[pclayton]

Played with a new partner last night. The debut was in a team game that included Melih Ozdil, Mark Lair, John Swanson, Jim Tritt and Farid Assemi.

No pressure

Here's a few of the interesting decisions:

v/v: ♠Ax, ♥AKQTxx, ♦Jxxx, ♣10. 1♥ by you, 1N (forcing I believe by pard) to you?

v/not: ♠Axx ♥KQ6xx ♦xx ♣xxx. 1♣ on left, 1♠ on right, 1N on left, 2♣ on right (puppet to 2♦ - either non invitational diamonds with longer diamonds than spades, or some invite). LHO bids 2♦ and RHO passes. Do you balance?

nv/v: ♠AQxx, ♥xx, ♦x, ♣AJ98xx. Pard opens 2♦ in 2nd (mini-multi - 2-7 hcp and frequently a 5 bagger at these colors). You respond 2♥ (pass/correct) and he surpises you with a 2♠ call. RHO now doubles (TO of spades). Your call?

v/v, 2nd seat: ♠AKQx ♥Kx ♦AKJxx ♣J9. Your plan?

nv/v: 1st chair: ♠Txx, ♥xx, ♦Axx, ♣K7xxx. Pard opens 1♥ in 3rd (note: from experience playing against your pard, you know this can be on just about anything). You bid a SF 1N and LHO doubles. Pass, pass to you. Your call?

[keylime]

1. 3D, followed by hearts. (Yes Arend, it was intended - 3♥ is alluring too more I think about it).
2. Depends on state of match for me.
3. 4S. Let 'em figure out what to do at the five level.
4. Open 1D, reverse into spades over a heart response. Then again, I don't open offshape 2NT's.
5. Ouch. Probably runout to 2C knowing that I will have at least a doubleton over there. Then again....

[cherdano]

1. 2D followed by hearts. (Dwayne, is 3D a typo??)
2. No.
3. 4S.
4. 1D, hopefully followed by a jumpshift to spades.
5. 2♣.

[mikeh]

1. 3♥: light on hcp, ignores diamonds, but right on playing strength (LTC of 5 and that ♥10).

2. Pass. LHO didn't deny 4♥s, not fighting for a partscore at this heat when this could be ugly our way if wrong.

3. 4♠. Tough one. I was tempted to bid 4♣ to involve partner, the bid could hardly be misunderstood. But we have the boss suit, and we are always going to 4♠. I think the issue is to minimize the chance that they will bid 5♥, and 4♣ by me tells the opps too much... and it's not as if they are deaf. I will regret my decision if they bid 5♥. Heck, maybe I should be bidding only 3♠! Then I allow myself to be pushed to game....? I don't think that would work, and, besides, +170 won't be a good score.

4. 1♦ then 2♠. Hand is both wrong shape and too strong/weak to open 2N or 2♣. I've been +170 before.. heck, I've been +190.. but I won't be here.

5. Pass. RHO is loaded in hearts, so maybe I should run to 2♣, but that's a trick higher on a bad suit, and I'm not entirely broke. Maybe I'll get a nice dummy (ok, call me an optimist!).

[ArtK78]

1) 3♥. 5 loser hand, clear to jump with such a good suit. The chance that playing in diamonds is superior to hearts is remote, and a 3♦ call would be a misrepresentation of my hand.

2) No. Partner has had two chances to enter the auction, once over the 1♣ opening bid and again over the 1NT rebid. It is clear that we do not have a game if he could not enter the auction over 1♣. So I do not see what a balance here would accomplish, other than risk going for a number when the opponents do not seem to have a fit.

3) There are several possibilities here. One is to bid 3♣ to get a club lead from partner, with the intention of bidding 4♠ at your next opportunity. Another is to just bid 4♠ now. And a third possibility is to bid 4♣, intending to show clubs and spades and then leaving it to partner whether to bid on later (I still intend to bid 4♠ if given the opportunity).

I am torn between the 4♣ bid and the immediate bash to 4♠. I suspect that I would choose 4♣ at the table, but either could be right.

4) 1♦ followed by 2♠. This hand is suit oriented and I want to give partner every chance to show a fit so we can explore for the best game or slam.

5) 2♣. What's the problem?

[mike777]

pclayton, on Aug 8 2007, 03:01 PM, said:

Played with a new partner last night. The debut was in a team game that included Melih Ozdil, Mark Lair, John Swanson, Jim Tritt and Farid Assemi.

No pressure

Here's a few of the interesting decisions:

v/v: ♠Ax, ♥AKQTxx, ♦Jxxx, ♣10. 1♥ by you, 1N (forcing I believe by pard) to you?

v/not: ♠Axx ♥KQ6xx ♦xx ♣xxx. 1♣ on left, 1♠ on right, 1N on left, 2♣ on right (puppet to 2♦ - either non invitational diamonds with longer diamonds than spades, or some invite). LHO bids 2♦ and RHO passes. Do you balance?

nv/v: ♠AQxx, ♥xx, ♦x, ♣AJ98xx. Pard opens 2♦ in 2nd (mini-multi - 2-7 hcp and frequently a 5 bagger at these colors). You respond 2♥ (pass/correct) and he surpises you with a 2♠ call. RHO now doubles (TO of spades). Your call?

v/v, 2nd seat: ♠AKQx ♥Kx ♦AKJxx ♣J9. Your plan?

nv/v: 1st chair: ♠Txx, ♥xx, ♦Axx, ♣K7xxx. Pard opens 1♥ in 3rd (note: from experience playing against your pard, you know this can be on just about anything). You bid a SF 1N and LHO doubles. Pass, pass to you. Your call?

Ok with a new partner
1) 2H, easy no problem yet. I do not open on junk with a new partner.
2) No. I am not a good enough player to balance in this game.
3) 4S
4) 1D followed by 2s.
5) Pass

[pbleighton]

Quote

1. 2D followed by hearts. (Dwayne, is 3D a typo??)
2. No.
3. 4S.
4. 1D, hopefully followed by a jumpshift to spades.
5. 2♣.

Agree.

Peter

[Apollo81]

In order of least difficult decision to most difficult decision, for me:

3/4. 4♠/1♦.
5. 2♣. I don't want to get raped in 1NT, thank you.
2. Pass. Too dangerous.
1. 3♥, since I have the ♥10. I'd rather play a 6-1 heart fit than a 4-3 diamond fit here, so 2♦ is out.

[benlessard]

1- 2♦ i can live with 3♥ but 3♦ is sick.

2-2♥ its hard for them to X me.

3- 4♠ easy anything else is bad

4- 1♦ followed by 2♠ anything else is bad

5- Pass, but im not used to opening with balanced crap. So maybe 2♣ is better.


Easy set of problems except for 5 an very rare situation in wich my chance of making 4 trick are not so good but partner rate to be 3532 so 2♣ isnt a improvement.


PS i would like to see the 5th hand and the result.

[Echognome]

1. abstain
2. abstain
3. abstain
4. abstain
5. abstain

I should stop watching these matches...

[lowerline]

1. 3♥. This is too good for 2♥ and the diamonds aren't worth mentioning.
2. Pass. A clear pass at these colors.
3. 4♠. Don't give it away by bidding 4♣.
4. 1♦, then reversing into ♠ is my preference, but I don't object a 2NT opening.
5. 2♣. Maybe I'm lucky...

Steven

[Foxx]

Agree with Jlall on all points.

[han]

1. 2♦, could be wrong on some hands but at least my partner knows I almost always bid this way.

2. Yes .

3. 4S.

4. 1♦ followed by 2♠, but I'm not as opposed to opening 2C (followed by 2NT) as most others seem.

5. This is bad news, I'd bid 2C.

[pclayton]

1. Teammates held this. Player in question bid 3♥ and his pard bid 3N on: ♠K9xx ♥x♦KQTxx ♣Jxx, and this hand PASSED (sympathy or not?)(note: it might have started 1♥ - 1♠ now that I think about it). 4♥ is good, 5♦ is good and 3N is abysmal.

But our counterparts let it in on a spade lead, declarer tested hearts (4-2), and went after diamonds. The club suit ended up getting blocked; just a genius board all around in the bidding, play and defense.

2. I balanced with 2♥. LHO did have AJTx of hearts but didn't find the double (its probably -1, but any misstep allows me to make). RHO advanced to 3♦ which we beat. Win 4.

3. I bid 4♠. 4♣ occurred to me afterward, but I'm not getting a lot of support for the call. Pard had: ♠KJxxx ♥Txx ♦QTxx ♣x. Clubs are 4-2, and unfortunately they led a trump, so he was -1. Lose 5 against 4♥ going down? No!

At the other table the bidding started p - p - 1♦ - 2♣ with my hand. Negative double on left, pass, PASS with: ♠x ♥Q9xx ♦AKJx ♣KTxx. -1 and a very strange push.


4. I held this hand and the auction went 1♦ - 1N - 2♠ - 3♦ (undiscussed) - 3♥ - 3N. Pard held: ♠xx ♥Jxx ♦Txx ♣KQ8xx. Hearts were 6-2 with AT on his right and the ♦Q was off. -300 which pushed with the other table.

5. I pulled to 2♣. Pass, pass, RHO bid 4♥. RHO held the hand in problem #1 above. 1N x'd isn't bad - it goes for only -300. With partner appearing to be balanced or semi-balanced, 2♣ seemed to be safest, although pass wins you 8 for strange reasons.

[skjaeran]

Jlall, on Aug 9 2007, 12:29 AM, said:

1) 2D.
2) hell yeah
3) 4S, hate to say it but wtp? I think anything else is terrible. 4C enables them to bid 4red so sucks.
4) 1D, I will JS into spades.
5) 2C, I have no desire to play 1N X on a heart through. Partner rates to be flat so I have a good chance of buying a fit and getting out of this mess.

Agree.