artie1910 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 My partner and I play 5 card majors, better minor, in a recent game my LHO opened 1 club, my partner doubled, our opponents also play 5CM,BM and bid on to 4 spades, I led a club trying to guess the meaning of my partners early double since the 1 club might or might not be a natural bid, I opted for lead directing, wrong, partner had 17 points with a shortage in clubs, I had one point. This was the first time this sequence had occurred between us, how should it have gone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillybean Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 My partner and I play 5 card majors, better minor, in a recent game my LHO opened 1 club, my partner doubled, our opponents also play 5CM,BM and bid on to 4 spades, I led a club trying to guess the meaning of my partners early double since the 1 club might or might not be a natural bid, I opted for lead directing, wrong, partner had 17 points with a shortage in clubs, I had one point. This was the first time this sequence had occurred between us, how should it have gone? Hi, welcome to forums :) I think it would help if you could post the your hands and the auction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahydra Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Double would normally be takeout (opening hand with shortage in the suit doubled) here, even over a short club. Unfortunately it's not going to tell you what to lead though - we'd have to see the hands to give you some advice there. ahydra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantumcat Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 A double of a 1-level bid won't ever be lead-directing, as lead-directing also implies penalty: if the opponents are happy in 1♣ and all your partner has shown is clubs, you are forced to leave them there or else risk playing in a non-fit. And defending at the 1-level doubled is no picnic. It is important to know that even playing short club, a 1♣ opening is very likely to contain four or more clubs, even reasonably likely to contain five or more. Therefore, always treat 1♣ and 1♦ as genuine suits. (The reason they are not likely to actually be short is this: a short club requires an exact shape of 4432 and 11-14 HCP, not more, or else there would have been a 1NT opening. Opening a three-card club suit requires holding three or less diamonds, and the majors to be balanced (or else there'd be a 1M opening) and holding 11-14 points (or else there'd be a 1NT opening). In contrast, you can open 1♣ with actual clubs and any number of points, and the shape of the rest of the hand is very flexible. So there will be more hands where 1♣ has actual clubs than when it doesn't.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artie1910 Posted March 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Points well taken. I can't lay out the cards, the post was from memory of the bidding and I didn't see partners hand but was told it had 17 points, btw we play weak no trump and Benji Acol. From memory I had spades752,hearts9643,diamonds1054 and clubsJ52. Partner could not have had much in spades as the opposition made 4spades and I had 3 of them so I guess a part game in hearts might have resulted but my rho bid 1spade after partner's double and I think my knuckles might have been rapped if I had bid 2hearts with my 1 point hand. I guess my lead was poor but remain unsure of my best course of action. I suppose I must assume it to be a straightforward takeout double since partner wants me to take it as a genuine club bid, if there had been no intervening bid from my rho I would have bid a heart even with my 1 point. It is a case of 'she who must be' etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantumcat Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 When responding to partner's takeout double, you can show your points as well as your shape. If the least you can bid is at the one-level, you show about 0-7 HCP. Jumping to two shows about 8-11 HCP, and you should have five cards. 1NT shows about 7-11 without a suit to bid except the opponent's. If you have less than 7 without a suit, you just have to pretend you have one. You might have to bid a three-card suit at the one-level. If the least you can bid is at the two-level, bidding at the two-level shows about 0-9 points. 2NT will show about 10-12 without a suit. Jumping to three will show about 10-12 points and five cards. If you find yourself in a situation where you have some points but not a five-card suit and no stopper in the opponent's suit, bidding the opponent's suit says, "I have a good hand but I don't know what suit we should play in. If you also have a good hand, we should be in game but you can pick the suit". The point ranges I gave are not the law. It depends on how strong you need to be in your partnership to make a takeout double. In general, bidding at the 1-level says, "I don't think we can make game unless you have like a 2C opening". Jumping to the two level says, if you have a really good hand we can be in game". Jumping to the three level says "We should only not be in game if you have a minimum". Of course, any time that you KNOW game is on, and you know what suit you want to play in, you should just bid it. Also if you ever have a six-card suit, you hould probably think about bidding one level higher than your points tell you to. If you have a seven-card suit, there should be a really good reason to not bid game immediately no matter what your points are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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