QUANDARY

[msjennifer]

BOARD 19.[hv=pc=n&n=sa76hadq874cakj42&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=3s]133|200[/hv]

[sfi]

Hamman's rule to the rescue.

[FelicityR]

Hamman's rule to the rescue.

 

If you are going to grit you teeth (or grip your dentures :)) and get involved, there's only bid I would consider, 3NT. Passing here is just completely non-committal. Doubling is plain silly (5-1 fit in ♥s at the 4 level anyone?)

[Cyberyeti]

Hamman's rule to the rescue.

 

I think you have to, wouldn't surprise me if you've just missed a grand, but I don't see any alternative

[pilowsky]

Since you like cricket, I'll put it this way, since the bid is 3♠ I'm betting West is weak with 7♠.

I can count 7 tricks in my hand with a ♠ stopper.

I would rather hit it for 6 and hope for 2 tricks from my partner, than play with a straight bat and double - especially since my partner might fumble the catch in the outfield.

 

So 3NT for me.

 

Hopefully, it doesn't hit a child in the stands who'll end up on the paediatric ward.

[nige1]

[hv=pc=n&n=sa76hadq874cakj42&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=3s]133|200| MsJennifer's quandary

+++++++++++++++++++

Agree with SCIFI, Hamman, and co. I rank

1. 3NT = NAT Practical guess.

2. Pass = NAT Partner might protect, once in a blue moon.

3. 5♣ = NAT but needs 2 more tricks.

4. 4♠ = ART ms. Partner can reply 4N with equal length.

5. 4NT = ART ms. Risks playing in a 4-2 fit.

6. If you play Non-leaping Michaels then you shouldn't bid 4♣, showing ♣ and ♥.[/hv]

[Stephen Tu]

Guess my vision is going, last night when I first voted I thought it was a 3♣ opening and passed. Wish the hand diagram tool on the forum used the 4 colors and made the spades blue and clubs green like when just typing the symbol in posts.

[Huibertus]

Not convinced Hamman's rule applies.

 

• 
   
  
• Given the vulnerability expect 1 spade stopper, EW to clear ♠ and W to get in with diamonds, also clubs may not run even if you have an entry for a finess.
  
• Also expect partner will correct to 4♥ with long and poor ♥ which will be down if he does that.
  
• If partners ♥ are good enough for 4 ♥ he'll pass 3NT expecting to provide ♥ tricks and may not have an entry.
  
• Bidding may not be over, East might bid 4♠ which is likely down.
  
• And if E does not bid 4♠, then 3♠ may also be down enough, in that case partner will not protect holding too many ♠, but hey, it's 100 a trick.
  

 

So I would pass.

[TMorris]

There is no quandary. 3nt is clear.

[akwoo]

Bidding may not be over, East might bid 4♠ which is likely down.

 

East is more likely to bid 4♠ if you bid 3N than if you pass.

[mcphee]

3N seems like a logical choice. I do not expect partner to bid 4!H unless they want another partner.

[Huibertus]

3N seems like a logical choice. I do not expect partner to bid 4!H unless they want another partner.

 

A lot of yarbouroughs with a 7 card hard would give 4♥ a chance to make, provided you have a real balanced hand (AX+ of hearts) where 3NT does not have any chance and if it doesn't make, it will be less downtricks then 3NT. It's standard practise to bid 4♥ and hand types like that. However, when partner has a singleton Ace, on hands like that you'll have no chance at all, may go down the same number or more, and will get doubled more often...

[MinorKid]

One way to deal with this is to assume Preemptor has 8 points and average out the remaining HCPs between your partner and his partner. In this case you can assume your partner to have an average of 7 points. 18+7=25 a game it is ... around half the time. I think passing here easily ends the bidding as even partner having to hold 12 points facing (3♠)-P-P-? he ends it using the same calculations.

[mikeh]

I am far too scared of pass to be able to make that call. 3N is obvious, and if I were to be told that my LHO doubled with x KQJ10 AKJ10 Q10xx, I'd still believe 3N was obvious. I'd wish I'd forgotten how to bid, mind you.

 

Now, it helps to play methods over 3N, since it is a bid one makes with a wide range of hands. We might have a balanced 18 (which, btw, I would see as the closest match to this hand) or a balanced 21, or a source of tricks: with Ax Kx Qx AKQJxxx, what else is there other than 3N?

 

so most expert partnerships have methods, often using 4C by advancer to ask 'what kind of hand do you have'...note this is not stayman.

 

Since the bid will often be on a running suit, partner should not 'correct' to hearts unless he can play opposite a stiff. This sometimes means one plays 3N with a 9 card heart fit, but in my (long) experience this is, even when it happens, usually a break-even proposition in the long run (bearing in mind that as a primarily imp player I don't get worked up over 600 v 620, etc)