[Kalvan14]

In a club MP, playing with a good casual partner, you are S.
W opens 1♣ (5-card majors, can be 3 cards). The bidding goes:

(1♣)-1♥-(1♠)-2♥[you]-(2♠)-P-(P)-3♥-(P)-4♣

What does 4♣ mean?

If you want to know your cards:

Scoring: MP

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[inquiry]

I would suggest that this is a lead director on the way to 4♥ in the premise that the opponents might be tempted to take a 4♠ save.

Clearly it can not be a slam try when he was willing to defend 2♠, and after you have raised his ♥ suit twice, it can't be a suggestion to play in ♣'s.

[mikeh]

An impossible bid as Justin remarked, but still not a psyche: he wasn't doubled in 3♥ and the opps were relatively timid so partner has values.

Whatever he has, he has made a mistake, so I wouldn't worry. I'd bid 4♥ and hope not to get doubled.

BTW, your 3♥ bid was awful You barely have the values to squeak 2♥: committing to the 3-level on this hand is almost as bad as partner's impossible 4♣ bid, imho.

[han]

I would have said exactly the same as mikeh.

[Kalvan14]

mikeh, on Oct 24 2005, 08:18 PM, said:

An impossible bid as Justin remarked, but still not a psyche: he wasn't doubled in 3♥ and the opps were relatively timid so partner has values.

Whatever he has, he has made a mistake, so I wouldn't worry. I'd bid 4♥ and hope not to get doubled.

BTW, your 3♥ bid was awful You barely have the values to squeak 2♥: committing to the 3-level on this hand is almost as bad as partner's impossible 4♣ bid, imho.

Well, as it happened in real life, 4♣ was misinterpreted (Justin came closer to the meaning, and - at least - her action was the correct one, although for the wrong reason). Quite likely it was the wrong bid; certainly it was too much for a casual partnership.

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I had this cards, and I decided to bid upon 1♣ opening at my left. I have enough strength (both in HCP and playing tricks), and if I pass, the next time I will have to bid over 3♠.

I am not too shy in interfering with a good 4-bagger at the 1 level.
Now, when the bid came back at the 2♠ level, I had nothing to say.
My partner decided to compete (I agree with you that it was a horrible bid), and the third time I had a good bid: 4♣.

Consider that I had not contested 2♠, and now I am introducing a new suit at the 4 level!! This should indicate that:
a) I want to compete
I may have some feature that made it unpossible to compete at 3 level (but let's be clear: I did not find an A under my chair, and, even if I had psyched, it would be quite silly to pull it out before it gets doubled

My partner had bid already 3 times on a collection of tram tickets, and obviously bid once again: 4♥ [which should mean: I don't know what's happening ]
Since defense is the most difficult part of the game, I made 4♥, for the record.
The lead was K♦, and ♥ were 3-3, with the K on-side.

To paraphrase a famous saying, the operation was a failure, but the patient was restored to good health

[mr1303]

Yes, 4C is wrong because partner will put it back to 4H. Especially as partner won't have very many clubs on this auction.

If you say she should have sat for it on this hand, why shouldn't she be void in clubs (and as a result is taking the push to the 3 level). Should she still sit for it with that hand?

[Fluffy]

You wanted to play 4♣? partner's bidding makes it kinda clear he should have 4♥s, why do you want to play on a higher level with worse fit?

[luke warm]

i agree with ben... he wants a club lead if they compete over 4h, but i think it might have been a mistake

[Kalvan14]

mr1303, on Oct 25 2005, 08:24 AM, said:

Yes, 4C is wrong because partner will put it back to 4H. Especially as partner won't have very many clubs on this auction.

If you say she should have sat for it on this hand, why shouldn't she be void in clubs (and as a result is taking the push to the 3 level). Should she still sit for it with that hand?

Partner should take back to 4♥ with 4 trumps. I have no prob with that.
but at the table I felt that she might have just 3 cards. Was I wrong?
And with 3 cards - even with the miserable hand she brought - 4♣ was a good contract.

The problem with many bridge players is that making a bid out of the "standard" practice creates panic