[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     1♦    Pass  1NT
 2♠    3♣    3♠    5♦
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

how do you like this bidding?

we play inverted minors, 2/1

[mr1303]

Nope. Revolting.

You have a classic inverted raise to 3D with the S hand. Unless you play that the pre-emptive raise is pure trash and not invitational under any circumstances.

If NT is right, you want your partner to play it, not you.

And because you hadn't shown your diamond support in part 1, you felt the need to try and catch up by bidding 5D. Raise in the first instance , then you have no difficulties

[FrancesHinden]

If you play strong NT, you might consider opening the North hand 1NT, looking at honours in both doubletons. But opening 1D is not absurd.

As you play inverted minors, South has a normal inverted minor raise to 3D. The 1NT bid is where things went wrong.

Look at it this way: if the South hand is not a raise to 3D, on what hands would you bid 3D? Will they ever arise?

[luis]

1NT may not be my #1 option but I won't say it's horrible. Maybe 3♦ or even 1♥ are better options to 1NT.
After that I don't know why 5♦ and not 4♦
Anyway it wasn't really horrible there're a lot of worst auctions :-)

[pmacfar]

mr1303, on Jun 23 2005, 11:01 AM, said:

Nope. Revolting.

You have a classic inverted raise to 3D with the S hand. Unless you play that the pre-emptive raise is pure trash and not invitational under any circumstances.

I second that. Very revolting. 3♦ inv min is first choice. 1NT is a very distant second option. only one of the 2 major suits is stopped, and even with KJx, that may not be enough to prevent ops from running the majors. In addition, it does not give partner any useful info in which to based his next decision on.

A 3♦ bid will certainly keep west quiet, and thus opps won't get into the bidding. leaving partner to play the contract at a safe level.

[SoTired]

agree with mr1303 - 1N is a very poor bid. There is no reason not to bid an inverted 3D raise. I play criss-cross, so would respond 3C. 5D is terrible, also. I guess 1 bad bid deserves another? 3C is not very good either Vul at IMPS. West not doubling 5D is also a poor bid. I'll forgive East's enthusiastic 3S bid on 3-card support with so little.

I would not open North's hand 1N. Never with 22 in both majors.

[omeroj]

there are many bids, can open 1 nt and your p make a tranfert for ♦ with 2nt, your p accept with 3♣ you bid 3♥ and ask stop to spades, your p that haven't stop in ♠ will bid 4♣ you 4♦ p p p

If open 1♦ p 1nt 2♠ 3♣ 3♠ you could bid x to ask stop in ♠, you can make 3nt if your p have stop in ♠, i think that 5♦ is much to bid when you can make always 3nt if your p have stop in ♠

Omero

[whereagles]

1NT is fine. I'd have bid 3♦, but 1NT is perfectly acceptable. In any case it sure wasn't the responsible for the overbidding. South might have tried 4♦ instead of blasting 5. His hand sure isn't right for long shots.

[SoTired]

sceptic, on Jun 23 2005, 02:25 PM, said:

Is 3 clubs really that bad on the given auction?

Not the worse bid of the auction - 5D wins that race - but certainly a risky bid. The ♠JT and ♥Qx are not pulling their full weight, might have only an 8-card fit in either minor thus violating the law, barely have the balance of power, have a balanced hand, and might easily have 4 quick losers in the majors. West is in an ideal position to crack a minor if there is a bad break. Other than that it is an acceptable bid.

Quote

only one of the 2 major suits is stopped, and even with KJx, that may not be enough to prevent ops from running the majors.

1N response does not require stoppers. How many stoppers is a player supposed to have with 6 hcp?

[luke warm]

i don't understand the bidding at all... 'course it's easier if 1d is a limited bid, but i'd still probably bid 3d as south.. i just don't like -500 to nothing

[beatrix45]

Bidding 3♣ with 5-4 distribution and 12 working HCP is an overbid. Jumping to game by the opposite hand is a worse overbid. One should learn not to be aggresive opposite someone who would bid 3♣ with that hand!!! A good auction would be 1♦ - pass - 3♦ (limit raise) - pass - pass- pass.

[the hog]

Playing inverted minor suit raises, South has a clear 3D bid.

Assuming South does bid 1N, (not the worst bid in the world, but why do it - 3D has far greater pre emptive value?), 3C by Nth on an unremarkable 2254 hand is not a good bid, particularly with secondary honours in the Majors. 5D on the other hand is now even worse. You have a 9 loser hand and your KJ of H should be facing a shortage and so figure to be wasted values. This is a badly judged auction by both North and South. Both players should be sentenced to 6 months playing in a tough rubber bridge school for high stakes.

[Gerben42]

This hand is a problem playing inverted raises. You cannot afford having a wide range for 3♦ and yet you need to distinguish between quite different hands.

I play that 1♦ - 3♣ shows a good inverted jump raise and 3♦ is a bad inverted jump raise, if you want HCP ranges I would think 7-9 and 4-6. This hand is about borderline between the two but whichever you will choose partner will be better placed.

Not playing this 1NT is not particularly good but understandable.

Now to the other side. The 3♣ bid is a huge overbid. Playing good/bad 2NT bidding 2NT to show a bad hand that just wants to compete in a minor would be okay. Without it I think this hand is too weak to bid at this point as the 3 HCP in the majors are wasted and the shape is not good.

5♦ is "catching up" and I don't get it. Are you not minimum for your 1NT and can bid 4♦ at most?

[bearmum]

[mikestar]

Gerben42, on Jun 24 2005, 10:12 AM, said:

This hand is a problem playing inverted raises. You cannot afford having a wide range for 3♦ and yet you need to distinguish between quite different hands....

One of the many arguments in favor of Precision and other limited opening bid systems. In Precision, I can afford to bid 3♦ on this hand and on xxx x xxxxxx xxx--with the latter hand I can pull 3NT to 4♦ as partner can't have enough to make it, while a 2/1 opener might well have 9 tricks in hand if the diamonds run. I also don't have to worry about a limited opener trying for 5♦ unless his shape is so freak that it will be a good two-way shot anyway.

[inquiry]

mikestar, on Jun 24 2005, 10:08 AM, said:

Gerben42, on Jun 24 2005, 10:12 AM, said:

This hand is a problem playing inverted raises. You cannot afford having a wide range for 3♦ and yet you need to distinguish between quite different hands....

One of the many arguments in favor of Precision and other limited opening bid systems. In Precision, I can afford to bid 3♦ on this hand and on xxx x xxxxxx xxx--with the latter hand I can pull 3NT to 4♦ as partner can't have enough to make it, while a 2/1 opener might well have 9 tricks in hand if the diamonds run. I also don't have to worry about a limited opener trying for 5♦ unless his shape is so freak that it will be a good two-way shot anyway.

How WEAK can you really be for 1D-P-3D when you are RED and opponents are white at imps? I think you can easily afford to bid 3D on this hand over 1C if playing inverted minors, rather precision or 2/1.

Having said that, I find no great fault with 3D, 1NT, or 1H.

Playing xyz, 1H has some merit. If partner bids 1NT I can bid 2C and let him play 2D. But if partner raises 1H to 2H on three card support, it makes it difficult to land nicely on your feet and you may play in 3-3 heart fit instead of 5-5 D fit.

1NT is right on stregnth and maybe even right-sides the contract for the most likely game (3NT).

And 3♦ gets the hand off your chest immediately and turns the reigns over to partner.

I will say this, this hand falls into the "potentially" competitive range immediately, espceially at precision. Where are the spades? They have at least seven. If you bid 1♥ (the creative bid), you make it easy for them to overcall 1♠. If you bid 1NT, you make it harder, and if you bid 3♦ you make it harder still.

The problem with this hand was the 3♣ bid... after your 1NT bid, and the 2♠ overcall, your partner probably should just bid 2NT (part of GB 2NT). As responder you would bid 3♣ or with marked prefernce for diamonds (which you have), 3♦. The 3♣ bid was a huge overbid imo. If you don't play GB2NT? North has to pass, and they YOU bid 3♦