[Echognome]

Scoring: MP

---

I just finished playing in a small bridge congress in Scotland. This hand from this afternoon's pairs session certainly caused a stir. You are dealer and pick up your first ever 7-6 hand. (at least it was my first)

What is your bidding plan?

[FrancesHinden]

Open my longest suit at the lowest level.
Next round I shall bid my next longest suit, probably at the 4-level.

[Gerben42]

Sounds like a good plan - although I would rebid 5♠ to ask partner to pick on on the 6-level.

[hrothgar]

I'm opening 6♦

Odd's are 5 in 9 that partner holds either the Queen of Spades or the Ace of Diamonds
Who knows. I MIGHT be able to get more information with a careful auction, but that would require me to work.

[luis]

I would open this 3♦

[hrothgar]

luis, on Apr 3 2006, 12:57 AM, said:

I would open this 3♦

did you suffer severe head trauma recently?
Alternatively, are taking some recreational pharmaceuticals?

[pbleighton]

"Alternatively, are taking some recreational pharmaceuticals?"

Ahh, the good old days....

Richard, I like 6D. There are probably people who could bid constructively to 7 with this hand, but I am definitely not one of them.

Peter

[hrothgar]

pbleighton, on Apr 3 2006, 01:10 AM, said:

"Alternatively, are taking some recreational pharmaceuticals?"

Ahh, the good old days....

Richard, I like 6D. There are probably people who could bid constructively to 7 with this hand, but I am definitely not one of them.

Peter

I play plenty of system that could have an intelligenst auction to 7♦...
However, all of these assume that partner and I get a clear / unobstructed auction...

In the real world, I'm gonna be lazy and bid what I think that i can make

[Fluffy]

1♠+6♦ is what I would do.

[inquiry]

hrothgar, on Apr 2 2006, 04:59 PM, said:

luis, on Apr 3 2006, 12:57 AM, said:

I would open this 3♦

did you suffer severe head trauma recently?
Alternatively, are taking some recreational pharmaceuticals?

I also open 3♦ for a different reason. My next bid will be 5♦... and i expect partner may bid 7♠ over this.... when it is right

[hrothgar]

inquiry, on Apr 3 2006, 03:32 AM, said:

I also open 3♦ for a different reason. My next bid will be 5♦... and i expect partner may bid 7♠ over this.... when it is right

Bullshit...

Given this distribution, your opponents are going to all over this auction...
While I agree that your next bid is going to be at the 5 level, this is going to be your first chance to start introducing suits... You aren't going to have any cute inferences based on making a 5 level rebid rather than a 4 level rebid.

I'll be shocked if partner is able to guess that the Queen of Spades is vital and that neither pointed suit Ace is going to pull any weight.

[inquiry]

hrothgar, on Apr 2 2006, 07:50 PM, said:

inquiry, on Apr 3 2006, 03:32 AM, said:

I also open 3♦ for a different reason. My next bid will be 5♦... and i expect partner may bid 7♠ over this.... when it is right

Bullshit...

Given this distribution, your opponents are going to all over this auction...
While I agree that your next bid is going to be at the 5 level, this is going to be your first chance to start introducing suits... You aren't going to have any cute inferences based on making a 5 level rebid rather than a 4 level rebid.

I'll be shocked if partner is able to guess that the Queen of Spades is vital and that neither pointed suit Ace is going to pull any weight.

you forget richard i play misiry. 3!D and then when i bid again, it will show a strong two suiter with diamonds and a suit other than hearts. Competition makes it easier for me to bid in many ways.

So while you are guessing with 6♦ (to high? not high enough? wrong suit?) i will be showing spades and diamonds with two losers. A hand made for me.
Ben

[hrothgar]

inquiry, on Apr 3 2006, 04:11 AM, said:

So while you are guessing with 6♦ (to high? not high enough? wrong suit?) i will be showing spades and diamonds with two losers. A hand made for me.

I'm well aware what your 3♦ opening shows.

I am simply suggesting that when the auction starts:

3♦ - (P) - 3♥ - (5♣)

or whatever you're not going to be able to have a have controlled auction.
If you're sitting on a 7-6 hand you need to expect a lot of competitive bidding.

I'm sure you have some absurb double dummy auction in partner will realize that the Ace of Hearts and Diamonds are useless on offense. However, i rarely find them convincing...

You're right: My 6♦ opening is a complete crapshoot.

There (roughly) a 1 in 9 chance that partner has the Queen of Spades and the Ace of DImaonds in which case I'm too low.

There is (roughly) a 4 in 9 chance that partner has one of the two honors in which case I'm in a decent spot

There's roughly a 4 in 9 shot that partner has zero honors in which case I've over bid. (Unless, of course, 6♦ happens to be a good sac)

I'm happy with those odds. My gut tells me that going slow ain't going to improce them that much

[kgr]

I would like 6♦ much more at IMPs than at MPs. Not sure it will give me a good result at MPs

[whereagles]

Sooo many things you can do with this hand...

- open 6♦
- open 6♠(!!)
- open 1♦ and 'walk the dog' in spades
- open 1♠ and rebid 6♦
- open strong 2♣ and rebid 5NT pick-a-slam or something like that
- some preemptive diamond underbid, followed by some (apparantly) spade overbid

So many options, so little bids

[Sigi_BC84]

luis, on Apr 2 2006, 10:57 PM, said:

I would open this 3♦

What does a 3♦ opener mean in your system???

--Sigi

[inquiry]

Sigi_BC84, on Apr 3 2006, 07:42 AM, said:

luis, on Apr 2 2006, 10:57 PM, said:

I would open this 3♦

What does a 3♦ opener mean in your system???

--Sigi

I am certain he plays it as preemptive. His plan is to bid 3♦ now and then take the sacrafice later over whatever the opponents bid, fishing for a double. Of course when I good player opens 3♦ and then bids up to 6♦ himself, start thinking something fishy miight be going on.

[Echognome]

Scoring: MP

1♠ - (X) - P - (2♣)
6♦ - (X) - All Pass

---

I was playing a funny variation of precision where a 1♦ opening would be rather nebulous. Thus, I decided to open 1♠. I certainly couldn't blame either of west's doubles. They seemed reasonable enough to me.

We entered +1090 on the traveller which beat the most common score of +790 in 4♠X+2.

I'm not sure there's any best way to bid extreme freaks. There was no problem getting doubled on this hand though.

[Al_U_Card]

I guess that if, like me (as I?), the means sometimes justify the end, I would open 1D, "knowing" that it will never get passed out. That said, once the action starts, I will enjoy it to the fullest, also knowing that the hand is likely a claimer on offense at trick one or two.

What's wrong (Oh no! I didn't bamboozle the opps with my prescient and incomprehensible bidding strategy...except for Ben who has these ones down pat from what I can see...) with enjoying the only exciting part of this particular deal?

[jdonn]

inquiry, on Apr 2 2006, 08:11 PM, said:

you forget richard i play misiry. 3!D and then when i bid again, it will show a strong two suiter with diamonds and a suit other than hearts. Competition makes it easier for me to bid in many ways.

So while you are guessing with 6♦ (to  high? not high enough? wrong suit?) i will be showing spades and diamonds with two losers. A hand made for me.
Ben

Should partner know that something like xxxx xxx xx xxxx is slam? Partner can't know that xxxx of spades covers a spade loser when you can have KQJT9x or something. It's deceptive to say you are telling partner you have two losers when even you don't know how many losers you have. Isn't 6D even decent when partner has xxx xxx Txx xxxx?

I want to open 4NT for specific aces, but the problem is partner might show two and then I can't find out which they are, so that's out. That leaves me with two viable approaches. My choice is to open 1D even if playing precision as you were, and go as slowly as I can from there, hoping to find spades if it's right since it is matchpoints after all. I can't open 1S and rebid 6D since I don't want to play 6S if partner has two small in each suit. I don't think it's such a slam dunk that the opponents have to bid to the five level or something even when I have this much shape, so I will try to go as slowly as possible. This is sort of a matter of personal style, and I don't think it's unreasonable to take the other route and just open 6D. It won't always make, but by bashing it will make more often than it should since they know so little about your hand. Maybe they lead a stiff spade when dummy has xxx, or a diamond from xx when dummy is void, or unguard the spade queen when you don't tell them your second suit. At imps I'd be more likely to do that, but I don't want to miss spades at matchpoints.