[Trick13]

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IMPS.

What is best between Pass, 3♥, 3NT, 4♣?

[BillPatch]

3♥, right strength

[wank]

pass could well be right. if partner has enough for anything else not to be a disaster, 3d is probably off. sometimes 3dx= is our cheapest result and 470 isn't a catastrophe.

4c could work. partner often has 5 clubs in which case we're likely to escape being doubled even when it's going well down.

3h and 3nt are drugs imo.

i reckon i'd go for pass and lead a spade.

[jogs]

Did LHO pass in tempo? Few intermediate players holding 13+ HCP can pass in tempo.

Sounds like a 20/20 +/-2 HCP board. Partners' most likely pattern is 4=4=1=4.
That means our partnership pattern is 6=7=5=8. If we declare, we are at least 2 levels higher than where we should be.

PASS. Lead a low heart, ♥5. Under lead that ♥A. If opponents have the ♥K, it is more likely to be in LHO's hand than RHO's.

[Trick13]

jogs, on 2015-November-01, 18:32, said:

Did LHO pass in tempo? Few intermediate players holding 13+ HCP can pass in tempo.

Sounds like a 20/20 +/-2 HCP board. Partners' most likely pattern is 4=4=1=4.
That means our partnership pattern is 6=7=5=8. If we declare, we are at least 2 levels higher than where we should be.

PASS. Lead a low heart, ♥5. Under lead that ♥A. If opponents have the ♥K, it is more likely to be in LHO's hand than RHO's.

LHO, expert, passed in tempo.

[jodepp]

Thirty years ago you bid 4♣. My crazy uncle would have bid 3♥. 'Law'yers would Pass. Preempts make you guess; sometimes you guess right, sometimes you guess wrong.

Now, if you're asking which action rates to be the winning one: who knows? Pass throws the board (and likely the match) up in the air; if you Pass and are wrong, it's your fault. Teammates generally don't like it when a member takes a losing view like this one. I'll try to win the match on some other board - flip a coin and pick between 3♥ and 4♣. 'Total Tricksters' would scoff, but Edgar Kaplan would smile at you from beyond the pearly gates.

[gwnn]

I upvoted wank but in practice I'd probably bid 4C and curse myself after the board.

[jogs]

jodepp, on 2015-November-02, 06:14, said:

Now, if you're asking which action rates to be the winning one: who knows?

It's more like which is the least bad among losing actions. Where's the undouble card when we need. Want to defend 3♦, only not doubled.

[dave_beer]

My 1st choice is PASS with 3NT a distant 2nd. The opponents probably don't have 9 trumps and might have only 7. Partner's cards are well placed over dummy's. If you can make 3NT you might be getting 800 and even 500 isn't a big loss.

♥ is likely a 7-card fit and they probably aren't breaking; even if ♣ are an 8-card fit that may not be enough.

[Caitlynne]

I bid 3H.

In balancing seat, partner can be light, so there is no guarantee you are not in trouble. Neither 3NT nor Pass can be right if partner is light, so it is between 3H and 4C. Both are dangerous, particularly since there is no guarantee your side has an 8 card fit in either suit. I prefer 3H to keep the auction at a lower level; 3H seems less likely to be doubled than 4C when we are dead meat.

If partner is not light, then we really have to choose between Pass, 3H, and 4C. 3NT is the least likely alternative to be right since it presumes that partner will have a diamond honor for your Txxx to be a stopper. That is a possibility, but hardly likely given the opponent preempted at unfavorable vulnerability. Pass seems better than 3NT because, even when partner does not have a diamond card, your 4th trump may prove fatal in a forcing defense.

Still, I think it is bad form from a partnership perspective to make a speculative penalty Pass. Partner has made a takeout double and s/he is prepared for me to take it out, but s/he is not so likely to be prepared for a speculative penalty Pass. Takeout doubles are expected to be taken out.

So the choice is between 3H and 4C. I choose 3H again for much the same set of reasons that I chose 3H when considering the possibility that partner might be light. But there is another reason: if partner next bids 3S, I can try 3NT suggesting a partial stopper and no fit for spades. We might still find clubs when that is right. 3H is more flexible than 4C.

[ggwhiz]

Pass. Most days I have 2 tricks (my ♦10 promoted on the 3rd round of spades if necessary) and a partner sitting over whatever outside values they own.

I never pull these things unless I think I have a shot at making what I pull to and here I don't.

[dboxley]

I think I have a better chance of getting a good result by passing. 3H or 4C down 1 when 3D goes for 1 or 2 is likely. I don't think partner is holding a bid 1 suiter here.

[dave_beer]

Caitlynne, on 2015-November-02, 12:03, said:

That is a possibility, but hardly likely given the opponent preempted at unfavorable vulnerability.

Favorable, not unfavorable.

[Trick13]

On this hand they might not double us in 4♣ so we could get out for -200. But -470 was the next best possible result. Didn't feel too good at the time.

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[ggwhiz]

Trick13, on 2015-November-03, 00:48, said:

On this hand they might not double us in 4♣ so we could get out for -200. But -470 was the next best possible result. Didn't feel too good at the time.

Big MIGHT. -470 vs 500, win 1. Yawn, were there any action hands?

[jogs]

Trick13, on 2015-November-03, 00:48, said:

On this hand they might not double us in 4♣ so we could get out for -200. But -470 was the next best possible result. Didn't feel too good at the time.

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What were the N-S hands? Undouble was the best call.

[diana_eva]

Removed a personal attack from this thread and a couple of follow-up replies to it. The offender was suspended for 30 days.

[Trick13]

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[lycier]

For this weak hand,3♥ is a wise auction so as to reserve more choices for the doubler.

[Zelandakh]

lycier, on 2015-November-04, 06:22, said:

For this weak hand,3♥ is a wise auction so as to reserve more choices for the doubler.

It is South's choices you need to worry about rather than partner's.