[ArtK78]

Scoring: IMP

(2♦)* - P - (3♦) - 3♠
(P) - ?

---

You are playing for the event in the last round of a local sectional Swiss Teams. Your RHO opens 2♦, which is an undisciplined weak 2 in diamonds (could be a 5 card suit and quite weak).

For what it is worth, your opponents are competent, but by no means world class. They lead the event by 3 VPs over you, and there are 4 other teams right on your tail. This is the 3rd board of a 9 board match, and the first two boards were uneventful.

[Jlall]

Very easy pass whatever the conditions are, hope we make!

[jdonn]

Yes quite easy pass. Even if 4♥ is supposed to show spade tolerance as well, we aren't worth it.

[Phil]

Art the only reason why I think you posted this is that you passed and missed a game.

[bid_em_up]

Phil, on Oct 12 2009, 03:25 PM, said:

Art the only reason why I think you posted this is that you passed and missed a game.

Or he bid game and went for a telephone number...

[awm]

I'm the one vote for "other" here.

There are actually a lot of hands for partner that make a game. Keep in mind partner is likely to have some diamond length (we have only one, they bid only to three-level) which implies a sounder overcall than we might see otherwise. Some likely shapes for partner:

6232. Hands like AKxxxx xx xxx AQ are nothing special and yet offer some play for game. Partner could be quite a bit better than this and still not bid past 3♠ looking at three small diamonds.

Any 6-4 hand. For example AKxxxx Axxx xx x is an icy cold game despite the very minimum values (move the club to diamonds and SLAM is good). AKxxxx x xx AQxx offers good play for a game despite the stiff in hearts. Partner is unlikely to bid more than 3♠ with these hands.

Some 5431 hand with three diamonds. Not only is the round suit a better strain, but game is not unlikely especially since partner will probably have a bit more strength to overcall with this shape. For example, KQJxx Axxx xxx x is an good 4♥ game despite the sub-minimum values. And KQxxx x Axx AKxx makes for a good 5♣ contract.

This is IMP scoring after all, so assuming I can reach the best game contract I rate to score well even if game is slightly anti-percentage. Even if game goes one off, I may have succeeded in improving the strain (i.e. 3♠ might also go one off, or even two off) so I don't always lose. The trick is that I have to always reach the best game (or at least the best of 4♠/4♥/5♣) to enjoy these advantages. My preference is to bid 4♣ here; in my style this is not a self-sufficient suit by any means, it can be the start of a scramble on a game-going hand without a clear strain. I expect partner to raise clubs with four, bid hearts with four, bid spades with six good ones, and otherwise bid 4♦ (over which I suggest hearts). Of course, if 4♣ says "I hate spades and want to play in clubs no matter what" then this approach obviously fails -- I feel that the "scramble" type hands are sufficiently common to be deserving of a forcing call here.

[ArtK78]

Actually, my partner held this hand. He bid a game, which turned out to be the wrong game. Game was bid at the other table as well - the "right" game, which appeared to be cold (and certainly could have been made), but the declarer took an odd line and went down for a push.

But, I digress. I just wanted to see what everyone would do. In our post-mortem, no one suggested passing, although I didn't understand the game bid when the dummy hit.

Feel free to continue posting.

By the way, we won the match in a near blitz and won the Swiss Team despite the result on this hand.

[jdonn]

Adam why would partner look at xxx of a suit bid and raised by the opponents as a bad thing? I think it's a good thing, and doesn't point to his overcall being particularly sound at all.

I won't argue the style, we have been there too many times before. But this just shows, it's almost impossible to do a poll other than yes/no or true/false without missing at least one answer.

[neilkaz]

I agree with the passers.

[billw55]

If there is game in this hand, partner must have quite a lot. We haven't seen his hand, perhaps 3♠ was not his only option.

[P_Marlowe]

Pass, and this is a WTP.

Just because 2D is wide ranging does not mean, that we
have anything, it just means, that 3D is also wide ranging,
and since p made a NF call, he could even be prebal. to a
certain degree, we have no security what so ever and we
have to pass, they may have gotten us, so what.
The next time they will have to guess due to the wide ranging
nature, in fact the 3D may have already been forced to make
a guess, who knowes?

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Codo]

I like Adams approach but unluckily I do not have such agrements.

I think I would try 4 Spade with no good agreements.

[ArtK78]

Scoring: IMP

(2♦) - P - (3♦) - 3♠
(P) - 4♠ - All Pass

---

I was right about one thing - there was a game on the hand. But my 3♠ bid led us in the wrong direction. The consensus of opinion in the post mortem was that I should have doubled if I was going to take an action other than pass. I didn't like double with a singleton club, but it is certainly true that double would have located the heart fit.

4♠ was a hopeless contract on the lie of the cards, but 4♥ appears cold. But my opponent at the other table in 4♥ failed. I don't know the bidding at the other table, except my teammate with the West hand told me that he never bid on the hand. Perhaps South opened 2♥. In any event, the defense played two top clubs early in the play, forcing North to ruff. Declarer then played two rounds of trump, discovering the 3-1 break, and then tried to bring in the spade suit (establishing clubs seems like a better line). Since West had already shown up with the AK of clubs, he played East for the ♠A and played a spade to the 10. That insured down one, and he lost another trick in the wash to push my result of 4♠ down 2.

Normally, I would not act at the 3 level on such a "weak" hand. But my opps convinced me with their bidding that partner had a singleton diamond at most, and I had a singleton club, so I thought that game in a major could make on very limited material. The hand proved me right in that there are 10 tricks available in hearts even with less than half the deck in high cards. I just got to the wrong major.

[jdonn]

ArtK78, on Oct 13 2009, 09:07 AM, said:

The consensus of opinion in the post mortem was that I should have doubled if I was going to take an action other than pass.

LOL! Who do you post mortem with? You should get your money back.

[Jlall]

jdonn, on Oct 13 2009, 09:49 AM, said:

ArtK78, on Oct 13 2009, 09:07 AM, said:

The consensus of opinion in the post mortem was that I should have doubled if I was going to take an action other than pass.

LOL! Who do you post mortem with? You should get your money back.

He is kenrexfords old partner so we know what crowd he hands with

JK, speaking of which KEN WHERE ARE YOU?

[ArtK78]

I don't have any problem with your having fun with this.

But, as a serious bridge problem, do you agree with taking an action (other than pass) on the North hand? And, if so, what should it be?

If you dislike doubling with the North hand, how do you get to 4♥?

I thought that the opponents were stealing from me, so I chose to act.

[jdonn]

ArtK78, on Oct 13 2009, 10:02 AM, said:

I don't have any problem with your having fun with this.

But, as a serious bridge problem, do you agree with taking an action (other than pass) on the North hand? And, if so, what should it be?

If you dislike doubling with the North hand, how do you get to 4♥?

I thought that the opponents were stealing from me, so I chose to act.

The only realistic way to get to 4♥ after 2♦ p 3♦ is for you to pass and partner to balance with 3♥. Given that you have bid 3♠, which I don't criticize, there is no realistic way to find 4♥ any more.

[pooltuna]

Jlall, on Oct 13 2009, 09:58 AM, said:

jdonn, on Oct 13 2009, 09:49 AM, said:

ArtK78, on Oct 13 2009, 09:07 AM, said:

The consensus of opinion in the post mortem was that I should have doubled if I was going to take an action other than pass.

LOL! Who do you post mortem with? You should get your money back.

He is kenrexfords old partner so we know what crowd he hands with

JK, speaking of which KEN WHERE ARE YOU?

and maybe they meant that X was just better than 3♠ not necessarily good

[ArtK78]

pooltuna, on Oct 13 2009, 10:05 AM, said:

Jlall, on Oct 13 2009, 09:58 AM, said:

jdonn, on Oct 13 2009, 09:49 AM, said:

ArtK78, on Oct 13 2009, 09:07 AM, said:

The consensus of opinion in the post mortem was that I should have doubled if I was going to take an action other than pass.

LOL! Who do you post mortem with? You should get your money back.

He is kenrexfords old partner so we know what crowd he hands with

JK, speaking of which KEN WHERE ARE YOU?

and maybe they meant that X was just better than 3♠ not necessarily good

Actually, no one criticized my choice of bid vs. pass, they just thought that double was better than 3♠.

[Jlall]

ArtK78, on Oct 13 2009, 10:02 AM, said:

But, as a serious bridge problem, do you agree with taking an action (other than pass) on the North hand? And, if so, what should it be?

No but I totally understand why you did, and I would hate passing. If I had a bid to say "I am 5-4 in the majors" and let partner bid at the 3 level I would make it. I think your question "what should it be" is not a seperate question from "do you agree with taking action?" There are frequently hands where we "know" it's right to bid, but we don't have that much chance of landing in the right contract whatever we bid, so pass becomes the best call.

For instance here, we probably belong in 3H or 3S or 4H or 4S. But if we bid 3S we are going to miss hearts a large majority of the time. Getting to hearts was most of our reason for wanting to bid though...

Alternatively if we double we may hear *gasp* 5C, or at least 4C. Not really what we had in mind.

Some of this also depends on the opps. If they were to promise me that they had 9 diamonds, I would double, just because there's such a huge chance of a fit, and partner will have a 4 card major or 7 clubs unless he's 3316. We may land in 5C X when he has 7 clubs, but he will have a 4 card major a huge majority of the time that it's probably worth the risk.

However, if the opponents can have 8 diamonds, doubling is very scary because we get to 4C opposite say 3325 and stuff like that. People do stuff like open 2D with 5, and raise with a doubleton, when NV quite often so assuming they have 9 diamonds always is a mistake. Thus I would pass.

One more point, the bidding is not over. On the actual hand partner would balance with 3H, and sometimes partner will balance with double. Not all that likely, but here it would have gone p p 3H p 4H and I'm sure your partner would play it better than the other table!