[OleBerg]

Scoring: XIMP

---

Pass - (Pass) - 3NT - (X)
Pass - (Pass) - Pass

How do you describe partners pass? (You are long time friends, and have a friendly but rough tone, so creativety is allowed.)

The lead is the ♥7, fourth best.
What do you play from dummy?

[Codo]

How can I bid 3 NT with this hand? But whatever I did, passing 3 NT X was beyond words.

Normaly I would play the jack, because most sane opponents lead aces against a gambling 3 NT, so lho seems not to have the ace.

OTOH, even if I am right and they have to cover the jack with the ace, what have I won?
They will take 4 spade tricks, most often 3 diamonds and a heart for -4. So I may as well play for a miracle and play the king and run the clubs... This will be one more undertrick in case I am wrong, but may be a big result if my dreams come true..

[woefuwabit]

"Well done partner, you read me for ♠Jxxx from my opening bid."

RHO probably has all 3 remaining aces since the standard defense against Gambling 3NT is to lead an ace if you have one. Playing the J now will limit your losses since LHO is now marked with Q987(x).

Of course, who would blame you if you lose an additional trick when it was partner's idiocy that landed you in here? Play the K and you may win if LHO is a noob.

[gwnn]

I agree with Codo on all counts. 3NT is bad but if they double surely SURELY you have to run. So I don't think you can use any expletives at all. Also agree with ♥K. I don't care about the exact telephone number, the area code is probably 1.

[billw55]

I confess inexperience with gambling 3NT auctions.

Is it north's responsibility to pull without three suits stopped? How often will that happen? Is south barred by system from pulling it himself?

Also, what was the precise nature of 3NT? Can south ever have an outside A or K? In third seat he might if system allows.

[pooltuna]

OleBerg, on Oct 16 2009, 05:07 AM, said:

Dealer: North Vul: None Scoring: XIMP

♠ 1073 ♥ KJ103 ♦ Q652 ♣ 64 ♠ 854 ♥ 4 ♦ 9 ♣ AK1098752

Pass - (Pass) - 3NT - (X)
Pass - (Pass) - Pass

How do you describe partners pass? (You are long time friends, and have a friendly but rough tone, so creativety is allowed.)

The lead is the ♥7, fourth best.
What do you play from dummy?

Tell your partner you are sorry to hear about his act of seppuku before he had a chance to bid.

The K of ♥ seems like the 50% play for game

[kfay]

I suppose if it's my agreement to open 3NT on these hands then I would just go with the crook eye.

Personally if I agree to play gambling I have some outside honors opposite a passed hand.

[dicklont]

TYP.
I play the King, it wins, West tried to fool me by underleading the Ace, expecting the dummy to have some kings, because he looks at three aces himself, but no kings.
Now comes the real challenge, finesse ♣J or play AK?

I suppose I can play West for 1 or 0 clubs.
Why did East pass anyway? 3343 maybe?
OK, I finesse and will be sick for days when it loses.

Maybe I need a lot of time in trick 1 and 2 but after that I speed up and claim 9 tricks.

After this fine result I'll let the friendly tone prevail: "Daring pass p, would you like me to do the same when you open a gambling 3NT?"

[Free]

dicklont, on Oct 16 2009, 03:13 PM, said:

TYP.
I play the King, it wins, West tried to fool me by underleading the Ace, expecting the dummy to have some kings, because he looks at three aces himself, but no kings.
Now comes the real challenge, finesse ♣J or play AK?

I suppose I can play West for 1 or 0 clubs.
Why did East pass anyway? 3343 maybe?
OK, I finesse and will be sick for days when it loses.

Maybe I need a lot of time in trick 1 and 2 but after that I speed up and claim 9 tricks.

After this fine result I'll let the friendly tone prevail: "Daring pass p, would you like me to do the same when you open a gambling 3NT?"

If RHO has ♣QJx he'll insert the J and you're down. Cashing is your only possibility (you have 10 ♣s btw)...

At trick 1 the K is obvious imo. If RHO has ♥A you'll go down a lot anyway.

As for a comment: if it's a regular partner I'd say "one for at the bar", otherwise it's just not worth it to say anything.

[dicklont]

Free, on Oct 16 2009, 04:31 PM, said:

If RHO has ♣QJx he'll insert the J and you're down.  Cashing is your only possibility (you have 10 ♣s btw)...

You're so right.
Now I'm really sick the rest of the weekend.

[ArtK78]

3NT is a silly bid IMO.

Passing 3NT on the North hand is beyond silly.

Playing the ♥K at trick one is a 100% play. If it wins, you make whenever it is possible to make. If it doesn't win, you were never making, and it hardly matters how many tricks you go down.

As for the play of the club suit, anything but from the top is beyond beyond silly.

When deciding upon an insult for partner, one should remember the old saying about people who live in glass houses. In any event, assuming that the insult is for the player who passed the double of 3NT in direct seat, an appropriate insult would be "Sorry, I thought we were playing Gambling 3NT." That is assuming that you ever wanted to play with this partner again. Otherwise, there are thousands of appropriate insults that may accomplish your goal.

Of course, if you get a heart lead and the King wins, and clubs are 2-1, no insult is required.

[pooltuna]

ArtK78, on Oct 16 2009, 09:40 AM, said:

3NT is a silly bid IMO.

Passing 3NT on the North hand is beyond silly.

Playing the ♥K at trick one is a 100% play. If it wins, you make whenever it is possible to make. If it doesn't win, you were never making, and it hardly matters how many tricks you go down.

As for the play of the club suit, anything but from the top is beyond beyond silly.

may not be as silly as you think since you will have at least 9 cards in ♣ and consequently the probablility of taking 8♣ tricks well exceeds 50%. This of course does assume a sane,awake, and thinking partner.

[cherdanno]

The insult? "Sorry p, I think we deserve each other. Actually, even if you bid like that I have still beat you and bid worse than you on this hand. But it's close."

[ArtK78]

pooltuna, on Oct 16 2009, 09:45 AM, said:

ArtK78, on Oct 16 2009, 09:40 AM, said:

3NT is a silly bid IMO.

Passing 3NT on the North hand is beyond silly.

Playing the ♥K at trick one is a 100% play.  If it wins, you make whenever it is possible to make.  If it doesn't win, you were never making, and it hardly matters how many tricks you go down.

As for the play of the club suit, anything but from the top is beyond beyond silly.

may not be as silly as you think since you will have at least 9 cards in ♣ and consequently the probablility of taking 8♣ tricks well exceeds 50%. This of course does assume a sane,awake, and thinking partner.

You cannot be serious that you consider this to be an appropriate hand for a gambling 3NT opening (unless you are raising the term "gambling" to a new level).

You should have a suit with 8 sure tricks opposite a small singleton. AKTxxxxx does not qualify.

By the way, sometimes partner has a very strong hand with a void in your suit. He should be able to raise your bid to slam in your suit with confidence. For example:

AKxxx
AKxx
AKxx
-----

Knowing that you have 8 solid clubs, he can bid the grand slam. If you open 3NT with AKTxxxxx you will fail.

[billw55]

Nobody answered me

Really I would like to know, is south barred from pulling this himself? Opposite a passed hand?

[Trinidad]

I go up with the king. It may loose an additional trick, but 300 more points will only be 1 XIMP per comparison (when there are scores like +/-110 and +/- 50 all over the room: 1400 away (-16 XIMPs per comparison) instead of 1100 away (-15 XIMPs per comparison). If the play of the king works, I will win LOTTTTSSSS of XIMPs per comparison. 550 in (about +11XIMPs per comparison), instead of 1100 away (about -15 XIMPs per comparison).

At about 1 to 26 odds, I will go with the odds. And, after all, if partner is #%$%$# enough to pass, my LHO may be *&%$^&%&^ enough to underlead an ace.

Rik

[cherdanno]

billw55, on Oct 16 2009, 09:52 AM, said:

Nobody answered me

Really I would like to know, is south barred from pulling this himself? Opposite a passed hand?

I think it's silly to play gambling 3NT in the "no side card" sense opposite a passed hand. Discussing followups to such an agreement seems a waste of time.

[pooltuna]

ArtK78, on Oct 16 2009, 09:47 AM, said:

pooltuna, on Oct 16 2009, 09:45 AM, said:

ArtK78, on Oct 16 2009, 09:40 AM, said:

3NT is a silly bid IMO.

Passing 3NT on the North hand is beyond silly.

Playing the ♥K at trick one is a 100% play.  If it wins, you make whenever it is possible to make.  If it doesn't win, you were never making, and it hardly matters how many tricks you go down.

As for the play of the club suit, anything but from the top is beyond beyond silly.

may not be as silly as you think since you will have at least 9 cards in ♣ and consequently the probablility of taking 8♣ tricks well exceeds 50%. This of course does assume a sane,awake, and thinking partner.

You cannot be serious that you consider this to be an appropriate hand for a gambling 3NT opening (unless you are raising the term "gambling" to a new level).

You should have a suit with 8 sure tricks opposite a small singleton. AKTxxxxx does not qualify.

By the way, sometimes partner has a very strong hand with a void in your suit. He should be able to raise your bid to slam in your suit with confidence. For example:

AKxxx
AKxx
AKxx
-----

Knowing that you have 8 solid clubs, he can bid the grand slam. If you open 3NT with AKTxxxxx you will fail.

seems like a special case of josephine to me so the auction goes
3NT 5NT
6♣=does not have all 3 top honors

I think you need to be a little more lenient in how you play G3NT or it is a wasted use of brain cells.
So is AKQxxxx good enough for you? You only need a 3-2 split at worst and in most cases it will take a 4-0 split to beat you.

Requiring AKQJTxx seems a little too extreme to me. Having a suit which will take 7 or 8 tricks off the top ~75% of the time ought to be adequate.

[jdonn]

billw55, on Oct 16 2009, 09:52 AM, said:

Nobody answered me

Really I would like to know, is south barred from pulling this himself? Opposite a passed hand?

A south who would open 3NT on this, as a passed hand, lacks the judgment to know when to pull.

And besides, then whose fault is it when partner had QJTx QJTx Ax xxx?

[billw55]

jdonn, on Oct 16 2009, 10:24 AM, said:

And besides, then whose fault is it when partner had QJTx QJTx Ax xxx?

Indeed! Which goes back to an earlier question - is north obligated to pull when he does not have such a hand?

And if north does have such a hand, what is west doubling on?