[Rebound]

Scoring: IMP

Auction:
N / E / S / W
p 1♥ 2♠ 3♠
4♠ X p 5♥
all pass

---

System is 2/1 in case that makes a difference.

Hidden text about the actual result to allow you to form an unbiased opinion:

Spoiler

4 spades is down at least 2, 6 hearts is cold on any lead since the heart K is singleton onside. After the hand, partner felt she should have bid slam because I pulled the double but I'm not so sure she could have known that.

I was West. I considered bidding 4S exclusion directly over 2♠ but to me that seems like resulting. I doubt many would agree the hand is strong enough. There's no way to know pard's hand is all prime controls. On the other hand, it's still cold despite the spade wastage so now I'm not sure, hence this post.

[the hog]

Blame for what? For missing 6H which makes because the hook is right? Even then there may well be a D ruff on this hand. No blame for missing 6; however I fail to see what the x of 4S is supposed to mean or achieve. Better is to make a forcing pass. Still wouldn't want to get to 6 though.

[Rebound]

Thanks for the reply.

Well, I agree the title was perhaps a poor choice of words but it seemed at least succinct when I posted.

Anyway, the question was only partly whether 6♥ is a good proposition with these two hands but also whether either of us should have bid differently and thus proceeded to slam based on what the auction said about the opposite hand.

While on the subject, however, isn't the ♥ K going to be singleton in either opp's hand or doubleton onside 3/4ths of the time?

Mind you, your post raises an additional question; in the event of a pass by East over 4S, how should the auction continue from there?

[matmat]

Rebound, on Feb 17 2008, 06:13 AM, said:

While on the subject, however, isn't the ♥ K going to be singleton in either opp's hand or doubleton onside 3/4ths of the time?

well... yes, but you can't really play for it to be onside or singleton offside, unless opps somehow manage to forget to ever cash their diamond ace.
Also, given the preempt the odds of the finesse are slightly better than 50% (assuming spades break 6-4... but if opps like to bid this way on 5-5 you're back down to a 50/50 shot).

i think (and justin/han et al can correct me on this) slam is usually not a good proposition if you're off two keycards and neither of them isn't in a suit where one of your two hands has a void.

I also agree with the previous poster that the X there is a little rash. 3S forces us to game voluntarily(well, to the 4 level, but whatever) , something to be said for passing a control rich hand. P's hand could have very well been
--- KTxxx KQTx Kxxx and they still might have (?) passed the X but moved over a fp.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

6H makes? Bad luck, nothing terrible to stay
out of a 50% slam, or is 6H better?

East has a clear double, he could make a
forcing pass, because he holds Aces, but
than he has a min. bal. opener with spade
wastage, so double is clear, at least in my
opinion.

Given the vulnerability, West may pass 4Sx,
how many does 5S go down?
But, ... West has a spade void and knows about
a 10 card fit, so 5H is clearly better, so no mercy
for West, if he passes and it was wrong.

And the double by East is a stop signal, West
may ignore it, but this will lead more often to
6H-1 thanto 6H=.
West can bid 4NT, but since he has a void, he
wont know what to do after the expected 5H answer,
and 5S may already be to high.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Fluffy]

3♠ shows a strong raise normally balanced, this is not the bid. 4♠ is an overbid, but something else should be better.

I prefer 4♦ showing ♦+♥ at least it suggest spade shortness.

[helene_t]

I suppose the auction is ok, given that W had no thre-and-a-half-spades card in his bidding box.

I like E's double (although I prefer different methods, but playing standard methods which include a penalty X I like it), he has a defensive hand.

[jdonn]

The auction seems fine. Well bid.

[Apollo81]

I'd replicate this auction.

[pclayton]

Well done. I didn't read the result - its immaterial. 6♥ might have made and 5♥ might have gone down (*possible).

If you are looking for a pat on the back, you got it.

[Winstonm]

The hand is not near strong enough to bid more than 3S. At these colors, the only difficult decision is whether or not to pass the double. The double here should express fairly extreme spade wastage, I would think, and questionable hearts to boot.

With this thought and fairly good defense outside of hearts, there is a valid argument to play 4S doubled. KQx, Axxxx, Ax, xxx 4S x'd or 5H?

[Rebound]

pclayton, on Feb 17 2008, 04:15 PM, said:

Well done. I didn't read the result - its immaterial. 6♥ might have made and 5♥ might have gone down (*possible).

If you are looking for a pat on the back, you got it.

Thanks, but no. I was merely trying to ascertain whether
a ) pulling the double when white on red was reasonable
b ) whether slam should be bid, not on the basis of the combined hands, but from the point of view of either hand

I appreciate all of the comments. It seems we are vindicated despite the result but since both alternatives to bidding 5♥, i.e. passing the double and bidding 6 would have given a better result than losing 3 IMPS, I wanted to see what you folks thought.

[Cascade]

We got to a decent contract its usually partner's fault when this happens.

I am not sure I would double 4♠ with AJ9. Sure this has some defensive prospect but it is also not too shabby if partner wants to bid 5♥.

[brianshark]

I don't mind double, or the pull to 5♥, or the non-raise to slam. Not sure what I'd actually do at the table, but all of them are reasonable moves.