IAC Forums
Chew the Fat! => Sleight of Hand => Topic started by: wackojack on November 30, 2021, 11:26:40 PM
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This came up in a team league match yesterday. I was criticised for underbidding
Your hand at Game all:
!S 10
!H K9632
!D K105432
!C Q
LHO opens 3 !S
Partner doubles
RHO bids 4 !S
I passed which I now think was wrong.
I think partner is likely to have 2 aces. Then what a is min take-out double with 2 aces? Something like this:
!S xx
!H AJxx
!D Axx
!C KJxx
Partner needs to have about this strength of hand to make a take-out double of 3 !S. And we see that 5 !H is a very reasonable contract.
In fact partner had
!S 8
!H AJ1075
!D A6
!C AK1096
So 6 !H is an excellent contract.
The actual bidding went: 3 !S - (x) - 4 !S- (p); p-(x) -p- 5 !H; all pass
Non leaping Michaels would have worked well on this hand. The bidding I think would have gone 3 !S - (4 !C) -4 !S- (5 !H); p - (6 !H) all pass
The opps only got to 5 !H at the other table but I was criticised for underbidding.
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Agree Non-Leaping Mike gets you to slam. I do not see getting there without it.
On your auction without it, I'm not sure about 5 !H over 4 !S. Maybe 4NT (two suits)?
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After (3S)-X-(4S) I would like a bid of 5m to show length in m and enough values to make 5m a reasonable contract. Not hard to think of hands where that agreement would be useful. So it makes sense for 4NT to be any two-suited hand.
With a decent 6-5 and two stiffs, opposite a TO double of 3S, then 4NT, two-suited, will certainly get us to a reasonable contract. Will it get us to 6H? Perhaps. I bid 4NT. pard bids 5C, I bid 5D, then we will play this in however many hearts pard bids. Probably that will be 6. I suppose pard has to worry that if I am 1=5=6=1 I might well bid 4NT holding D: QTxxxx instead of KTxxxx. But he has a good hand and so he goes for it. Probably.
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While I see non-leaping Michaels as being the best route to find the slam, you have to live with the choices your partner makes ahead of you.
Given that partner made a takeout double and you have two potential places to play. I think 5 !H, albeit almost certainly safe, does not give the full playing-strength of the hand, while retaining a modicum of safety if partner overbid. A direct bid of 4NT is called for to show two suits; pulling clubs to hearts, and probably raising either red suit to slam. I feel like the pull of 5 !C to hearts shows a mild red suit try, while if partner does not show clubs over 4NT, then we have the double red-suit fit, and I am willing to try the slam now.
A delayed 4NT (waiting for the reopening double) just seems weird. If it were natural, why not pass the second double? I think the best interpretation is a balanced no clear-choice sort of hand, throwing the decision back to partner.
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This showed up at the latest W-Workout , and am I mistaken that "we" duplicated Jack's auction?
I thought 2nd had was worth an old-fashioned Michaels, but was having a brain cloud and spoke about overcalling 4NT (yes-two places to play) not realizing that 4!S was available. Perhaps it is also a brain cloud to think that pushing directly to the 5-level is warranted. but after all in the event he did do that.
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I can certainly see the merit in bidding 4NT to show a 2 suiter.
Jim's idea was interesting. As I understand it:
3 !H - (x) -4 !H -(4NT)
p - (5 !C) - p - (?)
A bid of 5 !D shows a minimum free bid of 4NT that could show a !D !H 2 suiter.
A bid of 5 !H shows a slam interest !D !H 2 suiter (5 !H does not necessarily mean 6 !H +5 !D).
In that context what is my hand worth? OK too strong to pass over 4 !S and therefore I bid 4NT to show the 2 suiter. And not strong enough to bid 5 !H over partner's next bid of 5 !C so bid 5 !D? It would then be up to partner to assess whether or not to try 6 !H or sign off in 5 !H.
Sorry Blu I cannot reliably recall now the details of the auction at the W-Workout.