The hands
2
A982
AKJ754
Q10
AJ1097
Q653
K105
64
QT
986
K72
8543
K84
QJ73
32
AJ96
N deals, NS vul, EW non-vul
Our auction
1
Pass 1
1
2
3
Pass Pass
4
Pass Pass 4
Imo bidding 2
and then,after the pass from pard, still going on to 4
shows a strong and shapely hand. Bidding 3
instead of 2
would have been inivitational but with a stiff in the opponents suit and a strong six card side suit it seemed worth getting to 4
. I recall thinking that if pard has the
K and the
K I should at least have a play for 4. So why not just bid 4
over 1
? Well, at the time that I bid 2
partner might still have a much stronger hand than he has. Bidding 4
over 1
is obviously strong but I think bidding 2
and then 4
shows that the strength comes from shape.
But maybe I should have just bid 3
over 1
. A splinter, I should think.
Gib says 4
can be held to off 3 but it's tricky. I started with the AKJ of
and it seems natural to ruff the third
. But: To take 7 tricks it is necessary to take the
finesse. The finesse works but how do you get to the board to take the finesse?
Carl acknowledged that he should have hit 4
. As to whether my pass is forcing that gets interesting. All he has done so far is to bid 1
in response to my opening bid of 1
. For all I know his values could be the QJxx in hearts and the Kx in spades.
Of course he has a good deal more.
If we agree that I have shown a strong and somewhat shapely hand then maybe the agreement should be that he should do as he thinks best knowing that I have a strong and shapely hand.
With the hand he had, yes, he should double and he said so. If his values were Kx in spades and QJxx in hearts should he still double? Maybe so, but I could understand fretting about it a bit.
Added: A couple more words about forcing, or not forcing, passes. It runs up against the maxim of bidding what you have and then shutting up. My 4
was pushy. It's true that thanks to pard's
A we can bring in a lucky 5
but still my 4
was pushy. I think it is reasonable to say that after I bid 4
and then pass their 4
I am saying "I have said all that I have to say. You're up"
It's true that we are vul and they are not, which means they might be pushing with the 4
which gives added reason to X even if pard has little more than a minimum for his 1
bid. But there will be times when S will really not want to do anything another than pass and I am by no means sure this choice should be closed to him. In the case at hand, X is fine and even 5
might be fine if I get the play right. Or rather if he gets the play right.