[Hanoi5]

All white, dealer passes and you hold:

♠Axx
♥AT98xxxx
♦
♣xx

What's your bid?

A cookie for those who remember where this is from.

[bluecalm]

Too powerful for 4♥ imo.
I open 1♥ hoping to rebid 4♥ if I get a chance.

[Siegmund]

I am sorely tempted by 4♥, but it hath been written on the stone tablets: thou shalt not preempt with two aces. I used to ignore this rule routinely, but it got beaten into my head, 300-points-against-a-partscore at a time.

I voted for 1♥, but I wouldn't object to passing and coming back in with some number of hearts later if the auction developed favorably either.

[helene_t]

Pass followed by 4♥ would show something else. This hand needs to be opened.

1♥ for me

[gwnn]

4 hearts. no problem yet.

[jdonn]

I believe 1♥ is fine. The normal objections to opening light are that we might get too high on a misfit, reach an inadequate 3NT, reach a bad slam, or double them without enough defense. But we can always play in hearts so a misfit and 3NT aren't problems, and my hand is great for slam and for defense.

I think we have too good of a dummy for spades and too low of an o/d ratio for 4♥. Not that I expect to play in spades, but if partner is 7-1 or something and he is strong then spades is probably our suit for slam.

[gnasher]

4♥. It's almost never right to open at the one level when you have the same number of high-card points as cards in your longest suit.

[Jlall]

meh I'd probably go 1H as a default but could imagine many circumstances where I'd go 4H.

[jdonn]

gnasher, on Jan 16 2010, 03:23 PM, said:

4♥. It's almost never right to open at the one level when you have the same number of high-card points as cards in your longest suit.

I'm not sure why you would think this is the case. It may turn out to be true based on the bids you consider correct, but could hardly be used as justification for choosing an opening bid.

[gnasher]

jdonn, on Jan 17 2010, 12:53 AM, said:

gnasher, on Jan 16 2010, 03:23 PM, said:

4♥.  It's almost never right to open at the one level when you have the same number of high-card points as cards in your longest suit.

I'm not sure why you would think this is the case. It may turn out to be true based on the bids you consider correct, but could hardly be used as justification for choosing an opening bid.

The rule I quoted hasn't been rigorously tested. In fact, I made it up few seconds before I typed it. I thought it could be my contribution to bidding theory, like "bid spades" or "six-four, bid more", but less pithy.

[gwnn]

almost never? could you show a counterexample?

[Little Kid]

Two aces, a void and an 8card suit! So many controls, the first thing that comes to mind is SLAM!! Still think I would stilll go for 4♥ at the table. I can think of some layouts where slam makes but am not sure I would be able to bid it confidently after 1♥. There is likely to be quite some interference if I open 1♥ if partner has support and it may get tough to describe this hand without good agreements. With 4♥ we may even collect a nice penalty if they come in when they shouldn't. ♥s will be our best strain the most of the time so I'll just go with the preempt and try to make the opponents guess.

Totally understand the people opening 1♥ though, maybe I'll change my mind when I am a bit more confident about my bidding =) Absolutely hate pass.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

4H.

I wont open this with 1H.

This means it is either a preempt, which would be 4H for us or Pass.
If the hand is suitable for a preempt given the vul. and pos. is a
matter of partnership agreement, if you have the agreement never
to open a with a preempt holding 2 Aces, than this means you have to
pass.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[hanp]

I'd open 4H, I don't believe the usual rules for preempts hold for 4-level openings, especially 4H.

[Fluffy]

I had no strong feelings on this one, but then I realised that I can just double whatever comes at me if I open 4♥, so I'll do that