Bidding problem

[whereagles]

At the other table North passed in first seat and they bid P P 1H 3S P P 3NT all pass. North must have felt very uncomfortable about that auction.

No wonder.. he's got a clear-cut 3♦ opener.. lol.

[Foxx]

Wow, this seems to be a straightforward bidding problem, I didn't expect the thread to go bonkers. The 75 replies are easily an Interesting Bridge Hands all-time record.

 

The choices which I consider within reason include:

 

Double

3NT

4♥

4♠

4NT

 

I would bid 4♥, perhaps conservative, but I don't think this hand has as much playing strength as it seems to at first look. The 3♠ bid suggests there will be bad breaks to deal with as well; I would be happy just to go plus on this hand. However, you're almost sure to find partner's values in the minors, where you need them, so slam will often have play. The problem is how best to introduce slam into the conversation, and if I had to make such a move it would be by 4♠. As I like to say, they've found their fit, so we might as well find ours.

 

There was much discussion as to the nature of double. While I don't think a double here would be pure penalty, it should indicate a strong desire to defend. Partner should have a good reason to pull this double, not a good reason to leave it in. With partner's actual hand, our double would almost surely be converted and 3♠ can be defeated three tricks if the defense leads hearts at every opportunity. However, the resulting score of 500 isn't enough to cover our making game let alone a slam.

 

My conservative course of action wouldn't have paid off when the hand turned out to be:

 

[hv=d=e&v=e&n=skq98752h65d5c852&w=sa3hakq108d832ca64&e=sj104hjdkqj1074cqj3&s=s6h97432da96ck1097]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

(FrancesHinden was close enough.) Partner had a real dog, albeit a dog with a long, strong diamond suit. 5♥ is making if the hand is played there, but with South out of spades after the first round, 6♦ and 6NT are both cold. Any pair which would reach slam can consider themselves very highly because neither table bid the slam in the actual match.

[jdonn]

With partner's actual hand, our double would almost surely be converted and 3♠ can be defeated three tricks if the defense leads hearts at every opportunity. However, the resulting score of 500 isn't enough to cover our making game let alone a slam.

I tend not to pass takeout doubles with 0 defensive tricks.