[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     Pass  Pass  4♠
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

just wonder I think itis (or seems to be) common practice to open 4 level with 8 of a suit and also some one said 7/4 you should open at 4 level or game if it is a major,

can I have comments on my judgement here please

[mike777]

Prefer 2s=around 10-14 in 4 seat but it seems almost no one plays this on BBO and I always thought this was standard .

You ran into a bit of bad luck your 4s bid here, your pard did not open a weak 2d bid in first seat for some reason. This could have run into a better hand for you. .

[pclayton]

Sorry - how is 5♥ making? 4♥ is gin, and 4♠ is cheap, especially when they don't double.

[Blofeld]

4♠ is rather pushy, even for 3rd seat. People have a habit of doubling 4♠. I'd be much more likely to bid 4♥ here with the majors switched.

[han]

Once again, I would like the 4S bid if the colors were reversed.

[Blofeld]

Oops, I didn't notice the colours. Thought it was nobody vulnerable, for some reason. Agree with Han (and I would bid 4♥ at equal vulnerability with the majors swapped, but not at unfavourable).

[pbleighton]

1S. You have a good hand and the boss suit.

If you want to preempt with hands that the field is not preempting with, do it with bad hands, not good ones.

And try to do it when you're not vulnerable

Peter

[ochinko]

I remember one of the viewgraph comentators: "Took me 20 years to learn never to open 4♠"

Petko

[helene_t]

4♠ shouldn't make. It's just because East misdefended and cached ♠A to avoid a heart ruff in the dummy. East was me of course (maybe I'll regret that I told you this )

[inquiry]

helene_t, on Sep 20 2005, 04:21 AM, said:

4♠ shouldn't make. It's just because East misdefended and cached ♠A to avoid a heart ruff in the dummy. East was me of course (maybe I'll regret that I told you this )

I wouldn't worry too much about letting this one make. It looks at first as if declearer can always make guesses the ♠Ten correctly and hooks on the second round of spades. But, it turns out, it looks like you can prevent a lucky second round guess with the ackward looking ruff-and-sluff defense. That is, the way to beat this seems to be lead two rounds of hearts. If declarer ruffs in dummy, he can't guess ♠ correctly (losing 2♠, 1♥, 1[di[). If he ruffs in his hand (down to five trumps), he still has to knock out the [di]A and the ♠ ace. Further ruff-and-sluff defense will be ackward for him (he needs 1♦ trick to go with 5♠ and 4♣, if you force him to ruff a ♥ each time you get in, he runs out of trumps.....

So he will lose control.... Maybe a SEVEN Card suit for opening at the four level isn't a bad idea after all.

[mikeh]

I used to really dislike 4♠ openings with hands like these. I still prefer 1♠ on this one, but I once lost a major event because I opened 1♠ in 3rd, all red, with AKQ9xx x QJ98xx void.

At the other table, my counterpart opened 4♠.

One hand proves nothing, but I got nailed when I competed to 3♦ in a competitive auction (RHO and I would have been laydown for slam in either suit) while at the other table, LHO overcalled (as would we all) 5♥. Both my partner nad LHO had a round 2-suiter, so 5♥ was not a success. -500 at each table turned out to be precisely the margin of defeat.

The hands are not very much alike, but the 4♠ bid has more going for it than I suspect most purists think: it is the type of pragmatic bid that can be tough to play against.

[Al_U_Card]

mike777, on Sep 19 2005, 12:54 PM, said:

Prefer 2s=around 10-14 in 4 seat but it seems almost no one plays this on BBO and I always thought this was standard .

That seems a bit more like 1m-p-p-2M (altho i play it more like 14-16)

While I like to screw around in 3rd seat when necessary (the older I get the more conservative.... ) This hand looks like pard may have defense against H so why jack the bidding unnecessarily? 1S seems right and is MUCH less encumbering on pard especially with all the passed hand bidding tools over a major....

[luis]

Love the 4♠ bid, nothing wrong with it.
It puts a lot of pressure in the opponents.

[the hog]

This is a 1S opening; its too easy to be forced and lose control. Give me a 7th S and I'll open it 4.

[whereagles]

That's funny. I would open 2♠. Ron opens 1♠. Luis 4♠... Isn't bridge wonderful?

[han]

The 6-6 hand that mikeh gives (AKQ9xx x QJ98xx -) is entirely different than this one. You would expect to make 4S much more often than with the hand given in this thread, and the opponents are much more likely to have a game too.

[han]

Somebody tell the 2S openers that we are in 3rd seat, not 4th. (at least that's what Mike777 gave as reason, perhaps wereagles was thinking this too)

[whereagles]

I know we're in 3rd seat What's the problem of opening 2♠? I mean.. random doesn't mean always 3-4 points. You can also have a 13-14 hcp opening in 3rd seat, no?

[luis]

whereagles, on Sep 20 2005, 10:29 PM, said:

That's funny. I would open 2♠. Ron opens 1♠. Luis 4♠... Isn't bridge wonderful?

I didn't say I would open 4♠ I said that I loved the 4♠ opening.
At the table with this kind of hand I might open 1,2,3 or 4 spades depending on the state of the match, pd, opponents, weather conditions etc.
The important thing to me is that when pd has 6 or 7 spades if he opens 4♠ I will never be complaining. Sometimes something bad for us can happen but many times the pressure makes them do something silly and I like it when my pd is trying to induce mistakes.

Luis