[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 Pass  Pass  1♥    Dbl
 Pass  2♣    2♥    3♦
 3♥    4♦    4♥    4♠
 Pass  5♦    5♥    Dbl
 Pass  Pass  Pass  


what do you think NS should be in

What do you think EW should be in

how would you bid sitting each way and what would you expect opps to bid?

how hard is it to reach slam?

[Miron]

I would open 3♣ with north hand. But it is no absolutely necessary.

I don't understand 4♠ bid. You have two fits, clubs and diamonds, diamonds holds for 6 tricks, clubs with partner ace for at least four (but i count five) and spade ace. Partner bid voluntarily 4♦ (he could pass, so he has something). I can await about 5 HCP and better. So after 4♥ from east, south can bid 4NT as rkcb. After 5♥ partner know with ♣A that this is a reason for 6♦ - he is weak and had told so. Partner asked rkcb against weak hand, ♣A is enough and the spade void - ideal hand.

[HeartA]

Miron, on Oct 2 2006, 12:37 AM, said:

I would open 3♣ with north hand. But it is no absolutely necessary.

I don't understand 4♠ bid. You have two fits, clubs and diamonds, diamonds holds for 6 tricks, clubs with partner ace for at least four (but i count five) and spade ace. Partner bid voluntarily 4♦ (he could pass, so he has something). I can await about 5 HCP and better. So after 4♥ from east, south can bid 4NT as rkcb. After 5♥ partner know with ♣A that this is a reason for 6♦ - he is weak and had told so. Partner asked rkcb against weak hand, ♣A is enough and the spade void - ideal hand.

I would also open 3C as North. North has another chance to bid 3C (after pd's dbl). I don't understand the 4S nor the final dbl.

[paulg]

Ignoring the potential for opening 3♣, I think that 3♣ is a better response to the initial double. Traditionally this would show 8-11 HCP with 4+♣ and this hand has the values for that. There is a concern that partner has a very powerful hand with spades and you are bumping the auction unnecessarily, but it is the best way to show this distributional monster.

After the 3♥ bid North has another opportunity to show a strong hand with a 4♠ splinter bid. When you think about it this cannot be natural after the simple 2♣ response, so it can only show support for diamonds, short spades and a maximum for the 2♣ bid.

I think South's 4♠ bid can only be a cue bid looking for slam as a hand with spades and diamonds would have either (i) doubled 3♥ or (ii) used Michaels earlier. North cannot bid slam with 2 losing hearts but can cue bid the ♣A.

South could also have used Blackwood, or cue bid 4♥ instead, to get to slam. However it probably needs North to have 5 clubs to the ace as the spade shortage is unexpected.

So I think both parties could have done better but North has missed more opportunities to show the values of the hand.

Paul

[cnszsun]

cardsharp, on Oct 2 2006, 03:44 PM, said:

South could also have used Blackwood, or cue bid 4♥ instead, to get to slam.

East already bid 4♥, so you didn't have that option.
Do you think it's enough to bid slam after knowing partner with ♣Ace?

[FrancesHinden]

I would also have pre-empted on the North hand on the first round. But the two worst bids are North's next two actions:

North's 2C bid over the take-out double is a little feeble. Partner makes a call showing, according to the textbooks, a 4144 12-count. There's a hint from our hand that isn't what partner's got, but we are hugely too good for the 2C bid. Give partner a non-minimum take-out double, something like Kxxx Ax KQxx Kxx and he has no reason to bid over 2C but game is huge.

The other dreadful call is North's 4D bid. Partner made a take-out double, we made a minimum response on our 0247 distribution. Now partner made a free 3D bid over 2H, which shows a hand that was too strong to overcall 2D the previous round. South is closer to a 6D bid over 3H than a 4D bid. If we are being clever, North could bid 5NT over 3H offering choice of minor suit slams (but perhaps I'm prejudiced by knowing clubs are 3-0 and 6D is off on a club ruff).

The other, other dreadful call is North's 5D bid opposite a 4S slam try from partner. If I finally woke up and looked at my hand I'd be thinking of a grand slam... 5S seems a better call than 5D.

South's 4S bid is an _overbid_. He has already bid his hand by doubling then bidding diamonds. North's would have an easy 4D bid with xxx xx xxxx Axxx opposite which game is poor.

As for the other players at the table, I'm a bit surprised that East didn't bother bidding his spades, and the 4S bid was rather aggressive, but other than that they don't seem absurd.

As for what contract you want to be in, it's just a guess: you need to play in the trump suit that is breaking to nil so NS want to be in their 10-card club fit rather than their 10-card diamond fit, and EW want to be in their 10-card spade fit rather than their 10-card heart fit. At imps I would expect many people to get to the 7-level, even though that's a little above par.

[kenrexford]

I think East should be declaring the small or grand slam in hearts.

North should open some number of clubs, probably 3♣.

Whatever East does next, South should bid either 6♣ (conservative) or, my sick preference, 7♣.

Whatever the call, East should sacrifice and protect equity. This is doubled, of course. +500 or +800. If we lose IMP's here, it is because our side bought the 7♣ tactical bid.

Finding 6♠ or 7♠ will, of course, pay well.

[Codo]

I respect the first pass from north. In second seat you can have more then this for a preempt. This is a matter of style. I would prefer to have the abbility to open these hands. But well....

If he opens 3 Clubs, the bidding would be something like:

pass 3 ♣ 4 ♣ 6 ♣
6 ♠ pass pass X

or:
pass 3 ♣ 4 ♥ 6 ♣
pass pass ... long hesittion and maybe 6 Heart and doubled.

Passing with the north hand, I would believe in a bidding like:

pass pass 1 ♥ X
2 ♥ 3 ♣ 4 ♥ 6 ♣

and again it would sail to 6 ♥ doubled as a sac. against 6 ♣

I think, it is very easy to reach slam.

[inquiry]

North made a mistake not opening 3♣ as eveyone has pointed out. However there were a few other huge mistakes too.

For instance, over the takeout double, I feel WEST has to raise to 2♥ immediately rather than pass (need to play 2♦ as a "construcitve raise". Such a 2♥ bid makes it difficult for North to show values and a minor suit. West has no concern about NS bidding on in spades, given he has five of them to two honors. But a 2♥ bid makes it difficult for north to show the value of his hands in either minor. first, it might shut north out while a pass will surely draw a 2♣ or 2♦ bid, and a pass allows a more descriptive jump to 3♣ or 3♦ (should north hands be appropriate) than is available over a 2♥ bid.

North then dropped the ball with a tame 2♣ bid, given the oppourtunity, he should have made a jump to 3♣. And after West bids 2♥, EAST would be able to go all the way to 4♥ (if not more). This would stop all the scientific bidding of EW.

On the auctual hand, north also was a little wimpy he had a much, much better hand than he showed and yet he tamely went the way of the least resistence. His 4♦ bid was, well, pathetic. EW made the auction easy for him and he just dropped the ball.

[Walddk]

inquiry, on Oct 4 2006, 02:50 PM, said:

EW made the auction easy for him and he just dropped the ball.

Excuse me, dropped which ball? Hadn't North taken his eyes off the ball from the word go?

No offence intended, but I honestly don't think I exaggerate when I say that, on average, intermediate players make 6-8 errors (serious and "innocent") on every deal (bids, declarer play and defence). Fair enough, and if nothing else, that's good for something .... if they realise that they have made those errors.

However, most of the errors are bypassed without anybody noticing them. Wayne (sceptic) is one who realises that errors might have been made and wisely seeks advice.

Roland

[kenberg]

inquiry, on Oct 4 2006, 07:50 AM, said:

North made a mistake not opening 3♣ as eveyone has pointed out. However there were a few other huge mistakes too.

For instance, over the takeout double, I feel WEST has to raise to 2♥ immediately rather than pass (need to play 2♦ as a "construcitve raise". Such a 2♥ bid makes it difficult for North to show values and a minor suit. West has no concern about NS bidding on in spades, given he has five of them to two honors. But a 2♥ bid makes it difficult for north to show the value of his hands in either minor. first, it might shut north out while a pass will surely draw a 2♣ or 2♦ bid, and a pass allows a more descriptive jump to 3♣ or 3♦ (should north hands be appropriate) than is available over a 2♥ bid.

North then dropped the ball with a tame 2♣ bid, given the oppourtunity, he should have made a jump to 3♣. And after West bids 2♥, EAST would be able to go all the way to 4♥ (if not more). This would stop all the scientific bidding of EW.

On the auctual hand, north also was a little wimpy he had a much, much better hand than he showed and yet he tamely went the way of the least resistence. His 4♦ bid was, well, pathetic. EW made the auction easy for him and he just dropped the ball.

As it happens, I think if W bids 2H this will surely force 3C from N. While 3C over 2H is not as strong as 3C over the pass of the double, it is stronger than 2C over the pass of the double. E can now count 12 tricks assuming only Axxxx in oartner's hand.

Slam needs to be reached anyway, but 2H is a helpful nudge.