[Apollo81]

♠J87 ♥QJ ♦K10876 ♣KJ9

all white IMPs, 1st seat

Having chosen to open 1♦, it goes (p)-1♠-(2♥) back to you.

Do you make a support double, or do you just pass with these cards? If passing, is it because your hand is so worthless or is it because NT might be right even if you have a spade fit?

-Noble

[inquiry]

I would not have opened this hand. As a rule I do not play support double (double here would show better diamonds than clubs, but a club tolerance) and of course, some values which are solely missing.

Having said that, if I had opened this pile, and I was forced to play support doubles, here I would make a support double if for no other reason than when WEST bids, EAST will lhave to decide if it is competitive against our possible 2S bid or real values.

FOR ZAR fans, even giving full value to every face card, this hand comes to an incredible crappy 24 ZARS, not enough to open, and surely the QJ doubleton is not worth 3 ZAR points, so this is actually less than 24 zars. I have been accused of opening on whims I open so light, 7 hcp and some decent shape is enough, but not this one.

[EricK]

I pass because I am still in shock from having realised that I opened this hand.

Seriously though, if I have judged this to be an opening bid, then I am going to stick with that judgement and make a support double.

[Apollo81]

inquiry, on Jul 10 2006, 03:34 PM, said:

I would not have opened this hand. As a rule I do not play support double (double here would show better diamonds than clubs, but a club tolerance) and of course, some values which are solely missing.

Having said that, if I had opened this pile, and I was forced to play support doubles, here I would make a support double if for no other reason than when WEST bids, EAST will lhave to decide if it is competitive against our possible 2S bid or real values.

FOR ZAR fans, even giving full value to every face card, this hand comes to an incredible crappy 24 ZARS, not enough to open, and surely the QJ doubleton is not worth 3 ZAR points, so this is actually less than 24 zars. I have been accused of opening on whims I open so light, 7 hcp and some decent shape is enough, but not this one.

For future posters: the fact that this is not an opening hand isn't in question. Given that you have opened it and are playing support doubles, what would you do here?

-Noble

[Walddk]

In another thread I warned against opening balanced 11 counts (unless you play 10-12 or 11-13 NT). This is a perfect example of why it's ill-advised to open such a heap of rubbish.

You don't have just ONE certain trick.

If you force me to open, and that's the idea I suppose, I refuse to make any kind of noise thereafter unless asked to. So even if I play support doubles, I do not double now.

Roland

[bid_em_up]

Apollo81, on Jul 10 2006, 03:29 PM, said:

♠J87  ♥QJ  ♦K10876  ♣KJ9

all white IMPs, 1st seat

Having chosen to open 1♦, it goes (p)-1♠-(2♥) back to you.

No, I wouldn't. Never. Ever. Not in a million years. Not even if you held a gun to my head and said "Bid 1♦ or I pull the trigger. Can I make it any plainer?

What part of this hand leads you believe it is an opening hand in first seat?

Was it the quick tricks? Nope, doesnt appear to qualify. Oh? Maybe it was the sound 11 hcp it contains, 3 of which are a doubleton QJ? Nope, not it either. Oh? The great distribution compensating for weakish values? Nope. Hmmm, maybe it was the 4 card majors you held, so you could at least raise whatever partner responded or bid 1N instead? Hmmm, slight problem there.

Apollo81, on Jul 10 2006, 03:29 PM, said:

Do you make a support double, or do you just pass with these cards?  If passing, is it because your hand is so worthless or is it because NT might be right even if you have a spade fit?

I dont have this problem, because I didnt open this hand, wouldnt open this hand. See above.

(Well....ok, maybe if you put the gun to my head, I would at least take it under consideration, but thats about the only way.)

Sorry, but I really think you should concern yourself more with the opening bid, than worrying about what to do for your next call on this sequence. It was the opening bid that created this problem anyway.

EDIT: Apologies for questioning the opening bid, I was in the middle of typing this response when you posted your second post stating "For future posters,the fact that this is not an opening hand isn't in question". Had I seen that, I would not have posted the above, even though I would have still had the same feelings.

[SoTired]

I agree with everyone else. EXCEPT - Once I have decided to open, I can't backtrack now over a couple of points. I won't pass forcing bids and I won't lie about my distribution. When my partner bids 1S and righty overcalls 2H, I have an obligation to show my 3-card spade support with a dbl. I don't want to compound my lie of a couple of points with an additional lie of denying 3-card support.

If I pass instead of dbl, I am NOT saying, "I have a weak opener". I am ONLY saying, "I have less than 3 spades and no other reasonable bid"

Why lie twice?

When u open 2C on a sub-2C hand and later partner bids blackwood, do u reduce your hand by 1 keycard because you opened 2C lite?

Actually, I am amazed that anyone would consider passing if they play support dbls. Suppose partner has 15 hcp and 5 spades? But when he/she hears your pass decides to risk 3N without a heart stopper?

(I will probably edit this later, but I am just too incredulous now)

[awm]

Pass in 1st seat, even though the balanced range for 1♦ is presumably 11-13. Having bid, support double seems normal. If I don't support double, what will partner do? There are a number of auctions that seem to really fix partner, for example:

(1) If I pass and LHO bids 3♥, partner might try to penalize. This could easily be right, but could also easily be wrong. If I double and LHO bids 3♥, then I'm overjoyed if partner penalizes (and happy if he passes).

(2) If I pass and LHO passes, what does partner bid with heart length and no stopper? It's just an awkward problem in general.

Since double doesn't show any values (beyond what I've already shown by opening) I don't see a real reason to reject it. Perhaps with more heart length you might pass (Jxx QJ9x KTx KQx) because defending is likely to be better than 2♠ in a 4-3, but on the actual hand I don't see a reason to believe that to be true.

[mike777]

Even I pass this piece of c..p....but if required to open, sure I support x now.....

[pclayton]

I make a support double. How can ever convince pard I have 3 spades if I pass?

I've convinced pard that I have an opening bid. OK, one lie per hand please