[Winstonm]

Scoring: IMP

Auction:

W N E S
P P 4♥ ?

Now what? Rate the percentages of these actions.

Pass. Good result: %?
4S: Good result: %
Other: Good result: %

---

[Al_U_Card]

If other is a double then count me in. 4S is too one sided, as I like game in either black suit with pard holding 4 crds in the suit and 10 hcp give or take.

[mikeh]

4♠ is the kind of bid that should only be made by young players with a strong constitution and an understanding partner. It may work: but the downsides do not stop with getting doubled (if you are doubled, forget about 790: just pray it is no worse than 500). LHO is quite likely to bid 5♥, and then partner, that babe-in-the-woods, will bid 5♠ and NOW you get doubled by the heavy 4♥ opener

I like 4♠, I really do, but I wouldn't bid it.

Question for those who do: how fast does the double need to be for you to run to 5♣?

As for the posted question:

passing: good result (anything above average to top...maybe they missed an easy slam with lho having a marginal opening bid) 33%

4♠: good result: 33%

Other: can't think of any other call.

So the deciding factor for me is bad result expectations:

passing: 33%

4♠: 67%

I do not think that bidding 4♠ would be common (although I suspect that many players will not face this problem: someone at the table could certainly have made a different 1st call given my hand). 4♠ here is playing for tops and bottoms.

[han]

I won't give percentages, but I prefer 4S over pass, and I prefer pass over double by a lot.

[Walddk]

In a borderline case at IMPs I normally prefer to run the active risk (bid) rather than the passive one (pass). I am not proud of it, but I would bid 4♠. Double is not an alternative to me. I am not particularly thrilled with pass or 5♦ from partner.

Pass may very well be the winning bid, but it's too wimpish to my liking. If you never go for 800 or 1100, you don't bid enough. If LHO had been an unpassed hand, I would tilt towards pass.

Roland

[Walddk]

MikeH is a wimp; no wonder we are not scared at all for being at war with Canada

Roland

[Winstonm]

Walddk, on Oct 19 2005, 11:38 AM, said:

MikeH is a wimp; no wonder we are not scared at all for being at way with Canada 

Roland

Not only that, but seems an old wimp as well.

Winston

[mikeh]

I used to ride motorcycles until I had a (losing) argument with a pickup truck. This situation reminds me of a truism amongst motorcyclists: there are old motorcyclists and there are bold motorcyclists, but there are no old, bold motorcyclists.

I was also once a member of an imp team, in our local imp league, called 'The Wimps'. Despite (or because) of our name, we used to win all the time

So being an old, formerly bold, wimp is okay with me!

BTW, Roland, Canada has some brand-new (okay, new-to-us) submarines:))))

Now, if we could only get them to actually work, we'd be in good shape (apparently they are good at submerging, but find that surfacing is more problematic)


Finally, Roland, we have a truce!!! Remember?

[Winstonm]

mikeh, on Oct 19 2005, 11:53 AM, said:

I used to ride motorcycles until I had a (losing) argument with a pickup truck. This situation reminds me of a truism amongst motorcyclists: there are old motorcyclists and there are bold motorcyclists, but there are no old, bold motorcyclists.

I was also once a member of an imp team, in our local imp league, called 'The Wimps'.  Despite (or because) of our name, we used to win all the time

So being an old, formerly bold, wimp is okay with me!

BTW, Roland, Canada has some brand-new (okay, new-to-us) submarines:))))

Now, if we could only get them to actually work, we'd be in good shape (apparently they are good at submerging, but find that surfacing is more problematic)


Finally, Roland, we have a truce!!! Remember?

ROFLMAO!

[Walddk]

mikeh, on Oct 19 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

Finally, Roland, we have a truce!!! Remember?

Yes, as long as you behave. You may be the second largest country in the world, and we may be #137, but it won't help you. Danish dynamite will prevail! I will call the Queen in a minute and ask her to send yet another vessel to our beloved island, Hans Ø .... just in case you get ideas!

Roland

[mikeh]

Walddk, on Oct 19 2005, 12:02 PM, said:

mikeh, on Oct 19 2005, 06:53 PM, said:

Finally, Roland, we have a truce!!! Remember?

Yes, as long as you behave. You may be the second largest country in the world, and we may be #137, but it won't help you. Danish dynamite will prevail! I will call the Queen in a minute and ask her to send yet another vessel to our beloved island, Hans Ø .... just in case you get ideas!

Roland

#137??? Delusions of grandeur! I suspect that you are counting Hans 0 (I lack the keyboard to make that nice little symbol) as part of your territory. Subtract that, as you should, and Denmark plummets to #138!

And wasn't it Sweden that perfected dynamite? Your Danish copy doesn't intimidate us at all!

[cherdano]

If my LHO is Canadian or Danish, I will bid 4♠ as they seem to be too busy planing further actions for their truce than to think about doubling.
(Otherwise, I will bid 4♠ too, but with less conviction.)

[Al_U_Card]

Here I am, again, out on the plank, worried about the international situation, and I just want to know why the desire to bid 4S when pard has about 10 hcp and say 2-3-4-4 distribution. And you are betting that the 2 is not S....

[han]

Peter, obviously nobody knows what is going to work out better on any given hand. 4S might work out badly, pass might work out badly, and double will usually works out badly (in my opinion). It is easily possible that both 4S and 4H make, and it is easily possible that both go down a bunch. If the opponents always make the correct decision over 4S then it is probably right to pass, but fortunately, opponents make mistakes too. Partner may expect more from us, but not much more.

After all, 4H is a transfer to 4S, and I hate to pass my opponents' transfers.

[Al_U_Card]

Well, I am often wrong-headed and my intuition doesn't always stand up to scrutiny but with what passes for 4H bids in 3rd seat these days, I can't see the real problem of offering pard some choices......granted if he passes it may make and my hand is more offensively oriented but it IS a takeout double after all.

[junyi_zhu]

Winstonm, on Oct 19 2005, 03:57 PM, said:

Dealer: West Vul: N/S Scoring: IMP

♠ AQ974 ♥   ♦ 1032 ♣ K9854

Auction: W N E S P P 4♥ ? Now what?  Rate the percentages of these actions. Pass.  Good result: %? 4S:    Good result: % Other: Good result: %

This is a close decision. Gotta know your opps' style before taking the action. If you are in totally dark, it's fine to pass in my opinion. Sometimes, they don't double you if you bid 4S, they just see you go down 4 quietly when you have some play in 5C. 4H doesn't have to be made and 4S also need a great hand from a passed partner to have a good play.
I may bid 4S only when I know that RHO is a deciplined preempter, and even in that case, 4S can probably win a tiny amount of imps in a long run, and the fluctuation is huge.
Generally, you want to kill their hearts with spades, but facing a passed partner and red vs white, it's really not clear.

[whereagles]

We can make 4♠, of course. But to bid that is a wild gamble opposite a passed pard.

[Double !]

cherdano, on Oct 19 2005, 12:33 PM, said:

If my LHO is Canadian or Danish, I will bid 4♠ as they seem to be too busy planing further actions for their truce than to think about doubling.

Makes sense to me but........

If I ask my lho about his nationality at this point in the bidding, will this result in UI as my P will now know that to bid versus to pass is a consideration?