[ahydra]

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IMPs, neither side vul. Opps are playing 4cM weak NT. South is a good player, North less so. Your call?

ahydra

[The_Badger]

North had the opportunity of giving preference to 3♥ and didn't, and really do you want to turn a part score into game by doubling at IMPs? It could be going down 2 or 3, but I suspect it is only going down at 1 at the most, and there's a fair chance you might be endplayed too.

By doubling you could also put pressure on partner to remove to 3♦ (although he should trust you), and anyway, that 2♦ overcall could be lead-directing as opposed to anything substantial.

So, even with 3 potential tricks in your hand, I'm inclined to pass - call me cowardly if you want. The last thing you want (I am assuming this is IMPs teams) is a borderline decision being converted into a big swing.

[MrAce]

At IMPS you were about to play 2♦ and either gain +110 or +130 or -50 or -100. So you do not have any serious score to protect. Why did South not balance with DBL? He either has a massive 2 suiter or he is short in spades. Something like the hand I constructed below in which everyone has their bids.....There are also other ways of losing the board, you said N is not a good player so perhaps he/she made a mistake by passing 3♣ and/or opener made a mistake by bidding this way with 6-7♥ and only 4♣. I would just leave them alone at imps.

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EDIT: If there is anyone who thinks W should not pass our DBL, then I can change our hand to a real double hand with more serious clubs values and less spade values, which may be a serious concern for W to figure where to park all these spade and heart losers, when his pd had an easy +300 or +500 with his double.

[Phil]

MrAce, on 2017-June-22, 05:33, said:

At IMPS you were about to play 2♦ and either gain +110 or +130 or -50 or -100. So you do not have any serious score to protect. Why did South not balance with DBL? He either has a massive 2 suiter or he is short in spades. Something like the hand I constructed below in which everyone has their bids.....There are also other ways of losing the board, you said N is not a good player so perhaps he/she made a mistake by passing 3♣ and/or opener made a mistake by bidding this way with 6-7♥ and only 4♣. I would just leave them alone at imps.

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EDIT: If there is anyone who thinks W should not pass our DBL, then I can change our hand to a real double hand with more serious clubs values and less spade values, which may be a serious concern for W to figure where to park all these spade and heart losers, when his pd had an easy +300 or +500 with his double.

So you've constructed a hand where partner has no defense, we aren't cashing a spade trick and we still might beat this?

By the way, "protecting a score" doesn't apply to IMPs.

I would make a penalty double. They have probably stepped into a misfit since responder did not take preference to 3H.

[Cyberyeti]

MrAce, on 2017-June-22, 05:33, said:

At IMPS you were about to play 2♦ and either gain +110 or +130 or -50 or -100. So you do not have any serious score to protect. Why did South not balance with DBL? He either has a massive 2 suiter or he is short in spades. Something like the hand I constructed below in which everyone has their bids.....There are also other ways of losing the board, you said N is not a good player so perhaps he/she made a mistake by passing 3♣ and/or opener made a mistake by bidding this way with 6-7♥ and only 4♣. I would just leave them alone at imps.

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EDIT: If there is anyone who thinks W should not pass our DBL, then I can change our hand to a real double hand with more serious clubs values and less spade values, which may be a serious concern for W to figure where to park all these spade and heart losers, when his pd had an easy +300 or +500 with his double.

Well if E overcalled 2♦ with a hand that is a 3♦ overcall, he really ought to remove your X, he should have a better hand than this opposite a passed partner in my book.

[MrAce]

Cyberyeti, on 2017-June-22, 09:18, said:

Well if E overcalled 2♦ with a hand that is a 3♦ overcall, he really ought to remove your X, he should have a better hand than this opposite a passed partner in my book.

No, 3 ♦ means you have 7 of them. You can bid 3♦ with that hand but don't give me the BS as if it is textbook 3♦ for everyone. Your diamonds are good for preempt but you are too strong for preempt, no need to mention you have too many defensive potential.

[MrAce]

Phil, on 2017-June-22, 08:05, said:

So you've constructed a hand where partner has no defense, we aren't cashing a spade trick and we still might beat this?

No you can not beat it but you want a spade cashing hand?
OK.

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Or you may actually beat it depending on the lead such as (and good luck with finding the spade lead)

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Phil, on 2017-June-22, 08:05, said:

By the way, "protecting a score" doesn't apply to IMPs.

That is your opinion of course but I disagree.

Phil, on 2017-June-22, 08:05, said:

I would make a penalty double. They have probably stepped into a misfit since responder did not take preference to 3H.

That is one way to interpret it. Or they found a legit fit in their 2nd suit. I would not argue with my pd had he doubled and they made it. But I would not double.

[rmnka447]

Pass.

LHO has shown a pretty distributional hand. It could be 6-4 but more likely at least 5-5. RHO has shown a preference for ♣ and failed to raise ♥ last time. Your also sitting in front of the ♣ bidder. 3 ♣ doubled making is converting a part score swing at worst to a game swing -- the kiss of death at IMPs.

So this is a hand where it's more prudent to just pass and take a positive if it results. In a part score hand, any positive is par. Which would you rather do in the post mortem - explain +50 vs. +100 or explain -110 vs. -470?

[gszes]

x marks the spot. Once upon a time a hand comes up where declarer makes 3cx but for the overwhelming majority of the time we are collecting a bonus and only the size of the bonus is up for grabs. There is a strong case to be made that our first pass gave south the impression N might have power they could not show over 2d. S was just unlucky we had pretty much all the power plus 5 clubs. Our 3 1/2 defensive tricks opposite a 2 lvl overcall could easily yield a huge gain.

[Cyberyeti]

MrAce, on 2017-June-22, 10:14, said:

No, 3 ♦ means you have 7 of them. You can bid 3♦ with that hand but don't give me the BS as if it is textbook 3♦ for everyone. Your diamonds are good for preempt but you are too strong for preempt, no need to mention you have too many defensive potential.

A wjo opposite a passed partner is wide ranging and shows 6 for most people I know, I would want what most people consider a sound opening hand to (non jump) overcall at the 2 level, so a little better than this. You don't actually have that much defensive potential, the diamond suit is likely waste paper in defence.

[Phil]

MrAce, on 2017-June-22, 10:49, said:

<carefully concocted outlier hands>

In a parallel universe, my RHO had a trap pass of partner's overcall with 5=1=5=2 and LHO liked his 2=5=1=5. This time, partner actually had some defense which is not completely unexpected for a two level overcall and we carted them out for 800.

Of course this is a best case scenario but I expect 300 or 500 a lot of the time, 100 some of the time and a rare -470.

[MrAce]

Phil, on 2017-June-22, 21:05, said:

In a parallel universe, my RHO had a trap pass of partner's overcall with 5=1=5=2 and LHO liked his 2=5=1=5. This time, partner actually had some defense which is not completely unexpected for a two level overcall and we carted them out for 800.

Of course this is a best case scenario but I expect 300 or 500 a lot of the time, 100 some of the time and a rare -470.

I see it slightly different. Rare -470 and +500. More often +100 or +300. So you and George(Gszes) may be right on DBL being the winner in the long run and passing being pessimist, I admit.

[ahydra]

Hmm, having read all that the reaction to my 2D bid and South's 3C should be interesting! <grabs popcorn>

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Partner passed it out, I led the ♣3 and we collected 250.

I thought partner should X on the grounds that they've clearly got themselves too high, and if North doesn't have hearts, I must do, so there's no issue with them running to 3H. But he expected South to have something a bit better than this, which is fair enough.

ahydra

[Kaitlyn S]

If the opponents bid like that, it shouldn't matter what you do on this board, as long as you get to play several more boards against them.

[MrAce]

I need new reading glasses I guess, because I thought you wrote

ahydra, on 2017-June-22, 03:26, said:

South is a good player,......

[Cyberyeti]

MrAce, on 2017-June-23, 01:16, said:

I need new reading glasses I guess, because I thought you wrote

Your yellow smiley face seems somehow appropriate, as if he really is a good player, he clearly dropped a lot of acid before making this bid

[MrAce]

Cyberyeti, on 2017-June-23, 01:44, said:

Your yellow smiley face seems somehow appropriate, as if he really is a good player, he clearly dropped a lot of acid before making this bid

[rmnka447]

Wow, that is a terrible 3 ♣ bid on a tepid 13 count.

If any call is made over 2 ♦, it probably should be DBL. But North with no values and only defense against ♦ should probably pass as 2 ♦x is not game. It looks like that would result in making 3 for a +280.

If 2 ♦x comes back to East, I think East sits for it as any noise may make things worse.

The 2 ♦ bid looks right.

After 3 ♣, I wouldn't double either with the West hand. Make the hand something like ♠ KQxx ♥ Kxx ♦ AQxxx ♣ x, then maybe DBL is right because you'd be OK if partner pulls to ♠. Only holding ♠ KJx makes a DBL a bit more problematic.

In any case, +250 should get you a nice part score swing.

[MrAce]

rmnka447, on 2017-June-23, 04:21, said:

The 2 ♦ bid looks right.

I know i am minority but I'd rather overcall 1 NT with W hand.

[RedSpawn]

Kaitlyn S, on 2017-June-22, 23:13, said:

If the opponents bid like that, it shouldn't matter what you do on this board, as long as you get to play several more boards against them.

Deleted. I missed that South had 2 doubletons.