When the opponents have bid a suit and we double, we are usually asking partner to bid (with a few exceptions - e.g., after a preempt by partner, a double is for penalty.)    There are many types of these doubles that ask partner to bid:

In most auctions, a double shows the values to compete in the bidding, but no clear opinion about what to do:  we are “non-committal.”  There are many different names for these doubles:  Takeout, Negative, Responsive, etc. These doubles are similar in that they are used to compete in the bidding and search for a fit or a better fit. In this lesson, we will examine some more complex situations where we might use double to try to better understand what partner is showing.

When an opponent opens the bidding and we want to interfere, we have many tools including and beyond overcalls at our disposal.   The goal of this lesson is to examine these choices and help us understand the advantage of each.