-930 ATB

[mikeh]

Well, from your holding, you actually should strongly suspect that west should hold void in H because he pulls the double with Qxxxxx. I don't think any sane player would pull a red 2H to 2S with Qxxxxx x. Opener's raise should also really show 3 spades. So partner most likely holds a spade void and can only bid 3C. So he must have a rather weak hand with good distributions. With that in mind, the hand really defends badly in 3S double because you don't have a sure entry to draw trumps and the 2H opener is marked with shortness somewhere in minor suits. So it is a rather clear hand that one shouldn't double 3S.

I think our primary area of disagreement is the meaning of the 2♠ call.

 

While I suppose that it is possible to play this as a pure runout.....my spades suit will play better than your heart suit....I don't think this is standard. Consider that the double of 2♥ was takeout, not penalty, and for 4th seat to convert, they need to have decent hearts. While 4th seat will frequently have 5 hearts, they will often be unable to convert, and, even when they do, there is no reason to believe that their suit will play worse than yours. Look at the actual heart suit distribution on the given hand....is that weird? No...and the defence gets precisely 2 heart tricks....make opener 1=6=3=3, as is the most probable shape as of responder's decision to run, and running becomes questionable at best.

 

Now, maybe, as it happens, responder did intend to try to improve the contract, but (his success on this hand notwithstanding) I don't think that is the standard approach by good players. Of course, I may be wrong on that, and, if so, then your point about expecting a heart void gains strength.

[gnasher]

I don't think West "pulled" the double of 2♥, in the sense of running from a contract that he thought was going down. 2♠ here is normally played as a hand with some spades that wants to compete. In that case, he might well have one or even two hearts.

 

Having said that, as South, thinking that West had a heart void would make me more inclined to double, because that might mean that declarer was unable to get to dummy. One of the reasons for this disaster was the fact that East had a fast entry, so declarer could take a diamond finesse without letting South in to draw trumps.

 

I agree with Mike and others that double on the South hand looks normal, at matchpoints. This hand has significantly more defence than promised, and it's pessimistic to assume that the defenders have got it right in such a crowded auction.

 

I think North should pull though. At matchpoints, he expects South to double aggressively, so when he has such a poor hand for defence he should take it out. There's more reason to pass at IMPs, because South's double should be sounder.

[xxhong]

Actually the raise of 3S shows that the 2H opener likes his chance in 3S, so usually he shouldn't really have a lot of values in H, in which case he wouldn't mind defending 3C because partner shows H shortness. I think the key point of this hand is that once you know partner is very likely to hold a spade void and rather weak and distributional, you really should be very careful doubling without a sure entry to draw trumps.

I don't think West "pulled" the double of 2♥, in the sense of running from a contract that he thought was going down. 2♠ here is normally played as a hand with some spades that wants to compete. In that case, he might well have one or even two hearts.

 

Having said that, as South, thinking that West had a heart void would make me more inclined to double, because that might mean that declarer was unable to get to dummy. One of the reasons for this disaster was the fact that East had a fast entry, so declarer could take a diamond finesse without letting South in to draw trumps.

 

I agree with Mike and others that double on the South hand looks normal, at matchpoints. This hand has significantly more defence than promised, and it's pessimistic to assume that the defenders have got it right in such a crowded auction.

 

I think North should pull though. At matchpoints, he expects South to double aggressively, so when he has such a poor hand for defence he should take it out. There's more reason to pass at IMPs, because South's double should be sounder.

[jdeegan]

I find it interesting to see people blaming S. South has a decent hand, AKJx ♠, Kx ♥ behind 1♥ opener and much more. It is quite a view to think that he should just pass in peace here when pd made a free call, just because we know the result. Of course we may pass thinking that opponents may have hands like 6-5 and voids and avoid ever letting them make a dbled contract . We never play a % 45 session when everything goes wrong, but probably never play a % 65 session either with this logic. I will not blame North much either, but i would personally lift it.

 

It is also confusing to me that some decent players here think 2♥ DBL already showed South's hand.

My sentiments exactly. Nightmare hands do exist.