Edmunte1

I prefer pass here

No, Vali (fachiru), i was South, and it's nothing about frustration here, just discussing a tough board. Here are some points of view about this board: -4♠ is some kind of underbid, Ken has some good points here when he says that most of the time partner holds club shortage and at least 2 out of three key cards (♠A, ♥K, ♦A). I agree that this is definitely a spades hand, but 4♠ doesn't show a semisolid spade suit, just tries to find the right denomination (probably with KJ10xxxx or KQ10xxxx or KQJ10xx would be also the normal call). But i admit there's some risk in bidding over 4♠, so i consider this call understable. But I'll put another question: What would have bid North over 5♣ (or 4NT for smart bidders)? - Double is a good call. After a diamond lead, we lose completely our comunication. Just one heart less and one diamond more (or ♥Q missing) and 5♠ is down, even with 7 semisolid spades in partner's hand. -Passing the double, at second chance, seems pretty bad. 4♠ didn't show such a good hand (semisolid 7 carder, great ♥ pieces, ♦ shortage). I agree that i'm resulting a little, but North should have tried to recover after the initial underbid.

Playing in a team match we lost 12 IMP's against 6♠ making on this board: [hv=d=n&v=b&n=skqj10753haq2d8c87&s=sahk87653da7532ck]133|200|Scoring: IMP 1♠-(3♣)-3♥-(4♦(1)) 4♠-(5♣)-dbl(2)-all pass Result: +800[/hv] (1)♦ values + fit♣ (2) pass would have been forcing Do you agree with North-South decisions? What you dislike most?

Some points of view: - Tactically bidding 4♥ could be an 10-6 situation (win 10 in 4♥ makes, lose 6 if it fails), if 3♥ makes - so you should bid the game if it has more than 36% chances of making. Of course there are some aditional factors: -you could go down in 3♥ too, so you lose only 3 IMP's by bidding game, -you could get doubled, though it seems that opps don't have enough defensive tricks outside diamonds for doing that (they don't know you have 2 of them!) - they could easily make some defensive error (for example not comunicating in diamonds for finessing ♠K if partner comes with some good long clubs) Statistically bidding 4♥ is against the odds: -partner holds an average of 2 hearts, and if the hearts lie badly (4-1 -28%) you may get punished. ♥J would have been a great asset -partner's expected number of hcp's is under 4 (it's around 2), and even if he has a maximum, his points may not work properly ( wasted ♦Q or ♦J, ♠QJ and no third round control in clubs). In fact third round control in clubs is almost essential for game hopes (or ♠A, extremely unlikely) In real life you got very lucky. You found 3rd round control in clubs and an working finesse and third trump.

I think that the defense (the opening lead is included here) is by far the most important part of the game in expert's area. Why? Because the defense generates the most important part of the swings. Most of the time a good declarer is also a good defender. He constructs a defensive plan and acts accordingly. He puts himself in declarer's shoes and tries to read his moves. Of course signalling has a important role in this act. Bidding comes second. When we talk about bidding we should divide it in three parts: -uncontested bidding - here's a lot of work for partnership - contested bidding - resumes to 2 important things: disscusing the position with partner and knowing the situation. Here's a lot of work for partnership too. -bidding judgement - the most important part of the bidding process - experience, good thinking, good declarer skills so you can sometimes visualise the play before it gets started are necesary here Declaring comes third, usually due to the fact that most expert players have good declaring skills, but plays it's role in both defensive and bidding processes. Still a lot of IMP's come from this area too. There are a lot of other factors that intervene in winning at bridge, most of them you can find in Georgio Belladonna's book "Strategy and tactics for formula one player"

Double. Probably a better way on this position is: 2♦=5+♠ constr+ 2♠=5+♦ inv+

I disagree. If you're playing with a beginner, you should try teach him something. Bridge is primarily a game of suits, not of points. And this board should be a good example.

I would rebid 2♦, i think it is the least of evils here

2NT, not time for an upgrade. I agree that we have a number of controls bigger than expected, and we have a 5 card suit but we have too many points in club shortage and no intermediattes in the long suit.

1♥, i don't like any other call

Doesn't that make the incorrect assumption that 3, 4 and 5-card suits are equally likely? (My statement that it was 4 derived from experience, not mathematics.) Yes, Median (3,3,4,4,4,4,4,4,5)=4 should be a better example in relation with our problem

Median (3,4,5) =4

I'll try a second double, this should describe my hand well :( Now seriously, some ideas: - Partner will usually have 4 hearts; - Considering that 2nt should be played as 0-7 on this position, there's a much bigger probability that partner will be a maximum rather than a minimum; - Considering partner's shape, and adding that frequently partner has 4 hearts, and that often with 3433 hand will bid 2♠ (won't you?), it's an around 40% chance that partner will have a 5+ card minor So the average hand for partner is a 4♥(432) 5-6 hcp count hand, and you should take your decision in front of that.

I thought at the time i played the hand, it was an obvious double, due to the reasons Adam presented (considering opening a weak NT, and even if LHO has a big balanced hand, we should have often a 9 card fit or two 8 card fits). Partner made a strange looking pass with ♠Jxx ♥Q9x ♦AQxx ♣Q10x, and comented that double was wishfull thinking.

Playing in a IMP tournament, you hold as South: [hv=d=s&s=sa9752haj76d1076c2]133|100|pass-(1♣)-pass-(3♣) ?[/hv] 1♣-better minor 3♣-preemptive Do you come back in bussiness?

2♥, what Gnasher said.

Obvious pass for me

Agree with that.

2♦, playing in our 4-4+ fit, with obvious potential for ruffing, adding the chance that hearts could be unstopped

Passing in second seat with 4 controls and a K-Q structure is just losing bridge. Most of the time in bridge bidding i think you cannot corect an initial mistake without taking a view.

I completely agree with Michael's post. The partner won't play us for bust, as long as opps limited their hands (RHO made a simple raise, LHO didn't invite). Partner will play us for an average of 5hcp. The only good news for partner in our hand is the quality of our points, but this is not enough for bidding more than 3♥

(pass)-pass-(1♦)-dbl (pass)-2♦-(pass)-3NT (pass)-4♠-all pass

3NT, not close for me.

2NT was a huge underbid 3♠ was wishfull thinking, hoping partner will come up with ♣K and♠stopper or something like this Over the normal 3♣ bid, North should start with 3♠, looking for the best strain. Over 3NT he has a tough option

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=sa1032hq7dkj2cq1062&w=s875hj1032da10984c9&e=skqj94h4d765ckj85&s=s6hak9865dq3ca743]399|300|Scoring: IMP 1♣---(1♠)---2♥--(2♠) pass-(pass)-3♠-(pass) 4♥-all pass Lead ♠5[/hv] Considering the best defensive play and the best declarer, who do you choose?