[frank0]

♠AKTxxxx
♥QJx
♦xx
♣x

---

[cargobeep]

Depends on vulnerability/seat position/scoring.

[the hog]

Depending on the vul I might have opened 3 or 4 Spades

[frank0]

Sorry the original post contains an error it's 2nd seat vul vs not.

[mike777]

the hog, on 2012-October-03, 19:58, said:

Depending on the vul I might have opened 3 or 4 Spades

ditto

[antonylee]

same here (what were you planning to rebid after 1♠-1N?)

[the hog]

Well, 2nd seat vul I would have opened 3S. Now I am passing. To bid 3S now shows a much better hand than this.

[Fluffy]

agree with the hog except that I think 3♠ now needs a better hand rather than show it.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

Pass.

A 3S opening bid is reasonable, given the position / vulnerability,
you may even say, you are min. for such a bid, but this is agreement
depend.

You decided to open 1S, a tactical decision, and it did not work out.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[billw55]

Red on white it's an obvious 3♠ opening. Almost indistinguishable from this other recent thread,

http://www.bridgebas...iss-gp-pairs-1/

[neilkaz]

I'd have opened 3♠ Red vs White, not I have to pass rather than offer the opps a fielders choice to either X me or bid on.

[mikeh]

I don't have a problem with either 1♠ or 3♠. I'd tend to open 1 because of the AK in spades and the QJx in hearts but 2nd seat red makes 3♠ perfectly acceptable as an alternative and this is the kind of decision that it often influenced by my state of mood at the table and my sense of the opps/partner. Playing with a weaker partner against good opps, I'd readily change my vote to 3♠ for the preemptive effect.

As it is, having opted for 1♠, I have to stay consistent with my choice and that means passing.

Partner almost certainly holds fewer than 3 spades and lacks the hand for a negative double so I am probably not missing a good contract....note I said 'probably'. Bidding here shows an all around better hand. While one obviously 'wants' to bid on this auction, the problem is that partner needs to be able to rely upon us to hold the hand we describe...and the hand we describe holds more power, and especially more defence, than does the hand we hold.

I sometimes think that this aspect of the game is one of the toughest for players moving from beginner to intermediate, or from intermediate to advanced: the need to accept that sometimes one cannot make the bid one wants to make because partner will be misled.

It's ok to mislead partner when partner won't be playing a role....so, for example, if you knew that partner would never double 4♦ or wouldn't raise with say Qx Kxxx xx Jxxxx then you can make the overbid. But as your partners get better, they tend to become more involved and to take actions based on their faith in your bidding....and it behooves you to justify that faith.

I should add that it is possible to have the agreement that 3♠ shows primarily competitive values, using double as the power bid. However, the problem with that is that double should deliver support for the other suits, and you are poorly positioned if you were to double with a better hand and the same shape should partner bid some number of clubs, as he may want to do.....the auction surely suggests that his long suit is clubs. So I think that it is still best to reserve 3♠ for a 'good' hand with this sort of shape (in the sense of being a single suited hand).

Edit: I often feel, in threads of this kind, that some of those who say they would open 3♠ are being influenced by knowing that 1♠ resulted in this situation. If you want an unbiased opinion about the opening call, I'd suggest just post the hand with that question and then, after getting responses, make it how to deal with the actual auction.

[the hog]

"Edit: I often feel, in threads of this kind, that some of those who say they would open 3♠ are being influenced by knowing that 1♠ resulted in this situation. If you want an unbiased opinion about the opening call, I'd suggest just post the hand with that question and then, after getting responses, make it how to deal with the actual auction."

Hardly. I feel you need to be consistent in these situations if you have a regular partner, so he knows what to expect rather than be in a guessing situation. This is an obvious 3S for me in this seat with this vul. I would not open anything else.

[lalldonn]

I much prefer opening 1♠ to 3♠. It's not just that I think the hand is too good, I do but that aspect is marginal. It's that it has great defense, AK and QJx is way too much defense for a preempt in my book. It also has excellent support for the other major.

In the given position I would just pass.

[mcphee]

We should not be bidding 3S here, we just do not have the hand partner expects. This always happens when you have the choice of 1 or 3, we sort of wish we had bid 3 to start once they get in and partner is silent. Would not surprise me the opps have a game.

Like most I have no argument is partner bid 1 or 3. I think if I was playing pairs I would launch the 3S opening bid, imps I like 1S.

[lycier]

IMO,2nd seat vul vs not,my choice is opening 3♠.