[manudude03]

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IMPs scoring. The contract went 3 off, but lost 11 with the other table in 4S+1. Who should have stopped this?

[Douglas43]

Interesting hand, thank you. North's psyche is an old ploy. East needs to do something about it. I prefer 4♠ but double is OK. You could make a case for 3♠ on the West hand, but as long as you play "don't bid weak over weak" I think 2♠ is enough.

[LBengtsson]

probably light to X and bid ♠ as west. to strong for 2♠ overcall direct. maybe X their 3NT bid, then they run 4♥and then what? east is in better position to expose psyche with two entries ♣A and ♦K so east should X and if they run to 4♥, then east bid 4♠. but easy for me to say as I can see all hands. good psyche sometimes win.

[AL78]

Can't West double when it came back round to them? From their perspective, where are NS's tricks coming from.

[TylerE]

East should be checked for a pulse.

[pescetom]

AL78, on 2021-April-03, 12:13, said:

Can't West double when it came back round to them? From their perspective, where are NS's tricks coming from.

He can, but at this vulnerability it doesn't solve much, even if IMPs.

[AL78]

pescetom, on 2021-April-03, 15:07, said:

He can, but at this vulnerability it doesn't solve much, even if IMPs.

They at least take +500 which is better than +150 for letting them play it undoubled. West can't do anything about East's silence, but they can take the initiative themself. The double may also inspire East to bid 4♠, especially if North runs to 4♥.

[TylerE]

AL78, on 2021-April-03, 15:29, said:

They at least take +500 which is better than +150 for letting them play it undoubled. West can't do anything about East's silence, but they can take the initiative themself. The double may also inspire East to bid 4♠, especially if North runs to 4♥.

X can also turn +50 or +100 into -200 or -500 when E is broke. W has a good hand, but it needs SUBSTANTIAL help to really take tricks. Calling for W to X 3NT feels very result-y to me.

[johnu]

I don't think you can blame East. East was taking a well needed nap and it would have been rude to wake them up by making them think about making a call.

[sfi]

johnu, on 2021-April-03, 17:34, said:

I don't think you can blame East. East was taking a well needed nap and it would have been rude to wake them up by making them think about making a call.

This.

[mikestar13]

I'd have bid 3♠ as West (close but swayed by the excellent spades) and would have doubled as East (not close). If they stand the double they win but far less (500 vs 650 is merely unfortunate at imps, not the 11 imp disaster of the actual result).

[apollo1201]

When both players are too timid on a competitive auction...

W can bid 3S first if that is his style (minimum given a stiff K in the assortment) or can then X again - unless N has ATxx S and has enough C tricks, as with Kxx, dummy’s H can probably be neutralized, N is no where near 9 tricks.

E can also X, they know N doesn’t have a running minor with a S stop, and having an A and a K plus a long S suit to establish and then reach partner who has more a less an opening hand can’t produce 9 tricks for N.

Then the psyche is easily exposed and it is tempting to bid 4S.

[AL78]

TylerE, on 2021-April-03, 16:47, said:

Calling for W to X 3NT feels very result-y to me.

Not really, I just looked at the West hand in isolation. I would very likely go for a penalty, as I said where are NS's tricks coming from? If partner can't trust me and pulls it to a hopeless game I'll have to pay out, but partner ought to deduce I have doubled for penalties when he has shown and could easily have nothing, so it is not the same situation as doubling a weak NT for penalties. If I do my best to bring in a fair or good score and fail I'm not going to cry over it.

[hrothgar]

Couple thoughts

First: I agree that West should double 3NT.

Its highly unlikely that the opponents can urun 9 tricks before spades are established and cashing. (The one danger here is if the partnership is using double to ask for something other than a spade lad or some such)

Second: I think that East can reasonable bid 4!S. You have a stiff heart, 4 card support, an Ace and a King.
If partner has a real overcall, 4♠ should have play

Equally significant, those minor suit honors mean that RHO doesn't have a hand that can expect to run a minor. (Something is fishy)

[mikeh]

If west posted this hand, it’s his fault entirely.

If not, then it’s pretty clearly 99% east.

(Apologies for stealing Michael Rosenberg’s approach to these one-sided ATB type posts)

[gszes]

What would east do if west had opened 1s in the absence of partnership notes? IMHO they are VERY VERY close to a jump to 4s. The singleton heart in the present bidding is even more valuable than in a vacuum. Preempts work or we would never do them. Just try to make a bid similar to what you would do w/o the preempt (that will be pass many times). Here a bid of 4s seems easily called for. There is no strong reason to assume both their 3n and our 4s can't both make so x seems out of the question. x in the PO seat after east passes 3n is truly stretching. blame 93% east 7% north for making a excellent bid. I wonder if North will soon see a subpoena for too many "psyches" in our ever growing litigious fervor.

[Zelandakh]

LBengtsson, on 2021-April-03, 11:28, said:

probably light to X and bid ♠ as west.

The vast majority of good players use "X then bid" over a preempt to show a flexible hand. West's hand does not look like that to me whatever the strength. If I wanted to sell the hand as strong I would prefer a 3♠ overcall to a X but 2♠ here is enough. As others have already pointed out, the issue is rather that East was on a coffee break and their son/daughter/cat somehow managed to click on the green card. On doubling 3NT, I would probably be too worried about North having long clubs to run plus a couple of aces for that but if hrothgar likes it then I am probably being too conservative. Even if you consider this to be an error though, it is clearly a lesser error than East passing.