[gnasher]

Another uninteresting "interesting bridge hand"

[JLOGIC]

I'd bid 1H but doubt it matters much

[han]

1H.

[hatchett]

Pass. No real reason to direct partner to lead a ♥ rather than a ♠.

[jallerton]

If partner has equal honours in both majors, say ♠Qxxx(x) and ♥Qx(x), which suit do you want him to lead?

Of course, there's more to consider than the lead directing aspect. We're much more likely to declare the hand if we overcall rather than pass. Would anyone like to be declarer with this mini notrump hand in a suit contract vulnerable against not?

JLOGIC, on 2011-May-22, 04:47, said:

I'd bid 1H but doubt it matters much

Perhaps it won't make a difference to the result on this hand, but maybe next time when your heart suit is very good, you'll be disappointed when partner doesn't trust your overcall and prefers to lead his own suit.

[aguahombre]

The lead-directing consequences of overcalls are over-empasized, IMO, compared to other goals. And, sometimes one gets to double a cue to suggest leading something else.

[Phil]

Pass. I think it might matter a lot.

I don't want to dissuade partner from heading from a decent spade suit against NT in favor of a doubleton heart. I might regret this if partner is 3-3 in the majors of course, but then LHO might be rebidding 1♠.

[mfa1010]

Pass for me. I don't particularly mind 1♥, but too balanced, too empty suit and too vulnerable.

[aguahombre]

JLOGIC, on 2011-May-22, 04:47, said:

I'd bid 1H but doubt it matters much

Heh. Coming off that great tourney where the results proved him right. Nearly all questionable overcalls and takeout doubles either didn't matter at all or gained for various reasons -- for all contestants.

This is not the reason they won. They did that by playing better than the opps over the long run.

[han]

For what it is worth, if I knew that partner had 5 spades and 2 hearts, the opponents would buy the contract anyway and partner will be on lead, then I would not overcall 1H.

There are more reasons to overcall besides just asking for the lead. Maybe we have a game, maybe we have a partscore the opponents cannot bid over, or maybe my bid will help us on defense, perhaps by telling me not to lead a heart. Maybe partner raises to 2H and the opponents bid over that and get higher than they would had we been silent. As Justin has often said, there are a lot of good things that can happen after an overcall, and in my experience partnerships that often come in at the 1-level are tougher to play against.

[cloa]

Its not the suit quality that screams pass- its the vulnerable against not when partner has passed and opponents opened that screams pass. Opponents would be more inclined to double- nonspecific strength. They might just take their money and run.

[aguahombre]

the last time they took the money and ran at the one-level was back when Patrick Henry was saying "give me liberty, or..."

[whereagles]

I think I'd pass... lousy suit and defensive hand. No real reason to butt-in here.

[nige1]

1♥ = 10. _P = 9, _X = 5.
An overcall is fraught with danger but but less so, nowadays, in the era of support doubles and such like. The argument for sticking your neck out is that if you don't avail yourself of a the opportunity to make a low-level overcall, then partner likely to lead something else (not necessarily a bad thing here).

[Free]

I'd pass and I don't think it's close. We don't have a good suit, we don't necessarily want a ♥ lead, I don't think we have game because we don't have an offensive hand and both opps already bid, we don't want to tell opps how to play the hand, and I don't think opps will mess up that easily by bidding 1♥ and getting a raise (and if they'd stay at 2-level we can always balanced).