[han]

Red against white, IMPs

K8xx
7xxxxx
Kx
x

1S - (Dbl) - ??

[jillybean]

I hope I have misunderstood the title it seems like I am the only one who finds this sort of thing offensive in an open “bridge” forum.

[hrothgar]

Interesting hand...

Not many HCPs, but not many losers..

I'm torn between

1. Showing a mixed raise with 4+ card support. Many people use 2NT for this... My wory about 2NT is that it understates the offensive strength of the hand.

2. Bidding an immediate 4♠... The problem with this bid is that I won't feel happy if LHO bids 4NT

3. Psyching some bid that shows a club suit. My gut says that this is likely to work best

[gwnn]

4sp, glp, run quickly

[rogerclee]

4♠.

[mikegill]

This seems like a normal 4♠ bid to me. Maybe it'll make, maybe they'll bid 5m and go down. Let them guess who's making what.

[han]

jillybean2, on Mar 23 2008, 10:58 AM, said:

I hope I have misunderstood the title it seems like I am the only one who finds this sort of thing offensive in an open “bridge” forum.

It was meant humorous and not at all sexist. If you find it offensive though then I will refrain from using such titles in the future.

[TimG]

3♠ for me, but I like to play this as more of a mixed raise than a purely preemptive raise.

[kenrexford]

What systemic options do I have?

[han]

I didn't want to restrict you in any way Ken, use whatever you like or what you think is or should be standard. I did not have anything available.

[Fluffy]

I can hardly see how my long hearts will be of any use, I am happy with just 3♠.

[kenrexford]

han, on Mar 23 2008, 11:50 AM, said:

I didn't want to restrict you in any way Ken, use whatever you like or what you think is or should be standard. I did not have anything available.

Yippee!!!

OK.

If I got to do whatever I want, I'd bid 1NT Suit/Lead, suggesting club values of some variety (the "Lead" variety). If I get the chance later, I'll jump to 4♦ as a splinter, confirming that 1NT was lead-directional with a club card but giving partner two good options in the defense, as he sees fit. Maybe this little sequence provides him the info he needs for a slam move on occasion, such as if he has ♠AQxxx ♥A ♦xxx ♣AQJx. A neat auction would be:

1♠-X-1NT!-2♥-
X(support for clubs)-P-4♦(splinter, spade support)-P-
4NT...

I can dream.

Alternatively, good stuff on defense might occur. Partner might know to lead from AQ or QJ or AJ or such in clubs, or might lead Ace-out in diamonds, or any number of neat things.

Without all that, I suppose 4♠. Boring, though.

[dake50]

H-xfer then S-raise. Hope pard has 'right' stuff. Maybe he even leaves space to C-spl.

[inquiry]

Sufficient ZAR fit points to bid a confident 4♠.

[skjaeran]

I'd most probably bid 2NT, 4c support inv+. I'd have other systemic alternatives too, depending on which regular I partner, but would go for 2NT as the best alternative. I'd need another trump to bid 4♠, except from that, the hand is ok for that approach too.

[Cascade]

We have available a constructive 3♠ raise or a descriptive 3♣ Splinter.

This hand fits somewhere between the two. I would probably upgrade to the splinter.

[han]

I bid only 3♠ which lead to a disaster, I need to grow some synapses. Next time though I will grab the bull by the balls horns.

[Cascade]

Jlall, on Mar 24 2008, 08:58 AM, said:

This is a completely textbook mixed raise. These problems stem from not having a bid available to show a mixed raise. I think everyone should.

At these colors a 3S bid is close to a mixed raise anyways so I think that's fine, but I'd recommend playing that 1M X 3(M-1) be played as a mixed raise. Heaven forbid you have to give up a nice fit jump though!

Mixed raises come up much more often than 0-6 raises. I would happily give away the really weak raises to include a more constructive weakish raise. In fact we have done just that simply on the grounds of frequency.

[jillybean]

han, on Mar 23 2008, 09:36 AM, said:

It was meant humorous and not at all sexist. If you find it offensive though then I will refrain from using such titles in the future.

han, on Mar 23 2008, 12:55 PM, said:

I bid only 3♠ which lead to a disaster, I need to grow some synapses. Next time though I will grab the bull by the balls horns.

I don’t get it, your first reply appears sincere then this?