ugly hand

[mikeh]

Imps, E deals, you are South

Both vul.

 

    ♠9864

    ♥AKQ

    ♦982

    ♣875

 

 

   N   E   S   W

 

       2♠   P   P

   X   P   ?

 

2♠ was weak, by a solid player, who would always hold 6 cards 1st seat vul.

 

2N by you here (after partner's double) would be lebensohl

 

Your bid, and if you choose 2N (lebensohl) your plan over 3♣

[Guest Jlall]

lovely...2N then 3H for me. At least it won't be Xed if its wrong lol. 9 HCP is usually "constructive" but i think 4333 is a good exception ;) Would never pass, especially against a solid citizen

[shoeless]

bleck!! I hate this hand. I am with Justin - pass isn't much of an option. However I think 2Nt then 3H might imply a spade stopper (maybe have it but dubious) so I am going to bail with 3H indicating the best about my hand and let pard sort things out from there.

[Fluffy]

9 HCP is not very strong when you play solid doubles on second position, this 9 are clearly nto enough for a positive.

 

Only question remaining is passing 2♠, opponents will have around 18 HCP, with 10 of them in ♠, rest of the HCP in the outside suits, missplaced in dummy, at MP pass would be very risky, but our best chance for a top. At IMPs its a suicided, so I'll just try 2NT+3♥

[Guest Jlall]

However I think 2Nt then 3H might imply a spade stopper (maybe have it but dubious)

In leb 2N then 3H is a signoff whereas 3H directly is constructive. It's not liek when pard opens 1N because there you can pass, here you are forced to bid.

[flytoox]

I know it is dangerous, but I still vote for Pass. My shape is really bad. And I have two defensive tricks. And pd's minor cards rate to sit behind dummy's.

[shoeless]

Good point and a treatment I have never talked to anyone about - thanks for the education (cheque is in the mail) - guess thats why my claim to fame in bridge is as a caddy. Well argued Flytoox but I am still bidding - hot! first seat! sound player! - sorry run from pain or the possibility of it.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

 

Passing is out, this means I will bid 2 NT,

intending to bid 3H over 3C.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[whereagles]

Pass and hope for the best. Maybe your hearts stand up, maybe pard has extras, maybe he has a strong NT hand.. who knows?

[pclayton]

I'd never pass and I'm downgrading this to a 2N call followed by 3♥ although I can see a neat little dummy reversal playing out. I will be happy with any plus position here.

[inquiry]

While I would be tempted to pass at matchpoints.. heck it is only one board.. :-) I would never consider passing at imps.

 

Options are 2NT (lebehnshol) or 2NT (scramble) depending upon your agreement with partner or three of a suit. Clearly scramble would work better here as you could pass partners rebid. Sadly, I play lebehnshol here, which so 2NT followed by 3♥. Obviously I am not entirely happy with this choice.

[Chamaco]

I found surprising to see anyone would try a pass here...

 

How many defensive tricks are we providing to pard ?

I would guess at most 2.

How many defensive tricks does pard provides for his double ?

If he has a normal double, he will (hopefully) provide 2-3 tricks.

 

So are we going to risk to colect only 5 defensive tricks ? Or walking on a tight rope to fdefeat the contract by 1 doubled ?

 

I gues that from my choice not to defend doubled, everybody (who still did not knw that) will finally discover I am a bad defender :angry:

[joker_gib]

You told it in the title of the thread, Mike ! :)

 

This hand is so ugly that I would go with the others : 2NT leb and then 3♥

 

Alain

 

PS : I will never pass that ! B)

[SoTired]

I will pass and take my chances with 2SX, even at IMPS. If partner has no honors in spades, then their forcing defense could prove fatal in a 4-3 heart fit. If partner does have a spade stopper, then they are having trouble making 2S. Even if they take 6 spa tricks, partner will be over any minor honors that dummy holds. Give partner just Ax J10xx AQx Qxxx and we could easily get 2s (with a heart uppercut), 2/3 hearts and 1-3 minor tricks.

 

My analysis fails if opener has AKQxxx, because then opener has no outside entries for the forcing defense.

[Al_U_Card]

I am putting on my flak jacket, so here goes.......Opp opens solid, LHO didn't bump him so maybe pard has a S stopper? Bidding either way gets me to be declarer in NT or H. Pard did NOT balance with 3H so he probably doesn't have 5. I think I will bid 3S (asking for a stopper) and have my apologies in hand.

[inquiry]

I am putting on my flak jacket, so here goes.......Opp opens solid, LHO didn't bump him so maybe pard has a S stopper? Bidding either way gets me to be declarer in NT or H. Pard did NOT balance with 3H so he probably doesn't have 5. I think I will bid 3S (asking for a stopper) and have my apologies in hand.

Watch out... incoming!!!!

 

Well, I am not ready to rule out partner having five hearts... it is hard to bid 3♥ vul on jack fifth (at best). I am also not willing to bid 3♠ because how many ♠ do you think partner can have? Two, three at most. IF he has three, at least they can't lead one. But all of us are worried about finding a place to land at the three level and you are forcing to the three level (in most cases)...after all, if partner has enough with a spade stopper to make 3NT playable, you would have heard 2NT or 3NT balance bid out of him.

 

On the other hand, who knows, some of the time 3♠ will work out... .just in the long run, it seems wacky

[Al_U_Card]

Might just be the "wacky tobacky" talking....lol I just hated the other alternatives so much, I decided to do my "different drummer" thingie and make the hand into an interesting decision..... ;) Besides, IF he has Kx in spades, he will also have 3 entries to my hand to finesse the pants off LHO, which is worth it for the table effect. :D