[barsikb]

Dealer: East Vul:E/W

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[Zelandakh]

As with most competitive auctions, this involves some personal decisions. One possibility would be the simple

1♦ - 1♥ - 2♦ - 4♥

I think it might be tough for E-W to find their 5♦ contract.

[barsikb]

Isn't South too strong for overcall?

E/W don't have game anyway.

[hrothgar]

barsikb, on 2013-February-05, 09:04, said:

Dealer: East Vul:E/W

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1♦ - (1♥) - 2♥ - (4♥)

At this vulnerability, East should pass 4♥

At the opposite vul, 5♦ probably works better

[barsikb]

hrothgar, on 2013-February-05, 10:24, said:

1♦ - (1♥) - 2♥ - (4♥)

At this vulnerability, East should pass 4♥

At the opposite vul, 5♦ probably works better

Thank you, hrothgar,

2♥- cuebid showing support for ♦?

[Cyberyeti]

barsikb, on 2013-February-05, 10:20, said:

Isn't South too strong for overcall?

E/W don't have game anyway.

This is a matter of style, some people stop at maybe 14-15 for a simple overcall, others will go up to 19 or even more, also depends what your minimium for the overcall is.

No, but 5♦x-1 is cheaper than 4♥= even at this vulnerability. Tough to bid 5♣ EW which actually makes in the unlikely event that NS don't cash 2 spades before losing the lead.

[hrothgar]

barsikb, on 2013-February-05, 10:40, said:

Thank you, hrothgar,

2♥- cuebid showing support for ♦?

Consider the following two auctions

1♦ - (1♥) - 2♥

(1♥) - 2♦ - (P) - 2♥

In the first auction, you are cue bidding that the opponents overcalled after partner opened
In the second auction, you are cue bidding a suit that the opponents opened after partner overcalled.

I typically play that the cue bid in the first auction shows a limit raise or better, and promises support for partner's suit.
(In this example, Diamonds)

In the second auction, you often have a limit raise+ with support for partner, but you might have a game forcing hand without support.

[Zelandakh]

barsikb, on 2013-February-05, 10:20, said:

Isn't South too strong for overcall?

E/W don't have game anyway.

If you were to change a low diamond to a low heart then I would tend to agree. But this South hand lacks the playing strength for a Double then bid sequence for me. This is obviously a matter of style but doubling first on hands like this will often give you a headache on the next round since you lack the shape to safely compete if they raise the bidding higher.

E-W do not have game but N-S do. Therefore E-W can often score better going down in 5♦X than allowing the opponents to play 4♥. Obviously this depends greatly on the vulnerability. This type of contract is called a sacrifice and comes up all the time. As an example, when North raised partner's 1♥ overcall to 4♥, they will have been expecting this more likely to be a sacrifice than actually making 4♥. Or, more precisely, it makes E-W have to guess whether 4♥ is a good sacrifice. This concept - making the opponents guess - is also a very important and is something you will learn more about as you advance in bidding theory.

Hrothgar's auction also highlights what I wrote ealier about decisions. He treats the West hand as a limit raise whereas I chose to downgrade the ♥Q slightly and made only a simple raise. Neither of these is wrong and I was tempted to cue raise too. In this you can perhaps start to see that hand evaluation, and bidding in general, is to some extent a matter of style at the boundaries, even with the same agreements. It is important to understand where your partner draws their boundaries and this may be different to your style. As long as the system is the same for both partners this is not a problem. There are some extremely good (world class) partnerships with noticeable differences in style between the 2 players.

[Fluffy]

1♦-1♥-2♥!-4♥

5♦-double-all pass

2♥ = cuebid, 10+ HCP, 4+ diamonds denies 4 spades
4♥ = preemptive
5♦= this hand has too much ofensive power and very few defensive tricks so bids on
double= very strong hand, but the hand is balanced, balanced hands don't take pushes, specially 5/5

I wouldn't criticice a north who decided to pull 5♦X to 5♥ or who didn't bid 4♥, they are judgement mistakes IMO, but nothing really serious.

[straube]

Fluffy, on 2013-February-06, 14:43, said:

1♦-1♥-2♥!-4♥

5♦-double-all pass

2♥ = cuebid, 10+ HCP, 4+ diamonds denies 4 spades
4♥ = preemptive
5♦= this hand has too much ofensive power and very few defensive tricks so bids on
double= very strong hand, but the hand is balanced, balanced hands don't take pushes, specially 5/5

I wouldn't criticice a north who decided to pull 5♦X to 5♥ or who didn't bid 4♥, they are judgement mistakes IMO, but nothing really serious.

I like this answer. The only thing I'd do differently is that I wouldn't pull 5D doubled to 5H with the North hand. I think 4H has promised nothing and created no force and especially after a cue bid is likely to advertise a weak hand...so if partner has them in 5D, I think North should pass. Generally it's not good to pull penalty doubles unless you have offense that partner doesn't know about. He won't be happy with this dummy in 5H.

I think if West cue bids that East just has to suck it up and bid 5D. He can't tell if he's bidding to make or not, but at the point of 4H, East's hand could be just a weak notrump when it's not. I think the cue bid basically involves East in a way that a simple raise would not. Even though East is minimum, he doesn't know that West doesn't have compensating strength...so he's basically empowered or forced to show that he has a strong preference to diamonds over hearts as trump without 5D showing extra values. I mean, if it went 4H P P dbl P ? Pass again? If not, is it because you think partner has extra values and you can now make 5D? But that was the point of the cue bid...to show at least point parity. So before it goes 4H P P slow double P ? bid 5D.

[barsikb]

hrothgar,Cyberyeti, Zelandakh, Fluffy and straube, thank you for your clear explanations. Greatly appreciated