[jim420]

hi all, 1st time here

Scoring: IMP

result: 4♠N - 5
+7.3 IMP to EW

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the bidding sequence was

North East South West
1♥ 2♠ 2NT 3♠
3NT Pass 4♣ Pass
4♠ Pass Pass Pass

needless to say, this terrible bidding by me and my partner (both beginners) resulted in a catastrophic 4 card trump fit, and thus the down 5

but I just wanna know what's the major mistake made? is it made by north or south, and what the correct bidding should be
thx a lot

[the hog]

Hi Jim,
First point - what strength NT do you play? If it is 15-17, then I would argues strongly that the Nth hand should be opened 1NT. I know some people don't like this with a 5 card major. But the M is poor and you hand looks very NT oriented.

Secondly, what on earth was Sth's 2NT bid? I guess he intended to show the minors. Well it doesn't; its natural in this auction. A negative X, while a bit pushy here, would show both minor suits. The 2NT bid really sent the bidding off the rails.

3NT is fine, but I think Sth panicked with 4C and panicked even more by passing 4S. Mind you you have no game to make.

[inquiry]

South should learn two lessons from this hand...

Lesson one, 2NT here is NOT unusual for the minors. He needs to carefully examine when bids in NT (and especially 2NT) are unusual and when it is not. Here it is not.

Lesson two, never, ever pass partners cue-bid in their suit. If north REALLY had spades he would have opened 1♠ and he would have seriously punished 3♠. I suspect south knew the wheels had fallen off, and his pass was not to have to declare, himself, a hopeless slam (for when he bids 5C or 5D or 4NT, slam will follow very quickly).

I guess the worse bid is pass of 4♠ followed closely by 2NT. As an aside, north SHOULD open 1NT, but i know a lot of teachers tell you to open 1M if you have a five card suit. Those teachers are wrong... but it is an "Easy" lesson for them to give. Sometimes you have to unlearn what they teach you.

[jim420]

thx very much for the advice

[P_Marlowe]

Hi Jim,

welcome.

One lesson your partnership should learn by heart,
unless 100% proven that the oppoenets psych,
trust the bidding of the oppoenents.

Psychs occur, they are part of the game, but they dont
occur very frequently, if you watch top class bridge,
you wont encouter an real psych bid very often, i.e.
the above mentioned proof needs to be rock solid.

The opponents advertised a 8-9 card spade fit,
and the bidding + the North / South hand does
not prove otherwise.
=> Spades is never our suit, i.e. the pass by South
was out of the question.
In other words 4S has to be a cue, in support of clubs,
and South should simply bid 5C.

A second lesson, for the next couple of month, try to
forget, that there are contracts at the 6 / 7 level.
I dont know, what 4S was intended for, but if it was
intended as a cue bid in support of clubs, North should
head the above mentioned advice and simply bid 5C.

With kind regards
Marlowe

PS: The second advice is harder to follow, I know, but
if you do it, your results will improve very fast.
But unless you have a good understanding of seq.
to fight for the partial / to bid game, you will have no
chance at all to bid successfully to the 6 / 7 level.
"Learn to walk, before you start running." is boring, but ...

PSS: What do open is a partnership agreement, 1H is fine.