two hands with five little (mostly)

[straube]

Hand 1......matchpoints unfavorable. Partner is dealer and opens.

 

1S P 1N P

2S P P 2N

P 3D ?

 

1N is semiforcing and partner has a good 11 to 15 hcps.

 

42 K763 87543 A4

 

 

Hand 2......matchpoints all white. RHO is dealer.

 

P P 1D 1S

dbl P 2H 3C

3H ?

 

86 T6532 K7 K832

[ahydra]

first one: pass. Need 2.5 tricks from partner to beat this, very unlikely he'll have them. What kind of hands will partner pass 1NT with?

 

second one: hmm. Anything could happen though it sounds like partner is the one bidding on shape here, so perhaps 4C is right e.g. AKxxx - xxx QJxxx.

 

ahydra

[whereagles]

as above: pass, 4♣

[inquiry]

1. Pass - no problem

2. Five clubs

[the_clown]

Pass and pass. Second hand is very close.

[gszes]

Assuming I read the bidding right-----

Hand 1

rho has taken a preference into our 5 card suit. Lho did not

bid initially (OVER OUR 1N) which means their length and or

strength is probably not quite up to par for this balancing

decision.

Now try to imagine the distribution. Lho is probably 55 possibly

45 or 54 in the minors rarely 56 or 65 due to inaction

on round 1. Rho has taken a preference to 2d with surely

at most 2d or partner has a ton of clubs they did not

want to bid over our 1n. So partner probably has 6 pretty

decent spades around 4 clubs and a somewhat minimal hand

with probably 21 (vs 12) in the reds. The main question is

if we lead a trump where can declarer come close to 9 tricks?

 

Out heart K is surely behind the opps long heart suit and we

have a quick club ace entry to keep dummy from ruffing declarers

expected club losers. I would not be surprised to see this hand

go down 2 or 3 tricks so I trot out the x card. This is a ton

easier at MP btw since we are probably doomed to a really bad score

if they can make 3d and an x going down 2 may get us a huge top

over 2s making.

 

Hand 2

 

My stinko hand has suddenly become a gold mine. The distribution and

bidding seems to indicate p hand is something like 5035 or 5026 with less

likely 6025 if we try to imagine what kind of hand partner needs with these

distributions we will see that hands like Axxxx void Qxx Axxxx or better

would all give us halfway decent play for

 

5c

 

and p is highly unlikely to be bidding 3c with the example hand above. This

does not mean you should be worried about making 6 but just be happy you have

realized the hands offensive potential and not gotten all starry eyed by the

prospects of defending with FIVE (how do I make font really tiny?) trumps.