[jillybean]

No agreements, pickup parnter

(4♦) X

double is..... penalty , right?

[zasanya]

Right but cud be wrong.

[effervesce]

Depends on what level you and your partner have agreed to use takeout doubles to-but most experts play takeout doubles basically all the way up to at least 4S, and alot up to 7S.

[helene_t]

The rule I teach to beginners is that a double on a trump partscore is t/o. Of course there are excepttions but those are difficult to formalize and not so essential. Anyway, a double on a 4♦ opening is clearly t/o.

When they reach the chapter about preempts the rule will be ammedend: a double on a preemptively bid trump game is generally t/o.

[jillybean]

Here's the full hand, I was only a little uncomfortable bidding 4♥ and I'd be happy to hear 4♠.
My ops were the only experts at the table.

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     -     4♦    Dbl
 Pass  4♥    Pass  Pass
 Dbl   Pass  Pass  Pass
 

[whereagles]

sac pard

'nuff said

[Winstonm]

Jilly, a good rule of thumb to remember is that immediate doubles are for takeout, but the higher the bidding starts the more imperfect can be the hand - until you get to a 4S opening, and then double is mostly card-showing/penalty.

[cherdano]

It hurts to do so, but South has to pass 4♦.

[jillybean]

cherdano, on Mar 30 2007, 10:17 AM, said:

It hurts to do so, but South has to pass 4♦.

Yes we need a signal to differentiate between penalty and take out here

[mikeh]

jillybean2, on Mar 30 2007, 12:23 PM, said:

cherdano, on Mar 30 2007, 10:17 AM, said:

It hurts to do so, but South has to pass 4♦.

Yes we need a signal to differentiate between penalty and take out here

A lot of bidding boxes in North America come with a TD card: now, some have claimed that this is to be waved in the air whenever one wants to call the Tournament Director, but I disagree. Firstly, we normally call the Director bvy speaking out loud, and few directors would ever see or respond to the waving of that little orange card if not accompanied by a yell of 'DIRECTOOOOORRRRR"

More importantly, use of the TD card in the manner I suggest allows us to use the red X card for penalty and the TD card for Takeout Double.

Unfortunately, BBO and other online sites have not catered to this agreement: there is no TD in the bidding box. Maybe Fred or Uday could remedy this?

On a more serious note, JB, you did the right thing... partner had to pass 4♦, rather than double.

Personally, I play doubles of opening preempts as takeout through 4♠, and I think this is the common expert approach, altho many bidding texts may still recommend the treatment I learned 30 years ago, of takeout through 4♥ and penalty of 4♠.

[goobers]

lol @ mikeh's post