Where and how

[kenberg]

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Two questions:

 

1. Looking at the NS hands, both of them, where do you wish to play? What strain and how high?

2. Using your own usual methods, how does the auction go?

 

 

This is matchpoints. After the initial 2H call, the opponents are silent (well, if you get to 7NT they might double you, but they are silent over all reasonable auctions)

[eagles123]

I dunno, after the weak 2 things are likely to split badly and I'd be ok with being in a club partial however in real life i suspect it's impossible to stop short of game

[karlson]

1. 3N.

(Distant) second choice 6♣.

 

2. p p 2♥ 2♠ p p p.

[TIE53]

1. I think ideally I'd like to be in 3 or 4 Clubs. I wouldn't be upset in 3NT, but I don't see an easy way to get there.

 

2. Probably:

p p 2♥ 2♠

p 3♣ p p

 

That's a pretty ambitious 3♣ bid though...

[gszes]

3n

5c a distant 2nd (when secretariat won the triple crown) 6c a way distant 3rd (the horse that came in last that race)

 

If you are using LEB after 2h

 

x 3c

3s 3n

 

S hand is just too strong for a mere 2s. Once in a while you will get too high but its worth the risk since game can be made with many hands that cannot reasonably raise 2s.

[broze]

(2H) x (p) 3C[not leb] (p) 3s (p) 3N. And yes I absolutely want to be there. Why can't clubs be 2-2 or spades 3-3 etc?

[MrAce]

I know it is popular nowadays to start overcall up to 19 hcp but S should start DBL imo. Double and then bidding spades shows exactly something like this.

 

- Strong hand, which was unable to start 3♠, and has other place(s) to play.

 

So N bids 2 NT lebensohl, S bids 3♠ N bids 3 NT.

[kenberg]

If you ever want a hand to illustrate the maxim that bridge is a bidder's game, this could be it. There are 11 tricks in either spades or clubs and, assuming a heart lead, there are also 11 tricks there as well. I held the north hand and took a pessimistic view.Partner doubled 2H, I bid 2NT (a Leb relay to 3C), and then I passed. E has KQJxxx of hearts and no side entry. Spades are 3-3, the King with West. Clubs are 3-1, the stiff with E. So on a heart lead declarer at least can develop 4+1+2+4=11 tricks. A diamond lead would be a little trickier to deal with at NT but I doubt that a diamond is led regardless of who is declarer or in what.

 

Here are the hands

 

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I realize I am at (at least) a max for my Leb 2NT. On the other hand it was good (?) that I caught partner with the AKxx of clubs and the stiff A of diamonds instead of the other way around. Partner asked what I would have done had he refused the relay and bid 3S. Well, we get to game alright but I am not at all sure I would recommend that. I would play him for a strong hand and a strong spades suit but probably only five cards, since with a strong hand and a strong six card suit he could have bid 3S directly over 2H. But I am not at all sure he should do that. I would probably then bid game with less than I have and that may not work out.

 

If anyone is going to get us to game, it has to be me by bidding 3C over the X. I have been wrestling a bit with whether or not I should have. A very nice feature of the two hands together is the three hearts facing three hearts. Assuming that the third hand 2H call was really on six cards, this makes the E hand pretty unreachable.

 

 

I got a good result recently on a different hand by taking a pessimistic view so I am not beating myself up too much here, but maybe I bid 3C next time.

[WesleyC]

I don't agree with your analysis of the missed game here.

 

Over 2H, South pretty much has 2 options:

 

a) Treat his hand as a simple overcall and start with 2S.

b) Start with a double planning to rebid 3S over 2NT to show a hand too good for a simple overcall.

 

With 18 sharp HCP and a good 5c suit, I would be afraid of missing game opposite 5-7 HCP if I started with a simple overcall, so I'd lean towards plan b.

 

South's choice when the deal was played of starting with double and then accepting the puppet with 3C ISN'T a logical sequence.

[kenberg]

I don't agree with your analysis of the missed game here.

 

Over 2H, South pretty much has 2 options:

 

a) Treat his hand as a simple overcall and start with 2S.

b) Start with a double planning to rebid 3S over 2NT to show a hand too good for a simple overcall.

With 18 sharp HCP and a good 5c suit, I would be afraid of missing game opposite 5-7 HCP if I started with a simple overcall, so I'd lean towards plan b.

 

South's choice when the deal was played of starting with double and then accepting the puppet with 3C ISN'T a logical sequence.

 

Well, thanks. And thanks to Mr. Ace, with a similar comment. I like to concentrate on my own errors rather than partner's, but this option had occurred to me. It occurred to partner as well. and we discussed it a bit afterward. Many were in spade or club partscores but of course it's mps so the spade partscores beat us. Only one pair was in NT. They were in 3NT and went down. Tact suggests not asking them how but I might make a guess. It was played by N. Suppose E starts with the heart K and N lets it hold. Maybe that's not crazy since that third hand non-vul 2H might be on five. Then E looks at his entryless hand and shifts to a diamond. 3NT can still be made but it's a bit double dummy, or so it seems to me. A, K and another club brings you up to eight tricks.W continues D's, and you take the K, keeping the 3 for later use. If E has not pitch his diamond Q the suit is blocked and you can develop a spade. If he has pitched the Q you cash the heart. W has to blank his spade K or else reduce his diamond holding, and if you read it you are home.

 

A few were in 4S or 5C.

 

I asked "where" as well as "how" because any game contract here seems a bit uncertain. Hearts really do not have to be 6-1 after the third seat nv opening, but you pretty much have to play them to be.Say you are playing 4S by South and a heart is led. You can hardly duck so you go up and hook a spade. If W takes the K and produces another heart you won't be happy.

 

But I like the thought that the choices are, with South, to overcall 2S or to double and then reject the relay. The opponents asked about our auction before the lead, and I explained that 3C was not totally forced. So maybe we need to discuss more about how non-totally forced it is.

 

This still leaves me with a choice of raising spades to 4 or bidding 3NT. I told pard, when he asked, that if he bid 3S instead of 3C I would probably have bid 4S. On reflection I think 3NT is better.

[ggwhiz]

I'm firmly in the double followed by 2nt lebensohl then 3♠ camp and would only consider 4♠ instead of 3nt by north with 1 less heart for holdup purposes.

 

My partner is of the extreme glass 1/2 full variety and would shoot me if I didn't do this, working or not. Given the 3♣ bid over 2nt your partner is either the opposite or unaware of the options available over 2nt. In that context I don't think you made an error at all.