[jdeegan]

IMP teams. Pick up partner is a self-described BBO expert. Your side is vul vs non-vul. You are third seat. Playing BBO 2/1.
You hold:
♠AQ1084
♥K1098
♦K10
♣K10
The bidding goes 1♣ by pard, pass by RHO, you call 1♠. LHO overcalls 2♦, partner passes as does RHO. You have not agreed to play support doubles.

UR bid.

[Cyberyeti]

jdeegan, on 2012-August-17, 08:35, said:

IMP teams. Pick up partner is a self-described BBO expert. Your side is vul vs non-vul. You are third seat. Playing BBO 2/1.
You hold:
♠AQ1084
♥K1098
♦K10
♣K10
The bidding goes 1♣ by pard, pass by RHO, you call 1♠. LHO overcalls 2♦, partner passes as does RHO.

UR bid.

X T/O which doesn't seem to appear, yet pass with a 15 count opposite an opening bid does.

[jdeegan]

Cyberyeti, on 2012-August-17, 08:39, said:

X T/O which doesn't seem to appear, yet pass with a 15 count opposite an opening bid does.

Sry, will fix.

[jillybean]

jdeegan, on 2012-August-17, 08:35, said:

IMP teams. Pick up partner is a self-described BBO expert.

3NT ......................................
I think you may have stumbled upon one of my old partners.

[billw55]

I voted 2♥ but I have doubts. If I was confident in partner's judgement about leaving or pulling a double, I would choose that, but with random BBO expert I am not. Of course, LHO (also a BBO expert) may be bidding on a trashy 5 card suit, I have seen this a lot. Then again he might have his bid. Double feels like a dice roll under the circumstances so I lean toward 2♥. I am pretty confident we can get +600 or 620 and while that may not be the best possible score, it can't be terrible.

[phil_20686]

2H is NF but constructive imo. If you are going to bid hearts you have to bid 3H. But this looks like a completely ordinary double to me.

Also, this is a t/o double situation.

[Phil]

phil_20686, on 2012-August-17, 10:53, said:

2H is NF but constructive imo. If you are going to bid hearts you have to bid 3H. But this looks like a completely ordinary double to me.

Also, this is a t/o double situation.

Unless you play Reverse Flannery.

I double. If partner sits, we are getting rich. If he pulls to 2♥ I know what to do. Not sure about other continuations, but nothing presents a problem that that makes anything than a double superior.

[CSGibson]

I'm going to bid 3♦ in the circumstances described. I'm afraid anything else I do will be misconstrued. By doing so, I recognize that we might not get to the optimum spot, but in an area with no agreements and playing with some random...My primary concern is to make clear calls, rather than calls that require interpretation/judgment.

[kayin801]

I would double and bid 3NT if partner bids anything besides 2♥. Partner should realize that we have 5 spades on this auction and can correct 3NT to 4♠, otherwise we would have just bid 3NT directly or would have started with 1♥ with 4-4 in the majors.

I'm not going to assume that partner can't make rational bidding decisions and operate with 3NT directly or 3♦/3♥.

[CSGibson]

kayin801, on 2012-August-17, 12:37, said:

I'm not going to assume that partner can't make rational bidding decisions and operate with 3NT directly or 3♦/3♥.

I've played with people who, though they are good players (BBO experts), would define that double as penalty. I would personally play it as cooperative, with 3 trump and no clear direction the most common hand type. Even if partner passes with a good 3 card holding on a 2-3-3-5, thinking we've made a cooperative double, I don't want to be defending 2♦ at this vulerability when we are surely a favorite for 3N unless partner actually has a penalty double, which he is unlikely to have given our own holding.

Double is perfectly fine in a practiced partnership. Here, I would think that it has the potential for a negative swing.

[rhm]

3NT is the practical bid in a pickup partnership.

It could be important to play from this side. In fact I rather play 3NT from this side than 4♥ from partner's side. There must be a reason I got all these intermediates.

Rainer Herrmann

[lalldonn]

Double seems easy to me. If partner can pass I'm very happy.

[kuhchung]

Voted for pass. Couldn't resist.

[mike777]

lalldonn, on 2012-August-17, 14:16, said:

Double seems easy to me. If partner can pass I'm very happy.

ditto

[han]

Double is obvious if this is a bridge question. If it is about how to handle self proclaimed BBO experts, then I don't know what's best. I guess that if this is not the first hand then you have some idea of how good or bad partner is.

[jogs]

rhm, on 2012-August-17, 13:38, said:

3NT is the practical bid in a pickup partnership.

It could be important to play from this side. In fact I rather play 3NT from this side than 4♥ from partner's side. There must be a reason I got all these intermediates.

Rainer Herrmann

Agree, this hand plays better from our side.

-------♦ Qxx

♦ AJ98xx------ ♦ xx

-------♦ KT

Rather have LHO lead a diamond than RHO lead a diamond.
No reason to believe 4♥ makes more often than 3NT.

[the hog]

I would x though I give serious consideration to 3H. The problem with x is if partner bids 3H over the double this contract is wrong sided. However i think this is a glass half emty approach. Did i read correctly that one poster passed?

[gszes]

double is indeed a very nice looking bid here but is it possibly short
sighted??? rhm makes a very important point that it may be very
important to right side this contract (though i do not like the
3n bid because while practical it is not flexible enough bypassing
possible 4h and 4s contracts).

P passed over 2d so there is a much more likely chance opener
is a balanced min than one with a longgggggg club suit and just
barely squeaking out a 1c bid. Taking that into consideration
i feel

3h

is the best bid overall because it gives us 2 ways
to win outright---we right side hearts and if p can bid 3n our dia
Kx will be a pleasant surprise. If p can bid spades we will break
even. The tox will keep hearts in play but will be less likely to get us
to 3n when we cannot play a major since opener will be more likely to
sit for the x than bid 3n. Over 3h they will have no choice but to try
3n and we will like that.


A case can be made that 3h should promise 5h (else use tox). We would not
do this if there was no competition and i see little reason to assume that just
because there was a 2c bid we now have to show 5 vs 4. There is no chance
this can go wrong since opener will merely bid 3s with a doubleton (assuming
they cannot bid 3n) and wont raise hearts unless they have 4. The conversion
to 3s with 23 in the majors (or less) keeps the bidding alive and allows us to
further describe our hand (we will then bid 3n). If opener has 3 card spade support
or 4 card heart support they cue bid or bid game.

[phil_20686]

gszes, on 2012-August-18, 20:01, said:

double is indeed a very nice looking bid here but is it possibly short
sighted??? rhm makes a very important point that it may be very
important to right side this contract (though i do not like the
3n bid because while practical it is not flexible enough bypassing
possible 4h and 4s contracts).

P passed over 2d so there is a much more likely chance opener
is a balanced min than one with a longgggggg club suit and just
barely squeaking out a 1c bid. Taking that into consideration
i feel

If partner cannot bid spades after the double, he must be 2344. I am not overly worried about diamond stoppers in that case.

[jdeegan]

The whole hand:

---

Strange hand in some ways. East's 2♦ call is dubious to say the least. Without it you make 3NT with proper play even after a diamond lead. Somehow our BBO expert opponents at the other table managed to go down after no 2♦ bid. So, 2♦ doubled turned out to be a good score. I was South and didn't know whether the damn double was cooperative or takeout or what. Decided to take the sure plus.

I think it is a bit risky to double for takeout (much less cooperative) with the North hand in that vulnerability when you have an almost certain game. You have to hold 2♦ doubled to four tricks to get 800. Even when pard has ♦KJxx behind the bidder, declarer's six-bagger and one side trick is good enough for 500.