Your Bid

[Nigel Dutton]

AK8653
4
2
AT543

All Vul.

Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.

Nigel Dutton
Perth WA

[Douglas Newlands]

Post by Nigel Dutton
AK8653
4
2
AT543
All Vul.
Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.
Nigel Dutton
Perth WA

I have NLM in the bag and there seems little point in carrying
a club if you're not going to use it. I will certainly play in a
sensible denomination. If 4S is correct, I should get there along
with the spade bidders. If clubs is correct, I'll be in 5C.
The preempt increases the likelihood of bad breaks so it's good
to be in the correct place. I think we have arranged 4D to be
redwood for clubs if my bid excites partner!

doug

[ais523]

Post by Nigel Dutton
AK8653
4
2
AT543
All Vul.
Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.

With a pickup partner, I'd play 3S. That normally shows 15+ HCP the way
I play, but the 6-5 distribution is strong enough to make the hand worth
at least 15. It seems wrong to hide the clubs by bidding 4S, and the
hand probably isn't worth a game force if partner wants to pass 3S.

The only obviously conventional bid is 4H, which I'd assume would be
taken as a strong hand which wants to play in notrump if there's a stop,
and is willing to go up to 4NT to get there. That doesn't really fit
this hand at all, so a natural bid is required. (4NT might also be
considered conventional, but if so would likely show both minors.)

Using some systems, I play that double here guarantees spades, but
doesn't guarantee both minors if the hand is strong and at least 55+;
arguably that's a convention. That seems to fit this hand pretty well,
so I'd start with a double. I'd bid 4S after most responses. (After a
response in clubs or no-trumps, I'd bid clubs instead, including a
raise of 4C; a response in no-trumps is likely to show support for the
minors (3NT would also show a heart stop, but a stop like Qxx isn't
great opposite this hand). And of course, I'd follow up a 4S jump
response with the appropriate Blackwood variant; we'll make six if the
aces are in place, and should make five even if they aren't.) I am a bit
concerned about getting too high using this method, though; if the
response is 4D, I really wanted to play in 3S, but have now bypassed
that. A pass from partner would also be somewhat scary.

[Lorne]

Post by Nigel Dutton
AK8653
4
2
AT543
All Vul.
Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.
Nigel Dutton
Perth WA

3S for me, even though I play 4C/D to show that minor + spades.

If 5C will make then so will 4S nearly all the time and bidding 3S will
get us to 4S most of the time it makes so it is not worth forcing to
game when bad breaks may lead to a penalty quite often when it is wrong
and the alternative game is seldom going to gain.

[Fred.]

Post by Lorne

Post by Nigel Dutton
AK8653
4
2
AT543
All Vul.
Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.
Nigel Dutton
Perth WA

3S for me, even though I play 4C/D to show that minor + spades.
If 5C will make then so will 4S nearly all the time and bidding 3S will
get us to 4S most of the time it makes so it is not worth forcing to
game when bad breaks may lead to a penalty quite often when it is wrong
and the alternative game is seldom going to gain.

I play about the same thing though 4C can also be a 3-suiter with
a heart void and less than 15 HCP. The latter makes the double
more cooperative. After 4C advancer can cue bid 4H with 3 spades
and the desire to be in game.

My own experience, which is far from a statistical universe and mostly
match points, is that getting aggressive with these high ODR hands
is tends to pay off. Against weak preempts advancer often holds the
tickets for game with no good balancing action. Against sound preempts
it is not uncommon for the opponents to have and bid a game if one does
not intervene with these light hands. A game or -200 to -500 for a
decent result seems to happen more often than not. However, the
downside can be really terrible at IMP's or total points if the
hand doesn't have really good fillers.

So at match points I would call 4C, though I agree with your
3S at IMP's or total points.

Fred.

[Douglas Newlands]

Post by Fred.

Post by Lorne

Post by Nigel Dutton
AK8653
4
2
AT543
All Vul.
Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.
Nigel Dutton
Perth WA

3S for me, even though I play 4C/D to show that minor + spades.
If 5C will make then so will 4S nearly all the time and bidding 3S will
get us to 4S most of the time it makes so it is not worth forcing to
game when bad breaks may lead to a penalty quite often when it is wrong
and the alternative game is seldom going to gain.

I play about the same thing though 4C can also be a 3-suiter with
a heart void and less than 15 HCP. The latter makes the double
more cooperative. After 4C advancer can cue bid 4H with 3 spades
and the desire to be in game.
My own experience, which is far from a statistical universe and mostly
match points, is that getting aggressive with these high ODR hands
is tends to pay off. Against weak preempts advancer often holds the
tickets for game with no good balancing action. Against sound preempts
it is not uncommon for the opponents to have and bid a game if one does
not intervene with these light hands. A game or -200 to -500 for a
decent result seems to happen more often than not. However, the
downside can be really terrible at IMP's or total points if the
hand doesn't have really good fillers.
So at match points I would call 4C, though I agree with your
3S at IMP's or total points.

If I was contemplating 3S, I would do so at matchpoints not at teams
since there is no game bonus at MPs.

doug

[Co Wiersma]

Post by Nigel Dutton
AK8653
4
2
AT543
All Vul.
Your LHO opens 3H which is passed to you.
Your go.
If you have a convention that you would use - please mention it.
Nigel Dutton
Perth WA

3S
A bit of an underbid tbh
But 4S is not flexable enough
And I fear 4C as a twosuiter makes us end up sometimes in 4 or 5C when
3S or 4S is better

Co Wiersma

[t***@att.net]

3S seems about right. If we have game, Partner will know. RHO's Pass probably means that Partner has the Heart stack if LHO bids 4H.