[lenze]

Last match of a sectional Swiss team. Winner takes all

Both VUL
East deals and opens 2 Spades
You, as South, hold

S – Q
H – KJ642
D – Void
C – KQT8753

What do you bid and how do you proceed? Also, how high will you bid? This hand will determine the winner.

[hrothgar]

No defense and only four losers

With 7-5 shape, the hand is likely to play much better in clubs than hearts.
Accordingly, I am not willing to bid an immediate 4C (this normally shows Clubs and Hearts)

I'm going to bid 3C
I intend to reverse into 5H over 4S. This should do a good job describing my hand type.

[luis]

4c leaping michaels is my choice. Seems to be the most descriptive bid I have here.
Then it depends on the situation at my next turn.

[irg20]

I guess I'll go along with 4C as leaping Michaels (at least 5-5 in C-H and forcing) if I have this club in my bag.

Should the eventuality arise I'll be bidding 5C over opponents 4S which seems to be an adequate description of my hand shape.

The danger of bidding this way is that partner might expect a significantly better hand (the absence of aces is far from encouraging as is the lack of texture in the heart suit) and might either double a making 5S contract or proceed to a hopeless slam.

If this 4C isn't available I might just pass and see what happens (perhaps coming in over 4S with 4NT).

Ian

[inquiry]

Easy. 4 CLubs leaping micheals.

[lenze]

Thanks for the replies:
OK: Suppose you make a leaping Michaels and West bids 4 Spades and partner bids 5 Hearts. East and you both pass. West now bids 5 Spades and partner doubles. East passes, your call?

[Codo]

Hi all,

being a fan of leaping michaels, this still is a 3 club bid.
I do have extra values, but I do not have many high card points.
In my world, leaping michales promises both.
I will rebid x heart later and guess that my pd will get the message.

But honestly, I would prefer to have another hand and solve another problem.

Kind Regards

Roland

[Codo]

Okay, so I missed it and bid 4 club.
Great things happen: Just what I wanted to avoid, my pd doubled and he has no idea about my missing defensive strength.
He suspects more from me then my zero defence hand.
Now, I have to make the last guess.
Okay, what do I know: They have a huge fit and we have a huge fit. Our fit may be even bigger then anybody believes, so I take out his double and bid 6 Heart. For a second I thougth about 6 Diamond as lead directing (if they bid again) but I will lead anyway, so table the cards and get some beers from the bar. Your pd will glady pay if your descission was lucky. Else, this is the last you can do.

Kind Regards

Roland

[inquiry]

(2S)-4C-(4S)-5H
(5S)-Dbl-(P)-? ? ?

Solid rule to live by. BID one more on freaks. This 7-5-1-0 hand qualifies. If partner had not doubled 5S, I would have bid 6C or 6H over 5S for sure. Partner has complicated my decision with his double of 5S.

Assume partner is a player, I have to assume that he a) doesn't fit well for clubs, and is looking at excellent diamonds cards. Expect him to lead a trump, and continue trumps on defense when he gets in with a heart or diamond winner.

I expect partner to hold something like...
S-xxx H-AQxxx D-KQT9x C-x.

So as much as I want to bid, I don't believe I can veto his opinion here. A pass by him should be forcing, I think, given his vulnerable 5H bid. So, again, his double has to be good diamonds. Nothing else makes sense. If he held, S-Axx H-AQxxx D-Kxxx C-x he should pass the decision back to me, and I would have known what to bid.

Ben

PS to Roland... many of us play "liberal leaping michaels" aka article by the same name in Bridge World from the 70's. I have only gone for one four digit double since then using this, and have many, many very good results. Of course, you sometimes get problems like this one, but if partner takes into account the possibility you could be light (and given the bidding he must), you can land on your feet.

[lenze]

I agree with Codo, that although leaping Michaels is tempting, this is a 3 Club call, which is the bid I made. West bid 3 Spades, passed back to me. I bid 4 Hearts. West bid 4 Spades, and partner bid 5 Hearts, passed to West, who now won the match by bidding 5 Spades, doubled by partner. Our max was making 5, for plus 650 (the result at the other table). We could only beat 5 Spades 2 tricks for plus 500, a 4 IMP difference. We lost the match by 3 IMPs. What a bummer.

[Codo]

Hi lenze,

If you took your 500, you four reached par score at this difficult hand! Congratulations. But then, you lost the match at the other table, where your pds did not find the sacrifice, or in other boards.

Kind Regards

Roland

[the hog]

I would bid 4C Leaping Michaels. While I agree that this hand is not ideal, I believe that shape is all. To bid C, hiding the H suit just makes life too difficult if the bidding comes back to you at 4S. If you now bid 5H, you are forcing your side to the 6 level if you have no H fit. Do you really want to do this?

Irg20 argues that pd might expect a better hand - no Aces here. Maybe, however the extra shape compensates.