[bridgeboy]

You hold

KQ5
J
AJ32
AJ1098

Imps, All vul, last board of a close match

it goes

Pass Pass 4H ?

Your bid?

I should add that you play takeout doubles up to 4H so p will not be expecting great trumps

Thanks all in advance

[flytoox]

Very tough, but I will dbl. LHO passed 1st round, this makes my dbl slightly safer. On the other hand, pd passed as well. He didnt preempt. So at most he has 5 card spade, or even less. His shape wont be too good. So he is more likely to pass rather than bid. This suits you well, as you have good def. cards. Even if he bids 4S, you can make it if pd has spade ace and one of club high card.

[pclayton]

No problem with double, but obviously I'd like a 4th spade. If 4♥ and 4♠ both down 1, I might lose 5 IMPs. I expect a lot of working cards in pard's hand due to RHO's vul preempt.

[helium]

pass:)

[pbleighton]

Playing with a "sound" bidder, I might double - a tough call.

Playing with my regular pd, I pass - if he had 5 spades and a decent 10 hcp he would have opened.

Peter

[HeartA]

Indeed tough decision. But I voted for double.

[inquiry]

You got to double or they steal you blind. How else you going to kept them honest. (yes double is takeout)

Ben

[whereagles]

Since pard passed, I think it's hard for us to make a game and therefore I pass. If pard hadn't passed yet, I'd have to double.

[Flame]

I double
At imps you got to try for the big money.
At mp i would have doubled for different ressons.

[Fluffy]

Iam with the majority, its a cclear tae out double to me.

[the hog]

Opposite an unpassed hand I x in my sleep.
Opposite a passed hand and with the vul this is a MUCH more difficult situation. I pass for a number of reasons:

The 4H bid will be a serious bid at this vul, particularly given the fact that the 4H bidder's pd is also a passed hand.

In 4S I will be forced to ruff with good trumps. Given that pd is a passed hand he may not have a great S suit, thus causing him to lose control. (With 1 more S and 1 less m suit card, I X).

3N may have been a playable contract, but that is now gone, and 5m is a looooong way off.

[mr1303]

Every time I double with this hand I find my partner with a flat 4 count who decides to leave it in, and it makes when the 4H opener has something like a 15-16 count and a decent heart suit who decides that slam is unlikely when partner can't open. And I usually get a complete bottom defending 4H doubled conceding an overtrick.

I fancy I won't miss much if I pass, so that's what I'll do.

[mikestar]

To me, double is clear cut unless we are playing a very light opening system (if partner would have opened a mediocre 9 count with five poor spades, pass is more attractive.)

The double should be fine if partner leaves it in--he'll either have some cards or some hearts or both. The fear is if he bids 4S on four bad spades and a weak hand. In that case we get a crappy result. Oh, well it won't be our first or our last, that's why people prempt.

Double is correct but scary, but give me a fourth spade and it's comfortable as well as correct.

[junyi_zhu]

Jlall, on Nov 14 2004, 07:36 AM, said:

whats the problem?... good hand, short hearts, support for unbid suits, reasonable defense if it goes float. i dont get it

This one isn't very simple, suppose partner has a very useful 7 points,
Axxxx xxx Kx xxx, do I really want to play 4S here? Perhaps no, because I may face
a serious trump upper cut problem, if I pass, we probably defeat the contract
by 1 trick. However, if you change partner's hand to SAJTxx Hxxx DKx Cxxx, I am sure
I want to be in 4S, is that asking too much from partner? Probably. So I'd say it's not an easy hand.

[Free]

Dbl, is there any other choice??

[mcphee]

While you would like to have a bit more you simply can't not take action. I think dble is the only sensible bid. Even though partner has passed does not rule out this hand could make game, some days a slam. Partner is not forced to bid over dble and if they do how bad will it be?

[cf_John0]

Typical dbl!then it's decided by my pd.

[joker_gib]

dbl too !

What's happening ?

[PriorKnowledge]

Dbl. I understand passers thinking, but if partner has as little as S-Axxxx and a minor King, we have a good chance for game and may set 4H only 1 trick.

Note: All high level dbls are offensive. If you have a trump stack, you'll have to play it undbled. If your partner passes with a mediocre hand and no defense, then your partner needs a talking to.