[JLOGIC]

I know this thread is old, so here are my answers before reading anything to avoid bias:

1) Obvious pass, why would we consider bidding something?

2) I would double even though my hand will be subpar defensively, if partner bids something it will almost surely be good and if he passes he might just have the nuts anyways.

3) Pass. So far partner has shown a very strong hand, the opps have bid my suits, and RHO has made an SOS redouble. Why would I bid something? Even if LHO has a hand to pass (which is probably much less than 50 %, partner's second X of 1N should be very strong), partner can run himself out if he doesn't like it that much, he will know we are completely broke and whether he can expect to set 1N XX in his own hand or not. It's possible we are toast no matter what we do, in which case our only shot is hoping that they run. That's the other thing, if I were going to bid, then what? 2H will surely get doubled if LHO has any points, he knows his partner has a doubleton heart and he knows our hearts are very weak (no 1H or 2H overcall).

4) Double to show my hand almost perfectly lol

5) Partner can't have 4414? Anyways, 1N seems obvious, I'm not bidding 2C at MP.

[JLOGIC]

gnasher, on 2011-May-06, 04:00, said:

I can think of two advantages of 3♣ over 1NT which won't have been picked up by Han's simulation:
- 3♣ limits responder's hand and shape more narrowly, so our game bidding will be more accurate after 3♣.
- If we belong in 3NT, partner should be declarer.

I'm not saying that those are enough reason to bid 3♣, but it's something to consider.

Also, you seem to be saying that it's normal for a 3415 15- or 16-count to bid again after 1NT. I'm not sure that I agree with that. Partner is expecting a misfit, and he's playing matchpoints too.

Three clubs? Yes, if you have a game, 3C will probably work out best...but the other huge majority of the time or whatever when you don't it won't do very well! Our hand is awful. I think partner will overbid to far too many games (when really it was us who overbid), and when he passes 3C that will often just go down. Is a 3415 11 or 12 or 13 count so unlikely? I don't expect my hand to play very well opposite that.

As far as 2C vs 1N, if we are making 3N then I would rather have bid 1N. Yes, I might have wrongsided it when partner will bid over either of those, but at least when he passes and we miss a game (with the field), we will be in the higher scoring partial. I would have expected everyone to try 1N or 2C here until reading your 3C post; surely many will anyways. 1N is also easier to bid over than 2C (since we will rate to have more values on average for 1N).

But again, I am really not thinking about game, I think much of the time that we have one partner will bid over a minimum bid by us (though not as aggressively as han thinks), I am just trying to reach the higher scoring partscore. Here I would obviously expect NT to score better than clubs as we have so much overall and junky values.

[JLOGIC]

han, on 2011-May-07, 15:43, said:

I misinterpreted the information about hand 1. I change my response to pass. Only if I was pretty sure that the opponents had found a 4-4 heart fit would I bid 3C.

Even if they showed a fit, bidding would be atrocious. TBH I cannot see what you were even thinking. Partner is a passed hand and we have 11 with long spades and 5422... Just because they have a fit does not give us tricks. Even if we don't get doubled it is not unlikely at all that we go down 2 if we don't catch 2-4 in the blacks or something like that which is unlikely. On top of that it would be extremely easy to double us if they had already shown a fit, LHO could just double to say he wants to compete or defend. Ok, it's the local duplicate, they might not just double us on points here, but I still think down 2 vul just seems like a very likely score and risks a complete zero for potentially no gain (If we catch great and are cold for 3C, what are the odds they won't bid and make 3H? It seems unlikely that 3C is the limit of the hand. Yeah, we force them to take the push, and sometimes we get some incorrect pushes, but what an incredible risk just to try and induce an error.)

[quiddity]

Thanks for all your comments! The actual hands might not be all that interesting but fwiw:

1. Responder has a 4342 5-count and partner has ATx Kxx KJxx xxx. Double dummy they can make 2H and partner can make 2S but in practice most of the field was in 3C -1. I don't know if partner is supposed to balance with that hand after 2H is passed around.

2. Partner has Q98xx AKx Axx xx and we can just beat 2S. Declarer's hand is worse than it could have been though (KJTxx Jxx J A8xx) so in that sense we were lucky.

3. Good call by people who passed this. Partner had KQ9x K AQJ QJTxx. 2H was down one, and was doubled (ouch). 1NT by RHO was down 1 at many tables.

4. This hand wasn't very interesting. I agree it's a clear double.

5. Partner had AT Kxxx Kx ATxxx. We make 130 in clubs and only 120 in NT. Among the pairs who stopped in a partial it was pretty evenly split between NT and a minor suit.