Would you ever do this?

[Gerben42]

Open a preempt with a side 5-card major? If yes, under what conditions?

 

Assume your hand is [hv=s=s65432h2dkqjt98c2]133|100|[/hv]

 

and you have a weak two and weak three in ♦ in your system.

[whereagles]

Pretty standard 3♦ in 3rd seat, regardless of vulnerability. In other seats it depends on how lucky I feel.

[Guest Jlall]

Yes I would preempt with a 5 card side major often if partner was a passed hand, if partner was an unpassed hand I would only do it on a hand I planned on bidding again with (QJxxx x KJTxxx x w/r I'd open 2D then bid spades). If RHO opened and partner was unpassed I might do this with some 7-5 hands

[Fluffy]

certainly with 5 low spades I'd open 3♦, if opening 1♠ ever becomes an option I might try it, but I don't mind much to have a side card major when preempting.

[Codo]

Never with an unlimited (aka unpassed) partner, never with a pick up, never when I have two suiter openings avaiable.

 

That leaves few possibilities.

[pclayton]

Yes.

 

It depends on whom I'm playing with, state of the match, seat, vulnerability, etc..

[NickToll]

You're not alone... :D

 

In the 1963 Bermuda Bowl final, Italy vs. USA, Giorgio Belladonna opened 3♦ in first seat, no one vulnerable, holding ♠2 ♥96532 ♦AKQJ94 ♣4: after that, Jordan-Robinson stopped in 5♣, making six. In the other room, Howard Shenken passed, and came back with 2NT after two bids by opponents: eventually Forquet-Garozzo bid and made 6♣.

[Cascade]

IMO the standard theory about pre-empting with side majors is far too conservative.

 

Yes I would sometimes pre-empt with a side five-card major. It is a flaw to an ideal pre-empt so I wouldn't do it if the hand had too many other flaws. Other flaws include:

 

2nd seat;

 

Vulnerble (especially unfavourable);

 

bad suit - the suit opened not the side five-bagger

 

...

[lexlogan]

I've certainly done it, and would consider doing so again. With some partners I've agreed that a weak two followed by the free bid of a suit suggests 6-5 -- 6-4 isn't different enough to justify opener acting again on his own. This sequence conveys your shape accurately, but is obviously less preemptive than opening 3♦. Here, with a high offense-to-defense ratio (ODR), 3♦ looks attractive.

 

When the two suits are hearts (5) and diamonds (6), there's an argument that the opps are likely to outbid you in spades anyway, so the risk of missing a heart fit isn't as serious as when the major is spades. But Soloway, if I recall correctly, opened 2 or 3♦ on a hand like this and lost a big swing against the Italians (who passsed and found the heart game.)

 

I hate passing good suits and don't worry too much about poor side suits.