Do you open?

[AL78]

♠QT

♥854

♦AJT965

♣72

 

Playing 5CM, strong NT, weak twos in majors only (2♣/♦ are Benji Acol style), MPs, green against red, you are dealer. Do you pre-empt or pass?

[mw64ahw]

Worth a pre-empt with 5+ playing tricks green vs Red

[LBengtsson]

Its only one board. and it depends who your partner is? and how the match point session has gone up to now? an ace is usually a good card for defense. 6322 shape is not the best. make the shape 1♠3♥6♦3♣ and I would feel a lot better opening 3♦ but....

 

....sound advice say never pre-empt your partner however would partner expect anything more than what you have? I look at this and say that 2 opps. have to deal with your pre-empt. it takes away a lot of bidding space. so on the balance of things, with a decent 6 card suit I would bid 3♦. that will make the opps. life difficult, especialy at green/red.

[mikeh]

Partnership style dictates one’s actions here.

 

If partner expects more than this for a favourable vul 1st seat 3D, then pass.

 

In one of my partnerships, I think this is just a little too light in playing strength, so I’d pass. In the other, this is an extra values 3D….we do it on far less at favourable, 1st seat, so I would open, hoping we don’t miss 3N when he plays me for less🙂

 

There’s no right or wrong per se, but making a call that doesn’t meet partnership expectations is never a good idea….even if it works this time, it shows seeds of doubt for the next dozen preempts

[Winstonm]

Like Mikeh states, this is a partnership style question, but another question is: what should a partnership's style be first seat NV vs Vul. An argument I agree with is that in first seat there are two opponents to interfere with but only one partner, so one should pre-empt more freely in first seat. I like modifying the standard idea to 4-2-1 depending on vulnerability, so I would advise that the partnership should adopt the idea of a preempt at the 3-level first seat NV v Vul with a 5-trick hand.

[mw64ahw]

Generally I play

FV 5+ PT

EV 6+ PT

UV 7+ PT

These would be 7+ card suits except for Clubs where 6+ is OK. If I have the choice of a Weak2 versus a 3 level preempt then the 3 level attempt attracts the weaker hands. I roll the Weak2♦ into a Multi2♣

[AL78]

This is what happened:

 

[hv=pc=n&s=sk8542ha2dq432c65&w=sj9hkjt93dk8caq94&n=sqth854dajt965c72&e=sa763hq76d7ckjt83&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=ppp1h3dd5dppp&p=sas2s9sth6hah3h4d2d8djd7dac8d3dksqs3s4sjd5c3dqc9skh9c2s6s8c4c7s7s5hth5]399|300[/hv]

 

This was the last board of the evening and it had been mixed overall, mainly because there were only four tables and a two winner Mitchell (club COVID safety rules) so with a high variance in standard, randomness was higher than normal (and it is quite high at this club normally). After some thought I decided to pass, I lean towards having a classic 3-level pre-empt in 1st and 2nd seat, although when partner also passed I decided to throw in a weak jump overcall, which partner upped to 5♦. I was surprised not to get doubled until I had experienced East's defence, who seemed to assist me in taking as many tricks as possible. 5♦= was a top.

[DavidKok]

On rare occasion it is right to pass first and preempt on the second round, but this hand does not qualify. If your partnership allows opening 3♦ at this position and vulnerability I would have done that, and if not I think passing the second time is wise.

[nige1]

[hv=d=W&v=N&w=SQTH854DAJT965C72]200|200| AL78 'Playing 5CM, strong NT, weak twos in majors only (2♣/♦ are Benji Acol style), MPs, green against red, you are dealer. Do you pre-empt or pass?'

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

Close matter of judgement but I rank ...

1. 3♦ = PRE. Overbid, short in ♦ but lead-directional and good intermediates.

2. Pass = NAT.

3. 1♦ = NAT. Might work, intending to pass later.

4. Other psyches. Too dangerous for me. [/hv]

[johnu]

I don't remember ever getting a bad result by preempting 3♦ with that sort of hand.

 

I don't mean that I never got a bad result, just that I have a short memory. On the other hand, I don't remember ever getting a good result by passing and then preempting with that sort of hand.