Lebensohl

It is applied by responder after a suit overcall by the 1st opponent over 1 NT openning. Responder forces the opener to bid 3 Clubs by bidding an artificial 2 NT. Then he explains his hand in the second tour of auction. You can examine the following table for whole application of this convention.

Opener	1.Opponent	Responder	Explanation	Opener
1 NT	2 Hearts	Double 2 Spade 2 NT 3 Clubs 3 Diamonds 3 Hearts 3 Spades 3 NT	Punishment Game Lebensohl Long Clubs, Game Forcing Long Diamonds, Game Forcing 9+ HCPs, 4 cards of Spades, No Hearts stopper Long Spades, Game Forcing 9+ HCPs, No 4 cards of Spades, No Hearts stopper	Pass Pass 3 Clubs

The above table could be arranged to any suit overcall by the 1st opponent. As you will see from the table the cuebid of the suit shows 4 cards of the other major. If the suit is Club or Diamond, then the cuebid means Stayman convention.

You can examine the second tour bidding by responder after Lebensohl from the following table.

Opener	1.Opponent	Responder	Opener	Responder	Explanation
1 NT	2 Hearts	2 NT	3 Clubs	Pass 3 Diamonds 3 Hearts 3 Spades 3 NT	Long Clubs, weak hand Long Diamonds, weak hand 9+ HCPs, 4 cards of Spades, Hearts stopper Long Spades, Slam Force 9+ HCPs, Hearts stopper

As you will see from the table above, cuebid after Lebensohl is a Stayman promising stopper. But if the overcall suit is Club then the cuebid after lebensohl will be made by bidding 4 Clubs so there will be no return to 3 NT. So a different approach is needed here. Most of the players use double to 2 Clubs overcall for stayman with stopper at clubs. So nothing else changes and 3 Clubs cue-bid means stayman without stopper at clubs.

After a minor overcall to 1NT openning, responder may show 5-4 or 5-5 major distribution. Bidding majors at second or third level is possible and shows weak and strong hands, so bidding major after Lebensohl could be used to show 5-4 major as in the below table.

Opener	1.Opponent	Responder	Opener	Responder	Explanation
1 NT	2 Clubs	2 NT	3 Clubs	3 Hearts  3 Spades  3 NT  4 Clubs	5 cards of Hearts, 4 cards of Spades  5 cards of Spades, 4 cards of Hearts  No 4 cards major, Clubs stopper  At least 5-5 Major distribution

If the overcall is in the third level, then the shifting suit by the responder at the same level is 1 tour forcing. For the minor suit overcalls cuebid could be taken as Stayman but the major distribution should be at least 5-4.