PENALTY DOUBLES - EXAMPLES
A player may decide to double a contract if they suspect that the contract will be defeated. This may be based upon the player's hand alone, or (more often) on the earlier bidding.
There are a number of situations when a player should consider making a penalty double. Below are a few examples:
THE OPPONENTS VOLUNTARILY BID TOO HIGH
A 4 3
Q J T 8
A K 4 2
7 5
| East | South | West | North |
| 1 | Pass | 2 | Pass |
| 2 | Pass | 3 | Pass |
| 4 | ? |
We have two certain tricks in trumps. We're very likely to make at least two out of our A and AK, so we can expect the contract to go one or two down, even without any help from partner. We should definitely double at this point.
K J 9 6 3 A 8 5 A Q T 4 2
| North | East | South | West |
| 3 | 3 | ? |
The spade honours are likely to be held by East, so we should expect to take three or four trump tricks. Our two aces will put the contract at least one down. In addition, partner's length in clubs and our Q might be good for additional tricks. We can therefore double 3 with a high degree of confidence.
K 6 4 Q 8 5 3 4 2 A Q 9 2
| North | East | South | West |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | ? |
After our invitational 3 bid, partner was presumably expecting to make 4, but East has bid on in his own suit. In some cases it could be right to continue with 5, but that wouldn't be the right course of action on this hand. Instead, we should double at this point. We can't be certain that the contract will go down, but partner's opening bid makes this quite likely.
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