[Cyberyeti]

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Partner opens a 4+ card club in a weak no trump context, RHO overcalls 4 spades, do you pass ? if you do, partner doubles.

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We got this one wrong, playing in 6♥, 6♠ is excellent but actually fails, spades are 4-1 and the K♦ is over the Q.

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Now what ? Frisky penalty X or pass which partner may well remove.

[nige1]

Cyberyeti 1. 'Partner opens 1♣ 4+ cards in a weak NT context, RHO overcalls 4♠. You pass? if you do, partner doubles.'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I rank
1. Pass = PEN
2. 5♣ = NAT
3. 4N might be OK if it were natural.

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Cyberyeti 2 'We got this one wrong, playing in 6♥, 6♠ is excellent but actually fails, spades are 4-1 and the K♦ is over the Q.'
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

6♠ might still have chances, In spite of the 4-1 break and ♦K over ♦Q.

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Cyberyeti 3. 'Now what ? Frisky penalty X or pass which partner may well remove.'
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I rank
1. Double = PEN
2. Pass = F1.

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[HardVector]

Hand 1: I like an immediate 2c slightly over 1n. I'd do that even if we weren't guaranteeing 4+ clubs on the open. I don't like 1n because you can't hold up an cut communications and it looks like you have good controls in "their" suit if partner wants to get frisky in clubs. Pass caters to penalty hands and weak hands. This hand is not ready to penalize 1s and if you then bid 2c after a pass, you show something significantly weaker than what you have, so pass is bad. (Edit: I read it wrong. I thought the overcall was 1s, sorry)

Hand 2: You don't give an opening lead or play pattern, so it's hard to say where you went "wrong". I know that playing in 4/4 fits are superior to 5/3 fits, but I'm not convinced that 4/4 fits are better than 5/4 fits. I've now been in 2 4/4 contracts in which the defense was able to get a ruff in my 5/4 side suit when playing in the 5/4 fit would have been guaranteed. Admittedly, it's a small sample size, but I have just my own experience to go by.

Hand 3: Your partner is ready to penalize clubs (so probably has values there), you have length in diamonds, penalty looks good. They have nowhere to run to, and you may induce a 3c bid from them, which your partner will love. The only other option I see is pass, which means you are probably going to play 2h or 2s on a misfit. They are vulnerable, go for the 200 and hope for more.

[mikeh]

Hand one looks trivial, so I assume that partner had a very, very nice hand or Rho has some 8-5 freak. Pass is obvious, even if you told me that partner had 5 clubs. Then passing the double is equally obvious so I assume it went wrong


Hand 2, I wouldn’t expect to reach slam, and wouldn’t find spades if I did. Even with the relay method I once played, we wouldn’t get underway since we require a control for a positive response, and wouldn’t relay

Hand 3 looks like an easy double since if they make, it’s not game. Meanwhile I expect them to be in trouble. Main issue is what to lead, but I think I lead a high spade, to make sure that trick doesn’t go anywhere.

[apollo1201]

Hand 1: 1st pass looks normal, I have no reason to suspect partner has a strong hand with C (given the preempt and my AK, a strong balanced hand looks less likely but could be though), he could have a weak unbalanced and could go down while setting 4S thanks to my AK; as for the 2nd call when partner confirms some kind of strong hand, vulnerabilities could be interesting to know, pass should most of the times give you a plus, partner could have trouble reaching my hand for finesses in 5C. Yes, preempts work sometimes.

Hand 2: I’d probably end up in 4S with that hand full of quacks after a Stayman following a 2C-2D-2NT start showing 22-23.

Hand 3: partner wants me to X when I can after his XX, and with just 12, I have no reason to believe we have game our way, so X be it

[Cyberyeti]

HardVector, on 2019-March-03, 19:39, said:

Hand 1: I like an immediate 2c slightly over 1n. I'd do that even if we weren't guaranteeing 4+ clubs on the open. I don't like 1n because you can't hold up an cut communications and it looks like you have good controls in "their" suit if partner wants to get frisky in clubs. Pass caters to penalty hands and weak hands. This hand is not ready to penalize 1s and if you then bid 2c after a pass, you show something significantly weaker than what you have, so pass is bad.

You obviously missed in the OP there is a 4♠ overcall.

[Cyberyeti]

Hand 1 I should have pointed out you are vul ops are not, partner has void, Axxx, AKJx, KQ97x, 4♠ is +300 (only +100 if you lead a club), 5♣ is solid despite E having all 4 clubs.

Hand 3 I doubled, and what happened next was a major surprise. Had we looked at the scores, we would have seen that with our competition's match finished, we were tied with them at the top of the event, this was our last board.

Dummy was a pleasant sight, LHO had ventured a double with AJxx, x, 10x, A9xxxx so 2♦ wasn't what he wanted to hear.

I led a club, declarer put up the ace and led a heart to the KA.

Now I played ♠K, he took the ace and played one back to the 10 and my Q.

I played a trump, partner won the K and tabled ♣K ruffed and overruffed, trump back to partner's ace and the roof had fallen in, partner was able to ruff the 3rd heart later and this was +1400 and our match had gone from 6 boards at 10-10 with an overtrick each way to 16-4.

Partner had xxx, xx, AKx, KQJ10x

[Tramticket]

Hand 2: We would be in 6♥, I think. 6♠ fails too on a club lead, I think?

Well done on winning!!

[Cyberyeti]

Tramticket, on 2019-March-04, 02:12, said:

Hand 2: We would be in 6♥, I think. 6♠ fails too on a club lead, I think?

Well done on winning!!

6♠ fails if trumps are 4-1, if they're 3-2 you can draw trumps and pitch the second club on the 5th heart just losing a diamond. It has the slight chance on a 4-1 break that if they lead a club, you can find the hand with 1 spade with ♣KQ, ♦K and <3 hearts so you can draw 2 trumps and having discovered the bad break, throw him in with the second club.

In fact I got the second hand slightly and irrelevantly wrong, the A and Q of diamonds are switched, it's 20 vs 10 not 22 vs 8 and the small hand is less quacky.

[Tramticket]

Cyberyeti, on 2019-March-04, 02:30, said:

6♠ fails if trumps are 4-1, if they're 3-2 you can draw trumps and pitch the second club on the 5th heart just losing a diamond.

Ok yes. I had already looked at all four hands (you played this hand against one of my partners) and missed that you can succeed if trumps are 3-2!

[miamijd]

Congrats on winning.

As for what to do on the hands you posted, I agree with mikeh.

[IGoHomeNow]

Hand 1. Pass the X, not close. If you lose IMPs here, it is probably because 4S was a bad bid that got rewarded.
Hand 2. Slams with 20 opposite 10 and this kind of distribution rate to be 50-50 at best. Being in them, or not, seems unimportant in the long run. If you think you are losing the match or playing a superior team, pushing for these seems best.
Hand 3. Pass is a clear winner. If partner has a stiff diamond, he is not leaving this in and he most likely wanted to create a force with his xx. If partner has 2 or more diamonds, this is a decent spot to be.

As for the TO double on hand 3. This is a god-awful bid. Just PASS. If you belong in the auction, the upcoming bids should make this clear.
But for now, you cannot introduce this shape.

Other options....
2C - Also awful. This kind of bid causes partners to become ex-partners.
3C - Less awful. But you still need a partner with a sense of humor.
2H - Less awful. If you are dummy, be sure to spread the cards so that you have 5-5 in the black suits and then be shocked when you see you were 6-4. Obviously this is not a tactic to repeat with a regular partner.

[Cyberyeti]

IGoHomeNow, on 2019-March-04, 11:16, said:

Hand 1. Pass the X, not close. If you lose IMPs here, it is probably because 4S was a bad bid that got rewarded.
Hand 2. Slams with 20 opposite 10 and this kind of distribution rate to be 50-50 at best. Being in them, or not, seems unimportant in the long run. If you think you are losing the match or playing a superior team, pushing for these seems best.
Hand 3. Pass is a clear winner. If partner has a stiff diamond, he is not leaving this in and he most likely wanted to create a force with his xx. If partner has 2 or more diamonds, this is a decent spot to be.

As for the TO double on hand 3. This is a god-awful bid. Just PASS. If you belong in the auction, the upcoming bids should make this clear.
But for now, you cannot introduce this shape.

Other options....
2C - Also awful. This kind of bid causes partners to become ex-partners.
3C - Less awful. But you still need a partner with a sense of humor.
2H - Less awful. If you are dummy, be sure to spread the cards so that you have 5-5 in the black suits and then be shocked when you see you were 6-4. Obviously this is not a tactic to repeat with a regular partner.

Hand 1, the 4♠ bid was QJ to 9, and 2 in each red suit, making one heart trick and 7 spades, plus a club if the defence play one before they've cashed their diamonds.
Hand 2, 6♠ is around 70%, spades 3-2, hearts not 4-0 with a few extra chances of an endplay
Hand 3, I'm glad I don't have to admit to that double, particularly to team mates scoring up, 3♣ probably dials 1100.