Posted 2020-September-18, 16:46
Beware of self-proclaimed BBO experts😀
If these players were actually experts, then either south understood, perhaps from previous experience, that the double was negative or he screwed up, in a big way, by not asking the meanin* of double before bidding over 3C.
If double was penalty, then 3D shows a death wish....for self and hapless partner. Even if partner has some diamonds, they’re leading trump against 3D x’d.
So let’s assume, as would be case in almost all real expert games, that the double was negative, usually played as showing ownership,of th3 hand, tho not in and of itself forcing to game.
What are we to make of the 2S bid?
There aren’t enough points in the deck for partner to be showing a good 3H raise based on hcp, but maybe he has medium hcp but good shape, .and I’d expect him to have other ways to do that anyway. For example, 2N ostensibly asks for the minor, but followed by 3H is commonly played as invitational in hearts. An immediate 3H would, playing that method, be competitive.
In any event, we are void in spades and opener may well have only 2 or 3, so partner should, imo, have 6 or 7 spades, probably with very good texture’ since he knows rho has 4 and LHO at least 3.
I infer further that he fears a conversion of the double by opener, so he will have at most 2 hearts and may well be very short. Equally, he is not thrilled about competing to 3m, preferring to try to play 2S opposite my probable stiff or void.
So something like KQ1098xx x Jxx xx
Put another way, even if you (understandably) don’t like the idea of constructing hands, how would you bid this hand on the auction?
I think you can safely infer that I really do not like the 3D call.
Of course, I’m reading a lot into the meaning of the double. But no expert, sitting N-S, would bid without knowing or finding out what double showed.
If, for example, it showed 5+ spades (not a treatment I’ve ever seen used by good players but I know, from posts on this site, that some players use it this way, then I’d change my mind, and take 2S as showing a constructive heart hand. Now, as east, I’d bid 3D to encourage partner, knowing that he’d always take me back to hearts
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari
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I guess .. West's double = NEG "values", willing to contest the partscore.
North's 2♠ = NAT short ♥, 5+ ♠.
Easts 3♣ = NAT Probably 6+ ♣s.
Hence, over East's 3♣, I rank:
1. 3♦ = NAT "Come alive"? or "Death Wish III"? It seems "Into the Valley of Death" is the judgement of BBO experts
2. Pass = NAT but timid: especially as it's common to overcall on 4-5 shapes, on BBO.