[ArcLight]

IMPs, Opps vulnerable and pass (pick up pard)
you hold
♠ x
♥A Q x x
♣
♦K T 9 8 6 5 3 2

In 2nd seat what do you bid?
1♦?

I opened 1♦, LHO overcalled 1♠, pard bid 2NT
now what?
I bid 3♥, pard raised to 4.

4♥ was down on a club lead.
5♦ makes.

Pard had his bid
♠ A K x x
♥K J x x
♦ J
♣ x x x x


On a club lead and continuation teher ws no way to avoid getting tapped and it wasn't possible to set up the Diamonds.

I'm thinking of what Hrothgar is always saying, that Swans (7-4 or better?) should play in the long suit, not the 4-4 suit.

So what should the bidding have been?
p 1♦ 1♠ 2NT
p 5♦
???

[jdonn]

Does your partner not play negative doubles?

In any case, there is something to what Richard says about playing in the long suit, and certainly with 8 of them I would only be interested in diamonds on this hand. Anything over 2NT is sort of a guess, so on that basis I don't mind 5♦. Might make 6 but I don't like my options for investigating so I prefer to not tell them anything extra about my hand.

[the hog]

I agree with the above post. If you have an 8 card suit, try to play in it at all costs.

[TimG]

ArcLight, on Aug 18 2007, 07:59 PM, said:

I'm thinking of what Hrothgar is always saying, that Swans (7-4 or better?) should play in the long suit, not the 4-4 suit.

I think a swan is specifically 4711. A giraffe is the generic name for a 7411 hand.

[cherdano]

Yes, it is a clear mistake to look for hearts in this hand. Btw, the fact that your diamonds are not very good (but have good intermediates) makes the case for playing in diamonds even stronger, as you have to assume it will take two rounds to setup diamonds.

I think if partner has a 7-card and I have 4-card support I might make an exception to playing in the 8-card suit But short of that the 8-card suit is preferable, even compared to a 5-4 fit.

[skjaeran]

TimG, on Aug 19 2007, 05:27 AM, said:

ArcLight, on Aug 18 2007, 07:59 PM, said:

I'm thinking of what Hrothgar is always saying, that Swans (7-4 or better?) should play in the long suit, not the 4-4 suit.

I think a swan is specifically 4711. A giraffe is the generic name for a 7411 hand.

4711 is often called "the perfume distribution" or "Eau de Cologne distribution" after the perfume brand name (which was taken from the adress Glockengasse no. 4711).

[skjaeran]

I'd jsut guess to rebid 5♦ in this sequence.
The hand will most probably play badly in ♥'s. If the defence can attack ♣'s you'll soon be short in trumps, and never be able to make anything from your long suit.

Btw, I disagree with your partner's 2NT bid. That would deny 4-card hearts to me - I'd make a negative double with that hand.

[pbleighton]

I would have opened 5D.

Peter

[han]

Yes, 5D is clear, and partner's 2NT is really wrong.

[han]

By the way, most bridge players write diamonds above clubs, so the shape would be 0-4-8-1. When you table dummy you might like to separate the red suits but nobody does that when giving bridge hands to other people.

[jtfanclub]

I had an 8410 once...unfortunately, the auction was already at game before I got a chance to bid. Now I'm going to have to wait another 2500 hands for it to show up again.

I thought 7411s were rare...they show up almost 10 times as often as 8410s!

[neilkaz]

Hannie, on Aug 19 2007, 01:44 PM, said:

Yes, 5D is clear, and partner's 2NT is really wrong.

Agreed and why no neg X from PD who also has 4♣. You can get to 3NT later if that is where you belong.

[whereagles]

Jlall, on Aug 19 2007, 07:36 PM, said:

an opening bid of 1D, 4D, and 5D are all fine. After opening 1D I would just bid 5D after the 2N bid.

roger that