That dreadful 8-5.

[elvinueza]

So this hand came up in last night's duplicate.

 

♠AKJ109xxx

♥--

♦J109xx

♣--

 

Sweet. I'm north. East opens the bidding with 1♥. I bid 1♠(what would you have bid?). West bids 4♥ and my partner doubles. East passes and it's my turn to bid.

 

We're vulnerable and they're not.

 

What do i need for a slam? The right ♦high cards, and pretty much nothing else does the job. The right ♦high cards would make a grand too, of course.

If my partner doesn't have them, i'm going down. Definitely not much of a defensive hand, but i don't want to be the overambitious one.

 

So obviously i freak out, i bid 4♠, West doubles, I redouble (still unsure of my 4♠) and they all pass. Geez, that was easier than I thought.

I make +2 and feel bad about myself.

This is what my partner held:

 

♠xx

♥J109x

♦Ax

♣AKxxx

 

Ruff the heart lead, play the diamonds. Play trumps once (they're 2-1), ruff the third ♦ (they're 3-3) and i'm home. I'm not even sure if playing 6 it's the right thing to do (if diamonds are 4-2, i've got to rely on the short diamond hand to have shortness in ♠; ♠ 0-3 sets me).

 

Well guys. How would you have bid this monster?

[Mbodell]

I like 1♠ and 4♠. I don't like XX as you may be -1 and turn a good board into a bad one (if they have 4♥ and most of the field is sacrificing in 4♠X), or more likely if they believe you they may well run to 5♥ rather than let you play 4♠XX when it makes.

[Fluffy]

redouble is risky but it worked, note that partner doubled 4♥, if that's for penalty, chances of them running are petty low. Not an expert on this scores, did you beat slams doubled?

 

I don't see an alternative to 1♠ unless you play some conventional 4♥ bid, and if partner's double of 4♥ is take out I would bid more than 4♠.

[BunnyGo]

did you beat slams doubled?

 

NV: 4S XX + 2 is 4*120 + 100 (insult) + 300 (game bonus) + 2*200 (per overtrick) = 1280,

6SX = is 2*(180) + 50 (insult) + 300 (game bonus) + 500 (slam bonus) = 1210

 

V: 4S XX + 2 = 1880 (only differences are 500 game bonus and 400 per overtrick)

6S X = = 1660 (only differences are 500 game bonus and 750 slam bonus)

 

However 6SXX will beat both of these.

[whereagles]

You bid perfectly and scored a bunch. Nothing more to say.

[Zelandakh]

Sweet. I'm north. East opens the bidding with 1♥. I bid 1♠(what would you have bid?). West bids 4♥ and my partner doubles. East passes and it's my turn to bid.

 

So the bidding has gone:-

E - S - W - N

1H - p - p - 1S

p - p - 4H - p

p - x - p - p

p - p - p - ?

 

Hmmmm, I think I am calling the TD as there appear to have been 5 passes in a row...

[Bbradley62]

I'm north. East opens the bidding with 1♥. I bid 1♠(what would you have bid?). West bids 4♥ and my partner doubles. East passes and it's my turn to bid.

How many calls out of turn have there been?

[Phil]

I would never redouble with this hand red/white. It seems any slam with this 8-5 is a shot in the dark and your +1190 for two overs is a great score. As it was, slam was touch and go even with all of these primes across. Redoubling says, yeah please sac while I collect my 500 (maybe).

 

The colors to redouble is w/r when you have a little defense too. There is substantial upside when you make, and if they run, you get a nice number too.

[pooltuna]

you need to make life tough on the opps after they open 1♥ cause you can be sure they are going to make life hard for you ASAP at these colors. So an immediate 4♠ is your best shot to buy the contract while making it as difficult as possible for them to figure out if a sac makes sense.