Freak of the week

[luis]

Hi, I'm not very fond of posting freak hands but since this forum is not very active lately let's go with one:

 

You have:

7, KJ987642, AKQ2, -

 

And the auction is:

 

LHO Pd RHO You

2s p 4s ?

 

2s is a weak two, none vulnerable, IMPs, teams match.

[inquiry]

These hands are always a quess, 5H, 6H, 7H?. The best way to guess, however, is to invite partner's participation.

 

I play double as takeout, but here I will not double. The danger of partner making a less than happy penalty pass is too great when holding such a freak. So that leaves three bids in my mind...

 

5H (seems obvious but not my bid)

6H (bidding what you hope to make may be even better)

4NT (my bid). Mistakenly typed 5NT, Karl pointed out the error below, so I edited the text

 

The choice between 5H and 6H is close. Who knows, if you bid slam confidently, they might bid 6S where a lightner double gets you a club ruff and a couple of diamonds at a minimum. However, my choice is 4NT, showing, in theory a two suiter. Partner will bid his cheapest biddable suit at the five level (three cards will qualify). Over his 5C (his most likely bid), I will bid 5 hearts. Over 5C, with an alleged two suiter in my hand, he would have expected me to rebid 5D (pickem). Here the meaning of 5H is clear. I have a hand too good for an immediate 5H, not good enough for 6H. Of course he will not know how to evaluate a hand with three little hearts and the club AKQ, but such is life.

 

On the otherhand if partner were to bid 5D (highly unlikely given my void). I would take a shot at 6H or 6D. Can partner really be short in diamonds (only 3 or 4) when he bypasses 5C on this auction? For that matter if he has at most 2 clubs, can he be short in hearts too?

 

Ben

[pbleighton]

5H - seems obvious and is my bid. The hand isn't strong enough for a direct 6H.

 

Ben's false 5NT is ingenious, and may be the best, but since I NEVER would have thought of it, 5H is my bid.

 

Peter

[mink]

Ben obviously intended to bid 4nt, not 5nt. I agree with the bids and his arguments.

 

Karl

[flytoox]

I agree with peter, 5H will be my choice. Pd wont have mucn since he is very like hold long club suit. otherwise he would overcall 3c. I will be very happy if 5H makes.

[Cascade]

These hands are always a quess, 5H, 6H, 7H?. The best way to guess, however, is to invite partner's participation.

 

I play double as takeout, but here I will not double. The danger of partner making a less than happy penalty pass is too great when holding such a freak. So that leaves three bids in my mind...

 

5H (seems obvious but not my bid)

6H (bidding what you hope to make may be even better)

4NT (my bid). Mistakenly typed 5NT, Karl pointed out the error below, so I edited the text

 

The choice between 5H and 6H is close. Who knows, if you bid slam confidently, they might bid 6S where a lightner double gets you a club ruff and a couple of diamonds at a minimum. However, my choice is 4NT, showing, in theory a two suiter. Partner will bid his cheapest biddable suit at the five level (three cards will qualify). Over his 5C (his most likely bid), I will bid 5 hearts. Over 5C, with an alleged two suiter in my hand, he would have expected me to rebid 5D (pickem). Here the meaning of 5H is clear. I have a hand too good for an immediate 5H, not good enough for 6H. Of course he will not know how to evaluate a hand with three little hearts and the club AKQ, but such is life.

 

On the otherhand if partner were to bid 5D (highly unlikely given my void). I would take a shot at 6H or 6D. Can partner really be short in diamonds (only 3 or 4) when he bypasses 5C on this auction? For that matter if he has at most 2 clubs, can he be short in hearts too?

 

Ben

 

I always hope to make a slam but I don't expect to make with this hand.

 

There are three key cards that I am missing SA and HAQ I don't expect partner to have two of them so I think 5H is clearly the value bid here.

 

I like 4NT then 5H that is clever :-)

 

Wayne Burrows

[sartaj1]

The flaw with the 4NT plan is that RHO might bid 5S

over partner's 5 of a minor call.

 

I'd rather bid 5 hearts now . The singleton in the opponent's suit is a bad omen.

[luis]

My thought was that with the hA I was cold for 6h and with the sA It was on a finesse. So I jumped to 6h.

Pd held an ace but it was the cA :-(, AQ of hearts were onside pd held Tx. They lead a spade and switched to a club so I was able to reach dummy and play the h finesse for down 1 and no swing since 5h can't be made and was played at the other table....

So if you bid 5h congratulations and the 4nt bid was very cool but as Sartaj said if pd bids 5c and RHO bids 5s you never showed an 8-card suit.... Remember if pd has the hA you are almost cold in 6h.

[the hog]

5H looks best. You need more to make 5C than 5H as you will have to set up H anyway. Also 5C leaves you open to the possibility of a H ruff. Bidding 6 is a pure punt for 3 reasons and you would only do it if you were behind in the match.

 

1) Even IF partner has the A of H, it may well be stiff leavng you with a likely H and a S to lose. (Let alone the deep C)

 

2) Partner MAY be able to raise your 5H bid to 6. This is unlikely but not impossible.

 

3) Who says the bidding will go this way in the other room and who says they will bid 6?