[luckyloser]

pairs, both green. lho opens 2h (normal w2), p dbles and rho raises to 3h. after two passes p dbles again. rho passes, what do you bid?

Qxx
Qx
Qxxx
JTxx

to my mind you have at least 4 reasonable choices: pass, 3s, 4c, 4d
one choice is very good, one good, one unlucky and one bad... which is which?

[whereagles]

multiquiz!!! love it

vgood: pick the right minor
good: 3S
unlucky: pick the wrong minor
bad: pass

[luckyloser]

whereagles, on 2014-July-25, 02:08, said:

multiquiz!!! love it

vgood: pick the right minor
good: 3S
unlucky: pick the wrong minor
bad: pass

not quite... but, anyway, what do you bid?

[Mbodell]

Pass! If we are making something, they are nearly certainly going down. We rate to have the balance of the points, but at most a 9 card minor fit, I pass and hope to set them.

Btw, 3nt is as reasonable as some of your choices. You can xx if doubled and play in the right minor and 50 a trick isn't so bad if they are making 3h. But I don't think they are, so I pass.

[aguahombre]

whereagles, on 2014-July-25, 02:08, said:

multiquiz!!! love it

vgood: pick the right minor
good: 3S
unlucky: pick the wrong minor
bad: pass

This is one of many OBAR situations where I am willing to give up a natural NT, even 3NT. So, Partner will be picking the right minor. "vgood" or not so good on this particular hand remains to be seen.

[helene_t]

We recently had a thread in which PhilKing advocated a scrambling 3NT. But that was after a raise of a 1M opening, after which we are a lot less likely to be able to make 3NT. I strongly believe 3NT should be to play here.

[whereagles]

luckyloser, on 2014-July-25, 02:17, said:

not quite... but, anyway, what do you bid?

4♣. Slightly stronger minor, gives pard a chance to pull to 4♦ if he believes in ELC.

[Mbodell]

helene_t, on 2014-July-25, 06:58, said:

We recently had a thread in which PhilKing advocated a scrambling 3NT. But that was after a raise of a 1M opening, after which we are a lot less likely to be able to make 3NT. I strongly believe 3NT should be to play here.

To be clear, I was suggesting 3nt as a choice on par with some of the others (I.e., not a great choice, but in the discussion of choices), as to play, which it clearly is - unless doubled where you then run. Qx might be a stopper (the opponents ducked to my Qx in the finals of an event in this nationals),might combine with stiff K as a stopper, and might cause a nonheart lead to lead through our potentially positional stopper.

[whereagles]

Scrambling 3NT here is a good way to frequently end up saying "preempts work".

[the hog]

whereagles, on 2014-July-25, 08:10, said:

4♣. Slightly stronger minor, gives pard a chance to pull to 4♦ if he believes in ELC.

I agree with this. Pass is by far the worst bid in my opinion.

[PhilKing]

3NT is natural here because we have a great chance of shutting out the hearts if we have Axx.

On the actual hand, I try 3♠, because I am lousy at guessing which minor to bid. I expect it to play pretty well, and 4♠ may be difficult to defend.

[msjennifer]

3 spade to keep the level low.

[razorsharp]

I'm all for 3S here - not a diaster (yet). PhilKing says it all 4 me.


Pray tell us what bid crushed our poor LuckyLoser this time??

[lrussell]

Pass. I judge the odds of getting a plus score defending 3♥-X is greater than the odds of getting a plus playing 3♠ or 4♣.

[iandayre]

I can't imagine Pass. Give Opener 7 HCP and you have 7. Give partner 18 (with a stiff H) for his second double. Dummy has 8, good for at least 2 tricks behind partner, maybe 3 on top of their 6 trump tricks.

So to be consistent, eliminate 3S since dummy will be tapped at T2.
I see no merit to 4D over 4C, so 4C unless playing Dave's suggestion of 3NT for minor takeout, which I would prefer. They get one H and the same 2 tricks from RHO they would have gotten in 3H, so making 4!