[awm]

♠QTxx
♥KT9
♦Q
♣KT9xx

You are in second seat, vulnerable versus not. The auction:

Pass - Pass - 1♣ - 1♥
1♠ - 2♣(1) - Pass(2) - 2♥
3♠ - Pass - 4♠(3) - Pass
Pass

(1) Three-card limit raise of hearts
(2) Opponents do play support doubles
(3) Substantial break in tempo

Do you double? And regardless of whether you double, what is your lead?

[Jlall]

king of hearts.

[TimG]

I'm sorely tempted to double, but I've seen partner's overcalls.

I lead the ♥K.

[rbforster]

awm, on Aug 4 2009, 06:32 PM, said:

Pass - Pass - 1♣ - 1♥
1♠ - 2♣(1) - Pass(2) - 2♥
3♠ - Pass - 4♠(3) - Pass
Pass

(2) Opponents do play support doubles

Do you double? And regardless of whether you double, what is your lead?

I'm not sure about the inference for (2), since most ppl play a 1♠ response shows 5 over 1♥. Other than that, I'm passing with too many soft values rather than doubling. I must not be enough of an expert to lead the K♥ - I was going with the T.

[gordontd]

I wonder why everyone is so sure declarer won't have ♥Qxx?

[TylerE]

Wouldn't double here at IMPs. I like the Q♦ lead.... the 2nd trump trick, which may not appear by itself, may be the setting trick.

[pooltuna]

yes I whack and lead the ♥T

[Jlall]

gordontd, on Aug 4 2009, 07:09 PM, said:

I wonder why everyone is so sure declarer won't have ♥Qxx?

What do you think the RHO and LHO hands look like given the auction? RHO is a passed hand and bid 3S, and LHO kicked it in with a doubleton spade knowing that RHO is a passed hand.

[xcurt]

I'll pass and lead the ♥K. This gains when we need to shift at T2, and if they have any secondary heart cards the most likely position to protect ls LHO Jxx, RHO Q or so.

I would double them if they were vulnerable, the IMP odds are a little better, since I highly doubt they can redouble or make any overtricks, and if they were vulnerable there's a slightly greater chance they are stretching to game.

[Phil]

No I don't double. Clee made a similar double (of 3N) in the Spingold and I thought it was wrong then and still do.

No great feelings about the ♥T or K, but I'd lead the K.

[Fluffy]

Passed hand that bids 3 spades is so odd, this looks to be because "he was too strong for a weak 2", but maybe it is because he has 4 hearts.

Anyway, by doubling you might be killing one of your spade tricks, you might need to ruff a diamond to recover from that, and leading low heart might blow partner's entry pematurelly.

So if you double you should not lead low heart IMO.

I won't double, and I think ♥K lead is best anyway.

[awm]

This was the worst board for our side in the national swiss for which I was directly responsible (I managed not to go for 2800 in that event, unlike in the mini-Spingold). I chose to double and then lead the king of hearts. The full hand:

Scoring: IMP

---

Declarer won the lead in hand with the ace, played a heart to the queen and a spade from dummy. Partner rose with the ace and returned a heart. Declarer ruffed in hand and played the spade king, then took a winning club finesse, returned to hand with the diamond king, and took another winning club finesse finally discarding a diamond on the club ace. He lost three trump tricks only, making four doubled. At my teammates' table the auction was 2♠-all pass and declarer managed to go one down on a club lead (I think he can make two, but this is very minor given the -590 coming back from my table).

[bid_em_up]

awm, on Aug 6 2009, 01:01 PM, said:

This was the worst board for our side in the national swiss for which I was directly responsible ....

I completely disagree with this statement.

Given partner's choice of overcalls, I think your actions are 100% reasonable and you shouldn't blame yourself entirely, if at all, for this result. I would expect the 4th seat vulnerable overcall to be more substantial than this hand is. (I would choose a 2N bid over 1H, but only if all of the pass cards have been removed from my bidding box).

Additionally, if you had managed to beat 4S x'd by 2 tricks and come back to the table +300, everyone would be happy.

[TimG]

awm, on Aug 6 2009, 01:01 PM, said:

This was the worst board for our side in the national swiss for which I was directly responsible

No blame at all to the person who made a 1♥ overcall on ♠Ax ♥Jxxxxx ♦Jxxxx ♣-?

[pooltuna]

TimG, on Aug 6 2009, 02:51 PM, said:

awm, on Aug 6 2009, 01:01 PM, said:

This was the worst board for our side in the national swiss for which I was directly responsible

No blame at all to the person who made a 1♥ overcall on ♠Ax ♥Jxxxxx ♦Jxxxx ♣-?

WHAT????? And warn partner??

[cherdanno]

TimG, on Aug 6 2009, 02:51 PM, said:

awm, on Aug 6 2009, 01:01 PM, said:

This was the worst board for our side in the national swiss for which I was directly responsible

No blame at all to the person who made a 1♥ overcall on ♠Ax ♥Jxxxxx ♦Jxxxx ♣-?

What other call do you suggest?

[awm]

Seems to me that I doubled the contract, and I made the only lead to let it make.

Partner's 1♥ overcall is normal bridge as far as I'm concerned (I wouldn't pass a 6-5 hand with a void in the opponents suit when I can name my longest suit at the one level... would you?)

Of course, it could well be that my lead was a normal lead (certainly looks that way from the posts here). But in a high-level event, a lot of the IMPs are swung on reasonable actions that "didn't work out" rather than on boneheaded actions. This is such an example.

[gnasher]

North had 6 HCP facing a passed partner, at adverse vulnerability, without the boss suit, and with two pipless jack-high suits. I don't think there was any prospect of outbidding the opponents or of causing significant disruption to their auction. Since North also didn't want a heart lead, I can't see any benefit to overcalling.

[gordontd]

awm, on Aug 6 2009, 10:58 PM, said:

Partner's 1♥ overcall is normal bridge as far as I'm concerned

You didn't warn us of that when you asked us what we would lead

[pooltuna]

cherdanno, on Aug 6 2009, 02:55 PM, said:

TimG, on Aug 6 2009, 02:51 PM, said:

awm, on Aug 6 2009, 01:01 PM, said:

This was the worst board for our side in the national swiss for which I was directly responsible

No blame at all to the person who made a 1♥ overcall on ♠Ax ♥Jxxxxx ♦Jxxxx ♣-?

What other call do you suggest?

2NT comes to mind. 1♥ has shades of trying to mastermind the auction