Forcing
The negative double is generally forcing, but opener might pass to convert the double to a penalty double. There is a special agreement called negative free bids, under which (after the overcall) the bid of a new suit by responder is not forcing. However, most negative doublers play that a new suit response (or free bid), whether at the one level or higher, is forcing.
The negative double loses even more definition when it can be made with a very broad range of strength, from roughly six HCP up to game forcing values. In a pinch, players use it to "get by this round of bidding."
Read more about this topic: Negative Double
Famous quotes containing the word forcing:
“An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“It is quite true, as some poets said, that the God who created man must have had a sinister sense of humor, creating him a reasonable being, yet forcing him to take this ridiculous posture, and driving him with blind craving for this ridiculous performance.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1994)