[asbell]

Shall I open 4♠ third in hand on my 8-card suit, like any normal bridge player ever? No, better to wait and surprise the opponents once they know they have the values to double me

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[pescetom]

This is partly the fault of BBO writing T as 10, which makes the hand look semi-balanced to the robot.

I think your robot would have played doubled even if it opened 4S, unless cane is an Italian surname

[HardVector]

The purpose of preempts is to make the opponents guess what to do. They can overcall, pass or double. Even after the double, their partner now has to decide if passing it is correct. After you've given them time to communicate, a lot of the guesswork is gone and preempts are less effective.

[pescetom]

HardVector, on 2026-March-20, 10:48, said:

The purpose of preempts is to make the opponents guess what to do. They can overcall, pass or double. Even after the double, their partner now has to decide if passing it is correct. After you've given them time to communicate, a lot of the guesswork is gone and preempts are less effective.

Yes but in this case the preempt would have failed in its purpose and been doubled all the same, whether or not you think it was justified in the first place.
Of course it is still crazy to bid it after delay.

[johnu]

Good discovery play by robot East in playing ♣10 instead of the ace at trick 8. This lets the robot find out if declarer is 8=3=1=1 or 8=2=1=2.

[HardVector]

pescetom, on 2026-March-20, 17:49, said:

Yes but in this case the preempt would have failed in its purpose and been doubled all the same, whether or not you think it was justified in the first place.
Of course it is still crazy to bid it after delay.

The preempt wouldn't have "failed". The purpose is to force a guess. Unfortunately, there is an easy takeout double bid followed by an easy pass for penalty. On this specific hand, the winning decision is easy to find. That doesn't change the initial guess you put to the opponents on whether to pass, penalize, bid game or bid slam. Now, you can argue if you should be bidding to the 4 level with a relatively trash hand. Old school purists will say it doesn't meet the 2-3-4 criteria, but people who have been paying attention to modern experts will be a little more flexible.

[pescetom]

 HardVector, on 2026-March-22, 10:30, said:

The preempt wouldn't have "failed". The purpose is to force a guess. Unfortunately, there is an easy takeout double bid followed by an easy pass for penalty. On this specific hand, the winning decision is easy to find. That doesn't change the initial guess you put to the opponents on whether to pass, penalize, bid game or bid slam. Now, you can argue if you should be bidding to the 4 level with a relatively trash hand. Old school purists will say it doesn't meet the 2-3-4 criteria, but people who have been paying attention to modern experts will be a little more flexible.

I didn't express any opinion on the possible preempt.
I just said that in this case (on this layout) it is destined to fail in its purpose of forcing an unlucky guess, if the opponents are competent.
That is I think incontrovertible. How likely that failure was is another question.

[thepossum]

asbell, on 2026-March-20, 06:46, said:

Shall I open 4♠ third in hand on my 8-card suit, like any normal bridge player ever? No, better to wait and surprise the opponents once they know they have the values to double me

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I guess it was third hand - get in there with 3 or 4 anyway - for me maybe just 3 but I guess 4 is not bad

[pescetom]

 thepossum, on 2026-March-23, 03:15, said:

I guess it was third hand - get in there with 3 or 4 anyway - for me maybe just 3 but I guess 4 is not bad

3S often does enough damage and is also flexible, if they take the plunge to 4H and that looks likely to make then partner is still there with reasonable information to decide.
I would be interested to know the odds of bidding 4S instead, if anyone has the tricks function handy.