A two-step problem

[heart76]

Playing a relaxed pairs evening, your partner passes and your RHO opens 3♦ when you hold:

AJ Kx AQxx KJxxx

 

What is your choice?

1. Trap-pass

2. 3NT, hoping partner has 8

3. X, with what plan for your 2nd bid?

 

Let's assume now that you trap-pass. LHO passes and your partner bids 4♦.

What do you bid now and why?

 

EDIT: I am not 100% sure about vulnerability now, but I think we were red vs white. How would that influence the first decision, however?

[The_Badger]

With partner passing in 1st seat, the odds favour passing too now but not in a 'trap' sense. 3NT might work but you know the suits are breaking badly so I am reluctant to bid it. Double looks hideous with doubletons in both major suits

 

After partner 'balances' with 4♦ (God Bless Him :)), I'll content myself with 4♥ as he's shown a major two-suiter that couldn't open in 1st seat. If he was three-suited he would have doubled.

[Tramticket]

Playing a relaxed pairs evening, your partner passes and your RHO opens 3♦ when you hold:

AJ Kx AQxx KJxxx

 

What is your choice?

1. Trap-pass

2. 3NT, hoping partner has 8

3. X, with what plan for your 2nd bid?

 

Let's assume now that you trap-pass. LHO passes and your partner bids 4♦.

What do you bid now and why?

It helps if you give the vulnerability (The hand editor would do this).

 

I bid 3NT, but might be persuaded to pass if we are non-vul and opps are vulnerable.

 

Given the actual auction, I think that partner has a good hand with probably 11+ cards in the majors. You don't pre-empt over a pre-empt, so partner is expecting to make opposite a little something from us. Partner has probably bid 8 of our points but I am bidding slam (probably 6NT).

[nullve]

First part: 3N

Second part: 4♠

[Cyberyeti]

On average you should be around game values, I'd bid 3N, it also depends on your opening style for 1 bids and whether you have a weak major 2 suiter opening bid (if you do he's prob showing clubs and a major if you don't play 4♣ as NLM).

[HardVector]

Badger has got it right. The diamonds look right for 3n, but where is the source of tricks? The clubs are too broken and the majors are short (unhelpful to partner). LHO is unpassed and may be sitting there with a nice hand dooming all the finesses to fail. I like being aggressive when it looks like 3n is the right place to play, but to me, it looks like 3d is the right spot.

[Cyberyeti]

Badger has got it right. The diamonds look right for 3n, but where is the source of tricks? The clubs are too broken and the majors are short (unhelpful to partner). LHO is unpassed and may be sitting there with a nice hand dooming all the finesses to fail. I like being aggressive when it looks like 3n is the right place to play, but to me, it looks like 3d is the right spot.

 

You really think partner is going to move with say 10xxx, Axxx, xx, Axx which is all you need to make 3N very likely, you're not getting particularly rich off 3♦ in 50s

[eagles123]

3N looks totally normal

[msjennifer]

3NT is what I shall try as I am an aggressive bidder.

[HardVector]

You really think partner is going to move with say 10xxx, Axxx, xx, Axx which is all you need to make 3N very likely, you're not getting particularly rich off 3♦ in 50s

I see 6 tricks. You need help for the other 3. I stand by my assessment, +50 is better than -50 or -100.

[Cyberyeti]

I see 6 tricks. You need help for the other 3. I stand by my assessment, +50 is better than -50 or -100.

 

Think where the cards are likely to be and what lead you're likely to get, almost certainly at least 1 spade, 2 if they lead one, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds and 4 clubs most of the time, add 10♣ if it removes a quibble.

[gszes]

pairs so no huge rush to force an iffy game opposite passed partner who rates to have less than we need to make said game. Partner also rates to very short in diamonds and can still balance.

 

Part 1 pass

 

part 2 4s since I have 2 honors + the ace there maybe giving us slightly better control of the trump suit.

[dsLawsd]

Pass in tempo and then 4 H. If only we play penalty doubles in this seat huh?

 

I could punish partner I bid 5 ♣ telling partner to either bid his better or longer major or with better suits and the ♣A consider bidding a slam.

 

Nice problem!

[mcphee]

3NT looks like a fine choice.

[Tramticket]

I am not 100% sure about vulnerability now, but I think we were red vs white. How would that influence the first decision, however?

 

If it is red vs white, then you would need to hold 3♦* to five tricks to out-score the vulnerable game. I think that it is clear to bid 3NT at this vulnerability. Swap the vulnerability (white vs red) and you will out-score the vulnerable game if you hold 3♦* to seven tricks (you will match the score for 3NT if you take 3♦ un-doubled off four). I think that it is a close decision at this vulnerability - is partner more likely than not to protect?

 

In my original response I think I missed that partner is a passed hand. it is difficult to picture a hand that passed on the first turn, but now forced to game. I am picturing perhaps ♠KQXXX ♥AXXXXX ♦- ♣XX (where the order of the major suits would have given partner a difficult choice of one-level opening). Slam is close but you probably want to settle for game (4♥).

[helgev]

Having 18 points, you pass 3 D's.

Now partner, who couldn't bid 1 M, bids 4 D's???

 

A) Did you think less then 10 minutes before you passed 3 d's?

B) Are you the tournament director?

[Tramticket]

Having 18 points, you pass 3 D's.

Now partner, who couldn't bid 1 M, bids 4 D's???

 

A) Did you think less then 10 minutes before you passed 3 d's?

B) Are you the tournament director?

 

Welcome to the forum Helgev. Great first post!

[nekthen]

Partner only has one available bid after passing and that is double. He has no idea how the missing points are divided. If he doubles and I bid 4♣, he can bid 4♦. Partner's 4♦ bid is suicidal (cos I will kill him myself afterwards!)

I will now go out on a limb and bid 4N and hope that he understands that I want him to pass!

[HardVector]

Everyone seems to be forgetting that LHO is an UNPASSED hand. I have had just about this same kind of hand at the table and I passed. Know what happened next? LHO bid 3n. Did I double that? No...and it only went down 1. That is a 4 trick difference in your expectations. I hate playing hands where I know that the majority of the defense is on my left and I'm sitting with a strong hand, it plays poorly. Pass and see if partner can balance.

[heart76]

Having 18 points, you pass 3 D's.

Now partner, who couldn't bid 1 M, bids 4 D's???

 

A) Did you think less then 10 minutes before you passed 3 d's?

Yes, of course. I did pass in tempo, a couple of seconds after the STOP card was removed.

 

B) Are you the tournament director?

No, everyone was: the hand was played in the evening during a TD course.

[heart76]

I will now go out on a limb and bid 4N and hope that he understands that I want him to pass!

 

That's what I did, bid 4nt hoping to make 10. But I thought 2-3 mins because it was not simple to see why partner would not X in the balancing position.

I actually placed him with a 5-5-0-3, so that IMO he also had the chance to remove to 5♣, where I hope to concede 1♣+1♠.

 

Unfortunately, I regretted the choice.

A 5503 would open with say 8 HCP, so he must be weaker. He needs to have something not biddable in 1st seat. We played multi, so he had passed with 10xxxx A9xxxxx / x, which makes 4♥.

The unfortunate thing is that the alternative I was considering was 4♥ since that would give value to Kx. 4♠ is down 1.

[Tramticket]

he had passed with 10xxxx A9xxxxx / x, which makes 4♥.

 

I think that your partner has done far too much. I would probably pass with his hand, or second choice is 3♥. Even with this shape, he doesn't have the values to force to game!

 

A simple 3NT over-call by you would have allowed you to comfortably reach 4♥.

[Tramticket]

Yes, of course. I did pass in tempo, a couple of seconds after the STOP card was removed.

 

This makes you partner's 4♦ protection even more crazy.

[mikeh]

First part: this looks to me like an easy 3N overcall. It comes with no guarantees but this is a bidder's game and we have a good playing hand. Sure, I may be sorry if LHO doubles, but he rates not to be able to do so. I'd bid 3N at imps, because the game bonus is too valuable to risk passing, and I bid 3N at pairs because the frequency of gain seems to me sufficient to offset the occasional disaster.

 

If I were to have passed, I would have done so in tempo. Consider the problem if you break tempo and pass (and I appreciate that you will have waited no matter what, due to the skip bid, so 'tempo' here is a relative term). Partner may not choose, from various LA options, any that was suggested by the BIT. Since he passed in first seat, it would be unusual for him to have a really clear non-pass action. Not impossible, but very unlikely, with the result being that your slow pass effectively bars him (actually, it is worse than barring him. If he takes action anyway, you get to keep that result if it is worse for you than passing would have been, and otherwise the auction is rolled back).

 

Having committed the pass, I now have to consider what to do over 4D. This is apparently not a regular partnership, so I don't have any clues as to how light he might be to open 1M with extreme shape. Could he have, as one example, KQxxx Axxxxx x x? I could...I would not open that hand, but devotees of such things as the Rule of 20 probably would.

 

How about KQxxxx QJxxxx void x? I'd pass with no concerns because, imo, this sort of hand is best shown by passing and then showing a 2-suiter, which warns partner that I don't have the defence that, imo, an opening bid should imply.

 

Bearing all this in mind, we are playing in a major. The idea of playing in notrump is silly. He won't usually have the entries to establish his suits and run them, since we have no length in either suit. And he will be short in both minors....if we play in notrump, we will probably be playing out of our hand a lot.

 

I'd like to be sure of finding our 8 card fit: I think that there is an excellent chance that he has some 6-5 major hand, and might be 6-6. If the latter, then either guess likely works, but if the former, then the 6-2 is likely to be superior to the 5-2.

 

However, I don't think I am quite strong enough to bid 5♦. RHO is unlikely to lead diamonds when his partner fails to double 5D, and so will lead clubs, which is not going to be best for us. I think I bid 4H.

 

Why hearts?

 

Partner will probably pass some 5=6 hands where, were the majors reversed, he'd open 1♠. If he opens light 1♠ he can rebid hearts twice and I'd know 10 of his cards. If he opens light with 1H, he may never get to bid his spades, and we may miss a 5-3 spade fit. Hence a good player will tend to have longer hearts than spades on this auction, rather than longer spades.

 

I may miss slam. Indeed, I may well take 12 tricks from my side when 10 or 11 would be the limit from his side. Picture KQ10xx QJ10xxx void xx on a diamond lead....whereas, as noted above, if I cuebid, RHO should hear the non-double and lead a club.

[eagles123]

Partner only has one available bid after passing and that is double. He has no idea how the missing points are divided. If he doubles and I bid 4♣, he can bid 4♦. Partner's 4♦ bid is suicidal (cos I will kill him myself afterwards!)

I will now go out on a limb and bid 4N and hope that he understands that I want him to pass!

 

what a load of rubbish