[kgr]

MP's; Red (Vul vs Not Vul)
(1C)-P-(1D)-P
(1NT)-P-(P)-??
Kxx=KJxx=Kxx=xxx
Do you balance at MP's? Would you always balance with 4-4 Majors at MP's?
Both Not Vul is best for balancing and Both Vul is worst to balance at MP's..right?
How do these compare to Vul vs Not and Not Vul vs Vul?

Thanks,
Koen

[whereagles]

Pass. If I had 44 majors I would have doubled 1st round (even with 8-9 hcp )

[pbleighton]

Pass. 4333, 10 hcp, 33 in the unbid suits, I wouldn't bid at any vulnerability or scoring method.

Peter

[kgr]

pbleighton, on May 8 2007, 11:58 PM, said:

Pass. 4333, 10 hcp, 33 in the unbid suits, I wouldn't bid at any vulnerability or scoring method.

Peter

43 (4 card H) in unbid suits

[pclayton]

Not even close to balancing with a 4333 10 count.

[jdonn]

This looks suspiciously like one of your problems where you made the totally obvious, only conceivable bid (pass in this instance), found it was wrong in this particular case and partner yelled at you, and some local so-called experts told you that you should have done something ridiculous.

[kgr]

Seems like my example was an obvious pass.. I doubled and partner did bid the expected 2♠ that going down 2 for a zero.
I was thinking that if opps go down in 1NT then we only score 50 while we could possibly score 2H and maybe 2S?
Double seems better with 4=4=2=3. Would you double with that hand and does it need some minimum number of points..
Any advices for balancing at MP's welcome (seems like I need it!)

[awm]

My general rule is that you want to balance when you have a fit. If you don't have a fit, you usually want to let opponents play the hand.

Of course there are exceptions when you have way more or way less than half the values and need to get in (or stay out of) the auction.

So how do I know if I have a fit? Fortunately, there's a pretty high correlation between opponents having a fit and my side having a fit. So I tend to be a lot more aggressive in balancing when opponents found a fit than when they didn't. I don't find myself balancing over this auction (which is usually a non-fit auction, plus I could've bid a major earlier on if I wanted) very often.

Over a 1NT opening it's harder, because opponents very often "miss" a fit of their own. If my hand is shapely though, chances of a fit are better than if I'm flat, so I tend to balance with 5-4 or 5-5 hands and pass with balanced hands.

[FrancesHinden]

This is a horrible auction to protect in.

In depends a bit on opponents' methods, but many people will rebid 1NT with 1 or 2 4-card majors, so LHO could be 4423 and RHO 3253 and you really, really don't want to get involved.

[Free]

Dbl is plain awful! IF you really really really want to bid then 2♥ is much better, but like you have noticed already, pass is clear on this defensive hand.

[jtfanclub]

kgr, on May 8 2007, 05:58 PM, said:

Double seems better with 4=4=2=3. Would you double with that hand and does it need some minimum number of points..
Any advices for balancing at MP's welcome

Ummm...I literally cannot imagine the hand that passes 1♦ but doubles over 1NT for takeout. Any shape, any points.

I'm sure somebody here can. Anyone?

In fact, it seems to me that one partner I play with plays X there as penalty, with a long, strong minor he couldn't show before thanks to both 2♣ and 2♦ being cue bids.

[Fluffy]

kgr, on May 8 2007, 10:58 PM, said:

Any advices for balancing at MP's welcome (seems like I need it!)

Don't balance when they don't have a fit