[twcho]

Scoring: Chicago

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I was sitting west and the auction went as follows:
W......N......E......S
.....................1♦
-(1)...-(2)...1♠.....2♣(3)
2♦.....X(4)...2♠(5)..-
3♠(6)..-......-(7)...=
There are many debatable bids in the whole auction, namely:
1. Should I pass in the 1st round or double? Any opinion?
2. Questionable pass by North. Probably they are playing precision.
3. Don't think south hand worth this 2♣ bid.
4. This double should be OK, right?
5. This is the most critical bid. What different hands will be shown by 2♠ or pass?
6. Should I jump to game directly? What should I expect from my pd's 2♠ bid?
7. Should my pard accept my invitation?

Of course, the result is not satisfactory. So how can we do better?

[inquiry]

By the numbers...
1. Should I pass in the 1st round or double? Any opinion?

You should double.

2. Questionable pass by North. Probably they are playing precision.

North should bid 1♥ even playing precision

3. Don't think south hand worth this 2♣ bid.

You are correct, given that his partner couldn't keep the auction open

4. This double should be OK, right?

Yes, he wants a diamond lead if the contract is played in spades. A critical bid here is what does 2♦ show? Spade fit and values?

5. This is the most critical bid. What different hands will be shown by 2♠ or pass?

Let's make the logical conclusion that 2♦ shows a spade fit and is a game invite. Over the double, the WEAKEST BID EAST can make is 2♠. The reason is clear, you are not going to play 2♦X. So Principle of FAST arrival should apply... Pass of 2♦X shows a little extra, immediate 2♠ shows nothing extra, anything else shows a lot extra. This hand is far from a minimum, although the 2♣ bid has devaluated it somewhat. Without the 2♣ bid (say south passed), I would bid 3♣ over 2♦X. Now, I will just pass 2♠ double showing a little extra.

6. Should I jump to game directly? What should I expect from my pd's 2♠ bid?

No you should not jump to game directly, Your partner was bidding a lot of your points. As it is, you still need some luck to make 4♠. Your 3♠ is extremely encouraging.

7. Should my pard accept my invitation?

Absolutely, he has bid like he had nothing. He actually has some nice stuff.

[HeartA]

I have some disagreement with Ben.

1) Yes. I would pass.
2) If N-S play precision, pass by North is OK, though 1H is also acceptable.
3) agree
4) yes
5) This needs agreement. Some partnership play "pass is the weakest bid".
Whether "2S the weakest" or "pass the weakest", this is a borderline bid.
An Ace, a Q, a J plus a (most likely) wasted CQ, is not that much.
6) West should not jump to game. see above.
7) Again, this is a borderline game. To stop at 3S is not that bad.
North could have HK (from the dbl, not very likely anymore) and S could
be distributed not so nice (didn't matter much though).

[hotShot]

1) You should not pass, since you see your opening and assume that your RHO had one too, it's very unlikely that your partner is strong enough to bid on his own. You have both majors and even if your partner has got only something like 6-8 HCP there is a good chance you can make 2M.

2) I would not care about opponents bids. If 1♦ is limited pass might be perfectly within opps system. (As 9xxxx is not really a good suit).

3) Guess you are right about that.
4) Depends on agreement, if it's support, ok, if it's take out ......
5) You promissed to be strong, not neccessaryly supporting ♠, so pass would be pick a suit you like (should have a 3rd ♥ for that). While 2♠ means nothing that has not been promissed yet.
6) Well now you know why your should not have passed first round. You showed a maximum passed hand with 2♦, there is nothing that can justify you bidding on.
7) No way, you showed a 3 card support (since you did not raise at once) you limited your hand with the initial pass and he knows nothing about your distribution.

[the hog]

West should certainly double at the first opportunity. It is important to get into the auction with the majors. If you don't double on these hands you will be robbed blind.

Regardless of what system Nth - Sth play, Nth should bid 1H; again with some distribution you need to bid.

Yes, the Sth hand is certainly not worth another bid.

3S is encouraging, any "yes", partner should accept, but 4S is not a great game and as Ben says, needs a bit of luck. Even though Sth opened and therefore shows where the points are located, you still need to pick up the S for only 1 loser.

[mr1303]

1. Double I think is best, since you have quite a nice hand. If partner bids some number of clubs you'll just have to put dummy down and apologise, but your suits are good, so I think you've too much just to pass.

2. Playing any system (other than strong pass when 1D is a Fert) you should bid 1H here.

This is the likely auction if North bids 1H

1D P 1H P
2C P 2D P
P X P 2S

all pass

If North passes, this is a more likely auction

1D P P 1S
P 2D P 2S
P 3S P 4S

3. This hand should not bid 2C. 1) Neither of your suits are good 2) You have a minimum 3) You have rubbish shape.

4. Yeah, double here is fine after passing on the first round
5. Depends on what your agreement about what the weakest action is. I play that a bid here shows a hand that is willing to compete (with pass being weaker).
6. Opposite some of the hand that will balance with 1S here, 3S is more than enough after the cue.
7. The game isn't too brilliant, needs spades 2-2 (or stiff J) and the H K onside (or club king, but this is less likely). I'd only bid 4 here as E at IMPs

[Fluffy]

I am very solid with the rule of 3+ cards on unbid suit, so I would overcall 1♥ rather than double.

[whereagles]

Gonzalo, that's completely inconsistent By overcalling 1H you not only miss the chance of putting BOTH majors into the picture, but you'll also lie about the heart lenght by 1 card.

So just because of a lousy 1 card in a MINOR suit, you're going to make it hard to reveal 4 cards in a MAJOR suit and you're going to steal 1 card in another MAJOR suit. That's a huge distortion for no good reason

[joker_gib]

whereagles, on Mar 23 2005, 07:26 AM, said:

Gonzalo, that's completely inconsistent By overcalling 1H you not only miss the chance of putting BOTH majors into the picture, but you'll also lie about the heart lenght by 1 card.

So just because of a lousy 1 card in a MINOR suit, you're going to make it hard to reveal 4 cards in a MAJOR suit and you're going to steal 1 card in another MAJOR suit. That's a huge distortion for no good reason

I tend to agree !

If I don't double, I pass

Alain

[flytoox]

Fluffy, on Mar 23 2005, 12:17 PM, said:

I am very solid with the rule of 3+ cards on unbid suit, so I would overcall 1♥ rather than double.

You should change it. Dbl of opp's minor suit opening guarantees both majors only.

[Chamaco]

Quote

1. Should I pass in the 1st round or double? Any opinion?

I would double and accept the occasional 2C bid.
Most of the times, 2C will be a 5 card suit in pard's hand, so that should not be a disaster.

The advantage of bidding right away is to be "in-quick, out quick" at a low level, and is right on values.
It is indeed offshape, but oh well... :-) taking a chance here has 2 chances out of 3 that pard likes our suit.

Quote

2. Questionable pass by North. Probably they are playing precision.

a. pass does not llok right even playing Precision

b. if they do play Prec, they should alert

Quote

3. Don't think south hand worth this 2♣ bid.

Agree. Too much of a balanced hand.
However, if playing Precision, at matchpoints, it is not unreasonable to resolve the shape of the nebulous diamond in order to be able to contest the partscore.
At IMPS, a clear pass.

Quote

4. This double should be OK, right?

In my view, yes.

Quote

5. This is the most critical bid. What different hands will be shown by 2♠ or pass?

I think 2S should show an overcall with slightly less than an opening bid but not completely broke.
Ideally, something like the following hand, with extra length:
QJxxxx-Axx-x-Qxx or so

Instead, RDBL would be semibal with full opening hand, jump to 3S = full opening hand playing strength with length in spades, jump to 3m = fuill opening hand, 2 suiter.

Quote

6. Should I jump to game directly? What should I expect from my pd's 2♠ bid?

If pard bids 2S, promising what I showed above, then 4S looks right.

Quote

7. Should my pard accept my invitation?

Nope, he has terrible minimum hand, forced to balance to protect you.

[junyi_zhu]

twcho, on Mar 22 2005, 08:22 PM, said:

Scoring: Chicago

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I was sitting west and the auction went as follows:
W......N......E......S
.....................1♦
-(1)...-(2)...1♠.....2♣(3)
2♦.....X(4)...2♠(5)..-
3♠(6)..-......-(7)...=
There are many debatable bids in the whole auction, namely:
1. Should I pass in the 1st round or double? Any opinion?
2. Questionable pass by North. Probably they are playing precision.
3. Don't think south hand worth this 2♣ bid.
4. This double should be OK, right?
5. This is the most critical bid. What different hands will be shown by 2♠ or pass?
6. Should I jump to game directly? What should I expect from my pd's 2♠ bid?
7. Should my pard accept my invitation?

Of course, the result is not satisfactory. So how can we do better?

I'd bid 1H here, double is very flawed what can your poor partner do if he holds 4-5 HCP and 4 clubs, something like 3-3-3-4 or 2-3-4-4? He's simply out of bid. And even if he holds 5 clubs, 2C doesn't have to play well and can easily be chopped. It may go like: 1D x xx 2C p p x and -500. I frequently overcall 1H with hands like this and sometimes the heart suit is even weaker:
Sxx HATxx Dxx CAKJxx would be enough to overcall 1H. Still, it's upto to partnership understanding. I rank passing better than this flawed double.
If one really wants to make offshape double, at least the doubleton should look strong,
SAxxx HQxxx Dxxx CAK is probably OK to double.

[HeartA]

flytoox, on Mar 23 2005, 09:00 AM, said:

Fluffy, on Mar 23 2005, 12:17 PM, said:

I am very solid with the rule of 3+ cards on unbid suit, so I would overcall 1♥ rather than double.

You should change it. Dbl of opp's minor suit opening guarantees both majors only.

Hongjun,

Maybe it is you who should change it?

[whereagles]

JJ, are you from that school of thought that prefers to bid 2C on a 4-card instead of a 3-card major?

[flytoox]

HeartA, on Mar 23 2005, 10:03 PM, said:

flytoox, on Mar 23 2005, 09:00 AM, said:

Fluffy, on Mar 23 2005, 12:17 PM, said:

I am very solid with the rule of 3+ cards on unbid suit, so I would overcall 1♥ rather than double.

You should change it. Dbl of opp's minor suit opening guarantees both majors only.

Hongjun,

Maybe it is you who should change it?

Hehe, I just follow Lawrence's style. I think he explicitly gave an example in his book "Double" of what you should do when you hold 44majors and 3 in RHO's opening minor suit. He said doulbe is Ok with 44 majors. If you really hate to dbl, pass is Ok. But I dont think overcalling 1H is a good choice.

[HeartA]

whereagles, on Mar 23 2005, 05:04 PM, said:

JJ, are you from that school of thought that prefers to bid 2C on a 4-card instead of a 3-card major?

Oh, well, dbl without support for minor(s), bid 3-card major while ignoring 4-card minor. What do I call this? "major obsessive".

[Fluffy]

Well guys, I have some rules, and they make my life easier, I don't have to decide what to bid on first 2 rounds of bidding normally.