[Winstonm]

Scoring: IMP

W N E S
1H P 4H ?

Opponents are Crane Trophy winners and 4H is described as "Standard". What do you do now?

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[whereagles]

Double. And pull 5C to 5D.

[Winstonm]

This hand is easy to glance at and think, "What's the problem? Double." But I believe there is much more to it than that.

First of all, the double does not assure a bid from partner. With a squarish piece of cheese he may think it better to defend, thinking you more likely to be 4144. RHO surely holds a short suit for his preemptive jump and the diamond suit is most likely, reducing your defense considerably. In fact, if partner elects to pass the double a -790 number has just entered into the equation. Do you really want to play 4H doubled with this hand?

Second, even if he bids, what is there to keep him from correcting to 5S over 5D with xxx in spades and xx in diamonds?

Third is the fact that if I bid a direct 5D I may lose the sapde suit and a possible fit.

And fourth, is it even right to bid? The opponents don't have to be in a makeable contract and you do hold a 4-loser hand.

[Free]

Keep it simple, Dbl

[mike777]

Great problem, thanks.

Choice 1=4S
Choice 2=5D

Most important I will try and be a Bulldog and go quickly to next hand when p comes down with 2 small spades.

[han]

Double. I'm not too worried about partner passing this double, and if he/she does, it may be right. I have to compete, 4S is not for me, and I won't give up on spades.

A correction to 5D over 5C shows imo typically 4 spades and 5+ diamonds. There is no reason for partner to correct with xxx in spades.

[luke warm]

Hannie, on Feb 2 2005, 04:01 PM, said:

There is no reason for partner to correct with xxx in spades.

that's true, but on more than one occasion i've seen players bid 4S with 3, over a high level preempt such as this... if that happens here, do you pass? it seems you have to

[pclayton]

You can't bid 4♠ with this; even at matchpoints. This hand will get destroyed with heart taps.

Pard rates to pass a double with his expected 4333 or so.

On the "one useful card" idea from pard, I'll try 5♦.

[Free]

If you bid 4♠ and opps continue with 5♥, what do you expect partner to do with some ♠ support?

[Rebound]

Dbl seems the only call.

[Fluffy]

Double and play the contract partner suggests.

The only other choice is 4♠ forcing them to bid 5♥, but I don't wanna defend 5♥.

[Gerben47]

"Standard" is not an explanation I'd be satiesfied with, as it means "what we consider standard" and that might be different from what others consider standard.

[mila85]

I would ask what "standard" means.
If they play something like strong club, RHO can bid 4h with a lot of hands.
If they play natural system they must have an agreement if it shows strong hand or distributional hand.

What do you think about 4nt and correct 5c to 5d?

[flytoox]

5D is the safest action I think. If u dbl, pd rates to pass.

[Winstonm]

For the record, here are the results for various actions from the actual hand.

Pass: -620
Double: -790
4S: too ugly to compute
5D: -200 if doubled.

I believe it was Larry Cohen who said that at these high levels it is better to bid your long suit as partner is more likely to leave in the double, playing you for a strong 4441 pattern with reasonable defense.

Caught up in the moment, and starry-eyed from the good spades, I doubled. We lost a bunch of imps on this hand and had to play a 6-board playoff. We lost.

WinstonM

[mike777]

assuming 4s was undoubled it cannot be worse than -790, down 8 is only -800 and we have easy bid of 5d if we are X'd.

[fred]

Winstonm, on Feb 4 2005, 01:05 PM, said:

I believe it was Larry Cohen who said that at these high levels it is better to bid your long suit as partner is more likely to leave in the double, playing you for a strong 4441 pattern with reasonable defense.

Larry might well have said this, but Edgar Kaplan is well known for suggesting that you "put your faith in your long suit" if in doubt.

I suspect most experts would double with the hand in question (especially professional players since they could then blame partner if he guessed wrong), but unless you have the agreement that such double strongly urge partner to bid (which would be an unusual agreement), I think 5D has a lot going for it.

Not sure what I would do - these problems are sometimes easier to solve if you are actually "at the table".

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[the hog]

X looks right - as has been said before. "Standard" as an explanation leaves a lot to be desired and these guys deserve to be hammered for this, but I am bidding regardless of the meaning.