[mck4711]

all love, IMP, LHO dealer

♠ Tx
♥ Jxxx
♦ Jxxxx
♣ Jx

p - 2♥* - 2NT** - ?

* weak 2
** 21-22, balanced

I am weak, ok very weak. The obvious bids are p, 3♥ and 4♥. My choice at the table: 4♥. Aggressive, yes.

What are ur considerations, and whats ur call?

[nigel_k]

I would just bid three hearts. It is enough to send them into uncharted waters unless their agreements are very solid and I don't want to offer too big a penalty when we may have already made it hard for them to reach slam.

[ArtK78]

Agree. 3♥ puts the opps into unfamiliar territory, as few partnerships ever discuss competition over their 2NT calls.

4♥ is begging to be doubled and go for a number which will be nearly as good or better for the opps than their missed game or slam (if they have one).

[aguahombre]

Not having ever encountered a 21+ range for this 2NT overcall, I have no idea whether it should make a difference to my choice. So, I will just bid 3H, as I would after a 16-18 range 2nt.

If this turns out to be wrong, I will keep that in mind for the next 40 years until it comes up again.

[ggwhiz]

I'm passing. Let them figure out that their pard has 1 or 0 hearts without me telling them.

I know pard is not supposed to bid again but if the 2♥ opener has extra shape I'm not going to tempt them. Even 3♥ has 8 or 1100 written on it with the 2nt bid.

[VM1973]

I'll bid 5♥. If my partner's bid is legit and he has at most 1 defensive trick, we need to figure the opponents are cold for 6 of something - maybe even 7. Unless your partner has the habit of opening weak 2s with 4 spades, the opponents must have 8+ spades between them.

[mck4711]

The end of the story:
Pard had Jxxx AQT9xx x xx. We went down smoothly 3 doubled. Slam on their side is cold, best one is 7♣. 6♠, carefully played, also possible.

My judgment went along the lines of VM1973 that opps have around 30+ points, and slam on their side is likely.

[Phil]

Great, another brag thread.

I think 5♥ is awful with no shortness. It begs for 1100.

[mck4711]

A brag thread? No! At least it was not my intention. In case that it is understood in this way, I feel sorry and I do apologize.

We too often experience that we have a "weak" hand, and opps just bid their optimal contract. And we just get another bad result.
I think that this hand illustrates in a good way that we can do - sometimes - something with weak hands to make life for opps extremely difficult. Not more, and not less.

[whereagles]

I might bid 3H or pass, depending on match status.

[MrAce]

mck4711, on 2011-September-09, 17:01, said:

A brag thread? No! At least it was not my intention. In case that it is understood in this way, I feel sorry and I do apologize.

No, only Phil thinks that. You are doing fine imo.

Phil i think that you should stop calling names to the posts. It is very normal for people to post their good hands sometimes. Do we have an unwritten rule which says people are only allowed to post about Drama, ATB, Bad bridge, Bad decisions, Bad partners and failure hands ?

As much as lessons/points to be taken from failure hands, imo there are lessons to be taken from good hands too in both directions and i am not talking about this particular topic. For example, playing in BBO i saved some of the hands that i thought i played very good, ironically when rewieved later, i made mistakes in those hands more than the hands that i thought i clawed. I think if someone has a hand that he/she thinks he or his pd did very well, they should share it. Maybe there is something in it that we may learn, or he maybe acknowledged that his/her success was a random result and what he/she did was not as excellent as he thought it was.

[JLOGIC]

Love all means everyone white, right?

5H is just way too much then imo. Even if they make a slam, let's say 990 or 920, w/e, we know we have a heart loser from the 2N overcall, so at best we can hope to get 2 ruffs and 5 trump tricks, and if partner has 6-3-2-2 with 2 diamonds, we will only be able to score 1 ruff. So at best we are going -800 vs their slam (maybe they make 7, but LHO is a passed hand and RHO has shown 21-22 so I will discount that). This is a small win at imps, and -1100 is still possible which is a small loss.

Some of the time, we will be able to beat their slam. Our stray jacks might amount to something if partner has AQ sixth and a K or even a queen. This scenario becomes more likely when we take into account that the opps have at most 33 highs (11 opp 22), and probably less. It may still not be super likely, but it will be a huge disaster to go for a big number white when they just make a game.

Finally, even when they are cold for slam, they will not always be bidding it. Again, LHO is a passed hand, and RHO has shown 21-22 bal. It is quite possible that if they just have 30 points (giving partner 7 for his weak 2) or so, they won't be trying for slam. Bidding 5H makes it more likely that we push them there, because for most people they only bid 5H when they think the opps make slam (this is exploitable, but generally true).

I agree with OP that the choices are 3H or 4H. 4H risks 800 vs their white game, so we need it to increase the chances that they miss slam often enough to balance that out. I don't think it does, so I'd just bid 3H, but 4H is certainly not crazy and I don't know why it would be considered a brag post that someone bid 4H.

[JLOGIC]

By the way, I quite like another option that others have suggested: Pass. It is easier for them to bid lightish slams when they know we have a fit, because they will assume their partner doesn't have a ton wasted there. However, when we pass, they will assume their partner has wastage. Assuming the opps know that X over 3H is negative, the space we take up with 3H is not that substantial (I guess taking away a transfer is good), so passing is certainly quite viable.

[FrancesHinden]

I prefer pass to 3H, though it does depend on opponents.

Thinking of some other threads elsewhere, 3S is also an option. It may not work so well here when partner raises, of course, but that's the risk you take.

[VM1973]

Looking at partner's spade holding is quite a shock for me. Had I known partner might have Jxxx of spades, I would never have selected 5♥. I figured him for 0-3.