[Quartic]

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Who should have bid more?

Also, how would you play the hand? 6♦ lead to South's Ace, small ♠ back.

[mike777]

clearly east could bid a nonforcing 2h as a passed hand, could hardly have more as a passed hand.

[inquiry]

Nothing wrong with West's bidding.

[chasetb]

I would have Doubled with most of my partners as West, but the ones where we have discussed how to bid when partner is an overcall, I bid 1♠. After all, sometimes you are allowed to have a maximum, and that West hand is borderline. I do not fault either bid, but the trend nowadays is that 1♠ is the correct bid.

Not bidding 2♥ as East is jaw-dropping. If partner has no support, we have a maximum hand with ♠Qx and 2 guaranteed outside tricks in the suit we bid, so 2♠ isn't a bad contract at all. East underbid, and my judgment for this hand is (s)he is a fish.

[the hog]

Why did East not bid 2H?

[Yu18772]

East - easy 2♥. Nothing wrong with 1♠ imo.
Yu

[rmnka447]

West has 16 HCP, a 6 loser hand, and the ♦ K behind the ♦ bidder. The only negative is the dangling ♥ J. So this looks like a pretty clear DBL and bid ♠s hand to me. Taking that approach would pretty much guarantee getting to game.

After the 1 ♠ overcall, East has a pretty clear cut 2 ♥ bid no matter how you play a new suit bid -- NF, NF const. or F. If East bids 2 ♥, West has a raise. East has enough to bid game.

So basically both players underbid.

[FrancesHinden]

East forgot to bid on the second round.

How would I pay the hand? I would draw trumps, cash the ace of hearts, cross on a club and run the jack of hearts.

[gszes]

blaming e seems wrong at MP they have no reason to suspect
p wont play them for better hearts and almost no spades. When
W overcalled 1s E can see the probability of game has to be low
If e does anything i think a 2s bid is a ton better than 2h.

W (behind opening bidder) has a hand that is better than normal and
IMO i would start with x and plan to make a simple spade rebid. This
happens to strike gold on this hand where reaching 4s is simple after
1d x p 2h
p 3s p 4s.

[mike777]

gszes, on 2012-July-14, 16:52, said:

blaming e seems wrong at MP they have no reason to suspect
p wont play them for better hearts and almost no spades. When
W overcalled 1s E can see the probability of game has to be low
If e does anything i think a 2s bid is a ton better than 2h.

W (behind opening bidder) has a hand that is better than normal and
IMO i would start with x and plan to make a simple spade rebid. This
happens to strike gold on this hand where reaching 4s is simple after
1d x p 2h
p 3s p 4s.

this gets back to the age old question what does:

1s overcall mean?
what does x and simple spade rebid show?
what does x and jump rebid in spades show?

[the hog]

gszes, on 2012-July-14, 16:52, said:

blaming e seems wrong at MP they have no reason to suspect
p wont play them for better hearts and almost no spades. When
W overcalled 1s E can see the probability of game has to be low
If e does anything i think a 2s bid is a ton better than 2h.

W (behind opening bidder) has a hand that is better than normal and
IMO i would start with x and plan to make a simple spade rebid. This
happens to strike gold on this hand where reaching 4s is simple after
1d x p 2h
p 3s p 4s.

2S on a doubleton? Great bid. You might even be playing a 4-2 fit! Whether you double or overcall 1S depends on your partnership agreements. The modern style is certainly to overcall. 25 years ago most might well have doubled first.

[SteveMoe]

I agree West's ♠ bid and would have bid 2♥ nonforcing constructive with East. West has a raise to 3 or 4♥. (I prefer 4).
I would win the ♠ switch in hand and ruff a ♦ with the trump Q then draw trump.

[FrancesHinden]

SteveMoe, on 2012-July-14, 19:41, said:

I would win the ♠ switch in hand and ruff a ♦ with the trump Q then draw trump.

It almost certainly doesn't matter if you play this line, but technically this might hold you to 10 tricks (11 if the HQ is onside).
If you play a top spade from hand then ruff a diamond with the trump Q you lose a trump trick if they are 4-1
If you play the 9 or 8 from hand and North plays the 10, then you lose a trump trick when you try and ruff a diamond if diamonds are 6-2.

From the auction it's very likely that neither of those is the case, but if you just draw trumps and play on hearts you are guaranteed 11 tricks, 12 if the HQ is onside or singleton offside. You can pick up 4-1 (or 5-1) hearts. Ruffing a diamond can't gain.

[gordontd]

gszes, on 2012-July-14, 16:52, said:

blaming e seems wrong at MP they have no reason to suspect
p wont play them for better hearts and almost no spades..

With such a hand East would have opened 2H.

[SteveMoe]

FrancesHinden, on 2012-July-15, 03:49, said:

It almost certainly doesn't matter if you play this line, but technically this might hold you to 10 tricks (11 if the HQ is onside).
...

Ruffing a diamond can't gain.

Another coup for "Undertrick Analysis"! Thanks for pointing out the flaw, Frances!
I think I'm better counting to 10 when I start from 8 than when I start from 12...

[jbaptistec]

90% East
10% Bad luck
0% West

In practice, I would have won the ♠Q, ruffed a ♦, drawn trumps and finessed in ♥.
But obviously drawing trumps and directly playing on ♥ is better.

[neilkaz]

100% blame to east who has a 100% clear 2♥ response to the 1♠ overcall.

If this was played with a regular pd, I suggest going over responses to overcalls and also defining what a maximum 1♠overcall could contain so that advancer realizes that game could be on here.