[mtvesuvius]

All Vulnerable at IMPs, with RHO dealing, partner passes out of turn, barring himself for 1 round, and RHO passes. What is your bid?

Your Hand:

♠ Ax
♥ AJxx
♦ AKJx
♣ Kxx

[hatchett]

3NT obviously.

[Walddk]

3NT which can be anything when you know partner must pass on his first turn. It would be much harder if I had a 17 count.

Roland

[neilkaz]

Walddk, on Feb 16 2009, 09:24 AM, said:

3NT which can be anything when you know partner must pass on his first turn. It would be much harder if I had a 17 count.

Roland

Agreed.

[dicklont]

Walddk, on Feb 16 2009, 04:24 PM, said:

It would be much harder if I had a 17 count.

I think you would always open 3NT with a 17 count Roland.
I know I would.

13 is obviously too little to have a decent chance opposite a passed partner
Where does it stop to be obvious, 16, 15?

[ggwhiz]

I've never understood this ruling. Is the fact that partner does not have an opening bid not unathorized info?

[skjaeran]

ggwhiz, on Feb 16 2009, 05:27 PM, said:

I've never understood this ruling. Is the fact that partner does not have an opening bid not unathorized info?

It is. But the fact that partner is obliged to pass in the first round of bidding is authorized information.

So the out_of_turn-passers partner does legally know that he in practice has to guess the final contract now. (Unless opps bid.)

[rogerclee]

This kind of problem is pretty common actually, everyone seems to just bid 3N even with a 5-card major if the hand is around 16-17 balanced (or better).

[Mbodell]

I think with even a decent weak NT I bid 3nt opposite the pass out of turn, especially vul at IMPs. If I know I have to place the contract, and I'm not allowed to know about my partner's strength, I need to assume he'll have on average 1/3 of the missing points. If I have 13 points, partner figures to have on average 9, and 3nt figures to be a decent risk - especially at IMP odds and especially when the 9 average could be 12 as easily as 6. If I have 16 points, partner figures to have 8 and 3nt figures to be quite reasonable. If I have 20, partner figures to have 7 or so, so 3nt should be on ice, and 6nt should be fairly unlikely. So an opening 3nt seems reasonable.

The last time something like this happened to me, I had 14 and balanced and I had opened 1nt (12-15) out of turn when my partner was dealer (he called the director himself pretty quickly, LHO was reaching for the bidding box when partner called the director). The auction was called back and my partner was forced to pass and RHO opened 1♣. I was planning on bidding 3nt if it was passed to me, but when RHO bid 1♣ I needed to reevaluate. I had Kxx of clubs and decided to risk it with 3nt inspite of the lead directing bid by opponents. It all turned out well when partner tabled an opening hand of his own including the AQJTx of clubs!

[ggwhiz]

I once opened a 15-17 notrump in 4th chair (red) and the bidding reverted to lho.

After 3 passes, I bid 3nt and lho had passed a balanced 19! -1700