On the first round, I think you have to bid - your partner could have up to 24 points after all. I’m only a beginner myself, but I’m pretty sure a takeout double is 100% forcing for one round (unless the opponent bids in between, because that means the doubler will be able to bid again). Given that, the only bid that makes sense is 2C.
After the 2H response, I think I would bid 3H (showing 3 card heart support) because I like to play a change of suit as forcing for one round. I just hope partner doesn’t raise it to 4H (unless they really do have 23-24 points). So actually, probably passing 2H is best (and if partner did have a huge hand, tell thrm afterwards they should have jumped to 3H to show their strength).
On the first round, you have to bid, not because your partner might have up to 24 points, but because they might have as few as 12 and 1 Diamond doubled is probably making a fortune. 2C is absolutely right here. The only time you can pass a take-out double is when you have a stack in the suit being doubled (in this case, something like S xx H xx D KQJxxx C Axx) in which case you can pass and take a big penalty from 1 Diamond doubled.
On the second round, it really depends on what conventions you and your partner play. Some players (like @Dead_Cat’s partner) play that the change of suit shows extra strength (16+ points and 5+ Hearts) and is forcing for one round. In that case the correct bid is 3H with your 3-card support (from partner’s perspective, you might have been forced to bid with a 3244 0-count, so they’ve got to be pretty strong to force again). Other players (like me) prefer to double with pretty much any opening-strength hand (keeping the 1H overcall for distributional hands), in which case 3H is the “extra strength” bid and you’re fine to pass 2H with a hand as weak as yours.
Partner has asked you to bid your best suit (unless you have very strong diamonds.)
In response to a takeout double, any minimum bid shows about 0-7 points, plus just 3 cards in the suit.
If you had (admittedly an extreme example!)
432 432 5432 432
you would respond 1
Or with
32 32 432 65432
you would respond 2 .
Partner should realise this and be jolly careful.
Now if you have 8+ points, you can jump to show that. With
K72 AT932 64 J85
bid 2
In your example, partner has doubled and bid again over what could be a Yarborough in your hand.
So I expect them to have 16+ points and a good 5 card suit.
Assuming your partner plays this way, you now have a fit (8+ cards in ) and so you can add ‘fit points’ (1 for a doubleton, 3 for a singleton and 5 for a void.)
This gives you 7 points (5 in high cards and 2 for the doubletons.)
So you are close to a raise to 3 - partner will know you have less than 8 in high cards (since you didn’t jump last time) and exactly 3 (since you didn’t bid them last time.)
It’s worth considering the types of hands that partner might have, and what other bids he might have made at each juncture.
Not directly overcalling 1H likely means that their heart suit is not particularly good. They probably only have 5 cards or a really bad 6. Not passing the 2C means that they probably have something more than a minimum opening bid since they didn’t automatically want to play in your suit, so probably 16 pts minimum. Not cuebidding on the first opportunity means their hand isn’t absurdly strong, so probably less than 23. My best guess for partner’s hand is something that’s strong in both majors, but neither suit worth overcalling, and partner wants to play in your best major. This is the reason the Michaels convention was developed, to describe this sort of hand a bit more quickly, but you’re probably not playing that.
With that being the case, I think you can’t pass in the second round because you do have more than a minimum, and if partner is just below what’s necessary for a cuebid (which I would consider a standard convention) then your hand is a reasonable fit with 3 hearts and 2 doubletons, plus the ace in a suit partner might be somewhat long in, and thus might have a shot at game. As mentioned, you’re at around 7 points with the distributions, and there’s no reason to think partner has limited themselves to being below 19. If they have the minimum for their range, 16-18, they should pass 3H, but if they are in between that and the cuebid, 19-22, they’ll go on to game. You’re at a minimum for making another bid, and perhaps with unknown partners it might be safer to pass, but I think you might be missing a game bid other tables could find.
I’d be really careful making inferences like these unless you’re confident you know your partner’s overcalling style. Some people play 1H over 1D as guaranteeing a solid Heart holding, but the more common style these days is to play it as a weak competitive bid (could be as little as AQx Jxxxx Kxx xx), with 2H being a weak jump (6-10 points and 6 Hearts) and any hand with enough high-card strength for an opening bid starting with a double (or 1NT). Likewise, the direct cue bid (2D over opponent’s 1D) to show a rock-crusher is distinctly old-school - these it’s more likely to be used as a way of showing a 2-suiter (if you have the rock-crusher, you can always double and then cue-bid). @glowacks’s system isn’t wrong, but it’s essential to have a clear understanding with your partner about what the various bids promise.
In this case, I’d say that 2H over 2C shows at least good 5-card Heart suit - after all partner wants to play in Hearts even though you haven’t shown him any points or any Heart support.
Question for people who say that 1D-Dbl-P-2C-P-2H guarantees 16+ points - what do you do over 1D with hands like: KJTx AQxxx Axx x or AJx KQxxx KQx xx
Do you double and accept that you’re going to have pass partner’s 2C, or bid 1H and hope to show your strength later?
Thanks for all the responses! I realized in retrospect that I could have provided more information on our agreements, but - if I could be greedy for a moment - I learned a lot from your conditional commentary.
For more background
we treat an un-intervened double as forcing, which I think is standard?
I know my partner would overcall 1 if she had five of them, so I can reasonably put her on four of them.
her actual hand was 17 points including distribution, and the shape was 4/4 in the majors, 2 diamonds, and 3 clubs.
There was a misunderstanding about what my response meant, and we had a good conversation about it this morning - I told her I would have responded with a 4-card major if I’d had it, and that 2 very likely put me with five in that suit. But that’s actually part of the fun of bridge, working these things out…it’s a constant puzzle!