[gprentice]

I was taught a long time ago that when responding to an overcall, you bid according to the law of total tricks (LOTT) and ignore your point count, however an expert player has told me that with 3 cards in your partners suit, you still need 6 points (can count points for shortages) to support at the two level. I'm unable to find any guideline for this on the internet and all the examples show the hand raising the overcall as having six or more points.

So obviously there's a variety of situations e.g. 1H 1S 3H ?? - what do you need to bid 3S or 4S here. 1H 1S pass ?? what do you need to support spades here.

Is there any consensus on how many points you need to support an overcall.
e.g.
1. With ten plus points and a fit, use unassuming cue bid
else
2. Not vulnerable, use LOTT and ignore points
else
3. Vulnerable, need six plus points and LOTT

[mw64ahw]

I doubt there is any consensus as it is not only about points, but also about shape and the strength of your overcalls.

If you start by knowing the minimum strength of your partners overcall then you work out from your hand what level should be safe. You then have a number of options depending on strength (hcp or distributional), no. of cards in support , competition etc.
a) an immediate raise to N-level of your partners suit. This may be LOTT orientated, but vulnerability dependent.
b) a fit jump.
c) an enquiry indicating a fit, say 2N.
d) a cue bid.
e) other
I approach this problem systematically and make use of a modified loser count to aid decision making with the aim of communicating to partner the necessary information to take further action if warranted