Playing SAYC. How many spades?

[pbleighton]

"Going down does that, too."

 

Of course. But if it's close, I bid game.

 

BTW, I don't know where you play, but where I play (northeastern US), the majority of good players will bid an immediate 4S on the given hand.

 

If it's close, they bid game.

 

And then there's Meckwell...

 

Peter

[neilkaz]

2S for me with this poor distribution. 4Sx looks like it could be ugly and there's no guarantee that opps can bid or will make 4H or less likely 5m, noting that one of them has passed allready.

 

Reverse the H and S in both hands and make us White vs Red and a good case can be made for 4H to try to force a guess at 4S since a wrong guess is very costly.

 

With the hand given, opener has 16 HCP and a pathetic 5 card spade suit. I'd open 1NT even playing with PD's who hate 1NT openings with 5 card majors. With the hand given, I suspect opener's weak spades and potential H losers caused him to not make a game try.

 

Your 3S bid only shows an extra trump (perhaps you wouldn't do it with a junkie 5HCP) but opener is on a pure guess as to try game.

 

Opener's hand if opened 1NT makes things much easier in this case. After 2H he super accepts and you continue on to game which is nearly cold. If he super accepts on you have an absolute bust, you've forced the opps to guess to balance at the 4 level, risking disaster.

 

.. neilkaz ..

[Winstonm]

QUOTE 

 

In a 10-card fit the Q of spades might as well be a deuce, so I'm down to 5 HCP in a 9-loser hand with lousy shape.

 

 

 

 

Not this time!

 

Also note that when you have the spade queen, partner is unlikely to hold it and will have other values for her opening bid.

 

 

You are correct. The odds state that 39% of the time the Kx or stiff K will be onside so the Q is worth .78 points instead of 0.

 

I still bid 2S. :P

 

Winston

[bid_em_up]

I find missing games conducive to losing  :P

Going down does that, too.

 

Looking at both hands, it looks like game is only about 50%. You have two ♥ and one ♣ loser, so you have to pick up the ♠ by guessing whether to finesse or try to drop a singleton K.

Look at the hands again. You have 2 heart losers, and either a successful club finesse or spade finesse wins 4♠. (That in itself is about 75%). The additional chances of dropping the club Q on the first round, although small, increase this somewhat.

 

I bid 4S all day long, regardless of vulnerability. No, I am not happy about it, I would prefer to have a side stiff, but it works over the long run and gives partner the message that I have long(ish) spades and little else. It also shuts the opponents out immediately, applying maximum pressure.

 

What do you do when you bid 2S (3H) p p 3S (4x) p 4H ? Now you are doomed to bidding 4S anyway, and will definetely get doubled. Bidding 4S directly will usually prevent the double, at least.

 

I also open 1N on the other hand all day. Whats the point of not accurately describing your hand in one bid? 5-3-3-2 is balanced. The spade suit is terrible. You dont want a spade lead if you end up on defense.