Preempt Style

[P_Marlowe]

2H.

 

Playing with a stranger, I may go for 3H, which is only a slight stretch.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[P_Marlowe]

This hand is here because my partner screamed and yelled at me for opening 2♥. She (so NOT Adam, as he is very eager for me to point out) was very displeased when the opponent overcalled 3C over this, and she doubled with Axxx x AKxx Axxx and 3C made.

 

She made statements along the lines of it being a failure to play bridge if I open this hand 2♥ (instead of the pass that she wanted) and that she's never going to bid over my preempts again.

Ok, which 5 tricks does she have to beat 3C?

 

She basically assumes, that you have the Ace of hearts, make it

KQJxxx with a 6332 distribution and 3C is still likely making, will she

still yell?

 

And this assumes, we are playing MP, playing IMP the X is just garbage.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[awm]

What about pulling to 3♥ after the double?, I wouln't have done so but I would find it a bit close.

It's actually not a very bad bid at all if one plays a wide range weak 2 opening and rather aggressive penalty doubles. Of course it requires partnership understandings.

Partner's shown a hand that wants to defend 3♣X. This is a decent hand, but often very short in hearts. Since partner has cards here, you certainly want to go plus on the board and bidding 3♥ could easily turn a plus into a minus.

 

Certainly it is possible that this hand is "so offensively oriented" that you want to play in 3♥ even when partner has shortage in hearts. But if this is true, you should probably have opened 3♥ to begin with. After all, partner having a good hand with short hearts is more or less the worst case for a preempt. Not only has partner shown such a hand, but she also indicated that she expects a good score from defending 3♣X. If you're removing this to 3♥.... you should've opened 3♥.

[blackshoe]

I'm a firm believer in disciplined preempts, and the hand doesn't fit any of my agreements, so I pass. If, otoh, my partner would expect that I might have this hand for a 2 or 3 bid, I'd bid it. But screaming at one's partner and claiming they have "failed to play bridge" for being unexpectedly undisciplined is way over the top.