Posted 2005-July-13, 11:55
Perhaps Fred described this hand the best, when he said, 4♣ “This is a guess. My guess is 4C. My opponents never bid like this. ” I thought this might be interesting as a number of panelist were playing or kibitzing when this hand was played. And one of our missing panelist actually held this hand (but didn’t have this auction, which was the auction at my table).
Joining Fred with a 4♣ bid were the four other panelsit, making 4♣] the clear poll winner.
Dinos1 4C.”Showing hand suitable for 5♣ rather than for 3N. Say with xx in hearts I would Dbl as asking for heart stopper. If I double now partner will bid 4♣ with 3 kings (excluding heart one) leaving me in guess as to pass or raise to 5C. Over 4♣ he'll raise to 5 on 3 kings reasoning that I would bid 3♠with sAxx.”
reisig 4♣ ”(Too soft for game from my point of view) ”
ng 4♣ ”The key is West's first pass. I guess West has a weak 2♥ with 4 spades (or void in clubs) and from his perspective it was dangerous to miss a spade contract. The other possibility that West wanted to find a good save is not in the picture because he does not know North's strength. I have an extra club, partner has 8-11 points with 2-3 clubs, but to 5♣ we need the right cards. There is some danger: it's possible that 4♥ is OK for opps. If they bid it, I won't be happy. “
cherdano 4[cl\.”If we have agreed to freely raise to 2♠ with 3-card support, then 3♠ would be a good alternative -- but I don't think we can assume this. Opponents' bidding is a bit inconsistent, but it looks like they have found a good spot.
Predictably Luis, looking at the vul and being close, blasted to game. I have to admit that when I held this hand on this auction I did the same. Joining the no=holds barred bid=em if you got em club was Roland.
Luis 5c, since 3c is non-forcing I don't need to care about a possible slam. I like the chances we may have in 5c, all my cards are very good ones. Pd may have something like Kxxx,xxx,Kxx,Kxx
Walddk 5♣ ”I bid what I think (hope) I can make. I am the one with the singleton heart, so 4♣ will lead nowhere and is merely competitive. Partner is looking at 2 heart losers (at least).
Two panelist found a bid I didn’t consider.
FLUFFY Double, this is very close, double to show limit values seems the right bid since we have 5 losers, and partner's weak raise should give us 2-3 tricks making game possible. Sadly this can be missunderstood, specially if opponents have an unsurprising hidden 11 card fit. With a partner without confidence I would just bid 4♣.
Ritong double "do you stop ♥s?" and if they lead a ♦ then a ♥ through, i'll send " wdos"..
And Poky bid 3♠ for the third hand in a row, explaining. “3♠, In my standard partnerships I would bid an automatic double as pure takeout with short hearts. Since I suppose this isn't a common treatment, I'll bid 3♠hoping partner can bid 3NT.
With five votes, 4♣ gets 100. With two votes each, I slightly upgraded 5♣ (80 points) compared to double (70 points), but only because everyone else was bidding clubs.. 3♠ scored 50.
--Ben--