[pclayton]

IMPs, short matches, red on white:

Scoring: IMP

---

LHO.....Pard.....RHO.....You
Pass.....Pass.....3♠.....?

Your call?

[luke warm]

3nt... as you said, short match, red on white

[the hog]

3NT. I am surprised you ask this. Is there a logical alternative?

[pclayton]

The_Hog, on Oct 18 2004, 05:12 PM, said:

3NT. I am surprised you ask this. Is there a logical alternative?

Ron: I won't tell you what happened, but my teammate said another call was 100% clear.

[EricK]

I bid 3NT.

I consider it obvious, although there are many ways it could go wrong! The trouble is other bids have at least as many ways of going wrong.

The correct contract might not be 3NT, but if it is I have to bid it now.

Eric

[xx1943]

3 NT what else?

Are you convincing your pard, that he was wrong in doubling or bidding 4 ♦?

pclayton, on Oct 19 2004, 03:18 am, said:

The_Hog, on Oct 18 2004, 05:12 PM, said:

3NT. I am surprised you ask this. Is there a logical alternative?

Ron: I won't tell you what happened, but my teammate said another call was 100% clear.

Please tell the story. Might be very interesting.

cheers

Al

[joker_gib]

I have nothing else than 3NT but of course can be catastrophic !

[gabika73]

3nt.
Even if I didn't play 4♦ as Leaping Michaels.

I recall Bob Hamman saying something about 3nt....
Choose it when it was one of the alternatives.

I boldly extend his wisdom to apply to situations in which it is the only alternative.

[luke warm]

i wouldn't say 3nt is the *only* alternative... i just don't see a better one

[Free]

A 100% CLEAR 3NT

[Chamaco]

Question from a learning player

For bidding 3NT i'd like either an extra hcp (at least 18), or an extra stopper.

As it is, why is double so bad ?
Is it worse to "steal" a stopper and 1 hcp or to steal a heart ?

I am all ears !

[the hog]

If you double at this level and pd bids 4H on his 8/9 count with 4H, what are you going to do? 3N is the most likely contract.

Here is a hand from the US playoffs, Chamaco.
What do you bid on this?

xx
AX
AKQx
AQxxx

P (3S) your bid????
If you X partner bids 4H; now what?
Guess what the best contract was, and "yes" I see that I don't have a S stopper!

Cheers
Ron

[Chamaco]

The_Hog, on Oct 19 2004, 01:55 PM, said:

If you double at this level and pd bids 3H on his 8/9 count, what are you going to do? 3N is the most likely contract.

Here is a hand from the US playoffs, Chamaco.
What do you bid on this?

xx
AX
AKQx
AQxxx

P (3S) your bid????
If you X partner bids 4H; now what?
Guess what the best contract was, and "yes" I see that I don't have a S stopper!

Cheers
Ron

Ron, thanks for the example (real handas are always the best way to get things )) ).

However, my point was that in the given hand, I have 3 hearts, with the possibilkity of playing in the moysian if things go wrong.
Sure, I run the risk that my pard too looks for the moysian and we play in 3-3 fit


BTW in the given hand I'll look for game in a minor, if I did not agree the use of the thrump double.
---------

In any case, for the original hand, I have run a set of simulations in PBN format, constrained by:
1) west + nort do not have an opening hand
2) east has < 10 hcp, at least 6 cards with 4+ hcp iand < 3 losers in spades, and no 4 side 4 card suits.

(obviously in a 3rd seat preempt some of these criteria are more or less relaxed according to the style)

If anyone is interested I can send the pbn file or upload it somewhere.

[flytoox]

Though I will bid 3N, dbl is not that bad choice.

[inquiry]

flytoox, on Oct 19 2004, 10:18 AM, said:

Though I will bid 3N, dbl is not that bad choice.

The problem with double is that if your partner has no spade stopper, he will carry the bidding past potentially the very best spot to play (3NT). The problem with 3NT is if your partner has good spades, you can not back up to 3♠x...but even with a horrible thrird seat jokester, it is hard to believe partners spades can be so good with me holding KT to pass a 3♠X, with him in front of the spade bidder... So without a doubt, I take the bull by the horns and bid 3NT... and join the "what is the problem" crowd.

Ben

[pclayton]

Thanks for the responses.

I bid 3N, which I think is crystal clear. I bought ♠ Qx, ♥KT9xx, ♦Txxx, ♣ Kx. Naturally 4♥ is gin while 3N is hopeless. And yes I agree with the pass over 3N.

My teammate thought double is crystal clear. I think the only thing thats clear is that he was resulting.

[the hog]

I think the only thing thats clear is that he was resulting.

I agree, Phil

[luke warm]

the only thing worse than resulting is resulting in public... i hope *that* didn't happen

[mike777]

3NT