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25 Ways to Compete in the Bidding
by Barbara Seagram & Marc Smith
£15.95 available from Bridge Plus

This is an excellent book for new players, teachers, and even seasoned duplicate players who would like to improve their bidding. The format is lovely, and includes quizzes and summaries. Each chapter begins with a quote from "Auction Highlights" by Florence Irwin, published by Putnam in 1913. This book would make a terrific holiday gift for your favorite friend or relative who is learning bridge. In this way, your gift recipient would have a sound foundation to build his or her bridge game on.

So what's wrong with Cappelletti?

Cappelletti has gained wide popularity because it allows you to bid on quite a large number of hands with a fair degree of safety, it still lets you double 1NT for penalties, and it's easy to remember. It is also quite playable against either a strong or a weak notrump opening. So is it the answer to all your problems?

Possibly, but only provided that the opponents are kind enough to pass throughout after opening 1NT. In the real world they are less likely to do so. The 2 bid that allows you to introduce all your one-suiters, as well as getting in there on two-suiters, is the Achilles heel of the convention. Not only have you lost much of the preemptive advantage that overcalling directly (especially in a major) produces but you may also never discover what partner's suit actually is. Consider the auction:

	J 5
	Q 8 7 5 4
	K 8 6
	7 3 2

LHO	Partner	RHO	You
1NT	2	2NT	Pass
3	Pass	Pass	?

Your partner's 2 overcall shows an undefined one-suited hand but RHO intervenes with a Lebensohl 2NT bid. The most likely explanation for the auction is that your partner has spades. Would you want to compete to the three-level with this hand facing a natural 2 overcall? Of course not. But actually, this is partner's hand:

	A Q 4
	A J T 9 6 3
	Q 4
	9 4

He doesn't have spades at all. . . .

By the Way - When the opponents are using Cappelletti, always stretch to bid if they overcall your partner's 1NT opening with this multi-purpose 2 bid. Doing so may enable you to steal many contracts when they can't risk coming in at the three-level and the partner of the 2C bidder doesn't know what suit his partner has.

Matthew Granovetter.