[FelicityR]

This hand cost us a few pounds (again!) at rubber bridge, game all +40 to the opponents, and I am thinking to myself that I didn't handle this right - again! North is a very wily player. My partner (West) allowed himself a wry smile after the hand was over. Was I like a (rueful?) rabbit caught in the headlights. Over to you, and thanks in advance for your replies. How would you handled this?

---

After the hand, both partner and myself said we were tempted to double the final contract, but that would have been small consolation to missing a laydown slam. It was the last rubber of the evening, and we were already losing (£40 if I remember correctly). Timidity was our downfall, perhaps?

[Cyberyeti]

E has bid like he has 5 or 6 small hearts and out, has to double 4♠.

[rmnka447]

If West's double of 3 ♠ shows extras, then East should consider if North's initial Rdbl was real or not.

If opener had a 2 ♠ bid that was at absolute minimum it has maybe 5 HCP. East holds 9 HCP. If the West double of 3 ♠ shows extras, then how many points does that leave North? Let's give West a 15 count, then it seems like North might have 10-11 and no more as you can count at least 29 between the other three hands. Also, West can't have more than a singleton ♠. The "extras" are likely concentrated in the minors with only 3 points in ♥ available to West.

East should ask "Are the opponents likely to be able to make 4 ♠ on a 15-16 count with 9 or 10 ♠?" The answer certainly seems like "No!" But West may have a problem doubling holding only ♥ QJx(x…) because it's hard to count/visualize to 4 cashing tricks. East can help West by showing defensive values by doubling 4 ♠. East does hold 2 QTs in ♥ as well as a potentially useful ♣ Q.

Given the actual auction, I'd probably bid 5 ♥ anyway with the West hand instead of passing out 4 ♠. West has an undisclosed void and an extra trump that East just can't know about. With West's holdings, as little as ♥ Kxxx in the East hand might be enough to make 5 ♥.


I think the moral of this hand is "When in doubt believe partner's bidding and suspect the opponent's calls."

[pescetom]

I think timidity was indeed your downfall.
For me East is worth 4♥ initially, if West is a rigorous bidder and North merits respect.

[kuhchung]

A rule about defending against preempts - ignore responder's nonsense.

[The_Badger]

The problem here is that West can't bid 3♠ over the 2♠ opening as that would be a Western Cue Bid asking for a stopper in the opponents suit, and can't bid 3♠ next time round after the TOX to show the monster of a hand he has as South has taken his bid away. After West's second double - perhaps not the best action: raising to 4♥ shows extras too - East should double the final contract of 4♠.

I don't think it is in any way possible to reach the slam, but collecting a few penalty points above the line on the scorecard does compensate.

[gszes]

The problem is in east evaluating their hand over the xx. Surely north has long spades for the xx otherwise there are wayyyy too many hcp in the deck. Once east is certain west is short in spades their hand becomes way strong with all of their values working. I would treat the hand as a game force and bid 3s. Where the bidding goes will depend on how high the opps want to interfere but after 3s it might take wild horses to keep west out of slam. The key is recognizing the spade shortness in the west hand and seeing how wonderful that is opposite your 3 small. I imagine the final sequence might be:
2s
x
xx
3s
p
4s
p
4n (two places to play)
p
5n pick a slam
p
6h

[ahydra]

gszes, on 2018-August-16, 19:39, said:

The problem is in east evaluating their hand over the xx. Surely north has long spades for the xx otherwise there are wayyyy too many hcp in the deck. Once east is certain west is short in spades their hand becomes way strong with all of their values working. I would treat the hand as a game force and bid 3s. Where the bidding goes will depend on how high the opps want to interfere but after 3s it might take wild horses to keep west out of slam. The key is recognizing the spade shortness in the west hand and seeing how wonderful that is opposite your 3 small. I imagine the final sequence might be:
2s
x
xx
3s
p
4s
p
4n (two places to play)
p
5n pick a slam
p
6h

So...
X: You pick a suit.
3S: No, you pick.
4S: No, honestly, you can pick.
4N: I insist, you choose where we play this.
5N: Come on, just pick one already!

Honestly I think this is as simple as: East hand should double 4S to indicate that 3H was a "real" bid, not just running from the XX. After that, West has a monster, but unfortunately no room to invite. So he either plays it safe with 5H or blasts 6H, but either way you do a lot better than 4S undoubled.

ahydra

[helene_t]

Cyberyeti, on 2018-August-16, 10:07, said:

E has bid like he has 5 or 6 small hearts and out, has to double 4♠.

Lebensohl should still be on, and 3♥ is not a voluntary bid (pass would be to play), so arguably East has shown what she had.

If that's the case, W should probably bid slam directly instead of the omnibus second double which is dangerous - it could easily be left in.

If 3♥ is not Lebensohl, East has significant extras and should double the final contract. W still needs to bid 4♥ instead of doubling a second time, but it probably doesn't matter here.

[vladesch]

I dont see east as the culprit here. You made a free bid of H so you have about what you should have.
West passing 4s is just terrible IMO. Either double or hearts (and I would go with h every time). With the void in s, if partner has no points in s then 6h is probably making.

Think of it in terms of a pack that has 30 points in it. You have 17 and your partner has made a free bid, so you probably have at least 26 out of 30 points.
Plus you have at least 9 trumps.
Got to be worth a try.

[Cyberyeti]

helene_t, on 2018-August-16, 22:20, said:

Lebensohl should still be on, and 3♥ is not a voluntary bid (pass would be to play), so arguably East has shown what she had.

If that's the case, W should probably bid slam directly instead of the omnibus second double which is dangerous - it could easily be left in.

If 3♥ is not Lebensohl, East has significant extras and should double the final contract. W still needs to bid 4♥ instead of doubling a second time, but it probably doesn't matter here.

Rubber bridge usually doesn't use Lebensohl, I assumed it wasn't on

[helene_t]

vladesch, on 2018-August-17, 01:00, said:

You made a free bid of H so you have about what you should have.

3♥ is not a freebid here.

After opps preempt and rdbl, pass would be to play so East is forced to bid unless he has a trump stack.
But even if you have the agreement that pass would be scrambling, the 3♥ bid probably just shows length, not values. After a rdbl at the 1-level it is a common agreement that direct suit bid is weaker than pass followed by a suit bid.

[Tramticket]

helene_t, on 2018-August-17, 03:38, said:

But even if you have the agreement that pass would be scrambling, the 3♥ bid probably just shows length, not values.

I doubt that you have that type of agreement at rubber bridge, but bridge logic suggests that if South has a six-card spade suit and North's redouble is showing willingness to play in spades, then East can't have a "trump stack" and a Pass by East would not be to play - just "no preference". A bid by East is showing length, but no values.

From West's point of view, North's 2♠ opening with a part-score of 40 can be very wide ranging, since this is enough for game and despite the notional description of "weak". Similarly, although North's redouble is to play, it could also contain considerable defensive strength given the rubber bridge format and score. I think that West has done enough,but East has seriously under-called the hand and must double the final 4♠

[hrothgar]

Almost the entire auction is nonsensical.

1. Why would I ever want to XX with a hand with zero defense and values that are wasted in anything but a space contract?

<Just bid 4!S and put the maximum pressure on the opponents>

2. With a weak hand, South can just pass, surely 3!S shows something different?

3. Opposite the second double, East has a rock crusher. No wasted values in Spades, AK in Hearts, and a side queen.
I would have bid 3!S over the redouble.
I would have bid 4!S over 3!S

4. As is, I suspect that I would just punt 5NT over 4!S, asking parter to pick a slam, planning to convert Diamonds to Hearts.

[Tramticket]

hrothgar, on 2018-August-17, 06:43, said:

Almost the entire auction is nonsensical.

Yes, I thought that when I first looked. Some of the oddity is explained because the Auction is at Rubber Bridge, where bidding is largely natural (a natural redouble does suggest spade length!). I was surprised that weak two's and take-out doubles of weak twos are used.

But whatever the form of scoring East has to do something.

[Tramticket]

The_Badger, on 2018-August-16, 15:19, said:

The problem here is that West can't bid 3♠ over the 2♠ opening as that would be a Western Cue Bid asking for a stopper in the opponents suit

I doubt that this convention is used at Rubber Bridge.

[cherdano]

The second double shows extra values, but you can not double with 5 hearts and a spade void - not at IMPs, not at MPs, and not at rubber bridge either! Conceding 3SX = when your side is making 4H is bad at any form of scoring. (Other times you have to double again with 2=3=4=4 so partner will often leave the double in.)
Obviously East cannot pass 4S - he has shown 0 hcp, he has 9 hcp, and his partner has extras. But the first really bad bid was made by West.