[paulg]

Scoring: IMP

      (5♦) - Pass - (Pass)
?

---

Saw this hand in a (stars) team match last night and thought it was a pretty unpleasant decision.

[han]

Definitely unpleasant, I'll go with 5H. I think double (and pass) will give you a plus more often but the imp odds probably favor bidding.

I think it is more likely that 6D gets you too high with 5H making, then that it gets you to a good 6S.

[whereagles]

Dbl and hope for the best.

[nige1]

Sorry double posting again (hmm that's quite apt)

[nige1]

cardsharp, on Aug 31 2008, 06:11 AM, said:

Dealer: West Vul: None Scoring: IMP

♠ AQ8xx ♥ AJT9xx ♦   ♣ Jx

(5♦) - Pass - (Pass) ? Saw this hand in a (stars) team match last night and thought it was a pretty unpleasant decision.

IMO _X = 10, 5♥ = 8, 6♦ = 5, _P = 4.

[pclayton]

I'll try an insufficient 4♦. Then I'll try 5 sparts.

In the end I'll double.

[paulg]

At the table 5♥ was chosen and partner passed holding

♠ K109xx
♥ Qx
♦ xx
♣ AK10x

The ♥K was in the slot and you make 13 tricks in any major suit contract.

The general consensus was that the 5♦ bid did its job (- xx AKQJTxx Qxxx) and it was the 1♦ opener chosen at the other table that was largely responsible for the adverse swing.

Paul

[Cascade]

cardsharp, on Sep 1 2008, 09:12 PM, said:

At the table 5♥ was chosen and partner passed holding

♠ K109xx
♥ Qx
♦ xx
♣ AK10x

The ♥K was in the slot and you make 13 tricks in any major suit contract.

The general consensus was that the 5♦ bid did its job (- xx AKQJTxx Qxxx) and it was the 1♦ opener chosen at the other table that was largely responsible for the adverse swing.

Paul

If my partner bid freely at the five-level then i think i will raise with that hand. I have excellent chances of covering four of his losers.

[benlessard]

K109xx
Qx
xx
AK10x

Passing with this is soooo lame.

[paulg]

benlessard, on Sep 6 2008, 12:19 AM, said:

K109xx
Qx
xx
AK10x

Passing with this is soooo lame.

The passer was one of the best players in the world, unless his son got to the keyboard first again.

Paul

[benlessard]

Quote

The passer was one of the best players in the world, unless his son got to the keyboard first again.

Even my spermatozoids (i dont have kids) will raise on this hand. . Im pretty sure it was an attention mistake a misclik, you get the hand wrong or a they had a huge lead in the imps event, ask any strong player and they will tell you passing doesnt make any sense here.

Quote

The general consensus was that the 5D bid did its job

Surely some commented that 6S or 6H is reachable after the 5D preempt.

[Apollo81]

I like double because, while my "hearts" horse isn't nearly as good, I have one other good horse and one reasonable horse to fall back on.

[mikeh]

The problem with double is that I would expect partner to pass 90% or more of the time. Certainly I don't see any good player bidding over the reopening double with, for example, Kxx Kxx xxx Axxx.

Nor with Jxxx Kxxxx xx Qx, a hand on which defending 5♦ rates to lead to a sub-optimal result

So I think it is up to us to find a more positive call, and the choice is simple: the egregious overbid of 6♦ or the eggs-in-one-basket guess of 5♥.

I think I'd need to make my clubs Ax or my majors 6-6 before I could stomach 6♦, so I opt for 5♥, switching the spotlight to partner.

While I see some ridicule his pass, I don't think that is fair, whether or not one agrees that the player (and I stress I don't know who he/she was) was one of the 'world's finest players'.

Partner was under tremendous pressure and a good rule of thumb is not to hang partner for being aggressive in such a situation.

Moreover, it is impossible to be objective once one knows the hands.

Subject to that, I tend to think that the pass was unduly conservative... and I do think that, had we only had his hand posted and been given the auction to date, a raise would have made sense, and indeed one could argue that the hand is close to a 6♣ cue bid (please, nobody say that 6♣ would be to play )