[shyams]

Scoring: IMP

Partner deals and opens 1♥. East overcalls 2♦. How high do you bid?

Is this too simple a question?

---

[mcphee]

I like 3H which seems to fit the bill, weak. I appreciate 4H is also weak but I prefer not to make this sort of decision in front on partner. I think partner is capable of saving or bidding game to make on their own.

[Codo]

I find it not easy at all.

-The LAW proposes 4 Heart because you hold 10 trumps.
-You are quite short in spade and you have no defence, so you want to bid to the limit as soon as possible.

But:
-your shape is as balanced as possible, no real ruffing values, small honours.
-Up to now they did not show spades and against 5 diamond you have more defence then against any other contract.

To me it is close between 4 and 3 Heart and I would choose the later.

[pooltuna]

shyams, on Jan 15 2010, 08:43 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

Partner deals and opens 1♥. East overcalls 2♦. How high do you bid?

Is this too simple a question?

---

It is IMO fairly simple nevertheless you will see advocates for 2,3, & 4♥. You have essentially a 9 loser hand (I refuse to count more than 1♥ loser) so using the losing trick count method of evaluation you see that partner needs a 5 loser hand to make game a reasonable value so I am inclined to just bid 2♥ and leave the decision to partner. I am also ready to sell out to any number of ♠ as 5♥x does not rate to be a winning decision.

[helene_t]

3♥. 4♥ is really too much with a balanced hand, and I don't violate the LOTT by more than one level.

[ArtK78]

I would bid 3♥.

Considering my hand only, I think a 4♥ bid is not a bad idea. But I don't want to encourage my partner to bid 5♥ as a sac based on what he thinks I should have for a 4♥ call.

The balanced shape is bad for offense, and the stray jacks may produce a defensive trick or two.

[jdonn]

3♥ is an easy bid, not nearly enough offense for 4♥.

[jjbrr]

One more vote for 3♥. Obviously 4♥ could be the winner, but I'd rather not risk going for 500 against air, which 4♥ is going to accomplish some amount of the time.

If partner raises or competes to 4♥, I'll feel like I have a good dummy for him.

[Little Kid]

Definitely 3♥ for me. Yes you have 5♥s but your hand is as flat as can be and you're loaded with queens and jacks, no offense whatsoever. You could go for a number in 4♥ already or cause partner to compete further. From my experience, the Law of Total Tricks is less accurate with balanced hands and a lot of trumps. I generally like to have a shortage to raise to 4♥ on this kind of auction. 2♥ just seems way too conservative for me even though the hand is not great besides the trump length. 3♥ seems the best bid in order to preempt as high as is safe.

[Jlall]

3H is really normal, as a general rule don't ever bid 4H with 5332 unless w/r in this auction (and don't do it with all 5332s w/r). You can make exceptions for hands with really good trumps like xx KQJxx xxx xxx sometimes if you want and you're not r/w I guess, but it should be quite rare to bid 4H with 5332 at equal vul.

[shyams]

The hand was something like this:

Scoring: IMP

---

The bidding was swift and brutal (esp. for N/S)

I was kibitzing this deal. N opened 1♥ (although many would prefer 1NT?). After East's 2♦ overcall, South jumped to 4♥. Now West bid 4♠ which was doubled. E/W were soon scoring up +590. North blamed South for the debacle, while South blamed North.

If I recall, the other table settled in a partial for E/W.

[Vilgan]

4♥ is overly aggressive given the balanced hand imo, but north is a bit off their rocker if they are trying to say the X isn't 100% their fault. I see a lot of people like north at the club and they seem to spend half the time telling partner what they did wrong that made the latest bad result.

[ArtK78]

Many of us choose 3♥ over 4♥ with the South hand for a number of reasons. But one of them is not because 4♥ shows defensive tricks (I did suggest that the stray jacks might produce a trick on defense, but I certainly did not count them as defensive tricks).

North is 100% to blame for the disaster. If I could award him more than 100%, I would.

The only blame for South would be that EW might not have gotten to 4♠ if they were not pushed there. But that does not justify North's double (and certainly not his blaming South for the result).

[neilkaz]

Vilgan, on Jan 16 2010, 09:44 AM, said:

4♥ is overly aggressive given the balanced hand imo, but north is a bit off their rocker if they are trying to say the X isn't 100% their fault. I see a lot of people like north at the club and they seem to spend half the time telling partner what they did wrong that made the latest bad result.

I feel sorry for the partners of players like North. It is very basic that a preemptive jump to game doesn't promise to take any tricks on defence. The preemptive raise to 3♥ that most of us prefer with this flat junk also doesn't promise defence.

North is lucky that one of the opps wasn't void in ♥ so there was no doubled OT.

That being said, on this bidding 3♥ will sometimes buy it or the opps may stop short of a making game or bid one that actually goes set.

[jdonn]

ArtK78, on Jan 16 2010, 12:41 PM, said:

Many of us choose 3♥ over 4♥ with the South hand for a number of reasons. But one of them is not because 4♥ shows defensive tricks (I did suggest that the stray jacks might produce a trick on defense, but I certainly did not count them as defensive tricks).

What would you bid if one of south's spades were a heart? J QJxxxx xxx xxx?

Obviously north is to blame for doubling but 4♥ by south doesn't show any defense. In fact that's largely why north is to blame!

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I would bid 2H, followed by 3H.

And this is certainly not simple, but it is basically a matter, what partner
would expect for a 3H raise.

#1 4 trumps
#2 how much distributional features

As it is, I would like to stay low and disencourage a sacrifice, but I won let
them play the hand below 3H.

With kind regards
Marlowe