[wyman]

Scoring: MP

3♥-(X)-??

---

What's your plan for the bidding?

[helene_t]

5♥. I am going to sell out to 5♠.

[jjbrr]

Ya. I guess I can live with 5♥ and try to go plus if they bid 5♠

[Pict]

4♥

I have a good hand and can think about it later.

[gwnn]

5♥ and pass 5♠ but x 6m.

[pooltuna]

Helene_T et al

[PhantomSac]

With 12 HCP usually I'd just go with 4S since there's a decent chance to buy it in 4H. Given that I have 5 hearts though, it seems unlikely. I would definitely look left and look right here, and if my opps were little old ladies or weak I would bid 4H expecting them not to bid 4S that aggressively even with short hearts if they didn't have many HCP. If the opps were good or young (aka aggressive), I would try 5H to maximize the pressure on them.

[nigel_k]

I pretty much agree with the 5♥ bidders against good opponents. But you don't want to be too predictable here, so against people who I expect to face many times I would try pass or 4♥ sometimes as well just to add variation.

[Jlall]

nigel_k, on Jan 31 2010, 04:01 PM, said:

I pretty much agree with the 5♥ bidders against good opponents. But you don't want to be too predictable here, so against people who I expect to face many times I would try pass or 4♥ sometimes as well just to add variation.

Lol what? You really think you have to use a mixed strategy with this exact hand so that you're not too predictable? How about bidding 5H with this hand as well as x xxxxx xxxx xxx, as well as --- AQxxx Axxx, xxxx, etc etc. It's not like this is the only hand you would ever bid 5H with, and even if it was it's not like you could ever be exploited anyways in reality.

[wyman]

Long story short, I bid 5H-AP.

P is KQxx/KJxxxxx/x/x, and we are -100 and they can't make anything.

I think we got 25% of the matchpoints, so not a total disaster all things considered.

You preempting with partner's hand? Or is this just a normal board?

[y66]

I like 5H. I think pard's hand is too good for 3H. I'd have tried 1H there.

[nigel_k]

Jlall, on Feb 1 2010, 09:03 AM, said:

nigel_k, on Jan 31 2010, 04:01 PM, said:

I pretty much agree with the 5♥ bidders against good opponents. But you don't want to be too predictable here, so against people who I expect to face many times I would try pass or 4♥ sometimes as well just to add variation.

Lol what? You really think you have to use a mixed strategy with this exact hand so that you're not too predictable? How about bidding 5H with this hand as well as x xxxxx xxxx xxx, as well as --- AQxxx Axxx, xxxx, etc etc. It's not like this is the only hand you would ever bid 5H with, and even if it was it's not like you could ever be exploited anyways in reality.

If you always bid 5♥ on a hand that is willing to go to 5♥ over 4♠, then when you don't bid 5♥ they know you don't have that hand type and can therefore infer something about their partner's heart holding at least.

I've seen a few times on these forums where the bidding has gone something like 2♠-X-3♠-? and the poster will say something like 'we know opponents have nine spades therefore ...'. This kind of reasoning is unsound and ought not to work, but I want to make sure it doesn't work by actually varying how much I bid sometimes.

Also on some hands I might not start out intending to go to 5♥ but at the end I decide to do so based on their auction and how confident they seem. I don't want them to know for sure I have a marginal 5♥ bid when that happens.

Maybe the fact that it's matchpoints causes me to sort of subconsciously assume that messing with opponents is more likely to work, because in (my) real life that is more true of people I play at matchpoints than at IMPs.

[efe_]

It depends how I feel myself :)

one of my choice 3sp againist intermediate opps

the other one is "pass"(lets see what is happening)

next one 4h then 5h (exhausting opps during the action)

5h looks standart (againist good opps)

[Codo]

I dislike your partners 3 ♥ bid with an unpassed partner and KQxx in spades.
He is not too strong for 3 Heart vul. but his honour location and his spades make the bid bad.

Opposite a "normal" 3 Heart bid, they will have a heavy spade fit and make 4 spade while losing at most 3 minor tricks. 5 Heart puts the pressure on them and had worked quite often, if partner had had his bid.

[P_Marlowe]

4C - a fit bid, for the lead and what ever.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[P_Marlowe]

wyman, on Jan 31 2010, 08:49 PM, said:

Long story short, I bid 5H-AP.

P is KQxx/KJxxxxx/x/x, and we are -100 and they can't make anything.

I think we got 25% of the matchpoints, so not a total disaster all things considered.

You preempting with partner's hand? Or is this just a normal board?

Playing with my regular p, this would not be a preempt opener in direct / 2nd
seat.
As always a matter of agreement, but more than half of your points are out side
your suit, the playing power is pretty good for a 3H opening - there are players, who say 7-4 shape should, if at all to be opened as a preempt,to be opened on
the 4 level.

So - No I would pass, that is our preempt style, and we can preempt a lot.

All in all you should try to get a discussion started, how preempts look like, if
you play a broad range, than you will have a higher guess rate, of course
your opponents as well.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[gnasher]

wyman, on Feb 1 2010, 02:49 AM, said:

P is KQxx/KJxxxxx/x/x, and we are -100 and they can't make anything.

3♥ is horrible: too much defence, too much in spades, and too much playing strength. I'd open either 2♥ or 4♥.

[hanp]

2H Andy?

[phil_20686]

I would never have considered 5h with teh given hand. It seems like it has too much defence. Further, in my expereince, its quite rare after a t/o double for their fit to be that big, particularly at MP, as RHO will normally bid spades with any hand that has 5 spades and shortage. I would have bid 4h and passed 4s happily at MP. You are hanging your partner good and proper here for preempting a little bit offcentre, which is fairly routine among my partners for first in at MP. If partner turns up with KJx KJTxxxx xx x we are beating 4s most(some) of the time, and 5h doesnt even have any play. -100 vs -100 is a disaster at MP.
If i had some more aces I would be more inclined to bid 5h, i want to be surer that my values will contribute to partners hand.

[jdonn]

Partner's bid was terrible. I'm sure gnasher meant he would choose between 1 and 4.