Chew the Fat! > Sleight of Hand

iac v acol hand 7 1st set: opinions please

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jcreech:
With the new parameters:

I bid 3 !H with
  a. six (broken honors or better, e.g., headed by AJ, KQ, KJT) or five (near solid or better, e.g., AKQT, AKJT),
  b. an prime-filled 13 to a quackish 18, and
  c. at least one unbid suit M.I.A. (Qx or worse).

I double with
  a. better versions of above, where I feel I have a chance of success if I have to pull partner's bid back to hearts opposite air, or
  b. variations of above but with three-card or better support for all the unbid suits.

If this seems vague, I agree.  In some ways, I feel that questions like these are in the realm of paraphrasing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stewart's discourse on pornography - I will know a 3 !H bid (or double) when I see it.  Yet I also know that my decision in the moment will also be guided by external factors, such as state of the match, my own state of mind, table feel, and the like, so given the same hand, the same auction, same vulnerability, I may make different decisions.

kenberg:
My view is similar to the above. Basically, a double of 3 !D means "I am not letting them play 3 !D undoubled". And yes, it is expected thatpard will pull to something.

1 !D - (1 !H) - 3 !D - (pass)
pass - (?)
A double requires partner to make a choice. You need to decide if you are apt to be happy with that choice. To think that through, it does matter what conventions we are playing. Partner did not make a responsive double over 3 !D. Perhaps this is because we are not playing that
1 !D - (1 !H) - 3 !D - (X)
is responsive. The point is that partner's pass, together with our agreements, says something about what he has or hasn't got and so says something about how he will respond to a double. We want to think about that. Maybe we want to take a chance, that's the way bridge is, but we can think a little about what pard will do when we double.

With the actual hand overcaller had a three card diamond suit. The opening 1 !D was preemptively raised to 3 !D after the overcall.  Overcaller can suppose that partner is short in diamonds although perhaps that 1 !D opening was on a 4=4=3=2 shape. Depends on what agreements the opponents have. Acolers probably open a 4=4=3=2 shape with 1 !S or maybe 1 !H, or of course maybe 1NT. Anyway, we assume, probably correctly, pard is short in diamonds. If he is also short in hearts, why didn't he make a responsive double, assuming we are playing responsive doubles in that sequence. Well, maybe he is 3=2=2=6. Or 3=2=1=7. Or some such.

I could go on. If overcaller holds three !D s then after the preemptive raise it is likely that opener has only four diamonds [I just looked, opener had five diamonds, preempted four, unxepcted but it still gives pard of the overcaller a stiff]. What do we make of the fact he opened 1 !D instead of 1NT? I guess we should check the range of an opening NT call, and then assume opener probably falls outside that range [It seems, from looking at the boards, they were playing strong NT].

But of course we are not given this much time to think. In the finals of the BB, maybe we get to think all this through, but not in casual games. So we go with the short version. Double means partner has to choose what to do and we had better be prepared for whatever choice he makes. When overcaller holds three diamonds he can pretty well bet that pard's choice will not be to leave the double in.

As to what 3 !H (by overcaller) means, it's got to be at least a bit on a hope and a prayer. It's a hand that is not worth doubling and then bidding hearts, so 3 !H is hoping for the best. Again, if a direct double of 3 !D would have been responsive then overcaller can be a bit more confident that pard has a couple of hearts. Either that or very long clubs.



X by overcaller says "Pard, you choose, do your best", X says "Pard, I choose this, I hope it's right"

Masse24:
Getting back to overcaller's hand, I doubt I would make the 3 !H call with that heart suit. I would want more muscle in the presumed trump suit to be assured of setting up tricks. So maybe if I exchanged the !C A with a small heart. And added a Ten. !H AKT986? The hand shown has the right values, not the right suit.

To double rather than 3 !H?

Something like 4=5=0=4 or 4=5=1=3 or possibly 3=5=1=4? But with the values to justify it. Maybe 15-16 HCP?

wackojack:
Thankyou for these judgements.  Could I be so bold as to sum them up with (albeit with some hedging) After making a 1 !H overcall
3 !H = distributions overcall
double = highcard points overcall.

Of course the dividing line is a matter of opinion.
However, it would give me more guidance as whether to pass for penalties, sign off in 3!h or raise to 4!h 

kenberg:

--- Quote from: wackojack on September 06, 2022, 05:21:40 PM ---Thankyou for these judgements.  Could I be so bold as to sum them up with (albeit with some hedging) After making a 1 !H overcall
3 !H = distributions overcall
double = highcard points overcall.

Of course the dividing line is a matter of opinion.
However, it would give me more guidance as whether to pass for penalties, sign off in 3!h or raise to 4!h

--- End quote ---

Yep, that's probably fair enough. I still like 3 !H ="I'll decide", X= "You decide".  But it probably comes to about the same thing. And Pass="I decided".

There is a lot of stuff that goes into this, imps or mps, vul or not, and other stuff. So yeah, the dividing line can be a matter of opinion.

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