[Bbradley62]

Scoring: Total Points

RHO deals and opens 1S.

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[aguahombre]

same thing I would do if righty passed.

[mike777]

pass, no problem yet.

If pard prefers 1nt..fair enough.

[Phil]

aguahombre, on Jun 20 2010, 12:04 AM, said:

same thing I would do if righty passed.

You can open the bidding with a double?

[rogerclee]

Double, it gets you into the auction while not being as risky as 1N. IMO it is much better than 1N or pass, but if I had to choose, it would certainly be pass.

[MarkDean]

My hand is not good enough for 1NT, and I am not modern enough for double, so I would pass.

[CSGibson]

Double. Gotta get in there, especially with my values behind the opener.

[jjbrr]

I can't imagine passing. I'd dbl.

[Siegmund]

I am fine with passing or 1NTing. Hate double, though you'll get away with it more often than you should.

[quiddity]

X

[mcphee]

I can see when I o/c 1N and get doubled life will be dismal, but the same could be said if I make a t/o double, 1NT is what my hand looks like.

[gnasher]

I have a balanced hand in the 15-18 range with a spade stop. I bid 1NT.

I can understand pass, but double seems awful. What is it supposed to gain?

If partner has four hearts, a doubleton spade, and the values for game, he will bid Stayman. If he has three spades with four hearts, we're probably better off in notrumps, where our spades will be worth a trick rather than getting ruffed away.

If I'm unlucky enough to find him with 2-4 in the majors and not enough to invite, 1NT may still be OK - when RHO gets in and runs his spades, I expect I can find some losers to throw on them.

That covers the hands where partner has four hearts. If he doesn't, 1NT is far more likely to be the right spot than two of a minor. And I wouldn't particualrly want to hear him compete to three of a minor over 2♠.

[Fluffy]

gnasher, on Jun 20 2010, 11:56 AM, said:

I can understand pass, but double seems awful.  What is it supposed to gain?

Enter the auction at a low level without comiting us to a hopeless game.

I'd love to play 1NT but 1NT is 16-18 for me, sure I can upgrade some 15s into the range, but they are not quacky 4333s without well placed honnors in the spade suit nor any intermediates, 1NT is a gross overbid IMO. Enough to say I'd consider opening 1♣ for 12-14 balanced if RHO passed.

double might make partner too excited towards competing looking at his spade shortness when we have a defensive spade trick that won't work when we declare, that is a risk obviously, so pass is also a good option, I'd try a dobule but pass is appealing as well.

[andy_h]

Don't mind 1NT or double. 1NT has the advantage of getting strength and shape across immediately (play there if partner is long in spades), whereas double will allow us to play in 2m (or even 2♥) which will sometimes be better if partner is passing 1NT. Both break even if LHO has a strong hand as he can double our 1NT or make a XX and we can scramble to our right fit.

[Little Kid]

1NT. Wouldn't ever consider Pass but could live with Double although I think it is a bit pessimistic.

[andy_h]

Little Kid, on Jun 21 2010, 12:41 AM, said:

1NT. Wouldn't ever consider Pass but could live with Double although I think it is a bit pessimistic.

What do you mean by pessimistic? I'm sure you'd agree that this 4333 15 count isn't so great and we might be feeling a bit sick if this 1NT is passed out because our hand is the sort of hand in which the tenaces don't have much control (as in we have K's rather than AQ so when the defence leads a spade, we still need time to firstly get to dummy and then lead a card towards our AJ/K/K) and we might've been better off in our 4-4♥ or 5-3m fit.

[Little Kid]

Pessimistic because it gives up on some decent games as it is hard to describe the strength later. I can think of quite a few holding with a long minor and 7-9 pts that would make 3NT have great play but with no way of getting there after a Double. I would obviously rather be in a 4-4♥ fit or 5-3m fit than 1NT but not at the cost of missing potential vulnerable games.

Something else that may have biased my choice to 1NT is that I will double with almost anything, like bad 3343 12-counts or 1444 10-counts. Then I almost have to bid 1NT on these kind of hands to take some pressure off the Double so partner won't hang me too often in case I have a bit extra.

[gwnn]

I hate all three. I don't know what I'd do. I guess this means that I disagree with absolutely everybody.

[andy_h]

With a long minor and 7-9 high cards wouldn't partner jump? That would still get to the same game had I begun with 1NT. The 3343 and 1444 hands that you suggested are the worst case scenarios but partner shouldn't even be worrying about that as he should just bid his hand. Also, if you double and partner responds 1NT and if that shows values for you then you have lost nothing at all with those invitational hands.

Basically if I viewed this hand as a double I would think it's right on values. Opening and overcalling 1NT are very different things to me.

[Little Kid]

1NT gets your hand off your chest in one bid, taking the pressure of any subsequent bidding. If you Double, LHO raises and partner bids 3♣, do you bid 3NT? It might depend on the style of your opponents but LHO bidding by no means says we don't have game. I'm not a big fan of these kind of decisions so prefer to just bid what I have in as few bids as possible and let my partner decide in case the auction gets competitive.

When 1NT is the right contract you won't always get there after a double. If LHO is not going to raise ♠s, chances are partner has some ♠ length and is going to be playing your 4-3 fit with a lot of common 4432/4333 hands. This hand is a 4333 with scattered values, not the perfect hand for a suit contract anyway.

Having said that I don't think there is a huge difference between Doubling and 1NT, I just have a preference for 1NT.