Maximal Double in Bridge: The Game Try in Competition

A maximal double is a game-try double: your side has found a major fit at the two level, the opponents compete to three of the suit just below yours, and a double asks partner to bid game with a maximum. After 1♠ (2♥) 2♠ (3♥), opener's double says "I want to be in 4♠ if you have the top of your raise," while 3♠ just competes.

The convention is common in 2/1 Game Force and Standard American, and many Acol pairs play it too. It exists for one reason: in these auctions there is no other bid left for a game try. You can see what the double means in every system.

In a quiet auction, opener has plenty of ways to invite game after 1♠ - 2♠: a new suit is a help-suit game try, 2NT or 3♠ are invitations. See help-suit game tries for the usual methods.

Now let the opponents in. You open 1♠, West overcalls 2♥, partner raises to 2♠ and East competes to 3♥. What are your options?

• 3♠ is not an invitation. You would bid 3♠ with a minimum and a sixth spade just to stop East-West from playing 3♥.
• 4♠ is a game bid, not a try.
• Pass lets the opponents play 3♥.
• There is no room for a new-suit game try: the next step up from 3♥ is 3♠.

So the double becomes the game try. "Partner, I have extra values; bid 4♠ if your raise was a good one, otherwise bid 3♠." That is the maximal double, named because it is the only try at the maximum level your side can bid without passing game.

The problem appears only when the opponents' suit sits directly below yours:

When another suit fits between their bid and three of your major, you use that bid as the game try and keep the double for penalty. When nothing fits, the double is maximal. Diamonds below hearts and hearts below spades are the two cases that come up; clubs below diamonds can happen when a pair plays in a minor, but the convention is normally played only when a major is agreed.

Use this checklist. The double is maximal when:

1. Your side has agreed a major at the two level (a raise, or a fit shown by a support double).
2. The opponents bid exactly three of the suit just below your major.
3. The doubler is the player who wants to invite: usually opener, sometimes the overcaller.

In every other case the double is for penalty (or "cards," by partnership agreement). Some examples:

• 1♠ (2♦) 2♠ (3♦) X: penalty. You had 3♥ as a game try, so you do not need the double.
• 1♥ (2♣) 2♥ (3♣) X: penalty. 3♦ is available as the game try.
• 1♥ (1♠) 2♥ (3♠) X: not maximal either. 3♠ is above 3♥, so a game try is impossible. The double here shows values and leaves partner to choose between defending and bidding 4♥.

The same problem hits the overcalling side. East opens 1♥, you overcall 1♠, West raises to 2♥, partner raises to 2♠ and East competes to 3♥. Now your double is maximal: a game try in spades. You need a strong overcall, about 15-16 or a very good 13-14 with a fine suit.

The meaning of 3♠ stays the same: just competing. Pass by the overcaller shows a minimum with no reason to bid on, and partner may still compete with 3♠ holding four trumps.

When the opponents push you to the three level, opener has four choices. Sort your hand into one of these groups:

A pass is not weakness only. Partner raised; if partner has four trumps and shape, partner may still compete with 3♠, because the auction is not over. The pass says "I have nothing more to add."

The Law of Total Tricks helps with the 3♠ decision: with nine trumps between you, competing to the three level is usually right. With eight, defending 3♥ is often the better score.

Partner's double asks you a simple question: was your raise minimum or maximum?

• 4 of the major: the top of your raise, about 8-10 points with good trumps or a useful shortness.
• 3 of the major: the bottom of your raise, about 6-7 points or a flat hand.
• Pass: a rare choice. You convert the game try into a penalty double. Do this only with a good trump holding in the opponents' suit, such as ♥KJ9, which is unusual because they bid and raised that suit.
• 3NT: almost never. If you hold a double stopper and a flat hand, it is possible, but 4M is nearly always better.

Count your shortness: a singleton in the opponents' suit is often worth more than an extra queen.

You are South with ♠AQJ85 ♥73 ♦KQ4 ♣A92, 16 HCP and five spades. You open 1♠, West overcalls 2♥, partner raises to 2♠ and East competes to 3♥.

Your hand is too good to bid only 3♠ and not good enough to bid 4♠ yourself. Double. Partner has 9 points with the ♠K, the ♦A and the ♣Q: the top of a single raise. Partner bids 4♠.

Double dummy, 4♠ makes on this deal: declarer loses two hearts and one club, and the fourth diamond gives a discard. If partner held ♠K106 ♥854 ♦10632 ♣Q74 instead, 5 points, partner would bid 3♠ and you would play a safe partscore.

Now change your hand to ♠AQJ1085 ♥73 ♦K104 ♣J2, 11 HCP with six spades. Here you bid 3♠ over 3♥: you want to play 3♠, not to invite. If you doubled with this hand, partner would bid game with a good raise and you would go down.

• Bidding 3 of the major as an invitation. In competition, 3♠ is only competitive. Partner should pass it.
• Doubling for penalty out of habit. 1♠ (2♥) 2♠ (3♥) X is a game try for pairs who play maximal doubles. If you want to defend with a heart stack, pass and hope partner reopens, or accept that you cannot have both meanings.
• Using the maximal double when there is room. After 1♠ (2♦) 2♠ (3♦), bid 3♥ as a game try and keep the double for penalty.
• Responder passing the double without trump tricks. Pass only with real tricks in the opponents' suit.
• Forgetting the overcaller's version. The same rule applies when your side overcalled and found a fit.

1♠ (2♥) 2♠ (3♥) ? (or 1♥ (2♦) 2♥ (3♦) ?)

• Pass: minimum, no reason to bid on.
• X: maximal double, game try.
  • Responder 4M: maximum raise.
  • Responder 3M: minimum raise.
  • Responder Pass: penalty, with trump tricks in their suit.
• 3M: competitive, no game interest. Responder passes.
• 4M: to play.

(1♥) 1♠ (2♥) 2♠ (3♥) ? The same tree, with the overcaller in opener's place.

Competitive judgment at the three level decides many matchpoint results, and it is hard to learn from examples alone. The BridgeDummy bidding puzzles give you these auctions as South and test pass, 3♠, double and 4♠ over many deals that fit the bidding, so you see which call wins over time and how often game really makes.

For a deeper check of one problem, the custom simulations tool lets you set ranges for each hand and compare 3♠, 4♠ and defending 3♥ over many deals.

Related pages: doubles in bridge, overcalls and cue bids.