OK, it's morning. A little more about bidding 3 !c over their 2
.
Compare it with 1
- P - 2
-?
On this I would not bid 3
. The difference is that partner's 1
showed four spades and a 6 count, and maybe he stretched a bit for the 8. So on this start, 3
should show more values. But after 1
- X- XX -2
I know partner has values. One way of putting is that the XX announces that this is our hand. Sometimes we might ell to something without doubling it, but usually we will be declaring or we will be defending something doubled. On this hand I am pretty sure I am not interested in defending 2
X so I might as well get my club suit in. If I had known that the auction would only be at 2
when it got back to me then I could have started with 1
and now bid 2
. But that's a little unexpected.
No doubt regular partnerships have discussed the difference between bidding 3
right now versus passing 2
and then pulling a hypothetical double to 3
. I have not had such discussions so I just bid 3
right away.
Btw: If you pass 2
, it will not be passed out. When partner makes his XX, he agrees not to let them play a 2 level contract undoubled. So you can safely pass, as you did.
Now what to make of his 2
. I would say three card support is likely but not absolutely certain.He had to do something, and possibly 2
is simply what he sees as the best of imperfect choices. The problem now is that 3
, while it shows clubs, does not really show this pronounced 2-suiter. The message of a 3
call immediately over 2
is "Based on my hand, we belong in
or
" Having said your piece, you can now let partner choose. Here it is a little more ambiguous I think. The message is more akin to "Glad to hear of your heart support, I am now making a game try in hearts with some values in the club suit". That's similar, but different. partner will now play you for club values but not for any great club length.
As it happened, partner bid 3NT over your 3
. Uh oh. The problem with 3NT is that partner needs to be able to stop both diamonds and spades, and then he still needs 9 tricks. Suppose he has Ax of hearts. That might have seemed enough for his 2
if he was stuck. That hear suit is unlikely to be running. Unless he has the club A, the club suit is not ready to run. There could be some problems. I would probably pull 3NT to 4
. This might be wrong but I think 3NT just needs too much.
As you can see, it is easier if I get my shape described (approximately) early on. A 3
over 2
does that.
This is an interesting hand (most are). Most people have some way to show four hearts and invitational values after 1
-X, whether it is a Bergen 3m or a Jordan 2NT. Given that, then the XX denies four hearts but neither denies nor shows three hearts. With good values in partner's hand, this hopefully is our hand. With the shape you have, it seems likely that it should be played in one of your two suits.. So my view is that you get that second suit out there at your first opportunity. Then you can sit back and let partner do as he thinks best.