[karlson]

imps against good opponents

♠AJxx ♥x ♦Jxxxx ♣Qxx white/red

1♥-3♠-p-?

What's your plan? Assuming they bid more, under what conditions will you sell out?

[WesleyC]

I'm bidding 4S and then selling out. My partner will might only have 6 spades at these colours.

[OleBerg]

Whatever I bid, I sell out after that.

4♠ seems normal.

[nigel_k]

5♠.

This could be wrong but it's the best chance to avoid a bigger and more expensive problem later on. Will not act again but this kind of auction implies that partner may do so if he has no defence at all.

[Fluffy]

4♠, might bid 6 later maybe if I read a lot of confidence on them, but normally I won't.

[gwnn]

I like 5♠ and pass.

[655321]

4♠ then pass.

[dicklont]

5♠
Partner has a weak overcall so our good opps will make 5 or 6 hearts.
I would not like to see
1♥ - 3♠ - p - 4♠
-> dbl - p - 5/6♥
or -> 5♥ - p/6♥

They have probably found their best spot.
After 5♠ they have to guess.
When 5♠ is doubled and costs 800/1100 I have no doubt that the slam is making.

[andy_h]

4♠ and pass.

[lilboyman]

4 Spades is likely the last level to which you can safely bid (-500 vs -620/680), unless they confidently and voluntarily bid slam on their own. In that case a sacrifice seems okay (-1100 vs 1430). I think the best way to know what to do is to pass for now. If they settle in 4 Hearts, you can bid 4 Spades and if they confidently bid a slam, take the sac. I think letting the Spade fit out of the bag now lets opps reach conclusions about how many Spade losers they have and I would rather keep them in the dark for now. I should add that I expect partner to be withing 4 tricks of making 3 Spades for his preempt.

[Phil]

4♠. If our side had hearts instead of spades, I would bid 5♥ with this hand type.

I don't mind taking the push to 5♠ and see nothing illogical or wrong with bidding 4♠ first.

[pooltuna]

4♠ is clear and you sell out to 5♥. However 6♠ if they get to 6♥

[benlessard]

1- pass, followed by whatever sac is neccessary
2- 4S followed by pass
3- 4S followed by 6S
4- 5S followed by pass
5- 5S followed by 6S

I keep seeing hand like these and people are always bidding diffently.

IMO

Its clear they make 5 or 6 something and H is likely.

Its clear that the sac over 6H is cheap enough.

Its likely opener has a 2club opener but decide to open 1H because he felt it would never go all pass. My guess is that hes got a huge 2 suiter. A signle suiter is also possible if they dont play namyats.

So there is 2 plan

1- You make life harder for them to bid correctly. You make them guess and hope they guess wrong.

2- You make life easy for them and sac over whatever they bid.


What you shouldnt do is mixed the 2 plans.

Take a guess over their guess, or forced them to bluff you.

If you believe 6H is likely and you bid 5S, then they can bid 6H just to bluff you knowing youll have a cheap insurance available or as a gamble shot hoping to make it because they know they wont get rich in 5SX anyway.

Its says "i want to get bluffed or i want to make the last guess". So opener can bid 6H with a fair chance of making it.

So imo you should bid 5S when

1- You believe their is a very good chance they wont reach 6H
2- There is a good chance of 6H go down.
3 Its hide a 2nd suit that is crucial to know if the hand mesh well, its the case here if LHO has a 7-5 then

Here i think that the chance they make 6H is just too great.


You should pass
1- When you feel opps are strong enough to bluff you,
2- are not willing to bring back -1430 because you know that the sac is pretty cheap.

The core of this strategies is that if you dont tell them the sac is cheap they wont know. Here for example LHO might also think that RHO has wasted S values and a limited hand becaus of no 3Nt bid.



You should bid 4S when

1- Their strenght is unclear for them.

Here if you bid 4S at first LHO might think you have the goods are that EAST is broke. But the problem here is that LHO is likely to bid 4Nt or 5m/H anyway and RHO with 2 tricks might "semi-bluff" you and raise to 6.


2- 4S is a bid you would somewhat tempted to make with a lot of holdings

Here its the perfect scenario its S over H its W/R. With any hand with at least 3S its tempting to bid 4S no matter whats your strenght. 4S cover a lot of ground and doesnt show weakness or that a 6 level sac will be super cheap. The problem here is that LHO will not pass therefore he will show that hes likely to make a VUL 5 level game. RHO will be quick in raising to the 6 level.





You should psych 3Nt or 4Nt when its possible that you have the goods.

Clearly not the case here.

[billw55]

6♠. When in doubt, whip it out

White on red and partner couldn't scrape up a 1♠ call. Ergo he cannot even have a minor suit K. 6♥ almost has to be making.

[karlson]

I'm really surprised at everyone who is afraid that 4 is going for 500. You don't think partner can take at the least 6 trumps (with a good chance of 7) and 2 ruffs? And maybe scrape up a minor suit trick if he has a non-textbook preempt?

Unfortunately I can't reconstruct the full hand anymore, but partner has something like ♠QT9xxx ♥xxx ♦x ♣KTx. You can take 9 or 10 tricks in spades depending on how well you guess, while 6♥ is a very touchy contract. It goes -1, but will make if you exchange some diamond spots in their hands. Teammates were -100.

I thought 6♠ might be a good save against game, so my plan was just to keep bidding spades. I bid 4, then after 5♥-p-tank pass I bid 5, and after x-p-tank 6♥, I bid 6. I didn't think they'd ever bid 7 on this start no matter what we did, so I don't see why this is any worse than bidding 6 right away, and they did almost double us in 5. 5 right away may well have bought it though.

[Hanoi5]

4♠, but if they got to 6 I'm not sure I wouldn't bid 6♠ (unless I'm afraid they can make 7).

This also depends on who my partner is. If my partner has more than ♠KQ (like an Ace), then they're down at 6, so, I'll probably just pass if they go on.

[MFA]

I would surely bid 6♠ over 6♥ later. Less clear if I should bid 5♠ over 5♥, but I think I would.

So 4♠ then 5♠ then 6♠. Support with support.

[dake50]

benlessard right. Pick your tactic. At least then partner is clued for auction AND defense. That makes the final decision a partnership decision when not unilateral sacrifice.

[Vilgan]

I would have bid 4♠ over 3♠ given this auction, and shut up over 5♥ but saved over 6♥. From what I expect partner to have, 6♥ is a very likely make and I have no defense. Might as well given them the chance to stop in game though as I've seen even the best have issues depending on how the hands/points are distributed.

I don't really like the 3♠ bid though and I think it messes up the strategy after a bit. Only 6 spades is fine.. but there is nothing special about it whatsoever other than "omg I have some spades".

[P_Marlowe]

4S.

And pass there after, until they bid 6H.

It they reach 6H, it would depend how convincing they did
bid.

With kind regards
Marlowe