awm Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Playing matchpoints at a club, you pick up this hand at none vulnerable: [hv=d=w&v=n&s=sq8xxxhkjtdxxcj9x]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] LHO passes and partner opens 1♥. RHO passes too. At this point I bid 2♥ (we are not playing constructive raises or anything like that; would you bid 1♠ instead?) After two passes this went to RHO who balanced with a double. I passed again (would you have done something else?) and LHO bid 3D. Passed back to me... RHO is one of the best players at the club, playing pro with a fairly weak partner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whereagles Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Everything seems normal to me.... pard heard you had no max (else you'd rdbl RHOs dbl of 2♥), so pass now. If 3♥ makes.. well, tough luck. It's pard who should have bid it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cascade Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 I raise to 2♥ and pass forever on this auction. I am pretty close to always support with support. The frequent gains from 2♥ far outweigh the occasional gains from 2♠ in my opinion. Frequency is what it is all about in Matchpoints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pclayton Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 This seems like a completely normal auction. If its a weak game, you can't count on RHO balancing at the other tables but you are going to be stuck, so just get through this round and play on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jlall Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 There is a lot of merit to a 3H bid in this scenario. 1) If they make it's good (weak player won't X you, pro won't X you, you won't go -3). 2) If you make it's good (this is unlikely but partner could have a secondary spade fit of some kind) 3) If both 3D and 3H are down, you probably are already screwed (since few RHOs will balance if they couldn't X 1H). 4) There is an inherent advantage to declaring so even if 3H can go down you might make, esp playing against a client. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halo Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 I would have bid spade. Impossible to resist, with sort of contract winning possibilities,and discouraging the oppos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
655321 Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 2♥ is completely normal. A 1♠ bid might be excusable if you are playing with a bad partner who is happy for you to hog the hands, but not otherwise. Over 3♦, I would have said Pass, WTP, but Justin makes some interesting points. I suppose this is the w/w at MP factor again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo81 Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 agree with 2h but dont have a problem with 1s either, id rather not let them in at 2mwould bid 3h now, justin covered the reasons, I think -1 doubled against -110 is possible too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Even with no agreements prefer to start one spade planning on rebidding 2H.I will need to see how the auction goes now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inquiry Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 2♥ is clear to me. I would pass 3♦ unless i really needed a board and this was late in the event Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codo Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I would bid 3 Heart too after 3 Diamonds. Besides the points Justin mentioned, I am the one with the short diamonds, so it is to me to act now. There is just one reason (besides the risk) against competing: The client would play, which may give us a good result anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the hog Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I would have bid spade. Impossible to resist, with sort of contract winning possibilities,and discouraging the oppos. 2H followed by eternal silence from me. 1S is a hand hog bid. Now why on earth would you want to discourage the opps from balancing into S with your S holding? Or didn't you mean what you posted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I'm not sure the pro won't double... he may well be the opp looking at 3 hearts and he heard the auction as well.. in particular, he heard your pass of the double. I agree that LHO ain't likely to double. I have one partner who would, I am sure, bid 3♥. He really doesn't pay a lot of attention to the LOTT (and before any of you scoff, he's won a few national titles). I, otoh, am more of a wimp and I suspect that I would pass at the table. BTW, I don't feel strongly about 1♠ or 2♥. The main advantages to 1♠ are: once in a long while partner is 4=5 (we don't play the dreaded F******y); and, when the hand is a partial battle, the sequence of 1♠ by me and then 2♥ over any of 1N, or 2minor is tougher to balance against. The main disadvantages are that LHO has an easier entry with a minor overcall after 1♠, and partner may not appreciate the full strength/length of our heart support if we give a preference over a minor by him... and so miss a game. I am not so worried about a possible overbid of pulling 1N to 2♥... this hand is only a trifle undervalue for that sequence. I can tell you that. on the actual auction, I wish I'd bid 1♠ :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo81 Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 2H followed by eternal silence from me. 1S is a hand hog bid. But you are The_Hog! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awm Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Here is the actual hand: [hv=d=w&v=n&n=skxhqxxxxdkxxcaqt&w=sa9xhxxxdq9xxckxx&e=sjtxhaxdajt8cxxxx&s=sq8xxxhkjtdxxcj9x]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv] 3♥ can be defeated on a trump lead, but will probably make on another lead. I don't know what the chances of RHO (the pro remember) finding a trump lead are, or whether he would consider doubling 3♥... since I passed 3♦ out at the table. While 3♦ has no real chance to make, it should be down one (lose one heart, three clubs, one spade). LHO (the weak player) managed to go two down! The matchpoint scores on an 8 top for likely results: -100: 0 matchpoints-50: 1 matchpoint+50 or +100: 2 matchpoints+140: 4 matchpoints+300 or +530: 8 matchpoints While I agree with Justin that many tables will be defending 2♥, I don't think this makes bidding 3♥ necessarily a good plan. After all, if 3♥ makes we get only an average and if it doesn't make we get a near-bottom even if 3♦ was making (since the field defends 2♥). Surely there is some chance that partner plays the hand better than the field, but we also have at least one defender (the one on lead) better than the field. On the actual hand it depends only on the defense and partner's play is basically a non-factor. In hindsight I rather like a call no one has mentioned -- double! Note that LHO is a passed hand and RHO couldn't double 1♥. So they are on marginal values at best. And we've got the weak player declaring, which could easily be worth a trick. Double seems like the only likely way to get a top board from this pair on the auction; any other action will get us average (if we're lucky) and a poor result (if we're unlucky) because RHO found the anti-field double... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pclayton Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 This is in a field that doesn't know how to balance. Unfortunately many games are like that, and you can only really hope that you get to be making the key decisions instead of RHO. I expect in a normal event that you would get a lot of field protection for selling out to 3♦. Maybe its a 4-5 on a 12 top, but no big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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