Would You Pre-Empt

[PhantomSac]

man i feel old. would pass.

 

So much this lol. 3C is just really awful, we have an ace and a king and 2 jacks, I agree with the poster who said x xxx JTxx KQJTx is fine, but you need an exceptional hand to preempt on a 5 card suit even third seat vul and this hand is not close to it.

 

1C is fine also to me, I don't think theres much between 1C and pass. The lighter you open in first the better 1C becomes.

[inquiry]

The preempt is not advised because of the ♠K and ♣A. That is two likely defensive tricks. Silly me, change the ♠K to small, I would bid 3♣. IT is quite ok to be crazy with hands like this at this vul, I do it all the time. But the preempt needs to be a true weak one, or a better suit. That is if you have a better quality hand, it is still ok to preempt, but don't have good defense and poor suit. You are just asking for trouble. The other day my student made a preemptive 2♥ overcall on xx AJ98x Axx Jx. He had way too much defense (not unlike the hand in the op, and not enough hearts. IF he had made a more normal 1♥ overcall the world would have been a much better place.

[Zelandakh]

The only preempt I would consider is 1NT. I do not like 3♣, not because the hand (or suit) is too weak, but because I have too much defence. In this position and vulnerability requiring 7 clubs is poor - 6 clubs is fine and 5 very good ones with some shape and no defence is not off the rails. 7 spades and 10hcp is just not a possible hand for Opener to hold here imo.

 

For reference, here are some suggestions of 3rd seat green 3♠ preempts from Robson/Segal:-

 

♠KQT9x ♥xxxx ♦x ♣Qxx

♠KJT8x ♥- ♦Jxxxx ♣Qxx

♠QJT8x ♥x ♦xxx ♣8xxx

 

In general you should not go less pure than these, esepcially without prior agreement.