GrahamJson

Like some others I believe that 4S is the sensible bid. Even with no agreements a good partner will assume that you have something like this as you didn’t splinter or jump in a new suit.

Equally if you take away the heart ace from west’s hand he will still have a 2C bid but 5C stands no chance whilst 4S needs just a trump break. Perhaps after the sequence 1S - 2C - 4C a bid of 4S should be non forcing.

This seems very risky. In this auction west has not shown or implied any spade support so 5S could be completely unplayable. Also, west might take it into his head that 5S is some sort of grand slam try.

This looks like an easy slam to bash but a more difficult one to bid accurately. As the actual bidding went the slam would be quickly off if east’s red suits were reversed. Whilst clearly east’s hand is strong in support of clubs I don’t think it is quite good enough for the 4C bid. I think a better sequence would be 1S - 2C - 3C - 3S - 4C - 4H - 6C. The raise to 3C allows west to show delayed spade support after which two cue bids show that east has values in hand (otherwise he would sign off in 4S rather than cue bid 4C) and that west also has extras but no diamond control. Thus the 4H bid tells east almost everything about the west hand; probably 3325 or 3235 distribution, heart ace, good clubs and the king of spades (he would hardly go slamming opposite a limited hand without the latter).

If you have not agreed what 1S or 2S mean then this looks like an imminently sensible approach.

4C sounds like a cue bid to me. I think you would need a very good understanding with partner for him to know it had the meaning described.

West’s double of 1S is fine but I can’t agree with any of the other bids. The 1S overcall isn’t too bad, although I’m not sure it is wise opposite an unfamiliar partner who might expect something like opening values. As for the other bids.....

If you are playing with an unknown partner and you don’t know how strong his/her overcall is, it is equally unlikely they won’t know what your jump response means. Weak? Intermediate? Fit jump? 2C looks like the obvious response and is less likely to be misinterpreted.

Ok, game is not 100% certain opposite every possible dummy, but if you wait for such hands you will hardly ever open 2C. For example you would want to be in game opposite xxxx xxx xxx xxx. Another reason for opening 2C is that it would be impossible to show your strength if you just opened 1H. Presumably if north responded 1S you would splinter with 4C. Then do you go on over partners inevitable 4S sigh off? At least if you open 2C you can sit back knowing you have shown your values.

I have to agree with Rainer on this one; it looks like a more than respectable 2C opener to me. After a 2C-2D-2H start I prefer 3C on the north hand rather than a second negative. Then I suggest 3D-3H, which must show doubleton support. This should enable you to finish in 4H, which looks a good spot to me. Alternatively if north raises diamonds you will probably end up in 5D, although I think a subsequent 4H by south should be passable.

For me this is an example of “don’t bid bad suits in good hands”. North should rebid 1NT or even 2NT rather than 1S, then it should be easy to reach six.

I have just checked “The complete book of take out doubles” by Mike Lawrence and “Double trouble” by Sally Horton. Both indicate that the west hand is unsuitable for a TOX. ML spends several pages discussing whether it is ok to double when holding a doubleton in an unbid major. He concludes that the hand needs to be very strong for such an action. In fact he gives as an example a stronger hand than the west one above as one where you should overcall because you lack three cards in one major. He doesn’t discuss doubling with less than two cards in an unbid major, but the inference is that you need close to a 2C opening in order to do this. SH more or less states this explicitly saying that you need game in your own hand before you can double with a side suit shortage.

I seem to be going against general opinion here, but I much prefer 1H to a double. Doubling with a void in an unbid major is just asking for trouble. Given that I would not expect a void opposite I sympathise with East’s take out to 4S, although I have no sympathy at all with his walking out. I note that correct expert practice is to overcall on hands that would have been considered far too strong for the bid a few years ago, so I’m pretty sure most experts would have preferred 1H to a double. The 3S bid is reasonable but I think 1S might have been safer when playing with an unfamiliar partner who might think that 3S shows a stronger hand. On another thread I mentioned that the correct call is not always the best call. This is another example. Even if you consider a take out double to be the correct call on the west hand I think 1H is the best call as unless your partner is familiar with your style a TOX risks getting to a very silly contract whereas the worst that can happen if you verbally 1H is that you are left to play there when game is on.

As is often the case with these “what should I bid” questions there is more than one answer. There is the “correct” bid; the textbook bid you should make with a familiar and expert partner, and the “best” bid; the one you should make with your actual partner. In this case the correct bid is probably 1C (or 2C, playing Precision), for the reasons others have given,but if playing with a random BBO partner the best call is Pass. This is, amongst other reasons, because many on BBO get far too excited if holding a good hand opposite an opening bid. In this case an opening of 1C risks partner soaring off to 4NT just because he has a 15 count.

I would have thought that if oppo are playing Precision then there is even less reason to lead a diamond. With dummy limited to 15 points his raise must be based on shape, so he is likely to have a good diamond suit, which the lead of a diamond honour will help set up. A small club looks pretty standard to me. Partner had two opportunities to bid spades, so is unlikely to have a good holding in the suit. In addition a trump lead is not going to reduce ruffing potential much, with four trumps in dummy, and could blow a trump trick. So a club it is. Now I await to hear that it gives a trick away and allows declarer to discard his losing diamond.

My mistake. Somehow I missed my previous 3C overcall.

Is it just a choice of two? I’d certainly give 5C serious consideration. I’m not sure that I want to play in 5D unless partner has four of them. I certainly don’t fancy my chances in 5D if partner has 3-2 or 3-1 in the minors, with the prospect of being forced at trick one and then facing a 4-1 trump break.

Maybe I’ve misunderstood you. Do you mean a jump to 3S as against 2S followed by 3S?

I’m curious as to why you are interested in distinguishing between fast and slow 3S. I’ve no idea what 3S should mean in this auction (a splinter maybe) but it shouldn’t vary with tempo.

As others have said,any two level take out shows a weak hand and is a sign off. The traditional way of handling strong distributional hands unsuitable for a redouble is to bid 2NT.

How did 4H make? My guess is that at some stage south led a second round of spades (maybe after the opening lead of the ace) and north ruffed the king with a small heart. This enabled east to over ruff and draw the rest of north’s trumps, losing only one trump trick, to the ace.

Assuming that you are not playing with a regular partner (in which case you might have an agreement on this) it makes sense to me to play 2NT as the same as without the overcall, with the proviso that you could pass with a minimum or without a good stop. So, I’d say it would be 13-14. There may or not be good arguments in favour of a different range, 18-19 say, but I think it very unlikely that a partner will assume you are in that range, unless previously discussed.

Hmm. It seems that most here think that the double shows something like a 4045 hand with insufficient values to open. It seems to me that to double on such a hand, risking playing at the five level with no guarantee of a fit, is somewhat desperate. Surely it is more likely that partner holds a major-minor two suiter, something like KQxxx x x QJxxxx. If so, Bidding 5D, as many here suggest, would be a disaster. As I previously suggested, 4NT; pick a minor looks best. The worst that could happen is that you end up in a 44 club fit instead of a 54 diamond fit. And even that could be ok, with the fifth diamond providing a discard. As for the double being for penalties, that seems most unlikely. What hand could have two or three trump tricks plus an outside trick or two yet not be worth opening? Surely no-one would double in that position simply for an extra 50 points.

Partner must have an extreme two or three suiter (most likely two suits to come in at this level). I won’t spend too much time wondering why he didn’t open in third position; I guess he has his reasons. I’m bidding 4NT expecting partner to bid his lowest suit.

No doubt this is wrong but, I’d be tempted to lead QH. As east has not made any grand slam try it suggests that he has an ace missing. Given West’s bidding it looks like he holds both minor suit aces, hence partner should have one of the major suit aces. Either will do, and should enable his to get in and give me a ruff for the setting trick, assuming of course that dummy can’t over-ruff. It looks like the QH is dead meat anyway, so the lead probably won’t give away. A trick.