[Walddk]

Scoring: IMP

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This hand from the NEC Cup in Japan divided the commentators into three camps during our live vugraph broadcast this morning.

RHO opens 5♦. What is your call: pass, double or 5♠?

Roland

[Miron]

5♠.
I couldn't look into my partner's eyes if he had two spades, three hearts, 8 minor cards.

[SoTired]

pass, but 5S is close. This is a spade hand, not a 2- or 3-suiter so I don't understand the dbl.

5S has the risk of partner raising to 6, expecting more from us. 5S also has risk of opps dbl and getting creamed. Responder only needs ♠Q10xx and an ace to dbl 5S. 5SX could easily be -800. I think the risks outweigh the potential gain.

[Apollo81]

Pass.

edit: I don't think this is that hard a decision

[pbleighton]

"This is a spade hand, not a 2- or 3-suiter so I don't understand the dbl."

For me, double would be penalty.

I bid 5S, with pass a close second.

Peter

[the hog]

Eeya Momma. Pass I guess, and it IS a guess. Oh and if the third camp are the doublers, ....well there are nutters everywhere.

[SoTired]

pbleighton, on Feb 7 2007, 10:35 AM, said:

"This is a spade hand, not a 2- or 3-suiter so I don't understand the dbl."

For me, double would be penalty.

I bid 5S, with pass a close second.

Peter

For me, I play these high-level doubles as take-out (offensive), although the higher the level, the more likely advancer will leave it in.

Most often, you have a big hand and don't know what to do.

Very rarely will you have a trump stack and know that penalty double is right. Even if you do get a hand like that, how many are you going to set them? So the penalty double meaning is rarely used and little value. If it ever comes up, I will have to pass and take my positive undoubled.

[brianshark]

Pass for me. I may have overcalled ♠ if it was over a non-game level pre-empt, but not over a game level pre-empt, and not on the 5-level. It's not a t/o double, that's a silly bid in my opinion, whatever meaning you attribute to it...

[pbleighton]

"For me, I play these high-level doubles as take-out (offensive), although the higher the level, the more likely advancer will leave it in.

Most often, you have a big hand and don't know what to do.

Very rarely will you have a trump stack and know that penalty double is right. Even if you do get a hand like that, how many are you going to set them? So the penalty double meaning is rarely used and little value. If it ever comes up, I will have to pass and take my positive undoubled."

I've found that penalty double above 4H works for me. Partner can take it out with a big suit, of course, but this is rare.

Each to his own.

Peter

[inquiry]

Puke....

Not double, not with these spades and those (gulp) hearts. So that leaves 5♠ and pass. This hand is just not worth a five spade bid, sadly, at these colors. I will pass, unhappily. Hope I did it in tempo (normal delay after the preempt). If I paused too long to decide, then I would probably bid 5♠, but I think I could pass in tempo here.

[mikeh]

Pass... and in tempo... when you have these hands, you have to make your choice quickly... especially if that choice is either pass or double.

Double is cards... a good hand that expects a reasonable chance of making a high-level contract should partner pull but also is confident (not 100%) of beating 5♦. It is neither 'takeout' (since partner will leave it in well over half the time) nor 'penalty' (since partner can and should pull on a significant minority of hands).

But this is not the hand for it... altho it's close.

5♠: oh boy.... if we bid 5♠ and it went 'double', would we ever know we'd guessed wrong! And the cost of guessing wrong is very big.

However, my pusillanimous pass need not bar us from reaching a good spot: partner is still there, especially if I have passed in tempo. I may be grasping at straws, but there is a good chance that he will take action on most hands on which a 5♠ call would have worked out: and I am bidding 5♠ over a double, and 6♥ over 5♥.... but, internally, I have already selected my opening lead.

[whereagles]

Dbl for take-out. Why not? I can play 5M no problem and pard will pass my dbl more quickly than he'd bid 6♣...

[pclayton]

5♠.

I may be influenced by a Swiss Match hand that I just bought on BBO. Same colors, Kxxxx, x, AKJT, Qxx ( I Think) with a 4♥ opening on your right.

The text strongly advocated a double. Reasons: shortness in their suit, several places to play.

I think the 6th spade in the thread hand with the extra playing strength justifies a 5♠ call.

Double doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[BebopKid]

I'd pass.

Go for setting the contract.

[kenrexford]

I'll double. If partner has junk and passes and they make, such is life. He won't bid 5♥ just because he has four hearts, let alone with three. He will bid 5♥ if he thinks we can make it, and, if he does, I'm on board. He plays so well.

More often, he will have heart support (of sorts perhaps) but not enough general strength to think that bidding 5♥ is right even with support. With five or six hearts, he may well move the contract.

High off2def ratio.

[han]

Pass for me, thought that this was fairly clear but what do I know.

[mike777]

Pass tough hand

Who knows maybe 6d now by LHO?

[Walddk]

Scoring: IMP

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Here is the full hand. The passers will most likely get 150, the doublers 500, 680 or 1430 and the 5♠ bidders 680 or 1430.

At one table Hugh McGann from Ireland overcalled 5♠ and was raised to slam by Tom Hanlon. Tick. Flat board after the Japanese South in the other room doubled and eventually ended up in 6♥.

I would have passed the North hand over partner's double I must confess and definitely not have done what North did. After a long tank he came out with 6♦!? and after another tank, this time by South, the final call was 6♥.

Lucky slams indeed, 6♠ luckier than 6♥. I know that 6♥ could have been defeated on a club lead. Maybe that's not out of the question when you are looking at ♥A. You know that partner can't have ♦A, and even if he has, your diamond trick won't disappear.

Roland

[pclayton]

Walddk, on Feb 8 2007, 09:16 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

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Here is the full hand. The passers will most likely get 150, the doublers 500, 680 or 1430 and the 5♠ bidders 680 or 1430.

At one table Hugh McGann from Ireland overcalled 5♠ and was raised to slam by Tom Hanlon. Tick. Flat board after the Japanese South in the other room doubled and eventually ended up in 6♥.

I would have passed the North hand over partner's double I must confess and definitely not have done what North did. After a long tank he came out with 6♦!? and after another tank, this time by South, the final call was 6♥.

Lucky slams indeed, 6♠ luckier than 6♥. I know that 6♥ could have been defeated on a club lead. Maybe that's not out of the question when you are looking at ♥A. You know that partner can't have ♦A, and even if he has, your diamond trick won't disappear.

Roland

I think the doublers are getting 500. Very unlikely I would pull a 5 level double looking at a 2=4=3=4.