[mike777]

NV vs. VUL
IMPS

QJT,Q6,J743,8764

P=P=1NT=X(GOOD HAND)
2D=P=3H=3S
P=?

My choices seem to be:
1) Bid game and hope blindly
2) Use my experience level which results in pass

Appreciate your thought process on this one and your bid choice.

I choose 4s but that was only based on the "Just bid the D..N game" then solid bridge logic which resulted in a typical contract that one may assume.

[whereagles]

I pass. If the spade queen is all pard needs, then he misbid - should have bid 4S instead of 3.

I would bid 4S only if very desperate, and gambling pard has the heart Kx.

[Terry_Gao]

4♠!
Your pard needs little help for a game, and you have what he needs - strong ♠ support and a possible ♥ finesse. He seems to hold 8.5 to 9.5 winners.

[paulg]

Although my shape is poor 4♠ seems clear cut to me. I have three more spades than I might have, and perhaps more importantly, two more entries that I could have.

Paul

[hotShot]

♠QJx secures a trick your partner expected to give away.
♥Q2 should at least cover the 3rd round of ♥.
Seems that opps don't have a 9 card fit there, so you bring a 2nd trick.
If partner has a side lengths 4+ cards in a minor, just haveing 4 cards will help him. I expect him to have some sort of 5- looser hand.
After your bidding, you have more than he can expect.
So i would bid 4♠.

[luke warm]

was the 1nt 15-17? my ♥Q is worthless.. i can visualize the opps taking a trick in all suits, and maybe even 2 in clubs or diamonds... i guess i'll pass

[fred]

I think 4S is clear. Partner bid all the way to the 3-level himself in a dangerous auction (dangerous because you could have absolutely nothing). Furthermore, because you are looking at the QJ10 of spades, you know that partner's hand is "dangerous" as well (dangerous because it was possible from his point of the view that one of the opponents was dealt the QJ10x of spades).

No I don't think that partner's 3S says "I can make 3S opposite void xxxx xxxx xxxxx"". He is allowed to play you for a little something, but in the context of this auction you have a lot more than a little something. Remember that you passed over 2D when presumably you could have doubled to show some values. I actually think that you probably should have doubled 2D - at that point of the auction you didn't know your Queen of Hearts rated to be worthless.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[pclayton]

Interesting. This would be an easier problem over a weak NT, since this auction should be contrasted with a direct 3♠ over 1N.

Positives

The fact that the opponents aren't trying to play 1N xx'd tells me that my RHO doesn't have a lot.

All finesses are likely working and I have 2 likely entries for pard to take them.

CHO is playing the hand and he plays them darn well.

Pard isn't apt to push them into a vul game unless he has some hope of beating it in his own hand.


Negatives:

The doubleton heart is a red flag as pard likely has one himself.

Sounds like exactly 18 TT, plus a possible negative adjustment, due to my horrible ODR, and it leads to a negative adjustment in ODR.

Opposite pard's long spades, all my QJT provides is one cover card.


Honestly, I would hope I'd have the guts to pass. Hard to see whats going to happen at the other table. If I needed a swing in the slightest, I'd try 4♠.

[whereagles]

Fred, don't you think pard's 3S bid is safe? There is a very good chance opps have a 9-card fit on this auction, so I wouldn't be surprised to see pard making a frisky bid with something like

AKxxx
xx
Ax
AKxx

Wouldn't you bid 3S on this auction?

[fred]

whereagles, on Feb 26 2005, 10:49 PM, said:

Fred, don't you think pard's 3S bid is safe? There is a very good chance opps have a 9-card fit on this auction, so I wouldn't be surprised to see pard making a frisky bid with something like

AKxxx
xx
Ax
AKxx

Wouldn't you bid 3S on this auction?

I might well bid 3S on that hand, but I sure wouldn't like it very much and I don't think that the alternatives of DBL and Pass are completely outrageous.

Just because 4S will go down opposite plenty of reasonable example hands for partner, that doesn't mean it's the wrong bid. If you think 4S will make more often than not then you should bid it (assuming you don't think you will get doubled and/or go down a lot which seem like pretty safe assumptions to me).

With this particular problem I would not spend a lot of time trying to construct hands for partner or worrying that 4S might go down (because I think the argument that "partner bid all the way to 3S by himself when I could have no values and no spade fit" to be very strong).

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[the hog]

whereagles, on Feb 27 2005, 08:49 AM, said:

Fred, don't you think pard's 3S bid is safe? There is a very good chance opps have a 9-card fit on this auction, so I wouldn't be surprised to see pard making a frisky bid with something like

AKxxx
xx
Ax
AKxx

Wouldn't you bid 3S on this auction?

No. This is far to dangerous a bid! Could go for -500 against nothing.

[ochinko]

mike777, on Feb 26 2005, 12:38 AM, said:

NV vs. VUL
IMPS

QJT,Q6,J743,8764

P=P=1NT=X(GOOD HAND)
2D=P=3H=3S
P=?

My choices seem to be:
1) Bid game and hope blindly
2) Use my experience level which results in pass

Appreciate your thought process on this one and your bid choice.

I choose 4s but that was only based on the "Just bid the D..N game" then solid bridge logic which resulted in a typical contract that one may assume.

4Sp may make but I'd never bid them with that hand and I'm ready to apologize to my partner afterwards. My points outside the trump suit are worthless - I have no Ace, no King, no singleton or void. And I only have 3 trumps. A spade fit is visible but it's very hard for me to construct my partner's hand that would make 4Sp.

[hotShot]

Tell me why would my partner bid ♠ over 3♥ with 5+ defence tricks?

AKxxxx
xx
AKxx
A

5 quick top tricks

AKxxx
xx
Ax
AKxx

another 5 quick top tricks

AKxxxx
xx
AQT
Ax

4 quick top tricks, and ♦QT well placed for at least one trick

With each of these he would double, and not bid 3♠, at least he should.

Something like AKxxxx, xx, x, AQJT is more likely. THis is just 3 top tricks, sure hope for more, but you will not loose 3♠.

[mike777]

Your Partner's hand was:
AKXXXX=X=AXX=AJ9

RHO LEADS TEN OF CLUBS

LHO HAND IS:
XX=AKJX=KX=KQXXX

Early in 120 board match, final of 2003 team trials.

Welland team passed 3s
Bobby Wolff on different auction bid and made 4s.

Note 8 of clubs in dummy.

[Fluffy]

I was gonna pass cos I could offer half a trick at most, sadly I didn't count on ♣8 *sigh* .

[Winstonm]

At this vulnerability and at imps my partner is begging me to bid game with any kind of reason - I will not disappoint him with this hand.

4S

WinstonM

[luke warm]

oh well... those who bid 4♠ are in good company... of course, those of us who passed 3♠ are also in good company hehehe