Jlall

So what? On what 3 card holding for LHO can they run more than 3 fast heart tricks? And on many our heart 9 stops them from even establishing the 4th in time to beat us. xxx void Axxx AKxxxx or similar 11 or 12 counts is all we need to make game, and 5♣ is a long way off. There are bids between 3C and 3N. I'm sure with AK sixth and an ace partner will bid 3N over whatever move (like 3H) we choose. But if I had to choose one game for my life I'm sure I'd choose 5C. Luckily I don't have to since that is a close decision.

I thought I was protecting partner and I try not to put too much into opponent's hesitations especially online Why would you assume that a patton tournament was played online? Also I doubt Han would say they hesitated noticably if he was not sure about it.

I don't understand why we are sticking our heads in the sand. One problem with 2 level overcalls is that the range is so wide that sometimes you miss a game. If our RHO has say a doubleton heart and an 8-9 count and a doubleton or singleton heart he has to guess whether to raise and be at the 3 level opposite not much or pass and miss a game when partner has the (infrequent) top of his range. Most people pass with a hand like that. On the other hand, the "problem" with negative doubles is that we generally have to reopen with short hearts even with a minimum, despite the fact mentioned above (the opps may have missed a game already in this auction more than others and will find it after we reopen), because our partner may have a great hand with long hearts. Basically when we have 11 we don't know who has the extras, LHO, RHO, or partner, but RHO is the least likely to have them since he has the narrowest range of hands for passing when he has values. Partner probably has the widest range. However when RHO hesitates before passing, we now KNOW he has values. We are unlikely to get a large penalty, and they might make when partner has to pass on a weakish hand, and we have no chance to be making a game. It might be our hand for a partial, but we might just be in deep sh** and about to go for a number also since we have no values and possibly no fit. And again, if anyone has a game it's them not us. There is absolutely no risk to assume the usual risks of reopening with a double on a minimum hand when the usual rewards are not there at all, especially now that the risks have gone way up.

So you're bidding 2D as something other than weak?

Doubling on the second one is horrible after a hesitation. What are you trying to achieve? The first one is different, they might just have been thinking of raising to 5D because they have a fit/some values, and you could still be on for a game if partner has a good fit. If they happen to have a takeout X of diamonds themselves, maybe they are still going down a lot on the bad split. So I would still double probably.

I'd bid 2C and I guess 3D but I think passing the first one is ok and bidding 1D, 2D, or 3D are all ok on the 2nd one. Usually I play intermediate jump overcalls so I'd bid 1D on the 2nd one in that case but playing weak 2 or 3 seems ok.

I hate 3N...we have no heart values and partner is probably void!

hahaha north

shawty call 9 1 1

lol

partner can lead a diamond if we dont do uble it snot like hes stupid

you can never redouble with bad trumps lol

ive seriously never pased here but thinking about it its so right

i am passing and feel amazing about it

omg this is the easiest 32N bid ive ever seen

bahamas is epic we are gonna robudupeeeeee

we doinbt buy no drinks in the club let me say ahhhhhh its youre bitrhtday

Part of it turned into semantics anyways iirc. I think everyone would bid 1S with KQJx Ax xxx xxxx but to me 1S is still a 5+ bid, and partner bids accordingly. I definitely don't think it's like 1H p ? where we bid 1S with 4+ almost always. pooltuna, sometimes I miss a 4-4 spade fit. It happens. I do pretty well on 5-3 fits though!

Surprised by these answers...I don't see how it would be possible to just make a dumb mistake with 15 mins per play/bid. Every mistake I made would just be based on a lack of knowledge/ability of the game, it wouldn't be a blunder. IMO bridge is a game of not blundering at all levels. Assuming I also never got tired from all the thinking then I think I would have a huge edge over anyone just based on that. On the other hand if I actually got fatigued by the thinking it would make no difference at all since I wouldn't actually spend 15 mins on everything.

The standard for a bid to be good or possibly good shouldn't be that you can win sometimes by bidding it. You can also win easily opening 1N with balanced 20 counts etc (I can give you an example if you like!). I think you can determine that your partner is not a world class player if he bids 2D. I suppose he could be an expert, most experts have some obvious flaws, especially if they are old and play an oldschool style, so there are few bids that one could make that could make you determine they are not an expert just based on that.

jlall+clee+jdonn do the bahamas... epic bidding theory revelations to come... or at least some epic hangovers!

We are?

Obv I misread the auction and thought it was 1D 2C p p X XX since this is not a negative X auction...wd. I don't know if pass is to play here or not. I would still start with 2D.

Passing is definitely to play in all negative double auctions (aka where you could have Xed before but it would have been negative). I know some of these are debatable but I don't think those should be. Now 2D is obvious. I don't even understand 2H.

Pass or 1N are both fine imo. We are white and don't have game often at all, meanwhile are sometimes in trouble if we bid 1N, sometimes we'll get too high when partner invites (which will be more frequent than partner GF), and often 1H will be better than 1N. We also don't really mind them bidding something as we have good defense for all suits. Red I would def bid 1N. Sorry I didn't notice this is the beginner forum, I agree with 655321 that 1N is 8-11 and may not have a stopper. I also think 1S shows 5 except in very rare situations.