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Bidding Off-Shape Doubles


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A bad result (MPs) from last night:

 

Dealer opened 1D. In the second seat, I held:

Q10xxx-AKxx-Kx-xx

I agonized, and passed. 75% of the field didn't pass, and made 2H, while we let the opps have the contract.

 

I passed because of the combination of 12 hcp and a doubleton in the unbid suit.

 

How important is a doubleton in an unbid suit? I assume it's much worse if it's in a major.

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In this particular hand I'm between 1h and 1s :-) Maybe many players bid 1h because of the AK lead directing value and they were lucky to find support. Others may have started with 1s and rebid 2h over pd's 1nt or 2c response. I think 1s followed by 2h if we can do it is what I would have bid at the table.

 

About doubling.

 

It depends on partneship style. Italians are very fond of unshaped doubles and we can say that they have done fairly well with their methods...

They will double 1d with 2-4-3-4 or similar hands. They won't double with a 6-4 distribution, so I think that this hand is a 1s bid.

You can research many bulletins and identify a lot of offshaped italian doubles. Interesting stuff they always work for them.

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It's not exactly clear that the poor result was irreversably caused by your lack of immediate action. Perhaps you or your partner could have/should have balanced later.

 

However, since you raised the question, you can and should bid with this hand. I would not, however start with a double. I would begin with a 1S overcall. If your partner has hearts, of course (since the field is playing 2H's), a double finds this fit faster. After a 1S overcall it is also possible hearts will be lost (say after P-1D-1S-3D-P-P-?), but this is the bid I would make.

 

It is not that I am totally against off-shape doubles... I just wouldn't do it with this hand. So my options are between 1S and Pass, with 1S seemingly a standout from among these two choices.

 

Ben

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I agree with Ben 100% offshape doubles are not bid with 6-4 hands.

An offshape double can be a double of 1c with 4-2-4-3 or a double of 1h with 3-3-5-2 or a double of 1s with 2-4-2-5.... etc.... Maybe somebody from Italy can elaborate on the famous italian offshape doubles. Do we have an Italian in this forum?

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