[Trick13]

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I was sure the 1♥ was a psych but I couldn't see us unravelling this, so I just bid 3NT which went + 2, but partner's 7 HCP including 5♥s, ♦J, and doubleton ♠ meant that 6♥ was cold, and half the field bid it, so -9 IMPS.

It seems like this will only happen once every 10 years or so and I'm not too worried about it. It was a gutsy vulnerable 5 HCP psych on a singleton (escape was 6-card ♣ suit).

How would you have approached it?

[SteveMoe]

Double, and when partner passes for penalty take it to the bank. This hand is too strong to pass, and 3NT is a middling compromise. Double wins when you get to bid ♥ twice - to reveal the psyche. Here if partner passes and they run, you know you own almost the entire ♥ suit. Take it from there.

[Trick13]

SteveMoe, on 2015-September-14, 19:26, said:

Double, and when partner passes for penalty take it to the bank. This hand is too strong to pass, and 3NT is a middling compromise. Double wins when you get to bid ♥ twice - to reveal the psyche. Here if partner passes and they run, you know you own almost the entire ♥ suit. Take it from there.

Partner, with 5 small ♥s to the King, said he would have responded 1NT. He had no inkling it was a pysch. Now what?

[steve2005]

Trick13, on 2015-September-14, 19:31, said:

Partner, with 5 small ♥s to the King, said he would have responded 1NT. He had no inkling it was a pysch. Now what?

keep bidding ♥ till partner gets the message, is forcing.

[WesleyC]

With only a 5c Heart suit I wouldn't be so fast to suspect a psyche. Then again your gut instincts were right this time!

If you do suspect a psyche, you're definitely better to start with a double because LHO might be about hang his partner with a preempt! Keep in mind that after you double you can always just rebid 3NT on a subsequent round (to show a strong balanced hand).

There are lots of ways the auction might develop favourably for your side. For example:

(1H) X (2H) X

which you can convert to penalties.

or

(1H) X (XX) P
(2C) X (2H) P
(P)

Where you probably get to defend in your 10 card fit.

[helene_t]

Double is OK. It carries a small risk that partner with long clubs and a void in hearts will think we have a more normal double-followed-by-nt hand, and he will correct to 5♣. Maybe that risk is slightly smaller with a direct 3NT bid? I am not sure.

Then again, maybe dbl makes it slightly more likely that, if 1♥ is a psych, LHO will bid 4♥ and partner will double it.

Anyway, the risk is small and if you start with dbl you can always bid 3NT later.

If partner responds 1NT to your double I think you can just punt 6♥ since partner must have at least Kxx or Jxxx. If you have a way to check for aces you might want to do that but I don't think I would bother. We could still have a spade loser, and besides, it is not 100% certain that 1♥ is a psych even if partner responds 1NT - the fact that LHO didn't raise suggests that it wasn't a psych. So hearts may well break 5-0, and even with four hearts by RHO we could easily have a trump loser.

[1eyedjack]

By the time that you get the message across that it was a psych, you still have a lot of work to do to determine that 6H is safe, and not a lot of bidding space. I would just congratulate the oppo and move on.

[KurtGodel]

Trick13, on 2015-September-14, 19:31, said:

Partner, with 5 small ♥s to the King, said he would have responded 1NT. He had no inkling it was a pysch. Now what?

Well, now you are confident that it was a psyche, you know partner has some values and some hearts, I might just bid a practical 6♥, because there is no chance that partner will be confused by this. Yes it might be that you are making 7, but you can't have everything after they get a lucky psyche. Partner of the psycher might have to double 6♥ anyway. Next time your opponent opens their short suit in 3rd it will be their partner they catch with 5 card support who won't be able to stop raising. You win some, you lose some.

[Zelandakh]

As others have already pointed out, starting with double is the most flexible option. After partner's 1NT, one possible way of working it out would be to continue with a cue bid. If partner bids 2NT over that then continuing 3♥ would be natural and has a good chance of getting you there. If partner does not cooperate with 2NT then chances are you will not manage to sort it out without either good agreements or willingness to take a punt but you still get to 3NT so you have not lost anything.

[Trick13]

Zelandakh, on 2015-September-15, 03:29, said:

As others have already pointed out, starting with double is the most flexible option. After partner's 1NT, one possible way of working it out would be to continue with a cue bid. If partner bids 2NT over that then continuing 3♥ would be natural and has a good chance of getting you there. If partner does not cooperate with 2NT then chances are you will not manage to sort it out without either good agreements or willingness to take a punt but you still get to 3NT so you have not lost anything.

Yes, this seems obvious now. It was almost the last hand of the day and I plead fatigue led me to take the easy road. But what 'good agreements' might there be for this situation? I guess I would have needed to take a punt, which is probably what most of the other pairs were doing after an uninterrupted 2♣ opening anyway.

[Zelandakh]

Trick13, on 2015-September-15, 04:47, said:

But what 'good agreements' might there be for this situation?

Many pairs have rules for exposing psyches and ways of bidding the opponents' suits naturally in constructive auctions. For example, what would (1♥) - X - 1NT; 3♥ mean for you and your partner? Probably nothing at all and something neither of you would ever bid. Natural and GF would be one possibility for that. Someone else suggested that bidding hearts twice after a double is natural - that would be an unusual agreement but would mean that the psyche on this hand was very easy to expose.