paulhar

:lol: You aren't the first to use the word 'arrogant' in reply to my posts (my very first posting drew that response :P ) but you are the first to refer to me as a beginner. :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol:

FOUR hearts? (Edited: Why didn't the size and color work?) Pard didn't double. If pard has a good hand with four hearts, they can always reopen with a double or bid the hearts themselves. The problem with showing four hearts here is lack of safety. This is not a negative double situation; the opponents have both bid and with a misfit, they'll be itching to double you. I presume that the nonforcing 2D bid has a pretty tight range, so that the opener will have a pretty good idea when you're in trouble. So, you double with four hearts and one spade. You have eight cards in their suits! Does that really suggest offense? No, I would expect at least 5H and a doubleton spade, and enough to not to get killed across from the crummy overcalls partners make these days...

To Bearmum: When you get told in the Adv & Exp forum TWICE that you should only post in the Beginner's forum, and you get told in the Beginner's forum to stay the h*** away, then you have a right to complain (or you can ignore the flak like I do and keep posting and annoying people like I do :D ) I know very few posters on these forums that haven't got poked fun at - I'm sure that Free has taken a lot more shots than you have - and we're glad he keeps posting because these forums would be lessened without him. These forums are like playing tournament bridge, you need to have a thick skin or a decent sense of humor. (Having both helps :P ) Actually it's a good thing. If you have an opinion that's unpopular, you find out in a matter of hours :P

Wow - do you really want to play 4 of a major on these cards with repeated club leads by the defense and the takeout doubler presuably holding 4S to the ace and 4H to the king offside? BTW, would anybody want to shoot out 1Dx on those cards? That fifth diamond is huge - gives me flexibility to try to set up major tricks or to ruff 3 clubs depending on how the defense goes. If the advancer ruffs my major suit high cards, it's with natural trump tricks.

This auction is likely to get competitive. 4C helps partner decide whether to compete over 4S or not. You show a side club suit with some strength in clubs. Suppose the auction goes: 1H P 3H 3S 4C 4S ? Partner holds: A5, Q964, 873, KJ92 - clear to compete to 5H with the club fit Partner holds: A5, Q964, KJ92, 873 - clear to double and lead trump - you have the diamonds and partner has good clubs. Where are their tricks coming from? On Hand 1: If it were very likely that partner would compete to 3H (say 2NT showed 4, which I don't think anybody plays), then 3H would be the weakest response and pass would give partner the opportunity to double. But here, it could easily be the opponents' hand and partner will sell to 3D a reasonable amount of the time (usually when holding only 3 trump and at least 2 diamonds.)

A good point. Maybe you should bid 4S (!) so each opponent thinks their partner is short in spades. You should be able to take 5 or 6 tricks undoubled. If they double, now you can run to 5D. But if they go to slam depending on the spade shortness, your partner might be surprised when the S-A K cash but I think he'll forgive you.

What six hearts do you take without giving up a spade? With the club finesse not working, you also give up a club, and 1S and 1C is too much to lose at 6H.

This must be some other Inquiry, for the one we know and love would have certainly noticed that 7C is laydown with the same club finesse that is required to make 6H. Your shiekh & Ben would also no doubt point out that with the known singleton diamond opposite, the spade can always be discarded on the long heart and clubs should always be chosen for trump. I've noticed that on not only this thread but others that posters have put words in Ben's mouth. I plead guilty but noticed that others have done the same. Some of us must be wrong. Someday perhaps his avatar will swing that mallet and smite those of us who he disagrees with :)

IMPs, both vul. Partner can't want diamonds because he could play 1Dx with 200 point overtricks. Partner is probably 4-4-3-2. 3C with a bad break is easier to double than 2H, so I'll try 2H.

It's difficult for somebody to double 2NT on the auction 1C P 1H P 2NT. It's easy for somebody to double 2NT on the auction (1H) P (1NT) X (P) 2S (P) 2NT. As long as the 1H bidder doesn't open 'on air', the 1NT bidder will wish to double on most non-minimum 1NT responses. And, if the 1NT repsonder doesn't respond 'on air', the 1H bidder will double on most non-minimum 1H openings. Yeah, you might have a minor suit fit, but not likely. Responder doesn't have a fit for opener's hearts. You don't have a fit for partner's spades. If you have a big fit in a minor, they probably have one in the other minor. This big fit of theirs hasn't shown up in the bidding (say as in a 2C rebid by opener.) Looks like a misfit all around.

The problem is that if the 1NT bidder wasn't screwing around, you're going to play 2NT doubled down a few opposite nothing. I learned that lesson the hard way 25 years ago when I started playing in the open games and found many -300s and -500s vs part scores on my scoresheet for this type of bidding.

Sorry, Misho - I've already been ostracized from the Beginner/Intermediate forums, should I not bother to post at all? B) I've had two posters (one which I've marked as a friend) imply that bidding on this hand is standard expert practice (or at least not necessarily bad.) How do the rest of you feel?

How does your partner know what to do with a modest hand with four spades?

Which auction would you prefer? Standard: 1S (2H) 3D (4H) ? or strong club: 1C (2H) Dbl (4H) ? presumably 3D in the strong club auction shows some specific strengh...

sorry paul, this confuses me some... i've played with ben some, and i'm not saying he'd bid with that hand 100% of the time (but he might), however i wouldn't call one incompetent for bidding or doubling here Now I'm confused. Bid? What, 2NT? Oddly enough, I remember a thread about a month ago that discussed this very sequence (maybe the 2H didn't show 5) but most thought it showed a real strong notrump although some went down to 14. The thread: http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/~bridge2/...?showtopic=3726 If you double, what do you do over partner's 2S bid? Or over partner's 3S bid? If RHO is sitting there with a good hand with short hearts, he's going to love doubling you in your 5-2 (or 4-2!) fit. Want to redouble for rescue? 2S might be your best (least bad) spot so let the fun begin! This is IMPs too, so it's not just one bottom if you're wrong, it could be the match.

So you finesse against East, and 67% (see Todd's analysis) of the time you lose to the queen in West who can't set you immediately, but leaves you wanting for an ninth trick so you have to play East for the jack of spades anyway! IMO, better to win the contract 67% of the time on the club finesse, and if it loses, hope to win a spade trick, expecting length in East.

Getting your side off to the best lead works against decent players too. And even decent players have a harder time getting to the right spot against an auction that starts with opp's 1S followed by the other opponent raising or jump raising than if given a free run to use their methods (which might include relays and other such gadgets.)

You're going to pass 1H doubled? :)

For sure? From the posts I've seen, Ben, albeit his reputation for bidding a lot, is a competent bridge player. Show me the competent bridge player that will bid over 2H-P-P with: A5 J63 K542 Q763 B)

I tend to use Rubens' adjusted LTC as a guide in close decisions. (normal LTC, subtract 1/2 loser for an ace, add 1/2 loser for a twice guarded queen - the doubleton queen has already been counted as two losers) Some other adjustments have to be made when given information. For example, if one partner has AQx and the other Kxx, the partnership total is three losers (3 losers for the partnership means no losers in the suit.) So, when one partner has a small singleton and the other one has KQx, the partnership has counted 2 1/2 losers (an extra half for the queen) which would imply minus 1/2 losers in that suit but clearly there is a loser. So, if partner SHOWS the singleton, I think you should count any holding that doesn't include the ace as close to three losers, so that the partnership counts four losers implying one loser in the suit. Likewise, you should count close to two losers for any suit including the ace.

I wrote some sample hands with the constraints down and on some 4H has no play and others it's 50%. So, I think it's a pass. Beginners would say that dummy has 17-18 counting the singleton and that should be enough. But your system has shown you that the singleton is not pulling its full weight across from your KJ7. Your trumps aren't that good, and you have no aces. With no diamond help and poor trumps, it might be hard to set up dummy even if it has six diamonds. Take advantage of your system and pass.

You're implying that West's double suggests that it's E/W's hand - and considering the garbage required for most expert's one level overcalls, that seems like a pretty dangerous assumption, especially at IMP's. Since you're lacking a fourth trump, South could easily have enough in hearts to double. As far as defense, West appears to have one trick, maybe two if dummy surprisingly produces the spade king. The jack of clubs is also a small plus on defense. Your double requires partner to have four defensive tricks for his one level overcall to leave it in. Wow! Since on the auction (1C) 1H (P) 2H (3C) P (P), the 2H bidder can just about never think that it's the heart side's hand, it seems silly to play double there as 'cards' (unless your one level overcalls are sound - showing opening bids.) IMO, double here should say 'I think I can beat 3C opposite a crappy overcall', usually a hand that downgraded to only a 2H bid because of poorly placed club honors, for example: A6, 743, Q92, KJ976. Despite the Walrus's 11 count here, I think this hand is only a 2H raise because of the downgraded club honors, but I think I can beat 3C.

One would think he had played with me! :) I pass too.

How often do YOU lead diamonds when partner opens 1C? Add me to the 1NT overcallers.

3H merely competed, 4H was bid on the same values that double showed. Double stated that North thought the hand could be beaten with pard holding a real 4H bid - not totally unreasonable. There are many that 'always bid 4S over 4H' with a spade fit, if this was one of those, North should expect a lot from 4S doubled.