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gwnn noticed the conditions, he may be the only one!

Agree with those who say that 2♦ is wrong rather than being a matter of style. But sure, if we are ranking the bids, 3♣ (instead of double) is much worse than the 2♦ overcall, in fact it is so bad I can only guess that North has a policy of not allowing partner to play any hands. Having said all this, I can't say I would get to 4♥ either, particularly if they raise to 3♠ immediately.

3NT of course, when I saw this 'problem' in the expert forum I assumed it was an rduran post!

Pass is truly horrible. You have one (1) card in the majors, a preemptive type hand, and not many values. You are dealer, and have the chance to make a high level bid before the opponents exchange any information. A strategy of passing, waiting for the opponents to bid to a contract, and unilaterally saving after they have exchanged a lot of information is an excellent way to go for a number. Also, you have misapplied the phrase 'the 5 level belongs to the opponents'. It means when the opponents have bid to the 5 level, we don't want to bid over them. It does not mean we never bid 5minor.

Hog, haven't you read the thread? PhilKing provided you with a link with some evidence, but my opinion (yes, just an opinion!) is based on a combination of what I think works for me, what the top players actually do, and the logic of the thing (playing a strong club allows you to open light without partner becoming over excited, so deliberately passing a fair chunk of openable hands makes no sense). Saying it is silly to claim that passing these hands is wrong is, well, silly, and your having read a 30-odd year old analysis claiming that passing these hands is the way to win imps doesn't influence me at all, sorry!

Agree that playing a strong club and passing 11-12 balanced hands is very poor.

Not sure where to post this, but is anyone else sick of seeing Lurpoa claiming a 20th birthday in the birthday list every few days, can't something be done?

Search for posts made by pclayton around May 26/27, 2008 (the date of Jdonn's post).

1♣ intending to rebid 2♣. I don't much like a 1♥ opening, but having accidentally opened 1♥ I really don't like pulling 3NT to 4♣ - it seems that most of the time partner will give preference to his doubleton heart and you will be in an ugly 5-2 fit, in danger of bad breaks after the preempt, or of just being tapped off. Maybe you could pull 3NT to 5♣, or after 4♣ bid a possibly ambiguous 5♣ over partner's 4♥ preference, but all of these problems are avoided by the normal 1♣ opening.

Oceanss, how you should evaluate the hand is that it is a balanced 9 count with 4 card support. I wouldn't worry too much about the heart suit being bid over you, in fact with such solid pips sometimes partner will make a couple of tricks there. As to what to bid, after an overcall a bid of the opponents suit is a cue raise, usually played as a good raise to at least the level of the cue. Here, 3♥ is the cue raise, and that is what I would bid, showing a hand worth (at least) a raise to 3♠. If partner only rebids 3♠ we can pass. 3♠, more of a courtesy raise perhaps, can be saved for weaker hands - for example a similar hand with only 3 trumps.

You are right, barmar's explanation makes no sense. Even so, this is a good way to play 2minor rebids over 1NT. If partner bids a suit after your takeout double (instead of 1NT), you will never need to remove partner's bid out of fear, i.e. you double showing at least tolerance for the other suits, partner picks one of these suits, end of story. Removing to a new suit therefore shows a good hand (assuming no ELC). However, suppose you have doubled on a 0454/0463/1453 etc 9-10 count or so (depending on vulnerabity etc), why should you be forced to be dummy in 1NT, knowing you probably have less than half the deck and a decent contract elsewhere? Being able to bid a 5 card suit NF seems more logical. If you do have the strong hand, you can bid 3♦, 3NT, etc, so you lose nothing by playing the 2 level bids as weak.

I thought there was already a poll for this, but the one I was thinking of is a bit different: How long have you been playing?

Can't think of doing anything except opening 1♠, what am I missing?

I don't think anyone here would overcall on this. What is the point? I would overcall 1♦ because it gets us into the auction, partner may be able to raise, or bid a new suit, or make a takeout double, lots of good things can happen. Now hog, your level of expertise makes you well qualified to give an opinion on what you personally would bid, I am not so sure that it qualifies you to give an opinion on what anyone else would bid!

I really hate the double, and am in the camp of those who want to be in 5 of partner's minor after learning that he is 6-5. Also don't agree with all this stuff about both of you describing your hands to the last card, bridge is not like that, at some point someone has to place the contract and when partner has shown a limited and distributional hand with 5 diamonds that someone is you. More system is not the answer, with no system partner can open 1♥ and rebid 3♦, and you would bid 5♦.

seems a bit negative to not even look for game with that hand? If I got a negative reply to my Ogust bid (and yes I know there are better alternative to a 2NT bid but I don't know them) then I just stop at 3H. It's certainly not good enough to force to game but pass? You know better than me just surprised at the idea of passing :) Eagles you don't mention the vulnerability. Vulnerable you are clearly right, passing a vulnerable weak 2 with this hand is horrible, you have high hopes of game and could just raise to 4♥. Not vulnerable it might depend a bit on your style, but I would still bid opposite a normal weak 2.

This seems normal to me too.

Agree with this. Not sure how much experience I need before I learn to pass instead, but hopefully it will never happen!

Accidentally found this thread.

With gnasher, I would open 1♣, don't mind pass, but hate 3♣. For me, being w/r as dealer is the biggest factor. This is a time we want to preempt, but (to me) this means we happily open 3♣ on Qxxxxx and out, it doesn't mean we preempt with decent (opening/near opening) hands with empty suits and scattered values outside.

No, your 56% includes the times West has 10xx as well - read the lalldonn post above.

There are lots of auctions where anti-lead directing doubles are great, but doubling 2m to say "I opened 1m on three small, please lead something else" takes you a fair way down a road that ends in defending 2m redoubled.

And I am kinda hoping LHO cannot show that with a 1NT bid over my 2D. 2♦. Because diamonds is my longest suit. Trying to predict everyone else's hand and distorting your bid to fit your diagnosis instead of your hand is going about things backwards. Just bid your hand.

Another close but not quite here.