[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     -     Pass  1♣
 Pass  1♥    Pass  2♥
 3♣    3♥    4♣    Pass
 Pass  Dbl   Pass  Pass
 Pass  

HQ HK HA H4
HT C2 H2 H3


what does my 2 heart show after opps ruffed the return from pard

[kenrexford]

What it apparently intended -- diamond value.

[mikeh]

I agree with Ken. (Hey, Ken, don't look so surprised )

BTW, wild horses couldn't get me to double 4♣. The same wild horses couldn't have got me to bid 3♣ either...it is not exactly clear that EW held 10 clubs at that point in the auction

[skjaeran]

Fully agree with Mike and Ken. And I don't understand why north didn't make a game try either. We should absolutely be in 4♥ here.

[barmar]

If you were south, would you have accepted a game try? You have a flat minimum and the opps' club bidding has diminished the value of your ♣ (which weren't that good to begin with).

And I can understand north's perspective, too. A void in partner's first-bid suit is usually a misfeature. The extra ♥ length makes up for it, but then you're just back to your original quacky 8 count. I suspect he meant his double as "cards", giving south the choice of going to game or leaving it in; without any ruffing values, I guess south decided his hand was more defensive than offensive.

It looks to me like 4♣X was the winning action on this layout. If NS switch to ♦ when they get in, west should lose 1 ♣, 2 ♦, 1 ♥, 2 ♠, down 3.

[cherdano]

barmar, on Jun 25 2007, 11:43 AM, said:

If you were south, would you have accepted a game try?  You have a flat minimum and the opps' club bidding has diminished the value of your ♣ (which weren't that good to begin with).

And I can understand north's perspective, too.  A void in partner's first-bid suit is usually a misfeature.  The extra ♥ length makes up for it, but then you're just back to your original quacky 8 count.  I suspect he meant his double as "cards", giving south the choice of going to game or leaving it in; without any ruffing values, I guess south decided his hand was more defensive than offensive.

It looks to me like 4♣X was the winning action on this layout.  If NS switch to ♦ when they get in, west should lose 1 ♣, 2 ♦, 1 ♥, 2 ♠, down 3.

Maybe doubling 4♣ was the winning decision, but what's the point of mentioning that? It was still a very bad decision. If we only criticize bad decision when they turn out badly, everyone must play twice as many boards to learn from his/her mistakes.

To be honest, I might have bid 4♥ with North, we have a likely 10-card fit after all (and a void in partner's suit isn't THAT bad a feature when you have a big fit), but a game try is of course sensible - 3♥ is not. Again, it doesn't matter whether partner has an accept of the game try or not, bidding 3♥ only was a misevaluation, in my opinion.

[FrancesHinden]

The H2 was suit preference for diamonds.
(Holding both the SQ and the DK I would have played a more intermediate looking heart).

By the way, after 3C and 4C from the opponents, I would have bid 4H. It sure doesn't sound as if we have much wasted in clubs.

[bid_em_up]

2♥ should be suit preference for diamonds. Your count and exact cards are known at this point, and none of your spots are necessary to guard anything. Any card you play at this point should be suit preference.

The heart J would be a strong suit prefence for spade, the heart 2 is strong suit preference for diamonds. The heart 7 would indicate that you have no real preference for either of the other two suits (either because you have no holdings in them to prefer OR because you have something in both suits).

You could indicate a slight preference by playing the heart 9 (spades) or the heart 5 (diamonds), but most times you won't have this many options available to you to be as clear in your suit preference signal. Even if you did this, it takes an extremely competent partner to work out these subtle inferences.

I would have bid 4H over 3C.

[Free]

Depends on agreements imo:
- if you count trumps as a possible suit to switch to (which I prefer when you have lots of discards available) it asks ♣. (♥J would ask ♠, ♥7 would ask ♦)
- if you don't count trumps as a suit to switch to, ♥2 is absolutely asking for ♦.