euclidz, on 2016-November-19, 09:37, said:
I have played Bridge at club level in the UK every week for the past 10 years and I can see nothing wrong, unusual or out of order with N/S's bidding.
In standard bridge, when you make a takeout double, you show at least 3 card support for each unbid suit, and if you have a minimum opener, you intend to pass partner's minimum advance (advancer should jump or cuebid with most 10 point hands.)
When you break your promise to go along with partner's choice of trump, you are showing a hand too good to overcall. Since South broke the promise by bidding notrump, he is too strong to have overcalled 1NT. He is showing about 19-21 points with a diamond stopper; and probably a balanced hand.
I hope Reiner weighs in on this problem because his philosophy is to ignore the other minor and I am really curious how he would bid these 2 hands as N-S. My initial impression is that this hand is really an unlucky problem case for his methods.
In any event, I would pass the South hand since I don't have a five-card suit to bid, and I don't have the proper shape for a takeout double (I only have 2 clubs.)
Some experts would ignore the clubs and double, playing the odds that partner has a major. In this case they would pay off, as North is on the borderline between a 3C call, and downgrading the 4-3-3-3 shape and the
♦J and bidding 2C. If your style is to double with a minimum and a doubleton in the other minor, holding back a bit and bidding 2C is probably right. With my partners that promise 3 clubs, I would have no issues bidding 3C; the 4-3-3-3 is bad but the two aces are good. After all, if South a normal non-minimum double such as KQxx, KQxx, x, KQxx, where do you want to play? This hand should probably pass a 2C advance.
After North bids 2C, South shows 19 points if he bids anything so South hopes North has five clubs and passes. An inelegant contract but that is the price one pays when taking a chance on finding a major and losing the gamble.
What happens after South passes? The auction continues with West bidding 1H and East bidding 2C. N-S end up defending against 2C instead of playing it.
Actually, if N-S systemically double 1D with short clubs and a minimum, North might not bid 2C; North might decide to try 1NT without a diamond stopper which works insanely well on this hand. South happily passes. Come to think of it, 1D Double Pass 1NT (or even 1D Double 1H 1NT with both suits unstopped!!) seems reasonable. At first glance it appears that seven tricks is the limit if East leads a club, but +120 if East leads one of his side's bid suits. (GIB says I'm wrong - N-S can make 8 tricks in NT so maybe East gets endplayed.) So maybe this isn't such an unlucky hand for Reiner's methods after all and his philosophy of doubling without support for the other minor has more merit that I give it credit for.
In short; depending on partnership agreement:
either South passes over 1D, or South doubles 1D, North bids 1NT (regardless of whether West bids hearts or not), and South passes. If South has a tendency to be short in clubs when doubling 1D, then North can't bid clubs. If South doesn't have that tendency, then he can't double.
As for seeing nothing wrong with the N-S bidding: wouldn't North bid 2C on a 4-count? If that's the case, South bids 2NT, West, who was sitting in the weeds with a 9-count doubles, and N-S discover what was wrong with their bidding.
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