Is this an opening?

[jdeegan]

;) To answer your original question, I would open 1♠. My logical analysis originally said to pass the hand, but I could not bring myself to actually do it. Opening 1♠ feels OK to me, but Pass makes me feel uncomfortable because there are too many ways the auction can get out of control. 1♠, by contrast, feels safe because the hand has so much playing potential.

[coyot]

I would certainly feel that by opening the hand 1♠ the action already got out of control.

 

Lead-directing... partner will lead his doubleton king, more often than not losing a natural trick

 

Value-showing - we might end up in a bad 3NT or miss a good game in another suit, because partner thinks that his spade void is a liability rather than an asset.

 

I'll gladly pass and wait what happens. On many hands, I'll be able to sell the spades later on reopen, or at least find out what partner has.

[pigpenz]

I ran the hand through simulator with DEALMASTERPRO

 

Results for spade contractsts are

 

7-82%

8-62%

9-40%

10-24%

11-12%

 

you can take those amount of tricks in spade contract

[moysian]

At first blush, I opened 1s (rule of 20), and can sympathized with with those who chose to pass.

 

After more thought, I choose "pass," because it offers more safety on those hands where partner is inclined to venture higher than 2s (the better his hand, the more you wished you had passed at the outset).

 

Opening 1s works best when you can buy the hand cheaply for 2s, or if partner competes to 3s. (Maybe 2s opener not so bad!). Passing, and backing in later can accomplish the same.

 

Lastly, if the hand belongs to the opponents, your pesky side suit values can wreak more havoc on the opponents if you never bid, than if you opened the hand. On offense, these values are much less useful (unless partner has a good hand, but then you need not worry about passing in the first place.)