[inquiry]

Scoring: MP

BPO-007D

West  North  East  South
------ Pass - (Pass) - 1♥  
 (DBL)   1♠ - (2♣)   2♦
 (Pass)   3♦ - (Pass) -  ?

---

I accidently made this one matchpoints, but so much the better. A little variety. Now open for discussion.

[whereagles]

I bid 3♥. With both opps bidding, I really doubt pard will have a good 10 hcp invitation, so his support must surely be based on distribution. Being so, I waive 3NT and try for a 5-2 heart game.

By the way, cheers to the return of BPO. Love these discussions

[hrothgar]

BPO-007D: Pass

If partner's 1S bid was "legit" then partner's Spades values are
wasted opposite our stiff. If partner psyched 1S then he doesn't have
values for game. Either way, I see no reason to look for a 5m
contract opposite a passed hand with values sitting over me.

[Blofeld]

Pass. I can well believe that 3♥ or 3NT (or even 4♦) will work out a significant proportion of the time, but I think pass is the action most likely to bring in a good score. Spade values opposite don't appeal.

[Free]

also pass

[Al_U_Card]

Even if pard is offering a courtesy raise, (I expect him to be 5-1-5-2 or so) 4D should be makable. I like my minimum 2D rebid so I will bid 4C on the way to the D partial/game (S ruffs with my baby D)

[han]

I bid 3NT. If I don't bid it now then we are not going to get to our most likely game. I didn't notice that it was MP, at IMPs I would never pass with so much extra while at MP it becomes more of an option.


Surely partner is more likely to hold 4 than 5 diamonds!

[cherdano]

Matchpoints! 420 is a drug..I bid 3♥..

[Al_U_Card]

Hannie, on Jan 26 2006, 02:56 PM, said:

I bid 3NT. If I don't bid it now then we are not going to get to our most likely game. I didn't notice that it was MP, at IMPs I would never pass with so much extra while at MP it becomes more of an option.


Surely partner is more likely to hold 4 than 5 diamonds!

Well from the auction he should have 1H and 2C so if the other 10 cards were 4D and 6S he might have persisted in S....

[pclayton]

I passed; keep the plus!

3♥ looks tempting, but will pard pull to 4♦ holding a stiff ♥?

Shooting for 5♦ via 4♦ is placing cards in pard's hand. Try to get a good board on this one with good play, instead of pressing for a tight game.

[Al_U_Card]

Given the MP scoring, I admit that the close game may not warrant it, but the circumstances just seem too good not to push a bit. After all, pard could have passed the "misfit" with few values and evenif he is "stopping the opps from bidding 3C(?) he knows that it is MP scoring too.....(I hope)

[pclayton]

Al_U_Card, on Jan 26 2006, 12:30 PM, said:

Given the MP scoring, I admit that the close game may not warrant it, but the circumstances just seem too good not to push a bit. After all, pard could have passed the "misfit" with few values and evenif he is "stopping the opps from bidding 3C(?) he knows that it is MP scoring too.....(I hope)

Well, lets see - pard didn't redouble, so he's probably limited to 9.

Pard also had a free cue bid available via 3♣, so that limits his hand even further.

I think the best the 3♦ bidders can hope for is: Axxxx, x, KJxxx, xx. 5♦ is a very reasonable spot; with the club, play A♥, Q♥ ditching a club is its not covered. And I think this hand warrants a stronger move than 3♦.

But, as I said, this is playing pard for very specific cards.

[42]

I pass

[han]

pclayton, on Jan 26 2006, 04:49 PM, said:

Well, lets see - pard didn't redouble, so he's probably limited to 9.

Pard also had a free cue bid available via 3♣, so that limits his hand even further.

I stronly disagree with both of these comments.

The approach of always redoubling with 10+ pts is very old fashioned and in my opinion with good reason. It is much better to bid spades when you have decent 4+ spades. It is very likely that partner has 5 spades, so the lack in redouble says nothing about partner's strength. Given that 1S is unlimited, partner cannot cuebid 3C with a good but less than gameforcing raise, it shows a gameforcing hand. Therefore the 3D bid shows roughly invitational values (say 9-11 pts).

This is perhaps just a question of partnership style and understanding, and I hope that the panel will comment on these issues.

[Walddk]

Hannie, on Jan 26 2006, 11:19 PM, said:

pclayton, on Jan 26 2006, 04:49 PM, said:

Well, lets see - pard didn't redouble, so he's probably limited to 9.

Pard also had a free cue bid available via 3♣, so that limits his hand even further.

I stronly disagree with both of these comments.

The approach of always redoubling with 10+ pts is very old fashioned and in my opinion with good reason. It is much better to bid spades when you have decent 4+ spades. It is very likely that partner has 5 spades, so the lack in redouble says nothing about partner's strength. Given that 1S is unlimited, partner cannot cuebid 3C with a good but less than gameforcing raise, it shows a gameforcing hand. Therefore the 3D bid shows roughly invitational values (say 9-11 pts).

This is perhaps just a question of partnership style and understanding, and I hope that the panel will comment on these issues.

I agree with Hannie. If you think the opponents have a safe haven, it is (at best) waste of time to redouble. Just ignore the double and bid as you would have without the interference.

Roland

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

Pass.

Marlowe

[mike777]

3NT.

Here is one minority viewpoint. My understanding is this is not the prevelant one among many players.

Redouble: the strongest bid, but seldom should be used because shut outs might take place, thus the redouble should only be made with the certainty that you will control the bidding.
By bidding immediately, you at least show one of your suits plus a minimum amount of high cards, and your partner may be able to take over.

Free bid: Partner's 2D bid is a freebid over 2C. If you take a bid in a new suit, you are showing a hand that will usually reach game or at the very least invite game. You need to not be afraid to pass with a marginal hand and assume the bidding will seldom be over.

Free raise: Partners bid of 3D is a free raise. It seems in the bridge world of today they like to bid. In competition, everyone gets into the act and it becomes a shootout. It may seem many bids have no real meaning. Not sure how they can judge who "owns" the contract, and when to trust partner.
By not getting into the act, unless we have a good reason to do so, we are able to judge our high cards, how far we wish to go and whether or not foolish opponents should be punished. Al Roth suggested many years ago we must learn how to Pass.

Btw, think pass is a close second choice, very tough.

[luke warm]

this is destined to be my worse score ever

i bid 5♦

[hrothgar]

I want to post an interesting hand from the Bridge World a few years back:

MP Red

♠ A
♥ AK432
♦ 972
♣ KQJT

Following the auction

P - 1♥
1♠ - 2♣
2H

17 out of 30 panelists voted to pass. The next highest number of votes was 9.
The directors noted that this was a good hand evaluation problem and noted the important of devaluing your hand when partner shows spade length.

Clearly, the two hands and two auctions are far from identical. Most importantly, we are assured an 8 card fit. In the BW hand, partner might have a doubleton Heart.

With this said and done, this is a significantly stronger hand and the opponents aren't showing values. More importantly the key had evaluation issue - partner's Spade values - is identical.

[cherdano]

This is not quite comparable, as partner hasn't made an encouraging bid in the BW problem, while he has in our problem (3♦). Also, it looks to me like spade strength opposite ♠A is worse than strength opposite ♠x.

Still, interesting.