[miamijd]

croquetfan, on 2018-April-24, 02:20, said:

You would not want to be in the room for the post-mortem if partner holds AJTx hearts.
Partner is well placed to make a decision over your balancing double.

In part, this depends on how you play opener's X after the 2H bid and how you play responder's X if 2H is passed around.

In "standard," opener would X 2H for penalty with AJTx of hearts and a decent hand. Responder will have at least two pieces in H and often 3, with 8-10 high or so (I like bidding 1D on 3334 with 5-7). A good time to X. This would be my preference here for treatment.

But some folks play a double by opener as takeout here, showing something like 4135 and a good hand. If you do that, you can't X with a H stack.

Likewise, there are different ways to play responder's X when 2H is passed around. You can play it as takeout or card-showing optional. Takeout would suggest 2H; card-showing optional requires 3 pieces. I prefer card-showing optional, because there aren't too many times you're going to bid 1NT over 1C with anything other than 33 in the majors (1NT over 1D is a different story).

[rmnka447]

It may seem a scraggly hand, but is a 9 count. Opposite a typical 11-12 opener, you should have at least half the HCP. So, a double here shows about 9-10 and a willingness to compete.

If partner takes the proper inference -- no 4 card major -- then you shouldn't get into too much trouble. If partner bids 2 ♠, you sit.

I have no problem with bidding 1 NT on this hand. You make it harder for the opponents to compete in the majors than over 1 D. And in an opponent major part score, you wouldn't be particularly enamored by a ♦ lead from partner.