The Landy Convention

A way in, after the opponents have described their hand almost exactly.

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Two Clubs, Both Majors#

An opposing 1NT opening is an awkward thing to bid over. They have described a balanced hand and a narrow range in one call, they have taken away the whole one level, and anything you say is said at the two level with partner having promised nothing.

Landy is one answer to that. A 2♣ overcall of their 1NT opening is artificial and shows both majors, at least 5-4 — four in one and five in the other, or better. Partner is expected to pick one.

The reason it is the majors rather than any other pair of suits is that the majors are where the game is. If you are competing against a strong balanced hand you are usually competing for a part-score, and a 5-4 major fit at the two level is the part-score most worth having.

Why the Range Has a Ceiling#

Landy promises roughly 8 to 15 points. The floor is unremarkable — you need something to be bidding at the two level. The ceiling is the interesting half, because most treatments of the convention do not mention one at all.

The reason a strong hand does not bid Landy is that it has something better to do: double. A penalty double of 1NT says you hold more than the opener can, which means your side has the balance of the pack and defending a contract they cannot escape from will out-earn any part-score you might buy.

Where that threshold sits depends on what their 1NT showed, and Rase computes it from the system in play rather than fixing a number: two points more than the top of their range. Against a weak no-trump that is about 16; against a strong one, about 19. Below it, describe your hand with Landy. Above it, double first and let them wriggle.

That ordering is worth internalising, because a hand that bids Landy on 17 has told partner something false, and partner will compete to the three level on the strength of it.

Their 1NT Opening, Not Any 1NT#

Landy applies over a 1NT opening — the first bid of the auction — and nowhere else. After 1♠–Pass–1NT, the 1NT is a response, the auction is already two rounds old, and 2♣ is a natural club overcall again.

Rase's engine draws that line precisely: the convention is offered only when their 1NT is the single bid on the table. It matters more than it sounds, because the 1NT rebid and the 1NT response are both common, and a partnership that has not agreed the boundary will eventually have one player showing both majors while the other reads five clubs.

Choosing a Major#

You have been asked a question and you answer it with length, not strength:

• Bid your longer major at the cheapest level. With equal length take the one you would rather play. This says nothing about your hand beyond which major you prefer.
• Jump to three of a major holding four of it and about 11 points or more. This is the invitational answer, and it is the only way to show that you have values as well as a preference.
• Pass only on a genuine club hand — six or more clubs with no more than a doubleton in either major. Partner will not enjoy it, but 2♣ is where that hand belongs.

The default answer promising nothing is the important part. Partner forced you to speak; speaking is not a show of values, and a partnership that treats the cheap answer as encouraging will overbid every time the convention comes up.

The Overcall You Give Up#

Turning Landy on takes the natural 2♣ overcall away from you, permanently, in that seat. A hand with six good clubs and no majors that wants to bid 2♣ over their 1NT cannot: partner would read both majors and answer in one, and you would be playing a 4-2 fit while a six-card suit sat in your hand.

Rase's engine reserves the call explicitly when the switch is on, so such a hand has to find another bid or pass. In practice it passes — which is the honest cost of the convention, paid on the hands where you least expected to mind.

Whether the trade is worth it comes down to how often you hold a one-suited club hand worth a two-level overcall against how often you hold both majors. For most players the majors turn up more, and turn up on hands where the alternative was silence.

Off in Both Systems, and When to Turn It On#

Landy is off by default in 2/1 and in ACOL, which makes it the odd one out among the conventions in this app — most are on somewhere.

The default is deliberate rather than an oversight. Against a strong no-trump, the hands that qualify for Landy are not common and the natural 2♣ you give up is worth something. The convention earns its place against a weak no-trump , where the opponents open 1NT far more often, on far less, and staying silent lets them steal part-scores all evening.

So: if you have set the robots to a system whose 1NT opening is weak, or you simply find yourself passing over their 1NT more often than you would like, turn it on from System & Conventions. Both sides of the table will then use it and expect it.