Passing Out

[uva72uva72]

My link

 

Match points, ACBL robot individual

 

Recognizing that I'm making an overly-broad generalization, it's my observation that robots bid too much with bad hands and too little with good hands. For example, in a recent auction that started 2♣-2♦;3♣ the robot lept to 4♥ to show club support, then over my 4♠ cue bid, holding ♠Jx ♥QJ ♦Jxxx ♣1098xx bid 4NT then 5NT ("no extra values" indeed). I guess with ♠K and ♦K North would have jumped directly to 7NT over 3♣.

 

In contrast, in the display hand, North bid as if it held ♠xxx instead of ♠AJx. This is a hand on which North would have responded with 2NT directly holding one less ♥, and should have taken action over 1♠. If North is not going to act directly in instances such as this, then South needs more flexibility in the pass-out seat. When East doubled 1♥, I could not bid 1NT because that would have shown 18-19. When 1♠ was passed around to me, bidding 1NT would have shown 16+. Those who did bid 1NT in this position were promptly raised to 3NT by a suddenly-revived North, who couldn't count to 11 the round before. So, South's choices in the pass-out seat amounted to defending 1♠, overbidding significantly with 1NT or forcing the bidding to the 2 level, vulnerable, with a flat, featureless hand. I submit that 1NT in the pass-out seat on these auctions should show nothing more than an unwillingness to sell-out, particularly if North is going to play possum with good hands.

[steve2005]

you have clear pass in balance given the options you were given. Even if 1N showed 12-14 and a partial stopper do you really want to bid 1N vul when Gib likely has a non-descript 6-7 hcp.. Gib has clear 2N bid in direct. If Gib is a real wimp can bid 1N.

[uva72uva72]

In my overbidding example, I was hypothesizing as to how North would have bid holding just ♠K and ♦K, not those cards in addition to the Quacks North actually held.

[Bbradley62]

Given the description of your potential 1N balancing bid, I wonder what GIB thinks your shape/strength could actually be, since you might have opened 1N with 15-17 balanced. I also wonder what a balancing double would have meant in the passout seat; it should show what's not covered by the other alternatives, which is basically your hand: exactly 3 hearts, not rebiddable clubs, not enough to bid NT. North should then bid NT over that reopening double.