[cnszsun]

Scoring: IMP

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(3C)-pass-(pass)-dbl
(pass)-3S-All pass
I was south, at the table, i thought my partner will bid 4S if he has ♠KQxx and a side King. But later, i reflected that i was doubling at balancing seat, maybe i should be more agressive. What do you think?

[HeartA]

South should be more blamed if not 100%. North, with 4 spades only and flat hand, 3S was OK, especially pd's dbl was at a balance position.

[jdeegan]

I really don't see anything wrong with either one of your bids or even your result. A preempt does a number of things that affect ones bidding besides the obvious. First, the reponder to any takeout bid, be it double or an overcall, has an expectation of having 7-9 HCP. Your partner had eight, so his 3♠ was correct. Indeed, that hand is a very marginal jump response over 1♣ -Dbl-Pass-???.

The second thing is that after a preempt, you expect bad suit splits much more often than usual, so your bidding decisions in situations like the one you faced need to be on the conservative side. I, personally, don't think your hand rates a 4♠ bid, and I think any players who bid 4♠ were way too aggressive. You might bid 2♠ opposite partner's 1♠ response to a one level take out double, but no more.

Finally, I think 4♠ is not the greatest contract in the world. You have only SEVEN TOP TRICKS. The necessary three extras will have to come from suit splits or ruffing. Odds of a 3-2 spade break are less than the usual 68(?)%. I am guessing it to be 50-50 or less (if anyone has any real simulation data on this, it would be great to know). The odds of the heart suit coming in for four natural tricks is less than the normal 50-50 as well. The only good thing is that you are ruffing behind the short opponent in diamonds.

If you got a bad result for bidding 3♠ for +170, I would just consider it a fix and move on.

[mike777]

At imps I would bid 4s with the north hand at unfav vul. and would not be surprised to go down. Just bid game.

[pbleighton]

"At imps I would bid 4s with the north hand at unfav vul. and would not be surprised to go down. Just bid game."

Agree, but I don't think 3S is a bad bid - it is close.

Since I expect North to bid 4 with his hand, I would pass 3S as South.

Peter

[foo]

3S is fine.

[whereagles]

3♠ was fine. South might have tried adding a 4th, on grounds that a few bits is all he needs.

[mike777]

I agree 3s is close but why all the pessimism at IMPs?
Partner plays us for 7 working hcp and we got 8?
We got no wastage in clubs?
Again would not be shocked to go down in 4s but bid em up?

[Joe de Balliol]

3♠ pretty clearcut with the North cards, don't wanna hang pard for balancing double. 4♠ raise is then the right bid with the South hand. This is only the way I play, because the South hand is pretty big for a balancing double. If you need more for a balancing double, then 4S is a reasonable shot with the North cards.

To sum up: Depends on style. With a regular partnership, someone is to blame, but I can't say who for sure.

Incidentally, 4♠ is a pretty good contract, assuming you have *some* spade pips not mentioned [fair assumption imo] - win ♣A, ♠A, cross to hearts twice ruffing clubs on the way back.

J

[EricK]

A good case can be made for passing the double with the North hand.

After all, partner may not have the perfect 4441 distribution. In particular, he may not have 4♠

[akhare]

Preempts work -- 3♠ is fine, but the 4 lovely bullets and stiff ♣ might have goaded me to bid 4♠ (bracing myself in case the hammer falls, of course ).

Atul

[mikestar]

Blame to South if any is due. North's points are all working but those four clubs are ugly. Clubs may be 6=4=(2-1) or 7=4=1=1 around the table, therefor South's stiff will not be as valuable as he thinks it is and he might even have a doubleton. Overall, this hand is worse than a typical no waste 7 count.

South's hand looks good opposite North's presumed 7 count and four spades. But South's spade suit has no body to protect against a bad break and North might have only three spades--although North will make a penalty pass on some of his hands with only three spades. Also South's ♣A is not worth a full 4 points, though it's far better than a King or Queen would have been.

I would bid 4♠ with South's hand with considerable trepidation and would find it hard to criticize a pass.

[lowerline]

cnszsun, on May 13 2006, 09:40 PM, said:

Dealer: West Vul: N/S Scoring: IMP

♠ KTxx ♥ KQx ♦ xx ♣ xxxx ♠ Axxx ♥ ATxx ♦ Axxx ♣ A

(3C)-pass-(pass)-dbl
(pass)-3S-All pass
I was south, at the table, i thought my partner will bid 4S if he has ♠KQxx and a side King. But later, i reflected that i was doubling at balancing seat, maybe i should be more agressive. What do you think?

At this form of scoring and with this vulnerability I definitely would have bid 4♠ with the north hand! North can expect that all his points are working and that his partner has a singleton ♣. Don't miss that +620 and don't give your partner a headache: bid 4♠.

It is more a problem in MPs. 3♠ is probably enough now.