[pine cone]

Q1:
I'm setting South

Scoring: IMP

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biding goes like:
E S W N
/ / 3D /
/ ?
what can I do now? pass, 3h or double?

Q2:
now change to North's hand

Scoring: IMP

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biding goes like:
E S W N
/ / 3D ?
what can North do now? pass, 3NT or double? or bid others?

[twcho]

I will pass with south hand but bid 3nt with north hand

[awm]

South, with a balanced ten and length in diamonds, really should pass.

North has to make some call; he has 17 high and relative shortness in diamonds. There are many hands where game is cold and partner cannot act. Which bid to make is a tough problem; I'd go with 3NT although double, 4♣, or even 3♠ could be the winning call on some lies of the cards.

[P_Marlowe]

Q1: Pass, partner could not act with
diamond shortage, hence you wont miss
game
Q2: You have to bid holding diamond shortage
and 17HCP, if you dbl and partner bids hearts,
... not pleasant, so 3NT

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Codo]

Q2 is easy: bid and 3 NT should be the least evil, even if this may loose from time to time.

Q1 I take the minority view. Pd must not be short in diamonds or he has other reasons not to bid- like a nice two suiter which is just to weak to bid. So I will bid 3 Heart and take my - 800 from time to time...

[whereagles]

Codo, on Aug 15 2006, 11:34 AM, said:

Q1 I take the minority view. Pd must not be short in diamonds or he has other reasons not to bid- like a nice two suiter which is just to weak to bid. So I will bid 3 Heart and take my - 800 from time to time...

That reasoning may be valid at matchpoints, but at imps it is probably anti-percentage. You're risking anything from -200 to -800 to try for +140 in 3♥/♠. You better be bloody sure 3M makes, and this hand is quite far from offering such guarantees.

[zasanya]

South passes :7 loser hand, not enough ammo
N dbls if not playing Fishbein: 5 loser hand, 4 card ♠, enough firepower ;though 3nt cud work better !s may misbehave.
Playing Fishbein 3 nt

[HeartA]

Q1. pass, though I might consider 3H.
Q2. dbl or 3N. I prefer 3N, because I would not be happy if pd bids 4H over my dbl with 4Hs or even 5 (as the real holding).