[eagles123]

MP r/r

RHO opens 1S

A3
965
AK86
AJT2

secondary questions may follow

[Endymion77]

1NT

[aguahombre]

DBL. Support for other 3 suits. If NT is right, looks like she should be declaring it.

[mcphee]

Double is for t/o and that's what you have, 1NT is a poor option IMO as it will offside it most times.

[Endymion77]

I don't see what you like so much about double, you don't want to play in hearts unless partner has 5 and 1NT describes your hand perfectly? It's MPs so you don't really want to play 2m if partner has Hxxx in one of the minors, or 2M on 4-3.

[Winstonm]

1NT - not thrilled, though.

[Fluffy]

perfect double.

[Cyberyeti]

Endymion77, on 2013-September-29, 06:41, said:

I don't see what you like so much about double, you don't want to play in hearts unless partner has 5 and 1NT describes your hand perfectly? It's MPs so you don't really want to play 2m if partner has Hxxx in one of the minors, or 2M on 4-3.

X, I don't want a lead through partner's potential ♠Qx(x) or ♥Kxx in NT or anything else, my hand often works better as dummy.

[ggwhiz]

Cyberyeti, on 2013-September-29, 07:37, said:

my hand often works better as dummy.

That's what my partners tell me.

I bid 1nt not liking it a bit but our partnership will bid hearts on 4 to the left before a longer and/or better minor over double every time and if they do have 5 of them it's an auto transfer.

[ahydra]

I think I prefer X with this. Would like more spades to bid 1NT.

ahydra

[gszes]

x

This is sort of an irritating problem because one wants to bid 1n due to probable
rebid problems. When the situation is examined more closely the only downside
appears to be when p wishes to bid 4h with a 4 card suit. That might work out well
if they happen to be short in spades as well since our doubleton keeps them from
getting pumped. The only problem seems to be what to do if p bids 3h I would try
3s to see if 3n is possible and settle for 4h if p bids a minor. 1N while very accurate
on point count is probably a poor contract opposite most minimums p may hold and that
is where x wins a lot.

[MrAce]

1 NT tells pd that

-i have 15/18 hcp
-i have balanced hand
-I have a stopper in their suit

DBL tells

-I have 3+ cards in other suits and 11+ hcp, or i may have a hand too strong to over call.

Combining all of this with the rebid problems next round, i would take 1NT over DBL on any day. I know i am minority but personally i don't even find this as a close decision.

I hear a lot about right siding the contract, even though there are positions when it is better to play NT from pd's side (and only way to make him bid NT is if he has stopper too, or something looks like a stopper) the hands that it matters is really not that frequent as oppose to be able to tell pd immediately

-your strength in a narrow range
-your shape
-your stopper
-very easy to respond by any level of players.

NOTE : I actually like Ax more than Axx or Axxx for various reasons. I am more scared or annoyed to bid 1NT with Axx or Axxx with very small spots.

[mycroft]

Very irritating problem. 1NT gets pass-and-a-spade-lead from the zero-entry hand, and I lose 4 spades and whatever other tricks I'm going to lose. If LHO has the balance of the points, it goes double and we end up as if I had a takeout double anyway (assuming you don't play systems on and no runouts over 1NT overcalls, so you can't play 2m), except for the fact that it will more likely be doubled than if I'd takeout-X originally. Double gets us to 2♥ on a crappy Moysian where if they don't pull trump, partner gets two spade ruffs and should do fine, but they get two chances (and you might get overruffed, for a third chance).

I'm never passing, but surely it's no worse than worst-case of my other options. There's just no upside to it other than "avoid 800 on the wrong layout".

I like having 1-and-a-half stoppers for my 1NT overcalls, but I'm allowed to cheat that if necessary.

[wank]

double - a very suit orientated hand and a very suit orientated spade holding.

[cherdano]

MrAce, on 2013-October-01, 02:39, said:

I hear a lot about right siding the contract, even though there are positions when it is better to play NT from pd's side (and only way to make him bid NT is if he has stopper too, or something looks like a stopper) the hands that it matters is really not that frequent

I just don't agree with this. Even if all we knew about our hands is that I have 16 hcp and partner has 8, it would always be right to make him declarer, in order to put opening bidder on lead. Our hand and the fact that RHO opened the bidding only makes that case much stronger.

Meanwhile, I would hate to play 1NT with a 9-card minor suit fit on this hand.

[aguahombre]

Those who worry that Pard will be jumping to 3 or 4 Hearts on 3-4-(4-2) hand with only four trumps might want to discuss responsive cuebids. But, if Pard has the values for that, I don't think the NT bidders will end up in any better position. QXX-4-4-2 9+ counts will be in the same position from the correct side.

[monikrazy]

DBL. Bidding 1NT with only 1 spade stop and no hearts values seems unnecessarily dangerous, especially if partner wants to play 3NT.

We can still find our way back into a NT contract after we double.

[Zelandakh]

This hand type is a good illustration of how bidding thinking has changed over the last 30 years or so in some circles. When I was learning, pretty much any book you could get would advise doubling with such a hand. Ax was just not a good enough stopper for a natural NT overcall. Nowadays, you see 1NT overcalls with hands like this one routinely - there was one in a jec match I saw recently for example.

In other words, I think the choice here has a lot to do with what you are used to, when you learnt, and in which circle of players you find yourself. Due to my background, I still tend to double on these hands. But I am aware that the tide of bidding theory is moving against this. MrAce is very consistent on these hands and it was no surprise to me that his choice was 1NT. What does surprise me is that there is not more support for this.

[P_Marlowe]

1NT.

And this is a WTP for me.

We all would have longer spades, but for a T/O we would also
have a 4th heart.
Even with a 4th heart I would go with 1NT, but I would at least
consider X an option, and drop the WTP.

1NT describes the strength, the shape, and we will have our NT
response structure in place ( similar our NT escape seq., if they
want to go for blood).

With kind regards
Marlowe

[neilkaz]

Fluffy, on 2013-September-29, 07:30, said:

perfect double.

A perfect double would have a 4th ♥