[aguahombre]

South opens 1d (1h) X (2D)
Now opener doubles. There have been no alerts so we assume north has exactly 4Spades. This is a strong pair in the Spingold. What on earth is the double? Is it some form of snapdragon showing exactly this distribution and strength? I wouldn't understand a garden variety support double when partner's suit length in spades is already known.

Scoring: IMP

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It also does not seem to be a request for a lead or a request not to lead diamonds.

[nigel_k]

I don't play support doubles but I see no reason why it wouldn't apply here.

This hand is a perfectly normal 'raise' to 2♠ that happens to have only three trumps. Spades may well be the best denomination for a partscore and this alerts partner that he'll need good spades if he wants to go any higher in that suit.

[Fluffy]

what about doubling for suggesting playing 3 diamonds?

[Hanoi5]

Or 3♣. Is this not some sort of responsive double?

[helene_t]

Fluffy, on Jul 31 2009, 11:21 AM, said:

what about doubling for suggesting playing 3 diamonds?

Yeah, that would be my first guess.

Second guess lead directing, could be a chunky 4-card suit. (Or lead-discouraging, may be technically superior).

Third guess "lets see if we can double their 2♥".

Fourth guess responsive with extra values.

Fifth guess responsive, may or may not have extra values.

[ONEferBRID]

aguahombre, on Jul 31 2009, 01:18 AM, said:

South opens 1d (1h) X (2D)
Now opener doubles. There have been no alerts so we assume north has exactly 4Spades. This is a strong pair in the Spingold. What on earth is the double? Is it some form of snapdragon showing exactly this distribution and strength? I wouldn't understand a garden variety support double when partner's suit length in spades is already known.

Scoring: IMP

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It also does not seem to be a request for a lead or a request not to lead diamonds.

I'd say it is a Support DBL ( although admittedly I have not seen this before ).

Partner's Neg-DBL at this 1-level promised precisely 4 cards Sp.
Maybe Opener's DBL shows support in BOTH of "our" suits: 3 cds Sp AND 4 cds Cl ! !
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Semantically speaking", Opener's DBL can't be "Responsive" . Opponents have to have opened to make a Responsive DBL.

[gordontd]

Maybe they're playing (and forgot to alert) that X shows 4+ spades and 1S would have shown <4 spades. If so, then support double makes sense.

[aguahombre]

I would think, since there are so many different possibilities for this double, including the very popular "didn't you see my opening bid?", that whatever it means should have been alerted. the vugraph people are pretty good about including alerts in the bid grids, so I was surprised.

[nick_s]

To answer the question: I've no idea what he's doing.
...but I'm sure his agreements are better developed than mine.

My (non-expert) interpretation would be that this is a takeout double (gasp!). Short hearts, support for the other three suits - in the context of the bidding so far.
Looks like exactly what he has.

[aguahombre]

Scoring: IMP

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These were the four hands, with the spots as best as I can remember. N/S did well to listen to the opps and stay low at 2S.

1D (1H) X (2D)
X (2H) 2S (P)

What I really liked about the various replies was the honesty and maturity of them all. No edicts, no self-serving crud. Just honest attempts to decipher what was happening. My ideal of what a forum should be. the self-proclaimed non-experts' contributions are valuable to me because of what they say, not who they are.