[jftsang]

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I was playing South. West, North and East passed, so I called 1♦. West doubles, and then North calls 2♣. East doubles, I call 3♣, West doubles.

What I don't understand is why North raised to 2♣ when he held ♣Qxxxx and only three high card points. Can anyone explain this to me?

Was I right in supporting Clubs, holding ♣Kxx, or should I have rebid Diamonds?

[Stephen Tu]

It seems no one at the table knows how to bid?

- why didn't you open 1nt? This should be routine unless you are playing a weak nt (12-14) opening.

- after partner opens a 1 level bid, and a takeout double, 2 level bids are traditionally played as non-forcing, non-invitational (< 10 pts). Stronger hands (with no 1 level bid available) have to redouble first. (Advanced players often do more complicated things involving transfers). So partner is allowed to bid 2c on a weak hand with long clubs, however it should be a much better suit than this! It would be OK on something like AQTxxx clubs and out.

- what's east's double supposed to mean? Presumably it's penalties, as west has shown clubs. If he wants west to pick a major he should bid 2d. Since east made a penalty double, and you have clubs, you should be happy to play there, no need to raise. If east had actually bid 2d, you could raise.

[jftsang]

Thanks. If I had bid 1NT, presumably North would have bid 2♣; how would the auction have gone from there?

[gwnn]

Stephen you missed west!!!

[nigel_k]

What Stephen said, plus they can make 4♠ and partner should be no more than two down in 3♣X. If partner manages -200 you can also tie the ones where E/W miss the spade game.

[Stephen Tu]

Quote

Thanks. If I had bid 1NT, presumably North would have bid 2♣; how would the auction have gone from there?

If you open 1nt, west would be psycho to double (then again he doubled 1d so it already proves he's psycho, as gwnn said I forgot to say how nuts this is).

Semi-Normal bridge: 1nt -(p) - p, then East if he has gadget to show both majors does so, and e-w play spades for +200. I think it is hard for them to bid the game after both pass initially. Most would open the East hand in third position.

Psycho bridge: 1nt-(x)-?
Now this depends on your agreements over the double. I think it's best to play systems off over a penalty double though if you play "SAYC" verbatim to the notes, systems are on and 2c is still stayman so North can't bid it. If systems are off, North bids 2c to play, and East wonders how the hell west can have a penalty double of 1nt having passed initially .

Let's pretend you are in first seat, so that it is vaguely possible for everyone to have their bids. After 1nt-(x)-2c, you should almost never raise this. This is because 2c only promises a weak 5 cd suit, could be xxxxx and nothing else, promises a much weaker suit than 1d-(x)-2c, and is just an attempt to get a lower penalty than 1nt-x (since long suit will score tricks as trumps, and provide entries for leading toward the strong hand, but opps could hold up & prevent these tricks in NT), also the opps may bid over this.

The suit has to be stronger over 1d-(x) because:
- the double over 1d is for takeout, not penalty. So East will usually bail you out by bidding even if 1d-x happens to be in trouble, and you're only at the 1 level anyway. There's no strong reason to mention clubs unless it's a good suit.
- unlike over 1nt, where you can count on doubleton support at least, and frequently 3 or 4 cd support, there's no such guarantee over 1d. So logically your suit has to be stronger, opposite no guarantee of support & raising level of contract.

[andy_h]

I would definitely open with West's hand.