"accept" ?

[Guest Jlall]

Just bid 4S and hope for the right dummy.

[jdeegan]

:) 4♠

imo all other calls=0, assuming partner knows how to play Bergen raises. I believe there are three ways to learn how to play this style (which I rather like):

 

1. Read the basic rules, then play it with a regular partner for a few years. Learn from experience.

 

2. Learn from an experienced expert teacher or mentor.

 

3. Read and study the two Larry Cohen 'law of total tricks' (LOTT) books, then tackle Mike Lawrence and Witgrn(sic) book called 'I Fought the Law of Total Tricks'.

 

One needs to appreciate the importance of hand 'purity', secondary suit fits, and of singletons and voids in addition to that of the combined length in the trump suit.

 

Imo, two equivalent minimum vulnerable 3♠ raises would be:

 

Q10xx

xx

xxx

Axxx

 

for a balanced hand (7 dummy points), and

 

Q10xx

x

xxx

J10xxx

 

for an unbalanced hand (6 dummy points), or

 

10xxxx

 

xxx

xxxxx

 

for a very unbalanced hand (5 dummy points).

 

All theses hands give you a decent play for 4♠ even if you don't have the heart queen, which as one commentator pointed out adds little to the value of this hand given the auction so far. Indeed, it is a negative, imo.

 

The old fashioned dummy points formula works fairly well, up to a point. Non-vul (or if I needed a board) my minimum would be even less.

 

Anyhow, space precludes any digression into what the opponents might be able to make, but I think the LOTT should save you most of the time 4♠ goes down.

[Free]

Imo any hand which can see a good possibility for game shouldn't bid 3♠ here, especially with this vulnerability!  So 3♠ should be first class rubbish...  No?

[hv=d=s&v=e&s=sakjxxxhqxxxdaxcx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

xxxx xx Kx xxxxx

 

Qxxx x xxx xxxx

 

xxxx xx xxx Axxx

 

xxxx Kxxx x xxxx

 

xxxxx x xxx xxxx

 

 

All rubbish. All have reasonable play for 4S. And these are some of the worst hands partner could have. Why should any of these hands see a possibility of game?

 

In most cases, you can almost be 100% certain that partner will have a stiff heart. If he is truly broke, he must have compensating shortness somewhere, and after taking into consideration your 3 minor suit cards and the opponents failure to bid, his shortness is not in a minor.

 

The most likely scenario is that LHO is 2-3-4-4 (or 3-2-4-4) and had no good call over 1S and RHO has 5 or 6 hearts but not enough to freely step into this auction. If you pass now, a competent LHO will double realizing his partner is short in spades and they will reach 4H. If you're going to be forced to bid 4S anyway, you may as well do it now.

Agree that all these hands make or have a good chance to make game. Most of them have a singleton, and I wonder why no opponent bids when partner has such hand... I think in MOST of these situations opps will bid or double, so the chance of partner having one of the above hands is pretty small.

[Finch]

Just bid game and see if it makes.

Anything else is over-thinking the hand, IMO.