[Fluffy]

♠J82
♥A987
♦K10
♣J983

NS vulnerable, dealer south

pass-(1♣)-3♦-(pass)
??

[cherdano]

Huh? I don't understand the question, this looks like an obvious pass.
I do realize we are red against white, which might mean opposite xx x AQJxxxxx xx we will actually make this. Or maybe partner has Kxx xxx AQJxxxx -, where we are on a finesse to make. Do you think partner should be stronger than this?

[mikeh]

I hate these hands. We surely cannot bid here....on a weird day, 3N will make on the 'normal defence' but it is far more likely to fail. In the meantime if we do the normal thing and pass, LHO seems always to reopen with a double and there we are on lead against 3 or even 4♠...and whichever one they choose comes rolling home....LHO 4=4=1=4 and RHO 5=3=3=2.

But maybe it only seems that way because we tend to remember those hands, and forget the ones where LHO passes us out and we drift off one, or they end up in the 4-3 heart fit instead of the 4-4 spade fit, and so on.

So I pass, but I still hate the hand.

[JLOGIC]

I love when I have automatic passes while at the same time having a reasonable dummy for pard

[rduran1216]

JLOGIC, on 2011-January-06, 22:15, said:

I love when I have automatic passes while at the same time having a reasonable dummy for pard

agreed, how exactly are we making 3NT when it goes club to the K, back through to the 10 and a cashing A of spades

[P_Marlowe]

<snip>

missread the auction.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[gwnn]

Fluffy?

[pooltuna]

cherdano, on 2011-January-06, 18:34, said:

Huh? I don't understand the question, this looks like an obvious pass.
I do realize we are red against white, which might mean opposite xx x AQJxxxxx xx we will actually make this. Or maybe partner has Kxx xxx AQJxxxx -, where we are on a finesse to make. Do you think partner should be stronger than this?

playing IMPS at these colors those would be minimum hands

[ArtK78]

Simple decision indeed.

Pass.

If it turns out that 3NT cannot be beaten, then I will file that away in my memory bank and pull it up the next time the situation arises. And then I will pass.

[Phil]

We would need an extraordinary hand across to make 3N. Mike, you have a surprisingly amount of angst for this decision.

I don't think it matters much that some hands that make 3♦ make 3N and many more hands that fail in 3N, fail in 3♦.

[mikeh]

Phil, on 2011-January-07, 10:39, said:

We would need an extraordinary hand across to make 3N. Mike, you have a surprisingly amount of angst for this decision.

I don't think it matters much that some hands that make 3♦ make 3N and many more hands that fail in 3N, fail in 3♦.

Oh...I pass in tempo, never being tempted to bid...but there are hand-types, and auctions, that I just don't like hearing/seeing. This just happens to be one...I guess I have probably had too many average-minus results on these hands and have subconsciously developed a pavlovian negative reaction. Not a big deal. Hate may have been an overbid.

[Fluffy]

I had been toying with 3NT on this kind of deals for a couple of months, so far only 4 deals happened and 3NT shouldn't work on any, it worked on this one because "expert" defenders converted +1100 into -750. I was just checking that these 4 hands weren't just unlucky cases before dropping the idea forever. Thx all.

[whereagles]

I would definitely bid 3NT if I didn't need points. That's because if I did need a swing, pard would probably have already stretched to bid 3♦ looool.