[inquiry]

 

Scoring: IMP

BPO-001-F

West North East South
   -      -    Pass   1♥
  1♠   Dbl    2♠    ?

---

[hrothgar]

Pass.

I have 2 Spades and a better than average opening hand (14.4 points on the K+R scale). However, this does not force me to bid to the three level when I can't identify our fit... Partner still has the chance to act. Holding 5-4 in the minors he can scramble with 2NT.

[luke warm]

woo hooo, controversy

i doubled

[pclayton]

Yeah I doubled too - similar reasoning to "G", but I'm not sold on it. I do love those 100 honors though.

[mike777]

DBL.

Promises more than my usual junky 11-13 openings and I only have 2 spades.

Great extreme hand in the on going debate of opening 1nt with all 5 card majors.
Here we have multiple reasons to not open 1nt with 5 card major but are we better placed with p knowing we have a 5 card heart suit?

[Free]

Same here: Dbl... Just open these 1NT next time...

[jillybean]

inquiry, on May 5 2005, 11:15 AM, said:

 

Scoring: IMP

BPO-001-F

West North East South
   -      -    Pass   1♥
  1♠   Dbl    2♠    ?

---

Dbl

[Fluffy]

Double also, but I expect a lot of pass from the panelists.

[HeartA]

Double, yes!

[Double !]

You called?

I doubled, too, but afterward had second doubts. I think X also implies tolerance for minors. Was wondering how many would bring up the issue of opening the hand with 1NT. I wonder what responses would have been if, given the same hand, the bidding had gone 1H-p-1S-p-?...............I know,...2C

[Rebound]

My vote was pass. But who knows. Looks like I'm in the minority.

[shoeless]

It's imps - I be passing here boss - smack it at matchpoints.

[P_Marlowe]

Pass.

I have, what I have promised,
nothing more.

And I am not sure what dbl would
have meant, so I play it safe.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Gerben42]

My vote is with pass (and opening 1NT)

[Chamaco]

I passed.

I think it's borderline between double and pass.

[helene_t]

Chamaco, on May 6 2005, 10:47 AM, said:

I passed.

I think it's borderline between double and pass.

And that's why some people play a 15-17 1NT. I think if we have 15-17 on our cc we should also make use of it.

[han]

I would have opened 1NT, but I have no big problems with 1H.

I double now, it would be nice if there would be some significant effort to define doubles in BBO standard, though this won't be easy.

[inquiry]

 

Scoring: IMP

BPO-001-F

West North East South
   -      -    Pass   1♥
  1♠   Dbl    2♠    ?

---

Modern bridge seems to use two bids when there is no clear direction: double and 2NT. You will hear people explain their low level Double as “negative”, “responsive”, “action”, “cooperative,” and “DSIP” (which stands for do something intelligent partner). 2NT in competitive auctions are described as “good/bad”, “scramble,” and often “lebehnshol”. The last two questions in this poll are designed to explore the panels views on such bids. This one tilted towards the use of a double. Usually double or 2NT will be the panel vote on hands such as this…(when in doubt for a bid, double, hehehe).

Let’s start once again, with Kraft who explains that pass or double is ok, but she would dbl “as a matter of style. ” In fact, the top two of the four yellow stars in the poll (Fred and Ritong) both decided the best bid was pass, sadly without comment as to why.

The other participants however, expressed no interest in passing. Most of the doubler’s meant the double as “takeout.” Phico chose dbl, saying “Dble; takout of course. To compete in the long minor of partner, or to play game in hearts if he has a 3-cards fit in a decent hand. Cascade and Justin used double also for takeout. Cascade, explained “with some extra values we are worth a responsive double. I play all doubles in auctions like this where the opponents bid and raise a suit as takeout.” Justin, was the only panelist to object to opening 1♥ instead of 1NT with this balanced hand. In fact, I agree with him that 1NT is the “correct” opening bid. But polling what the opening bid with this hand should be would not have been as much fun as to see how to continue in this delicate situation. Jlall explained his reason for doubling like this: “My double now is takeout. Passing puts too much pressure on partner, will he really reopen with a 22(45) 6-8 count? I think not as he's shown his hand already. We also have some extras which we could have shown with a 1N opener but having not done that need to make sure we don't miss a game here by passing. ”

Luis and Gabor (Ng) come closest to having the double right, in my opinion. Ng) said double implied five heart and 3-3 in the minors: “Meaning: No good natural bid available, it is not penalty. Means 3-card support in minors, only 5 hearts, not a bad hand.” This agreement works well on this hand, as for Ng, he is showing exactly 2-5-3-3 distribution. But then he will have trouble on a lot of other hands where he doesn’t have this distribution but does want to compete. Luis comes closest to the right reason to double, “X; Action double. Showing some extra values and denies a sixth heart or four cards in a minor. By inference this also shows 2+ spades so pd will be able to leave the double if he judges that as our best result. ”

I like Luis’ bid but I want to add a follow up no one mentioned. When partner responds to my double (by not passing), I plan to pull 3♣ or 3♦ to 3♥. This is the kind of heart suit that will play fine in 5-2 fit and might still be able to play for game opposite a 5-1 fit, but partner is probably passing the double in that case. So after my dbl and then pull to 3♥, the concept is I am unsure if this is right. I think this hand is just to good not to try for game. I guess I will be in 3♥ down one while most of the panel maybe in 3♣/3♦ making. But this five card heart suit looks longer to me.

The scores on this hand are…
Votes, scores, Panel, Members
DBL      100       7   
Pass    50       2   
3♥        30       0   

[HeartA]

Jlall, on May 10 2005, 04:39 PM, said:

I am hardcore when it comes to opening 1N lol. I'm not surprised I was the only objector

me too. I would open 1NT. But we didn't the choice. Ben (or whoever) already opened 1♥ for us.