[wanoff]

GrahamJson, on 2015-January-25, 07:38, said:

If partner is a random BBO player whose game you don't know I reckon he will have something like KJxxx in spades and is one of those who just likes to make a noise.

N/S are a regular partnership of county standard, E/W - a fair bit stronger.

[PhilKing]

wanoff, on 2015-January-25, 09:08, said:

N/S are a regular partnership of county standard, E/W - a fair bit stronger.

OK, then I guess East has come up with some sort of really weird psych to stop the spade lead against 3NT and pard has made a lead director.

---

That, or South has pulled the wrong card. Occam's Razor suggests that the simplest explantion is that pard needs new glasses.

[Lord Molyb]

whereagles, on 2015-January-25, 07:10, said:

If your point is "this auction is impossible", well... it happened at table

This auction is impossible so I pass.

[wanoff]

PhilKing, on 2015-January-25, 10:13, said:

OK, then I guess East has come up with some sort of really weird psych to stop the spade lead against 3NT and pard has made a lead director.

Spot on and well done to all that got it.
We went for -800 in 3♣ against nothing, the lead directing double not being well received by teammates.

The full hand,

---

[wzd3]

wanoff, on 2015-January-25, 11:25, said:

Spot on and well done to all that got it.
We went for -800 in 3♣ against nothing, the lead directing double not being well received by teammates.

I've been reading Mike Lawrence's book on takeout doubles, and since this seem strange to me, decided to take a look for it. He actually had a section on doubles over reverses and strong jump shifts. The summary is that it's unusual and rare, is usually a poor bid, and has to be of the lead directing/penalty variety.

[jdgalt]

I'm with PhilKing. Pard wants a spade lead against NT.

[diana_eva]

PhilKing, on 2015-January-25, 10:13, said:

OK, then I guess East has come up with some sort of really weird psych to stop the spade lead against 3NT and pard has made a lead director.

---

Gosh you're good! Would you have worked it out at the table, given all the info OP had?

[aguahombre]

Next time South will have grown a pair of huevos, and wait to Double 3NT for the Spade lead.

The double of 2S can have two effects, both not good. A generated minus number as in the OP case, or a warning against 3NT.

Of course, if opener was not clowning, the double either now or later will be ugly.

[Fluffy]

Double 3NT with KJ109x and out? where are our tricks? doubling 2♠ is not safe either though.

[whereagles]

come on, even if it's a make, no one leaves it at 2♠X

[mark3]

Very hard decision to make without an inkling of South's Bridge Ability. All things being equal, South should have no more than 6 HCP. I find it hard to fathom South's distribution to be some variation of 1-2-5-5. He did not try 2n originally and West's failure to support and failure to bid 1S suggest at least 8 cards in the minors. One possibility might be a massive 5/6 or 6/5 hand by opener with sketchy reverse count.
West must have a couple of spades anyway on the bidding which does not reveal the likely hood of a spade stack in south.
I think the most likely scenario is that East has opened a very distributional hand with less than reverse count. South has a good 4 card Spade suit which his bidding style precludes him from showing at his first turn. South thinks that N/S may be on the way to game and is suggesting a defensive plan. West's pass of the double clouds this reasoning somewhat, but assuming I was able to make all these deductions in a timely manner, I would pass.