[xx1943]

Hi all

this hand ocurred in ACBL-tour yesterday. The hand was played 17 times.

Scoring: MP

hand is rotated by 90° degrees.
THis is orig. East's hand

---

I'm looking forward, what you all bid and WHY?


6 times RHO opened 3♣; once 4♣ in 3. place white versus red.
Once pd opened 2♠

9 times the strong hand was allowed to open and chose
1♦ twice
2♣ 6-times
2NT once


This was the full hand:

Scoring: IMP

---

Btw. Do you think it wise to open this hand with 3♣??




Regards

Al

[Free]

If I'm allowed to open this hand, I'll probably choose for 1♦. 2♣ is also sensible imo, but it might be hard to bid after a 2♦ response...

About north bidding 3♣: In the old days I'd certainly do it, now I'd only do it in 1st seat, but not always, depends on the mood In 3rd seat however I'd rather psych with 1♠ or 1NT, maybe even something else. 3♣ is suicide imo (in most situations, here you're lucky partner has great support).

About the west hand: it also depends what system you play. With Richard or my f2f partner for example I'd open that 2♦ Frelling. With many other players I'd open it 2♠ Muiderberg.

[hrothgar]

Mark me down for a 1♦

I hate strong 2♣ openings with two suited hands.
This was true 10 years ago when people left you in peace after a 2♣ opening. its even more true now that people are starting to crash 2♣ openings with a variety of nasty overcalls.

I'll jump through a lot of hoops to avoid opening 2♣. For example, if the hand was slightly weak, I'd consider a 2NT opening. As is, I'm going to open 1♦.

[pbleighton]

Open 1D. It's a 2 suiter with 5m4M (the worst for 2C), and the stiff K makes it a marginal 2C opening anyway.

North should open 3C in the first seat, unless there is a partnership agreement otherwise. I would pass this hand in the second seat.

Peter

[luke warm]

ok, i'll give what i think our bidding would be with e/w and assuming no interference... and i'd not open 3♣ with the north hand

1c : 1d (0-2 controls)
2c : 2h
3d : 3s
4s

2c shows 21+ and asked for exact # of controls, 2h showed one... 3d was natural as was 3s... west has an easy 5d bid if 3s was just showing a stopper for nt

[fred]

I would certainly open 1D, but I have some sympathy with the concept of treating the hand in question as 22-23 balanced. I have no sympathy for the concept of opening 2C and rebidding 3D (but that action would be more attractive if the hearts and clubs were switched).

I would certainly not open 3C. Axxxxx is just about the worst possible holding for a preempt (because it is a good holding defensively and a poor holding offensively) and 6322 is the worst possible pattern for a preempt (assuming your never preempt with less than a 6-card suit that is).

Really there is no right or wrong here. It is a matter of personal and partnership style. All serious partnerships would have agreements about what initial actions would be appropriate on such hands. In a pickup partnership you would just try to do the mainstream thing. Hard to say for sure what the mainstream action is on the 22 count, but the mainstream action on the club had is certainly to pass.

To me opening 3C just randomizes the results. Sometimes you will hit a home run and sometimes you will suffer a complete disaster. One thing for sure, however, is that you will take your partner's judgment out of the equation (since he should not play you for a hand like this). My partners don't like it when I do that to them and, since I think my partners have better judgment than most of the other players in the field, I don't like to do that to them either.

"Keep the ball in play" is a general strategy that has served me well. If you think that you are better than most of the rest of the field at play/defense/judgment, you shouldn't be swinging early in the bidding. You and your partner will still have plenty of chances to win the board through your superior bridge skills. Furthermore, if you don't make a lot of mistakes you don't need to hit any home runs to win at this game (even at the World Championship level). All you have to do is avoid disasters (I know this is easier said than done).

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Cascade]

I open 2NT.

This allows us to get to all of our most likely games - 4♠, 4♥ and 3NT.

Sometimes there might be a difficulty when we belong in 6♦ but it will not be impossible to get to that contract.

And 2NT has a real advantage of giving less information to the opponents. I would expect to steal 3NT occasionally when a more "scientific" auction gave away the best defense.

[whereagles]

1. Big hand: the singleton king of clubs is good enough for me to treat the hand as a balanced 23 hcp one. You can also open 1♦, but I prefer to try and bid the hand in one go. It's much easier on my nerves.

2. Six-suiter: the hand makes 1 trick defending and about 3-4 tricks on offense. This offense-to-defense ratio is not too bad, but it's probably wiser to pass this time on account of the dreadful shape and poor intermediates.

[the hog]

Agree with Wayne and open this hand 2NT

[joker_gib]

A little bit too strong (with the 5 cards suit) for 2NT (I play 20-21) for me . So I would treat it as 22-23 bal (2♣ opening and 2NT rebid)

[HeartA]

1D for me.

[pclayton]

If my 2N range is 20-21, I don't like it, since the hand has two flaws: the stiff club and the 22 count. If the range is specifically 20-22, then I supposed its OK. Hard to see how opening 1♦ can hurt you however.

[Cascade]

pclayton, on Jan 4 2005, 09:00 AM, said:

If my 2N range is 20-21, I don't like it, since the hand has two flaws: the stiff club and the 22 count. If the range is specifically 20-22, then I supposed its OK. Hard to see how opening 1♦ can hurt you however.

1♦ Pass Pass Pass might hurt when partner has five spades or four hearts and one useful card.

[inquiry]

Cascade, on Jan 3 2005, 05:13 PM, said:

pclayton, on Jan 4 2005, 09:00 AM, said:

If my 2N range is 20-21, I don't like it, since the hand has two flaws: the stiff club and the 22 count. If the range is specifically 20-22, then I supposed its OK. Hard to see how opening 1♦ can hurt you however.

1♦ Pass Pass Pass might hurt when partner has five spades or four hearts and one useful card.

And might work like a charm if he has 5/6 diamonds to king and nothing else. So?

[pclayton]

Cascade, on Jan 3 2005, 01:13 PM, said:

pclayton, on Jan 4 2005, 09:00 AM, said:

If my 2N range is 20-21, I don't like it, since the hand has two flaws: the stiff club and the 22 count. If the range is specifically 20-22, then I supposed its OK. Hard to see how opening 1♦ can hurt you however.

1♦ Pass Pass Pass might hurt when partner has five spades or four hearts and one useful card.

Even with that is pard pushing to game over a 2N opening?

[Cascade]

Partner might need two cards to advance over 2NT but it is still possible that with fewer than six points partner will pass 1♦.

With

xxx
Jxxx
Kx
xxxx

I would pass 1♦ but bid over 2NT.

[inquiry]

pclayton, on Jan 3 2005, 05:42 PM, said:

Cascade, on Jan 3 2005, 01:13 PM, said:

pclayton, on Jan 4 2005, 09:00 AM, said:

If my 2N range is 20-21, I don't like it, since the hand has two flaws: the stiff club and the 22 count. If the range is specifically 20-22, then I supposed its OK. Hard to see how opening 1♦ can hurt you however.

1♦ Pass Pass Pass might hurt when partner has five spades or four hearts and one useful card.

Even with that is pard pushing to game over a 2N opening?

so they take 5!Cs off the top with 5!D laydown if he pushes to 3NT.. while 1D=3D gets you to 5!D laydown, on five diamonds in his hand, 2S, 2H, and 2C ruffs.

2NT is an ok bid, but so is 1♦, which is my choice.

Ben

[cherdano]

I am with those opening 2♣ to rebid 2NT. I don't understand opening 2NT 20-21 -- the main advantage of treating this hand as balanced that you can describe your strength very precisely below 2NT.

[sceptic]

1 diamond opener 19 points K club is worthless and the singleton must be worth a few points, I would never bid this 2nt, when you can describe your hand with a reverse, I must have alot to learn

[Cascade]

sceptic, on Jan 4 2005, 07:43 PM, said:

1 diamond opener 19 points K club is worthless and the singleton must be worth a few points,  I would never bid this 2nt, when you can describe your hand with a reverse, I must have alot to learn

Saying that a singleton King is worthless is undervalueing the King.

A singleton King is not as good as other King holdings but it is far from worthless.