[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     1♥    Pass  2♥
 2♠    3♥    Pass  4♥
 Pass  Pass  Pass  


what do you think of
1/. should 3 hearts be competitive only and definately non forcing

2/. or 3 diamonds, what would you need for 3 diamonds

3/. or pass what should this mean

4/. if passed what action should pass infer to partner

[barmar]

1. I think most players play that 3♥ is competitive. If you want to invite, use a game try in some other suit. You may want to add Maximal Doubles to your system to handle the case where they interfere in the suit directly below yours.

2. It depends on what kind of game tries you use. If Help Suit, I like 3♦.

3. Pass should mean you have a minimum opener, perhaps reduced in value by the interference (like 3-4 small in his suit), or you have a hand that wants to defend (AQTx in his suit).

4. Partner should probably assume the first reason why you passed, as it's more likely. If he's short in the opponent's suit he can balance.

BTW, where did the opponent come up with that 2♠ bid on Txxx? I could imagine it in the balancing seat, but to come into a live auction where opener hasn't limited his hand yet? Does he really want to suggest a ♠ lead? If he's going to bid anything, Double makes more sense.

[helene_t]

What's the point of 3♥? 1♥ already promised 5, didn't it? Besides, ♠Q could be worth more in defense than in offense. Just pass.

[sceptic]

ok, I considered pass, 3 hearts bid, what I had in mind was only a competitive raise, and my spades seemed excellent, so I was competing and also I would be reasonably happy to hear 3 spades

is my logic flawed here

[helene_t]

But p is still there. If he has two or less spades he will often bid 3♥. As it is he will double and you're happy to leave that in.

[pbleighton]

Quote

But p is still there.

Agree.

Peter

[mike777]

sceptic, on Jul 28 2007, 01:46 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     1♥    Pass  2♥
 2♠    3♥    Pass  4♥
 Pass  Pass  Pass  


what do you think of
1/. should 3 hearts be competitive only and definately non forcing

2/. or 3 diamonds, what would you need for 3 diamonds

3/. or pass what should this mean

4/. if passed what action should pass infer to partner

3h is horrible

yes it may work.

[Wackojack]

I am going to stick my neck out here and disagree with previous opinions. For me there are some close calls here.

1. After the 2♠ intervention, from North vantage point the hand appears to be improved and even game is not out of the question. So for me, pass is not an option. 3♦ help suit game try is optimistic and 3♥ competing (telling partner not to bid 4) is close IMO.

2. Say North does choose the more optimistic of the options and bids 3♦. South with what initially looked like lots to spare for the 2♥ bid, now sees the hand devalued by the overcall and the 2♥ bid looks like it was on-the-nose. So no need to get excited by the 3♦ trial bid, you provide no help here. So quietly bid 3♥.

The fact that West's suicide bid has got lucky is irrelevant.

[ralph23]

sceptic, on Jul 28 2007, 01:46 AM, said:

what do you think of
1/. should 3 hearts be competitive only and definately non forcing

2/. or 3 diamonds, what would you need for 3 diamonds

3/. or pass what should this mean

4/. if passed what action should pass infer to partner

As we play it (there are different methods so don't let anyone tell you that his is "right" ); the main thing is to have partnership agreement, and even a dorky agreement is better than no agreement.

1. Yes. You have at least 3 ways to try for game: 2NT, 3♣ and 3♦. I myself here like 2NT as a general quantitative game try and 3 of a minor as help-suit game try (I have a broken honor strength, can you help?). My partner likes something different so I play it his way.

Because there are intervening bids that you can make (i.e. 2NT and 3 of a minor), Maximal Doubles (sometimes called Maximal Overcall Doubles, a bit of a misnomer) are not in effect but you should adopt these as well. What if overcaller had bid 3♦? Now you have no room to do anything except bid 3♥. So what does double mean? You will have to discuss the conditions that these are ON or OFF, as some play that opps have to have reached suit agreement for this convention to be ON. See Root & Pavlicek, Modern Bridge Conventions.

2. Maybe I have KJx or something in ♦. I have broken strength and need some help.

3/4. Pass means opener already spoke his peace when he opened and probably has a junky balanced hand not particularly willing to compete. Partner can go on with e.g. four trumps or otherwise compliant with the LOTT.

[jtfanclub]

Interesting.

Since I hate tennis, I think the best meanings are:

1. Six hearts and a minimum, or
2. 5 hearts and no defense (ie., no interest in 2♠ X'd)

I prefer #1. If you have 9 trump, it's unlikely that you'll get a good penalty out of the hand (the opps have a fit, though it might not be spades).

Playing something even close to standard, you're never going to want to let them play 2 spades undoubled. Pass should be *forcing* (which will shock somebody, I'm sure). Even if the total tricks is 15, down 2 by them is a good hand.

So when you bid 3♥, you're pre-empting partner. If it doesn't have a specific meaning, then why do it?

[cherdano]

3♥ is a very bad bid.