debussyl

I see three different answers so far: 1. Pass (intend to bid 4c over anticipated 3c); 2. 3h 3. double Among those three choices, I think double is the worst -- this should be a penalty double (or at least a good part of your casual partners would interpret that as a penalty without prior agreement). You may not enjoy defending 2ntx as the final contract. I do not like 3h either. I have two questions with this call 1. What do you do with a single-suited hearts? Sure you may pass and bid 3h over anticipated 3c passing aroud to you if you have a weak hand and long heart suit. But you may want to bid 3h right away with relatively good hand and long heart suit (a non-forcing, constructive bid). 2. Because this 3h is ambiguous, you may either play 3h (which might be a bad contract, if your pard expects you have a long heart suit but you had the actual holding), or your pard corrects to 3s (could be a wrong correction if your 3h was really based on long heart suit). Also what do you do over his 3s? Either way, you may play a wrong contract, or lose a game contract. In terms of pass and then bid 4c, I kind of like the passing part but not 4c part. The only question I have with this treatment is why hang your pard if he happens to bid 2d with a bad hand -- he promises shape, not necessarily strength with his 2d overcall non-vulnerable. Besides, if you decide to go to 4h or 4s regardless after the 2nt, why risk the remote possibility of your LHO passing the 2nt? I guess there is no perfect way to solve this problem. What I see is a logic and style issue. Depending on whether you are aggresive or conservative (or the types of game you are playing, such as IMP vs MP), you may treat in one of the following ways: 1. If you are aggresive (intend to play 4h or 4s), bid 3nt. This 3nt cannot be to play, since you could have doubled 2nt for penalty if you intend to play 3nt. Therefore the only logic interpretation for this 3nt bid is to ask your pard to pick a major. 2. If you are conservative, pass, then double 3c. This double of 3c cannot be for penalty. Rather it should be to ask your pard to pick a major. You could then pass 3h/3s.

Sometimes you play with a casual but advanced pard. Unfortunately you did not have enough time to go over in detail many conventions. You have to relay on good logic and sound judgement to convey the information so that you could reach a reasonably good contract. Here is an example. IMP game, non-vulnerable LHO opened 1nt (15 to 17) at 1st seat. Your pard overcalled 2d(DONT, showing dia and a major), followed by 2nt (lebenshol, asking his pard to relay to 3c) from you RHO. What do you do with this holding: AJxxx Qxxxx Q Qx

First of all, playing 2d waiting does not mean you have to bid 2d over 2c AUTOMATICALLY with every hand. That is not what 2d waiting means. With a suit as good as AQxxx, why wait? Bid it (2h/2s etc.) immediately over 2c. Do not wait. IMHO, using 2nt as an artifical bid (to show spades or clubs etc.) is not a good idea, because most likely you will play an NT contract from the wrong side. Also, I am a strong believer of "the best bid is the one that reflects your holding most". Also, you do have some idea about what you pard has with the 2d response (he denies a good suit). Since your 2c open promises 22+ or/and 9+, with 9 tricks and every suit covered (a solid minor suit), simply bid 3nt ( do the same even if you miss stops on one suit -- what else?). Otherwise, bid 3c/3d. Your pard would still assume you had either 9+ tricks (would be something like solid minor but missing stops on two suits -- too much to try a gambling 3nt), or something similar to those examples I gave (a broken minor suit). If your pard was broke, do not force him to do anything again. If he's got something, I am sure he would do something intelligently. Even if you have 10 tricks but cannot try 3nt, it is still safe to bid 3c/3d (why jump to 4c/4d?) without having to worry about being passed by your pard -- he will do something intelligently if he is not broke. Don

Roland, It is ok if you have an agreement with your pard, but I do not think those are standard. Logically, I would not consider either 2s or 3c as second negative. You certainly would not bid 2s or 3c over 2c directly with something like Qxxxx (or even better) plus a side A or K, but rather bid 2d (waiting), right? If so, how would you be able to show this suit? I certainly do not want to ignore the suit by bidding 2nt or something. Also, I do not think most experts would not open 2c, but open 1c (would you also open 1d if you switch the club suit to dia?) with the two examples I gave. Yes, most likely you will be allowed to play 1c, which may turn out to be a top score, admittedly. Could you elaborate what is wrong with my 3c/3d rebid as nonforcing? Don

Roland, I agree with your treatment with that hand (rebid 2nt), but I am still not convinced that is the best solution, simply because your system does not allow you to do otherwise (3c would be forcing as you said). However, that does not make 3c rebid superior than 2nt rebid. I would bet 3c would play better than 2nt facing a broke hand. Wonder whether you would do the same if I change the hand slightly to something like the following: AKx-A-KQx-AQ9xxx or AKx-K-AKx-AQ9xxx Also, please tell me what is wrong with my suggested 3c/3d rebid as non-forcing? Clearly if 3c rebid is allowed to be non-forcing, it could be better than 2nt rebid for these kind of holdings, especially for match point game.

Thanks all for interesting posts. I see merit of making 3c/3d as a forcing bid ( actually I was amazed to see 3c/3d was almost unanimously considered a forcing bid). However I am sure there are many circumstances when 3c or 3d might just be the right contract. How do you cover those circumstances? When playing 2d response to strong 2c open as waiting, I always thought you cannot stop short of 3 level (except of course 2c-2d-2nt is not forcing). In other words, 2h/2s rebid is forcing, but 3c/3d rebid is NOT forcing. If this is acceptable, then the 2d responder's 3d bid over the opener's 3c rebid is forcing, but not a double negative, nor promising a diamond suit (of course does not deny a dia suit either). This way, you may get more positive scores (yes you may also lose a couple of more low percentage games by dropping Qs and Js), which might bear some significance depending on whether it is an MP or IMP game. Here is an example that just occurred in a recent sectional game. What is your bid and rebid with this holding after your pard's waiting 2d? MP game, none vulnerable You are the dealer, holding the following AK Ax KQx AQ9xxx

Suppose you play 2c strong opening, 2d response as waiting. Your 2c open means 22+ HCP or 9+ trick hand with good values. Here are my questions: 1. 2c open is forcing, but not game forcing. In other words, you may still stop short of a game, right? 2. Is your rebid of 2nt after 2d response forcing? 3. Is your rebid of 3c or 3d after 2d response forcing? 4. After 3c rebid, the 2D responder bid 3d. Is this 3d a forcing bid? 5. Would the rebid of 3nt after 2d response show a balanced hand only? 6. Would you do it differently whether it is a MP or IMP game?

Of course I would never pass with this hand. Why cannot we have 5D? I rate 4D raise as #1, if with a regular pard (based on LTT). Also this 4D is invitational under this circumstance. As Inquiry correctly pointed out in his first post, my pard's 1D cannot be too weak so the risk of raising to 4D is justified -- especially in an IMP game. With a casual pard(without knowing what 1D means), I simply bid 2D (leave 3D for weaker hand), and wait to hear whether my pard has anything else to say. This is what happened actually: 1c--(1d)--x --(3d) 4d--(pass)-4s-all pass 4S down 1, and we got -6 something IMP. With South holding Kxx-x-AKxxx-KQxx, I chose to pass, based on pard's weak hand (3D). Even if I double (or should I?) instead of pass, do you think N would bid 5D (or X), instead of pass?

Remember this is a casual partnership (actually first time playing together). Here are a few of my qestions about 3D raise: 1. Would you do the same with something like xxx-x-Qxxxx-xxxx (or slightly stronger, and some may even do it with the actual hand but missing the sA)? Don't you think this hand could be a little too strong for 3D ( I treasure the sA)? 2. What do you think West most likely have by X? Are you clear about your pard's holding yet after his 1D overcall? Do you want to know more about his hand? 3. What do you think East know what his pard's holdling is up to the X? Do you or East have a better idea about West's holding up to the X? Does East have a better idea about his pard's holding after your 3D? 4. Therefore, in my opinion, this 3D raise simply gives all the information your opps (especially East) need to make a good decision, and leaves no room for your pard to describe his/her holding. In essence, both you and your pard are left in blind, since you do not know what your pard has, and your pard does not know what you have. I do not think that is what preempt is supposed to do.

IMP pair game. East deals. NS vul. Auction started like this: East opened 1c (I think EW plays sayc or 2/1), your pard overcalled 1d, West x. You were North, holding Ax-xx-Qxxxx-xxxx. What would you bid and why?