[jillybean]

Scoring: IMP

(p) p (1♣) 1♠
(3♣) 3♦ (p) 3♠

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4♠ or pass? or perhaps a 3♠ bid first off would have been better.

I like the look of the ♦'s and the ♠Qx are handy


jb

[pbleighton]

4S. I agree with 3D first with only Qx. Pd is likely singleton inclubs, given your 3 and the auction.

BTW, isn't 3D forcing to game (new suit at the 3 level)? I play that it is, even in competition.

Peter

[luke warm]

4♠ also, but mainly because of the game and vul.. btw, how can 3♦ be forcing to game? maybe it is, but this is just one of many things that confuse me.. can a passed hand force to game (even a cue like 4♣ on this hand would seem to allow partner to sign off in 4♦)?

why can't 3♦ show a 5 or 6 card suit of invitational strength?

[Winstonm]

Am I missing something here?

It looks to me like LHO opened 1C in third seat and my partner overcalled 1S. Next my RHO jumped to 3C - what is this: Limit? Preempt? None of the above?

Regardless of what it is, I have no fit with partner and no reason to believe a 9-trick contract for our side is a bargain.

I pass 3C. What happens now?

Winston

[pbleighton]

"can a passed hand force to game"

Oops - missed that it was a passed hand. My bad.

Peter

[Kalvan14]

There are two ways of coming in into the auction:

• 3D: diamonds are pretty good and the hand includes all usueful values. Being a passed hand, I might choose this bid [as unpassed hand, I believe something better is required, either in values or in diamonds]. Does 3D guarantees a tolerance at least for spades? IMHO, it should [but it might be a partnership agreement]: in such a case, I recommend pass after 3S. Pard knows where mine main strength is, and has choosen to sign off.
  
• The obvious alternative is a negative double [it'd be my bid as unpassed hand]. If pard bids a red suit, I can now show delayed support in spades. Over 3S, I do believe the best bid is pass.

The above is certainly ok if LHO 3♣ is pre-emptive. If 3♣ were invitational, there would be something funny here: RHO opens the bidding, pard overcalls with 1♠ (not with 2♠, mind) and LHO has invitational values. I doubt that pard, in this case, can have more than 7-8 HCP. His hand might be AKJxx xxxx xxx x or AKJxx xxx xxxx x or equivalent. 3♦ (clearly passable coming from a passed hand) is our best spot to compete.

[temp3600]

I prefer X to 3D. I'd understand 3D here as a diamond suit and nothing else, not even a spade tolerance, "to play".

[hrothgar]

Many people play that your 3D bid already promises Spade support.
You are a passed hand. If you can't methion Diamonds at the get go, you can't have a Diamond suit worth introducing at the three level UNLESS you also have support for partner's Spades.

Personally, I think that you've already overstated your Spade support (I'd very much prefr Qxx for the 3♦ bid) Accordingly, I'd respect partner's decision and pass 3♠

[Wackojack]

1. Partner if very weak for the overcall and with 3 diamonds could have passed
2. Nobody has bid hearts.
3. On opps bidding we must assume that partner is unlikely to have 2 clubs.

I can just about come up with a hand that some might overcall vul against not where 4S cannot make. KJxxxx, xxxx, Qx, K.

So I would press on to 4S.

[P_Marlowe]

Pass.

If 4S is cold, partner should have bid it.

Marlowe

[Winstonm]

I do not understand the preoccupation with bidding on this hand. Only two hands in this auction have been severely limited: mine by passing and RHO by the jump to 3C. For all I know LHO is getting ready to bid 3N on: J109x, AKxx, Qx, AKJ. If I double or bid 4S he might just "guess" what to do next.

If partner has a stronger overcall and the auction is passed back to him, he still has a bid coming.

Although I don't see eye-to-eye on many of the disciplines in which Al Roth believes, I do agree completely with him that pass is the most important bid to be mastered - and pass does not always say you are broke - sometimes you have no good alternative (as in this case), and sometimes it is simply the best call to either maximize profit or minimize loss.

But then, what do I know....just IMO....

Winston