[se12sam]

The first post can be found at: http://forums.bridge...showtopic=30980

I held ♠Q108763 ♥A6 ♦Q73 ♣52.   I asked whether you would bid 2♠ in the first seat. Among the people who responded (thank you all), the underlying theme seemed to be "matter of style" but more people prefered to pass. That's what I did at the table...
The bidding then continued:
South   West   North   East
Pass    Pass    1♣    1♥
1♠      4♥     4NT     Pass
I asked what was your opinion about 4NT. Anyway bidding proceeded
5♦     5♥     Dbl     Pass

What do you make of 5♥ dbl by partner? What should I bid now (or should I pass)?    Please decide before you look further

I guess there is no point keeping the full hand and the eventual debacle as another post so here goes.
I considered the 4NT bid for a few seconds but honestly thought partner meant RKCB. The consensus from the previous post suggests 4NT is minors - so I obviously got this wrong. However, a couple of people pointed out that 5♦ could still work out if partner had minors.
The next problem was the 5♥x. I was now doubly convinced that partner meant RKCB (and 5♥ is trump queen ask). So I jumped to 6♠! It went, dbl by LHO, then 7♣ by partner which was doubled! So we were headed for a disaster but I still wondered whether I should pull to 7♦ -- before eventually passing.
The full hand?

Scoring: IMP

---

The other table played it in 4♥ after South opened 2♠ and chalked up +650. We were -1400 in 7♣x for a hefty loss. From that point on, it was all downhill and we lost the match eventually. As an aside, feel free to assign share of blame between North and South for the debacle

[TylerE]

Lots of blame to go around. 4NT must be minors. X of 5♥ must be penalty. X of 5♥ is from a different planet.

[ArtK78]

TylerE, on Mar 24 2009, 10:06 AM, said:

Lots of blame to go around. 4NT must be minors. X of 5♥ must be penalty. X of 5♥ is from a different planet.

I agree, although saying that 4NT "must" be for minors is a little strong. I am sure there are some who would play it as RKCB, but minors makes a lot more sense.

The double of 5♥ is truly strange.

The 6♠ bid is an order of magnitude more strange, but you admitted that you were on an entirely different wavelength than your partner.

[jdonn]

I have no clue why partner doubled, he did well to push them to 5.

Obviously the rest was simply a bad misunderstanding, but we pretty much covered that in the other thread already.

[Codo]

I belive that a two suiter opening had fit much better to the north hand, idealy 4 NT.
I hate his double of 5 heart, but: This is a clear statement to defend 5 heart, it is a stop sign.
So with your hand this is a more then obvious pass. When partner wants you to decide whether or not to defend or to move on, he had passed 5 Heart,

[gnasher]

Over 5♥, are we in a forcing pass situation? If not, I don't think double should just be penalties: it should say "I think we were making", and allow for the possibility of South's bidding on.

I would, of course, pass the double with this South hand.

[Codo]

When you take 4 NT as RCKB, it is surely a forcing pass situation.

[se12sam]

As I mentioned in my text, to me the 4NT appeared to be RKCB. I was reasonably sure, but I agree I was wrong to assume RKCB.

The 5♥ dbl increased my conviction that partner is holding a strong hand and opps are the one bidding on thin air.

The 6♠ is incorrect (overall) but the 5♥ did not help!

By the way, I think E/W have a comfortable 11 tricks in 5♥x.

[Codo]

se12sam, on Mar 25 2009, 08:22 PM, said:

As I mentioned in my text, to me the 4NT appeared to be RKCB. I was reasonably sure, but I agree I was wrong to assume RKCB.

The 5♥ dbl increased my conviction that partner is holding a strong hand and opps are the one bidding on thin air.

The 6♠ is incorrect (overall) but the 5♥ did not help!

By the way, I think E/W have a comfortable 11 tricks in 5♥x.

Yes E/W make 5 heart comfortably. But this just shows that partners double was wrong. Not a big surprise, he has one trick in defence and no trumps.

And for further adventures: Credit vulnerable opps with their bids. They try not to gift you with 1100 so often. Sometimes they make mistakes, but as a general rule: Belive that they are not suicidal.

They normally have a reason to bid 5 HEart, as they had here.