One, three or four?

[miamijd]

In first or third seat, 4H at favorable or equal; 3H at unfavorable (just too easy for the opps to crack 4H for -2). In second seat, 4H NV, 3H both vul, pass or 3H unfavorable. In fourth seat, pass it out.

 

I'd rather the Kd and Jacks weren't there for a high preemptive opening. To those who think the stiff Kd is a good card, I can't agree. You are correct for defense, but not for offense (where it will never win a trick unless partner has the Ace). Same with the Jx in the pointies. Those Jacks are worthless on offense, but they take defensive tricks more often than you might think. But a preemptive bid is pure offense, zero defense. Partner will bid as if you have no defense, and on this hand, if he goes to 5H over 4S, you aren't apt to like it.

 

If the Kd and Jacks were low cards, there would be 5 more points for partner, and he might have some useful values (like a heart honor or an ace).

 

Cheers,

mike

[Winstonm]

4H but with a hand worth only 6 tricks would prefer nv vs vul. Maybe 3H at even vul. Pass at bad colors.

[gwnn]

This is your first contribution to the forum? Not the most constructive start ever.

 

ObOnTopic: Anything but 4H is overthinking the hand.

He wrote me on BBO saying "get lessons or a new life, shameful novice" - not really complaining about it, but I wonder if he's written the same for all 4H bidders in this thread? I hope he has personalized insults for each of us.

[diana_eva]

He wrote me on BBO saying "get lessons or a new life, shameful novice" - not really complaining about it, but I wonder if he's written the same for all 4H bidders in this thread? I hope he has personalized insults for each of us.

 

Returning perp, both in the forums and on bbo. Report this sort of incidents. When someone comes post for the first time in this style, or appears as a new user on bbo but behaves rudely, it's not really a newbie.

[RD350LC]

Scoring: Matchpoints

 

[hv=pc=n&s=sj3hqjt98763dkcj5]133|100[/hv]

 

And an additional question (if you don't open 1♥):

-- What is the smallest strengthening of the above hand that makes it good for 1♥?

3RD hand, I would open this 4♥, regardless of the vulnerability. 1st/2nd hand, I would open this 3♥ vul vs not, otherwise 4♥. 4th hand, I would pass it out.

[NickRW]

4th hand, I would pass it out.

 

I can't remember ever holding a hand like this in 4th seat and seeing 3 green cards on the table. Probably you can construct a layout where it would happen, but it seems sufficiently unlikely to effectively be an academic question.

[relknes]

1st or second seat I'd bid 4♥ with opponents vulnerable, 3♥ if they were non-vulnerable. 3rd seat I'd bid 4♥ regardless.

To make it a 1♥ opener I'd like to see 2 defensive tricks (lots of ways to get there, but swapping out J♣ for A♦ is one way), and would be sorely tempted with 1.5 defensive tricks (again, lots of ways to get there, but swapping out the K♦ and J♣ for the A♦ and K♣ is an example).

[Jinksy]

You shouldn't. The singleton king is an excellent surprise for declarer should (s)he decide to take the transfer to 4♠. There is every chance of a finesse coming into our hand meaning that the defensive value of the ♦K is significantly strengthened by a preemptive opening.

 

I'm not sure how much I buy this. Qx is the sort of holding where we can hope they misplay the suit, but with a short-suit king holding, they're not likely to have much choice about how to play the suit. Sure RHO might upgrade something like a DAQ holding during the bidding, but that seems like a tiny factor - especially if we open at the 4 level, such that if his P has bid they've already reached game.