suit, equivalent to the 2D bid if there were no double
2D – natural, 5+ cards, suggesting a place to play if overcaller has 3 diamonds
2H/2S – preference

Using simple Landy, other suit overcalls are natural, suggesting a 6-card suit and (again) probably 10+hcp.

A 2NT overcall is the Unusual No Trump, showing both minors at least 5-5. Advancer gives a simple preference to 3C or 3D unless he feels adventurous and wants to play at the 4 or 5 level. Needless to say, that would depend on a number of factors, including the strength of the opening 1NT, the quality of fit, vulnerability, whether you are trying to make or are going for a sacrifice, etc.

When agent 99 is ready to upgrade, we will move to Multi-Landy. In this convention, the 2C and 2NT overcalls remain the same, but some other overcalls are also used to show two-suiters.

The odd call out is 2D, showing a 6-card overcall in an unspecified major. Bidding proceeds as after a Multi 2D opening: advancer will ordinarily bid 2H, allowing overcaller to pass or correct to 2S. With good support for hearts (willing to play at least 3H), advancer can respond 2S. Again overcaller passes or corrects, this time the correction being to 3H. With a hand interested in game whichever suit overcaller has, advancer bids 2NT. Overcaller bids 3C with hearts and a maximum, 3H with hearts and a minimum, 3D with spades and a maximum, 3S with spades and a minimum.

If responder doubles the 2D overcall, advancer can pass to show a diamond suit, redouble to show diamond shortage, while the other bids remain the same. If responder bids 2NT as Lebensohl, double from advancer should indicate a willingness to play at the 3-level in overcaller’s suit (that is, he has support for both hearts and spades).

With single-suited hands handled by the overcall of 2D, overcalls of 2H or 2S now show the bid major and an unspecified minor, at least 5-4 and probably 5-5. Advancer can bid 2NT to ask for the minor suit in constructive fashion, or bid 3C for pass or correct with no interest in going further.

Against a weak 1NT, double can be for penalties, 15+hcp. Against a strong 1NT, and also against weak if you don’t want the straight penalty double, double can be used for another type of two-suiter: to show a hand with a 4-card major and a 5-card minor, 11+hcp. Advancer has choices:
Pass – 11+hcp, converting the double for penalties
2C – asking overcaller to pass or correct to 2D, whichever is his minor
2D – asking overcaller to bid his major (advancer usually 4-4 or better in the majors)
2H or 2S – natural, 6-card suit of his own
It may seem unusual to consider doubling a strong no-trump for penalties, but the basic reasoning is sound. If we have 12 points each, and opener has the other 16, not only do we have him out-gunned, the hand should play much better for us than him. If advancer has a useful card or two in each minor, we can expect the opening lead from the 5-card suit to get the defence off to a good start, and declarer is unlikely to have a good day.

The only hands not covered by this scheme are single-suited overcalls in the minors. For those you have to jump-overcall 3C or 3D, which means you aren’t going to do it very often, especially when vulnerable. But natural 2C and 2D overcalls are the least effective interference anyway, and the least problematic to lose.

The most popular defence against 1NT (in the US) is Cappelletti. The Multi-Landy defence described above is substantially similar, the only real difference being that the 2C and 2D bids are swapped around. However, that is a major improvement, since advancer thus has room to discover opener’s five-card suit, making overcalls on 5-4 distribution much more attractive. I also like the minor-major treatment of the double described above. Dealing random hands where a 1NT opening was followed by a hand strong enough to overcall, this was a common distribution, and it’s one that is commonly not handled at all.