Balancing decision

[daveharty]

[hv=pc=n&s=sak87htd62c975432&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1hp2hpp]133|200[/hv]

[gnasher]

I'd balance with 2♠ if that shows exactly four with a longer minor. I wouldn't risk a takeout double.

[han]

I would always balance. If 2S shows this, then I would bid 2S. If not then I'd bid 3C.

[MrAce]

2♠ and i dont even need a longer minor for that bid in my pdship agreements, Dbl would be 3♠

[jdeegan]

:P I would have to bid a cheerful 2♠ playing MP's. At IMP's I can't see getting killed.

[mgoetze]

I'd balance with 2♠ if that shows exactly four with a longer minor.

Should it?

[Phil]

This is similar to MSC - Problem A this month. Same auction but the hand is JT8x x Kx Axxxxx. Its also MPs which makes bidding more attractive.

 

3♣ was the majority choice - with the stronger clubs and weaker spades, getting tapped could be a problem.

 

Agree with 2♠ here.

 

What is the scoring BTW?

[gnasher]

Should it?

Yes, if you believe that any hand with five spades would either have bid already or wouldn't want to bid now.

 

Or no, if you don't.

[daveharty]

What is the scoring BTW?

At the table it was IMPs.

[JLOGIC]

I would always balance, I prefer any of the reasonable balancing actions (2S, 3C, X) to pass. Passing is just awful. I would bid 2S.

[JLOGIC]

Yes, if you believe that any hand with five spades would either have bid already or wouldn't want to bid now.

 

Or no, if you don't.

 

This is interesting. I assume that red/white even you would pass with like T8xxxx A xxx xxx and then want to balance with 2S (this is a hand from real life recently, though it didnt go 1H p 2H p p).

 

Perhaps it is possible for us to bid 2S with both hand types, and partner to be able to read which it is. For instance, if we dont have enough HCP to overcall immediately, and we have some heart length, we can probably assume it would never go 1H p 2H p p, since partner would have both a lot of HCP and heart shortness. So maybe if partner has many HCP as well as heart length, he can figure out we likely have long spades and a yarb for 2S, esp if he has spade shortness. If partner has relative heart shortness and/or not that many HCP, he can assume we have 4 spades and a longer minor and no tolerance for the other minor. eg if partner had xx Qx Kxxxx Kxxx he should easily be able to pull 2S just based on bridge logic, but if he has A QJxx AKxx Kxxx he should pass 2S.

 

It is not perfect by any means but at least it allows partner to pull 2S sometimes when it's right, and we can somewhat predict when he will know it's right. There are bad combinations but the hand types are different enough that partner will often get it right. This hand might be a problem, but if we had heart length + HCP eg AKxx xxx x KQxxx partner should "always" know what our hand type is for the 2S balance. Note that our actual hand would be a good case for partner not knowing what kind of hand type we had as we have short hearts and very few HCP.

 

I still like balancing with 2S since I think the opps compete to 3H more over 2S, and will be able to double it less often (and if they do, I can run to 3C, so it's safer). I really don't care much between 2S, 3C, and X though.