Bidding over a second hand pre-empt

[jetkro]

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=sa965h3dkq7632ck3]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

My partner dealt and passed.

RHO bid 3H.

I doubled, LHO passed, and partner bid 4C of course, which I "corrected" to 4D.

Does this show my hand or does it show a very strong diamond overcall?

Should I have passed initially?

[cf_John0]

Not correct to 4D,otherwise why dont you compete with 4D directly?

[Fluffy]

Depends on agreements, I play a 4♦ overcall as 15+ so double + show suit doesn´t exist, but also I never double without support for the 3 unbid suits so I would take 4♦ as cuebid with ♣ agreed.

 

On your particular case Imo you aer too weak to double 3♥, and if you do so you should pass 4♣, hoping partner to have many, you can bid 4♦ if it gets doubled.

[daswallow]

I think you are too weak to bid here opposite a passed partner. x might work occassionally if you find a good fit. Here i think you have to pass 4c now although partner will have to play at the 4 level, possibly without a fit, and with the minority of the points. This is why I would pass rather than x.

[whereagles]

If your partnership opens light, then you can pass 3H. Otherwise double is just fine. What the correction to 4D means depends on your agreements. The usual way is to play 4D as a strong hand with diamonds. The other way is to play 4D as a mere correction, saying you prefer to play 4D rather than 4C. This is called "equal level correction" (ELC).

 

The more I play, the more I realize ELC is the better philosophy, and this hand is a fine example why. Not playing ELC you're plain and simply stuck: you either sell out and pass, or you double and hope pard doesn't bid clubs. Luckily, in this case pard passed, so you can risk passing too. But if he hadn't passed initially, you'd be well and truly fixed.

[han]

Double is the only possible call (besides passing). I recommend playing that 4D over 4C does not show extras at all, just as whereagles described. Equal level conversion works at any level, but you should probably only play it when correcting diamonds to clubs.

 

Of course, you need to discuss this with partner before using it.

[jetkro]

When I bid 4 Diamonds I had not discussed the principle of Equal Level Conversion

with my partner, obviously an error.

But, assuming that we had been on the same wavelength, I would have been a bit nervous of a correction to 4 Spades had he held 3 spades and 2 diamonds.