Hands played at the Palmerston North Bridge Club published here for discussion and question and answer.
Any bidding shown is an actual auction and not necessarily recommended.
Please feel free to participate and make suggestions.
Its not clear from the hand what 3H was. It could have been a semi-preemptive raise or it could have been an invite with 8 losers. In either case I think it is the wrong hand for 3H with dKx sitting under the opening bid.
Knowing east is likely to have four hearts I do not think that west has enough to double. The hand is much more offensive than defensive. Here you need two aces or one ace and an admittedly likely favourable sK. Altogether that is reasonable odds especially when you consider that 5D might make. Its called taking out insurance. 5H is right if either 5H or 5D makes and wrong only if both contracts fail or 5H goes down two vulnerable. The prospects of down one are excellent though and at IMPs even down two for -500 is not the disaster that it is at MPs - you lose only 3 IMPs if 5D is making which isn't really comparable to a bottom board at MPs.
I knew this hand would come back to haunt me. At the risk of being excoriated by Wayne ;-( here is the bidding at our table.
1d - x - 1s - 2c - 2d - 3h - 4d - 4h - p - p - 5d - x - p - p - p
In defence of my 3h jump, partner and I hadn't played together before and I subscribe to S J Simon's dictum that one should aim for the best result possible rather than the best possible result.
I hope I am not excoriating. The aim of this forum is to promote discussion about bridge hands that come up in the club. If you post an auction I assume rightly or wrongly that you are happy for comments to be made about the auction. Not that you have some masochistic desire for excoriation.
Not sure I would double 5D with the east hand. On the strong bidding of hearts even the hA might not be defensive. Perhaps though this is fallout from the very strong bidding from west that will normally deliver more high cards.
The 4H raise is reasonable with a heart fit. You don't really have extra values over what has been shown with 2C but perhaps 3H is intended as forcing.
Double and then jump to 3H should show an extremely strong hand, if natural. There is a good case for 2H to be forcing after east shows some values with a free bid of 2C. When I learnt over a forced response a jump rebid by the doubler was about 19 hcp and a great suit. I suppose it should be the same in this auction. When north bids spades and east bids clubs, west's hand has hardly got any better so I don't see the necessity to jump - all you have extra is a heart or two, to make up for around 8hcp.
All of these things are subject to partnership agreement and style so you can change or tweak them as you see fit. Of course that is only useful if you are on the same wavelength usually based on a partnership discussion or notes.
I think I prefer 1H or 4H to the first round double. There is no hard and fast rule but these hands often play better in the long suit unless partner can introduce spades and might have five or more. I would bid 1H, count myself very unlucky if it got passed out but I could still be in a good contract, and hope that I will be well placed to decide how high to bid on the next round or give partner some good information.
You have a lot more experience than me Wayne so I accept your judgement on the hand, and certainly things would probably have gone better if I had overcalled 1H. At the time I was seduced by the potential of the hand (only four losers) with both majors.
Hopefully, the emoticon indicated I was only joking about the possible censure. It's great that you provide useful feedback for the rest of us.
Its not clear from the hand what 3H was. It could have been a semi-preemptive raise or it could have been an invite with 8 losers. In either case I think it is the wrong hand for 3H with dKx sitting under the opening bid.
ReplyDeleteKnowing east is likely to have four hearts I do not think that west has enough to double. The hand is much more offensive than defensive. Here you need two aces or one ace and an admittedly likely favourable sK. Altogether that is reasonable odds especially when you consider that 5D might make. Its called taking out insurance. 5H is right if either 5H or 5D makes and wrong only if both contracts fail or 5H goes down two vulnerable. The prospects of down one are excellent though and at IMPs even down two for -500 is not the disaster that it is at MPs - you lose only 3 IMPs if 5D is making which isn't really comparable to a bottom board at MPs.
I knew this hand would come back to haunt me. At the risk of being excoriated by Wayne ;-( here is the bidding at our table.
ReplyDelete1d - x - 1s - 2c - 2d - 3h - 4d - 4h - p - p - 5d - x - p - p - p
In defence of my 3h jump, partner and I hadn't played together before and I subscribe to S J Simon's dictum that one should aim for the best result possible rather than the best possible result.
I hope I am not excoriating. The aim of this forum is to promote discussion about bridge hands that come up in the club. If you post an auction I assume rightly or wrongly that you are happy for comments to be made about the auction. Not that you have some masochistic desire for excoriation.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I would double 5D with the east hand. On the strong bidding of hearts even the hA might not be defensive. Perhaps though this is fallout from the very strong bidding from west that will normally deliver more high cards.
The 4H raise is reasonable with a heart fit. You don't really have extra values over what has been shown with 2C but perhaps 3H is intended as forcing.
Double and then jump to 3H should show an extremely strong hand, if natural. There is a good case for 2H to be forcing after east shows some values with a free bid of 2C. When I learnt over a forced response a jump rebid by the doubler was about 19 hcp and a great suit. I suppose it should be the same in this auction. When north bids spades and east bids clubs, west's hand has hardly got any better so I don't see the necessity to jump - all you have extra is a heart or two, to make up for around 8hcp.
All of these things are subject to partnership agreement and style so you can change or tweak them as you see fit. Of course that is only useful if you are on the same wavelength usually based on a partnership discussion or notes.
I think I prefer 1H or 4H to the first round double. There is no hard and fast rule but these hands often play better in the long suit unless partner can introduce spades and might have five or more. I would bid 1H, count myself very unlucky if it got passed out but I could still be in a good contract, and hope that I will be well placed to decide how high to bid on the next round or give partner some good information.
Skid Simon's dictum is a good one!!!
You have a lot more experience than me Wayne so I accept your judgement on the hand, and certainly things would probably have gone better if I had overcalled 1H. At the time I was seduced by the potential of the hand (only four losers) with both majors.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the emoticon indicated I was only joking about the possible censure. It's great that you provide useful feedback for the rest of us.
3H in the original bidding was invitational, but even so X by west was screwball(I can say that as it was me!)
ReplyDelete