[guggie]

Scoring: MP

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Bidding
pass-pass-pass-1♣
2♠(weak)-X (neg)-3♠-??

Full credits for EW for their annoying bidding. What now?

[1eyedjack]

Seems like a middle-of-the-road 4C bid:
Good hand, good Clubs, bad Spades ...
what am I missing? Perhaps 5C?

[Free]

4♣... What else?

[kgr]

4♣ for me. This describes my hand the best.
In MP 3NT or defend 3♠ could well be best, but to reach that you have to pass now. That's not really what I want to do with this hand. You can't have it all if opps preempt.

[bearmum]

4♣ no other bid to make -- and insufficient points to go to 5♣

[inquiry]

This is matchpoints, how bad can dbl be if it is "takeout"? Your partner should avoid bidding ♥'s here without a fair five card suit, so if he bids 4♥, fine. If he bids 3NT, I guess I can stand that, something you can't get to if you bid 4♣. But maybe partner will pass, and we can collect a +200 for down two.

If your double of 3♠ here is penalty, then of course, you are stuck for a bid and 4♣ is right. But especially at matchpoints, I like the TO double. If partner passes and they make? Well, I have gotten bottoms before. It is only one board.

Ben

[guggie]

OK, i hoped someone would show the way to end in 3NT. I bid 5♣, that made for 21%.

Scoring: MP

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My p and I discussed that X should show 3 hearts (?). But I like the suggestion of Inquiry. Would a pass do?

[keylime]

I can remember my mentor saying this:

"Dwayne, when in doubt, double is for takeout. "

Easy little saying

[Free]

guggie, on Jun 13 2004, 07:17 AM, said:

OK, i hoped someone would show the way to end in 3NT. I bid 5♣, that made for 21%.

Scoring: MP

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My p and I discussed that X should show 3 hearts (?). But I like the suggestion of Inquiry. Would a pass do?

I don't think playing support dbl at such high level is a good thing. Usually it's played till 2♥, just in case responder has only 4 and no other bid available, to avoid the moysian 3-level game. If Dbl here shows 3♥s, it's a waste of the Dbl imo.

Pass is wrong imo, you have a great hand, and if you pass, who says p will bid again? We have a great hand, we can either bid Dbl or 4♣ to show extra strength. Ben had a good point with the Dbl, however I wouldn't want to play 3♠*.

[flytoox]

I will try 5C.

[1eyedjack]

guggie, on Jun 13 2004, 01:17 AM, said:

OK, i hoped someone would show the way to end in 3NT. I bid 5♣, that made for 21%.

I think that you have to accept that when the opponents make a move that is contrary to the rest of the room, then there is an increased likelihood that you are destined for a non-average score. That may work either way, but also it may be beyond your control. On this hand the opponent made a highly risky 2S bid that was (I suspect) not matched by the rest of the room. He got lucky, finding partner with 4 card support. On another day your partner will have the QTxx of Spades and you may catch him for a substantial penalty. But since he got lucky on this hand it is unreasonable to expect that you can recover an average score. I would be content with 21% on this hand, and expect over 80% next time he does it.

[Maestro13]

Now for a reaction of the lunatic on the other side of the table!

I heard my partner bid 5♣ and started to think about the fact that it was matchpoints and whether 5♣ would be OK enough. I had the ♠K, you know, and I thought partners hand would be good enough to make both 5♣ and 3NT with overtricks possible (though not guaranteed).
Had my partner bid 4♣, I would no doubt have bid 4♥ to bring in the heart suit again, passing a retreat to 5♣ since partner now "knows" I have a weak 5 suiter in hearts.
Would 5♥ issue the same message? I did not know but disliking not having tried for a better score in 5♥ or perhaps even 6♣, I boldly bid it.
The effect was unwanted, we were overboard, and I interchanged a near-bottom with a bottom, but it was not uncalculated for. I wanted to protect my score and missed badly, but in my opinion I tried to lift the score to say 60 or 70%, not losing much if I were wrong. I guess I am too imaginative sometimes....

Can anyone comment on my wildly undisciplined imaginative matchpoint-driven bid of 5♥?

Carpe Diem

[Free]

Hi, welcome to the forum Maestro I would however not bid 6♣ with a singleton top honour.

[Fluffy]

The question is: will partner take 5♣ as cuebid after you rectify 4♥ if you double 3♠? I doubt it, because if I had ♠ cuebid I would bid it, and If I had not I would bid 5♥ askign for their suit´s control, therefore there is no big risk on bidding double to 3♠.

[inquiry]

guggie, on Jun 13 2004, 01:17 AM, said:

OK, i hoped someone would show the way to end in 3NT. I bid 5♣, that made for 21%.

Scoring: MP

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My p and I discussed that X should show 3 hearts (?). But I like the suggestion of Inquiry. Would a pass do?

I am a little wild bidder (if you search around, you will find a lot of wacky suggestions by me). But one thing I very much like is DOUBLE's are for takeout as long as 1) We have not established a fit, and 2) No conventional meaning is already attached to the double.

This is a simple rule, and it goes all the way up to 7♠'s, I guess. Of course, as always, the higher the takeout double, the more likely partner will leave it in.

This way, you don't have to worry about such things as negative doubles, responsive double, snapdragon double, support double, etc. A double is for takeout, call it that... "takeout" and you will do ok.

So in this example, partner promised ♥'s with his takeout double of 2♠. If I have ♥ I don't need to double, I could just bid ♥'s. So here a double is directed towards the minors, or notrump... and as an added benefit, if partner is suited, he can pass.

Ben

[luis]

I would have bid 3NT directly at MPs, I suspect the sA or sK is in my pd's hand based on the bidding. Since it is MPs I try 3NT, can't be worst than a bottom.

[Flame]

Dbl seems the best here.
Dbl is takeout, it doesnt necessrily show 3 hearts.

[whereagles]

I guess I'd bid 4♣. That carries the message: "I have clubs, and don't even think about hearts". Just about what you want to say.

Note 1: I prefer bidding 2♥ instead of double. Double encourages pard to do silly things when holding 3 hearts.

Note 2: a double on 3♠ is best played as take-out, with some 1345 or 2245 or similar shape, though I won't argue against it being for penalties.

Note 3: unlucky that 3NT makes. Requires RHO to have exactly K or Kx of clubs. Not good odds. Under normal conditions, the par is 4♣= N/S +130.

Note 4: opening 1♣ also opens a can of problems, as we've just seen. Open 3♣ and they'll hush up for good. A 4th seat preempt is not frivolous, so pard can still bid 3NT if he has fitting clubs and side aces/kings, something like Axx Kxxx xxx Qxx.

[Trpltrbl]

X for TO. Hopefully pd can bid 3NT and if not I can correct his bid to 5♣, he must have some ♣ fit now.

Mike