Choosing a notrump defense 

A 1NT opener by the opponents should not automatically silence you and partner. You'll have many hands where it can be wise to enter the auction and try to find a making partscore. Even if you don't buy the contract, your overcall may interfere with the opponents' ability to find their best spot.

The simplest way to compete is to make a natural overcall of a long suit. You'll have more flexibility, though, if you adopt conventional overcalls that show different types of hands. There are lots of choices. Here's a summary of some of the most popular conventions used by today's tournament players:
  

	Woolsey	Multi-Landy	Meckwell	Cappelletti	Revised Cappelletti	DONT	Landy	Astro	Brozel	Suction
DBL	4-card major  + minor	Penalty	One minor or  both majors	Penalty	Penalty	One suit	Penalty	Penalty	One suit	Clubs   + Hearts
2C	Both majors	Both majors	Clubs   + major	One suit	Diamonds or minor + major	Clubs  + any suit	Both majors	Hearts   + minor	Clubs   + Hearts	Diamonds or   Both majors
2D	One major	One major	Diamonds   + major	Both majors	Both majors	Diamonds   + major	Diamonds	Spades   + any suit	Diamonds   + Hearts	Hearts or   Spades + Clubs
2H	Hearts   + minor	Hearts   + minor	Hearts	Hearts   + minor	Hearts	Hearts  + Spades	Hearts	Hearts	Hearts   + Spades	Spades or   Both minors
2S	Spades   + minor	Spades   + minor	Spades	Spades   + minor	Spades	Spades	Spades	Spades	Spades   + minor	Clubs or Diamonds + Hearts

Standard American meanings:  Without an agreement, Double is penalty and a 2-level suit bid is natural, showing one long suit. 2NT shows both minors.

Woolsey & Multi-Landy: These are similar, varying only in the meaning of double (a major/minor hand in Woolsey, penalty in Multi-Landy). Both offer the advantage of showing majors with 2C, which leaves room to find your better fit when you’re 5-4 or 4-5. If partner has equal length in your suits, he bids 2D to ask you to bid your longer major.

Meckwell: The double is a relay to 2C. To show the one-suited minor hand, you pass partner's 2C or convert it to 2D. With both majors, you convert 2C to 2H. A variation defines double as either a 4-card major with a longer minor (as in Woolsey) or both majors.

Cappelletti: Also known as Hamilton, this convention uses the 2H and 2S overcalls to show 5 cards in that suit and 4+ cards in a minor. Another version, called Reverse Cappelletti, switches the meanings of 2C and 2D.
If partner doesn't have a fit for your major, you could be forced to the 3-level, so you may want to build in some safety by requiring more playing strength. The Woolsey convention defines the 2H and 2S bids as m as 5-5). Another strategy is to treat your hand as a one-suiter when you hold a strong major and a 4-card minor.

Revised Cappelletti: This modification removes some of the mystery from the 2C overcall and allows you to show a long major immediately.

DONT: “Disturb Opponents’ NoTrump” shows two-suiters by bidding the lower-ranking suit. Although you won’t always find your perfect contract, these overcalls allow you to find a reasonable fit at the 2-level.
Some pairs change the meaning of 2C to clubs and a major. This gives up showing a two-suiter with  clubs and diamonds, but improves your chances of finding a heart or spade fit.

Landy: This simple convention describes the two most important hand types – one-suiters and major two-suiters -- and its 2C overcall offers the same "you-choose" flexibility as in Woolsey. A variation is Transfer Landy, where a suit overcall shows the next-higher suit (2D = Hearts, 2H=Spades, 2S=Clubs, 3C=Diamonds). 

Astro: The 2C and 2D overcalls help you find a possible major-suit fit at a low level, but they don't identify the second suit. There are variations that make it easier to sort out the two-suited bids. They include Pinpoint Astro, Modified Astro, Aspro and Asptro.

Brozel: All 2-level suit bids show two-suited hands and identify the exact suits. For all bids but 2S, one of the suits is hearts.    

Suction: A 2NT overcall is used to show diamonds and hearts. Suction may not be allowed in local clubs and novice/intermediate events at some tournaments. Check with the directors of the event to be sure it's permitted.
 

General definitions and follow-ups:

"One suit" means an unnamed long suit that will be identified later if partner asks. To ask, the overcaller's partner usually bids the cheapest available suit -- 2C over double, 2D if the overcall was 2C.

"+ any suit" means an unnamed second suit that will be identified later if partner asks. If overcaller's partner has no fit for the named first suit, he asks for the unnamed suit by bidding the cheapest available suit or 2NT.

Any overcall that shows a single suit -- including natural, "one major", "one minor" and "one suit" overcalls -- should promise at least 6 cards in your suit.

A two-suited overcall should promise at least 9 cards in your two suits.

A 2NT overcall shows both minors (at least 5-5) in most convention structures. (An exception is Suction, which defines 2NT as diamonds and spades.)

A penalty double should promise high-card strength that is at least the top of the opponents' notrump range. Against strong 1NT openers, you should also have a good suit to lead. 
 

Do you need two conventions?

Penalty doubles aren't needed very often against strong 1NT openers, so it's not critical that your convention define double as penalty. Against weak 1NT openers, though, it's more likely your side has the balance of strength and should be competing for the contract. Against these opponents, you need to be able to make a penalty double to show strength. 

If you want to play the same convention against all 1NT ranges, choose one that defines double as penalty (Landy, Cappelletti and Astro conventions). If you prefer to use double as artificial (Woolsey, Meckwell or DONT conventions), add a second convention that includes a penalty double and switch to it when playing against weak 1NT openers.
 

  Copyright  © 2026  Karen Walker