It's now or never

[whereagles]

[hv=d=e&v=b&s=sxxhat8xxdkjxxck9]133|100|Scoring: IMP

Butler scoring.[/hv]

Both vuln, auction goes:

RHO you LHO pard

1♠ pass 1NT* pass

2♣** ??

 

*1NT is forcing NT.

**2♣ = is either..

1. Natural with clubs and 11-15, or

2. Artificial 16+, several possible shapes.

 

Against this 2♣ bid you have agreed that double shows

1. A take-out of clubs if 2♣ is natural

2. A penalty double of clubs if 2♣ is artificial

Your options are thus to double, to pass or to make some bid in the red suits (undiscussed, but pard will take it as natural).

 

What do you do at imps, and would you do the same at matchpoints?

[Chamaco]

I assume double is t/o, since if I wanted to double an artificial 2C showing 16+ I would not have passed at 1st round.

In any case doubling 2C, even holding a good hand with spades (only reason for 1st round passing with a strong hand) seems quite dangerous, so, once more, I bid it as t/o and assume my pard will view it as such.

 

So:

 

Double at MP, any vulnerability

Double IMPS NV

Pass IMPS Vuln: Kx in clubs- even with club A likely onside - looks too bad. Furthermore, if 2C is 2-way, responder will rebid 99% of the times, so the bidding won't die and if opener is minimum we may be in the balancing seat, whlst if h is max, we have liley escaped from a penalty.

[Fluffy]

You mean that doubling 2♣ 'maybe 3 card' is artificial for you?.

 

I would treat this bid as the same of a best minro response to 1NT.

[whereagles]

No Fluffy, you got it wrong. 2C is either natural 5-4 and 11-15 OR some strong hand, in which case opener can be void in clubs. The bid is forcing, so if you want to butt-in at the two-level, this is your LAST chance.

 

The point here is simple, actually. You either butt-in now while the bidding is low, or pass forever. (Unless you fancy 2NT later and play at the THREE-level, a much more risky proposition.)

 

By the way, would you have doubled 1S at your first round?

[flytoox]

i will pass now, as 2c is forcing.

[PriorKnowledge]

2C is forcing and may be strong!?! What purpose are we bidding now? Is it to give the opponents the option of doubling us instead of playing a misfit partscore with suits breaking poorly? Or maybe locating the honors and distribution for better declarer play?

 

And you are vul and this is IMP scoring!

 

Pass

[whereagles]

You are bidding now because LHO might be weak and you want to avoid a decision at the 3-level. Suppose it goes

 

1S pass 1NT pass

2C pass 2S pass

pass ??

 

Are you going to risk bidding now, 1 level higher than before? If it goes

 

1S pass 1NT pass

2C dbl... 2S

 

pard can now bid a red suit or pass. In short, if you're going to guess whether to bid, you better do it now while you're at the 2-level than when the bidding reaches the 3-level. Note also that if you bid later, both LHO and RHO would have exchanged more information, while at the moment they're still relatively in the dark. This will make a 3-level balancing bid FAR more dangerous than a direct butt-in.

[Fluffy]

I know what you mean mate, 2♣ is a 'normally' natural bidding, mroe or les the same as a forcing NT response, so I would give a double here the same trreatment.

[whereagles]

In practice the hand was a misfit and any action would cause -200 or -500.

 

Still, I'm convinced to double 2♣ is a must, especially at matchpoints. There is a very good chance opponents will buy the hand in 2♠ and that rates to be a bad score if we have a red suit fit.

 

This hand is a good advertisement for the "equal level correction" gadget, since it allows you to butt-in with a double right at your first chance to bid. Later you can remove pard's 2♣ response to 2♦.