Post by a***@yahoo.co.ukPost by a***@yahoo.co.uk8743
AQT754
K4
K
4S opened on your right. Do you overcall 5H?
If not, 4S gets passed round to your partner who overcalls 5H, opener
passes. What do you do now?
At the table, I tried to work out what she must have to come in at the
five level opposite a silent partner. I deduced it was most unlikely
she was trying to sacrifice with a long heart suit and not much else,
so decided that given her heart suit is very limited, she must hold
compenmsatory strength outside and a good chance of a spade void. I
hold fantastic support and second round controls in the minors, and
though she must have at least one if not both aces, so 6H must be a
good slam. I'm not worried about missing 7H, because no-one is going
to be in it if the pre-empt is repeated at the other tables, being in
6 after that start will be a decent score. I therefore raised to 6H.
Unfortunately partner had a much worse hand that I visioned, and I
watched as she went two off.
The full layout
8743
AQT754
K4
K
AKJT52 6
- 98
T9 J76532
Q8642 AJ53
Q9
KJ632
AQ8
T97
We had a brief discussion afterwards and she agreed she had gone too
far. Her initial explanation was she thought 4S was making and going
off in 5H would be less expensive.
The irony is, she was theoretically correct. 4S is cold, and 11 tricks
are there if I don't find the double dummy defence of the DK lead,
whereas 5H is one off. In practice, the 4S opening was not repeated on
at least half the other tables, so four NS pairs got to play in 4H=. A
couple of pairs went one off in 5H, and one EW pair was in 5S=.
I normally play X as weaker than a suit bid (and at high levels,
especially over 4S, you have to be fairly flexible with what X means).
South's hand is not worth a suit bid (there are too many missing Aces),
but (given the shortage in spades, good hearts, and decent point
count) is probably worth a double, especially after two passes;
generally speaking, after a pre-empt, it should be a player who's
short in the pre-emptors suit who makes the first move.
If South doubles, it's clear for North to pull (even if the double is
agreed as penalty); the spade spots are too low for it to be worth
playing for a penalty, with 8743 being a horrible trump holding to
attempt to penalize the opponents. So that's the only plausible way to
reach the 5H sacrifice on this board, treating it as a sacrifice rather
than as a constructive bid.
--
ais523