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When your opponents have opened the bidding, in order
for you to bid a suit, you must have a decent quality 5-card suit.
If you only have 8-12 points (definitely not much of a hand) then
you must have a sterling quality suit, one that you desperately
want your partner to lead such as AKxxx or KQxxx i.e., 2 of the
top 3 honors. OR a 5-card suit with 3 of the top 5 honors e.g.,

QJ10xx If you have 13 or more points, you do not have to have
such a great quality suit, but you still must have five cards in it.
As you know, this bid is called an overcall. At the one level, you
need 8 or more points but at the 2 level, you must have close to
an opening bid at least. So, what in the world do you do with this
hand: ♠KQxx ♥KJxx ♦Axxx ♣x Suppose the opponent on your
right has opened the bidding with 1♣. If you bid 1♠, you will be
promising a good 5 card suit. What’s more, partner will inevitably
have a singleton spade and a bunch of hearts. Bidding hearts
or diamonds is equally wrong. The solution is to make partner
pick the suit, by making a takeout double. You say double and
partner is forced to bid now. Note that the fewer cards that you
own in the opponents' suit, as the doubler, the more cards you
will have in all the other suits. Partner is being forced to bid, so
the more cards you have in the suits partner will choose from,
the more useful your hand will be as a dummy. RESPONSES
TO THE TAKEOUT DOUBLE: When partner makes a takeout
double, you must respond and may not pass. However, if your
RHO (right hand opponent) makes a bid, then the pressure is off,
and you no longer need to respond. If you do respond after an
intervening bid, you are now promising 8+ points. Since you are

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