Responding at the one level with 7 pts

[Alibar10]

My partner opened one club. I had 7 pts, a singleton spade, 4 hearts to the queen, ace jack 8 6 diamonds, 4 clubs. I bid one heart. Partner bid one spade. I passed. Was it the wrong thing to do? Should I have said one nt?

[hrothgar]

My partner opened one club. I had 7 pts, a singleton spade, 4 hearts to the queen, ace jack 8 6 diamonds, 4 clubs. I bid one heart. Partner bid one spade. I passed. Was it the wrong thing to do? Should I have said one nt?

 

Passing sounds like a good way to play a 4-1 spade fit.

 

I would rebid 2♣

 

If the 1♠ rebid promises an unbalanced hand, you're putting partner into an 8 card fit.

Even if partner chooses to rebid 1♠ on a 4=3=3=3 hand, you're still better off in clubs than spades.

[wank]

yes passing 1s is very bad. 99% of the time partner only has 4 and you play a 4-1 fit. you can bid 1nt or 2c to escape spades.

[Cyberyeti]

Depends a bit on style, I would bid 1N rather than 2♣, but never pass.

[Alibar10]

I was concerned it might cause p to think I had 10 pts if I bid 2 c.

[Alibar10]

Thanks all... I won't pass next time. :)

[Cyberyeti]

I was concerned it might cause p to think I had 10 pts if I bid 2 c.

 

Only if you bid it first time, 1x-1y-1z-2x is one of the weakest sequences you can follow if it's all natural.

[mike777]

I was concerned it might cause p to think I had 10 pts if I bid 2 c.

 

 

good question to ask

 

btw your hand is worth around ten total pts esp if pard has 5clubs... so it is ok if pard thinks that. :)

[mycroft]

1x-1y; 1z-pass is an acceptable call - but not with the hand you posted, as everyone above is saying. You know you have a fit, show it. You're not showing anything really more than a response, and your hand is quite good opposite 4-4 in the blacks (not really any more or less than before, but still it hasn't gone down).

 

My rule for that auction is "you're allowed to pass, but you'd better be right." So far, I have been :-) Partner can jump in the major if he has the hand you can't pass with a crappy misfitting 6 (or Ace and out, for that matter, shh). But he shouldn't do that unless he absolutely wants to be in game with anything that you scrounge up a response to, so 1M can be very strong.

 

Note that in 2♣, your partner is going to get a trump lead off the top, no matter what opening leader's trump holding is (he'll double check to see if he can find one if he happens to have a void). It's still better than any other contract!

[lexlogan]

I was concerned it might cause p to think I had 10 pts if I bid 2 c.

Sheinwold's otherwise excellent "Five Weeks To Winning Bridge" reduces rebids by responder to this absurd formula: if you bid twice, you show 10+ points. That seems to have been a fad among Standard American experts at the time the book was written; earlier and later books by Goren follow the sensible principle that you must assist partner in finding a playable strain. I think Goren's Bridge Complete around 1960 makes the same idiotic declaration as Sheinwold. Anyway, most simple (non-jump) rebids by responder do not require any more than a minimum response. It is clear from your example that clubs will be a better strain than spades. There was an attitude that if you weren't going to bid game, it didn't matter what part-score you played, but that is patent nonsense and the experts soon came to their senses. One problem is that the 10-point fallacy is so widespread that partner may well take you for 10 points, in which case you simply can't win.