[lesh]

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It was discussed in the previous topic that the question would be between DBL or 5cl most of the time.

However lets consider 2 scenarios.

1) We guess correctly and DBL. There were some posts suggesting that pd will pass with 5332 shape but lets say he holds ♠xx ♥KQx ♦AQJxx ♣xxx. I am not sure about the rest but I will get very exited with this hand and I am not sure at which level I will make my bid

So what minimum values will you bid if you were in partner's shoes?

2) Lets say we bided 5♣ this time and we found partner with ♠xx ♥KQx ♦AJxxx ♣Qxx. I think I will raise with that hand which would turn to be wrong in the particular board - so again with what kind of hand will you raise 5♣ if they come to you?

[the_clown]

1.I think the point is that we with a balanced hand the likelyhood that we make something at the 5. level decreases. Partner doesnt always have the perfect shape for his X and even if we have a lot of cards, we may go down if we end up in a dumb fit. On the other hand, with strong balance hands we will usually do well in defence and will score a decent + on average.

With distributional hands bidding is obviously more attractive since it is likely that we have a big fit somewhere and it is with the odds to go for offense.

x KQxx AKxx xxxx is surely a raise, but missing the Queen of Hearts I may pass. With hands without a spade control I would practically never raise.

[gszes]

A 5c bid will generally be "weaker" in overall power since it
is a unilateral bid in the sense that it disallows the possiblity
of 4s x---raising bids of this nature require large amounts of
controls favoring aces much more heavily than anything else.
I would rarely raise one of these bids without at least 2 aces
and something else (hopefully a control in opps suit)