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Do you double?


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I did not double at the table and my counterpart didn't double either. My RHO commented after the match that he thinks I should have seriously considered doubling and, upon some reflection, I thought he was right.

 

I found it interesting that when it came my turn to bid over 4h, I didn't really even think about it. Clearly it is important to take advantage of the 10 second hesitation. Next time I hope to find the red card.

 

jmc

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Without adding to much to this problem, but yes I agree with Justin, let me add an observation about the newly finished BB in Shanghai.

 

I've worked my way through most BB's in the last 30+ years, at least the hands preserved, and I've never seen such a flurry of penalty doubles as in Shanghai. So many marginal, speculative and sometimes plain silly doubles. There were lots of successes and a fair number of making contracts and a few redoubled making ones as well (check the final for a couple of them).

 

Was this a statistical aberation in BB history or has the expert community changed their attitude? Time will tell.

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If there's a bust at the table, it's probably not the 1 bidder.

Please explain why partner is more likely to be broke than the 1D bidder.

I don't believe it. While it's true that LHO has denied a very weak distributional hand, he has also denied 8+ points. Give opener 20 and p could still have as much as 13.

 

Btw, I wonder why opener relayed before bidding 4. The answer to the relay was almost forced. Why not bid 4 over 1? Probably I don't understand their system.

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Btw, I wonder why opener relayed before bidding 4. The answer to the relay was almost forced. Why not bid 4 over 1? Probably I don't understand their system.

Some people relay just for the sake of it. I've seen this sort of redundancy a couple of times.

 

In other words, there's might not be any special inference from the 1 relay.

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the 1D bid could contain 8+ with 4441. Over 1H responder would break the relay with that hand type, and opener would investigate slam. When he did not break the relay he showed 0-7 and thus opener just bid 4H.
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I don't believe it. While it's true that LHO has denied a very weak distributional hand, he has also denied 8+ points. Give opener 20 and p could still have as much as 13.

If opener only has 20, it must be a very distributional 20.

 

The point is, it's very unlikely for the 1 diamond bidder to be bust. If there are 13 points outstanding, that makes it even less likely that the 1 diamond bidder is busted. So I wouldn't go into a situation like this assuming that dummy will have no entries, or even that the bidding is over.

 

While it is possible that opener is being stupid, if the declarer is any good this isn't an aggressive game attempt. He knows a lot more about his partner's hand than most people will. He can stop at 2, while his opponents playing SAYC will end up in 3 at a minimum.

 

I wouldn't read too much into no slam attempt. Responder isn't barred, and opener would need a heck of a lot to try for slam across what could still be a balanced 0 count.

 

So if declarer is smart, you have one more trick than declarer is expecting- any kings or queens your side has outside of trump should be finessable. So if declarer was expecting 11 tricks he'll get 10, and if he was expecting 10 he'll get 9 (not including endplays or the like indicated by the X). You have to get him for 500 to make the double worth it, IMHO, and I just don't think that's very likely.

 

Oh well. I'll let the big boys (and girls) do the rest of the talking.

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