[luis]

Scoring: IMP

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Pd opens 1♦ and RHO bids 2♥ (weak)
I bid a natural and forcing 3♣, big mistake!
4♥ on my left and now pd god bless him bid 4♠
Endplayed in the bidding completely, there is no way now to find about AQ of diamonds to play 7, 4NT sets spades, 5NT sets spades, I had 4 card support for pd's suit and a 7th card suit and suddenly the trump suit was my void.

I violated my own rule "Support with support" I should have bid either a fit-showing 4♣ bid (forcing) or 5NT directly. 3♣ was a stupid mistake.

Second disaster:

Scoring: IMP

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I got this monster and RHO opened a weak 2 in diamonds. I decided that there was no better way to start than doubling, again big mistake, pd passed with QTxxx of diamonds the spade King and a singleton in HEARTS!. You collect 1100 or 1400 but throw 7♣ to the trashcan.
Maybe I should have bid 3♦ here as a way to start.

So why I'm posting this? Maybe it just help you if you get something similar :-)

Pd was around the club yelling "you owe me 2 grands Luis, not one, two!" Lucky for me he went down in a cold slam in the second match so he was quiet the rest of the evening. :-)

Luis

[whereagles]

The first would be hard without the fit-bid, though you can always try a 3♥ cue to show support. Maybe you can have pard to bid 4NT later.

I really don't know how to bid the second one. I don't like doubling on this kind of hand, so at table I might try a direct 6♣.

[1eyedjack]

Very amusing.
On the first hand it might be interesting to run a simulation to work out the frequency of sustaining a Diamond loser (with Diamonds as trumps of course) in the absence of any additional information other than the bidding to date. Note that on quite a few hands the Ace alone will be sufficient.

[han]

The fact that your bids worked out badly doesn't indicate that you made the wrong choices Luis. I do like the support jump shift on the first one, but I think double is right on the second.

[luis]

Hannie, on May 4 2006, 06:25 PM, said:

The fact that your bids worked out badly doesn't indicate that you made the wrong choices Luis. I do like the support jump shift on the first one, but I think double is right on the second.

I auto qualified my 3♣ bid as "sick and horrible" at the table and apologized to my pd for destroying the auction. Why do I want to show clubs when I have Kxxx of diamonds and the only thing I need in the world to play 7 is AQ of diamonds? 5NT is clearly better and if not I must always show support with 4♣. I never considered pd could be 6-5 in diamonds and spades and I could be endplayed in the bidding as I was but it certainly was my fault and I think 3♣ is a horrible bid, sick and deserves a bad result :-)

About the double I guess you can't double when you can win 7 if pd leaves the double. Again I never considered that an option and it was precisely what happened!

940 instead of 1440 and 1400 instead of 2220 is not my idea of "being unlucky" I hate 3♣ a lot more than the double but I think both are wrong.

Luis

[whereagles]

1st hand: can't pard have 4-4-3-2 shape still? If yes, then looking at your hand, I'd say that's possible, in which case I guess 3♣ might be the only bid at that stage.

2nd hand: would 2♦-4♣ be forcing? Or would it be some sort of leaping michaels?

[han]

Back to the second hand.. how exactly do you plan to reach 7C after 3♦? Do you have a gadget that allows partner to show some club support, the stiff heart and the spade king, plus whatever value that you didn't mention but makes 7C a worthwhile grand?

Your argument that "you can't double when you can win 7 if pd leaves the double" seems demential to me.

[mikeh]

luis, on May 4 2006, 01:36 PM, said:

Why do I want to show clubs when I have Kxxx of diamonds and the only thing I need in the world to play 7 is AQ of diamonds? 5NT is clearly better and if not I must always show support with 4♣. I never considered pd could be 6-5 in diamonds and spades and I could be endplayed in the bidding as I was but it certainly was my fault and I think 3♣ is a horrible bid, sick and deserves a bad result :-)

You must play a weird system, Luis, if 5N is the correct bid on the first hand.

I am going to assume a strong NT method: in which case, I would expect partner to open 1♦ on, for example, AKQx Kx 10xxxx Qx

I don't know how you feel about it, but 5N over 2♥ seems a little rich: you are odds-on to make 6♣ and have a low expectation of making 6♦ even tho partner has 'extra' values and more ♦ than he promised.

AKxx x Qxxx Qxxx

Another hand on which 5N is silly....

I empathize with your frustration at missing a cold grand, but 5N is a bid that looks good only through the lens of a retroscope.

[luis]

Hannie, on May 4 2006, 06:53 PM, said:

Back to the second hand.. how exactly do you plan to reach 7C after 3♦? Do you have a gadget that allows partner to show some club support, the stiff heart and the spade king, plus whatever value that you didn't mention but makes 7C a worthwhile grand?

Your argument that "you can't double when you can win 7 if pd leaves the double" seems demential to me.

I had a simple plan titled "If pd shows signs of life I bid 7♣"
So If I bid 3♦ and pd bids 3NT or jumps in a major or bids anything but 3♥ or 3♠ I can jumpt to 7♣ and if he bids 3♥ or 3♠ I can use RKCB in the major (to find the K or KQ how clever) and then bid 6 or 7 accordingly.

Maybe it was a crazy plan but I couldn't figure out anything better at the table.

Luis