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After 10 boards, we were 35-0 down, and I was regretting taking a safety play on board 1 where we could have gained an IMP! After 16 it was 42-4, then we had a satisfying win 5 when we bid 1NT-AP with a 9-card spade fit. My partner wrapped up 8 tricks in 1NT while 2♠ was one off at the other table.
Pass or 4S?
While partner is marked with short hearts and failed to act, you don't need to give partner much to have some play for game here. It does feel like RHO has bid game to make, as we know they don't have a huge heart fit.
I suspect pass is the correct action, but thankfully it wasn't the one that I chose. Just after I bid it, West alerted their 4H bid as showing 17+! Obviously this is nonsense, but it made me even more anxious waiting to see the dummy in 4S X. Partner put down a weak 4-0-4-5 and on favourable breaks this made, with 4H also making. Teammates managed to save in 5H in the other room, and we were back in the match.
While partner is marked with short hearts and failed to act, you don't need to give partner much to have some play for game here. It does feel like RHO has bid game to make, as we know they don't have a huge heart fit.
I suspect pass is the correct action, but thankfully it wasn't the one that I chose. Just after I bid it, West alerted their 4H bid as showing 17+! Obviously this is nonsense, but it made me even more anxious waiting to see the dummy in 4S X. Partner put down a weak 4-0-4-5 and on favourable breaks this made, with 4H also making. Teammates managed to save in 5H in the other room, and we were back in the match.
I felt I had three reasonable routes on my hand.
The first thing to note is that we don't play 1N:2C, 2M:3M as invitational, so even if you would like to bid that on this hand, you can't. If partner has a four-card major, we will be playing it in game from his side. What we do only matters when partner has no four-card major.
a) Show a game-forcing 5-4
b) Bid Stayman then 2NT, losing the 5th heart
c) Bid Stayman then 2H, to play
If partner had opened in first, he would be more likely to have 14 points than 16. When he opens in fourth, that's not the case, so I didn't think Stayman then 2H was right. I decided to invite and give up on the fifth heart.
Partner responded 2D to Stayman and RHO doubled. We hadn't discussed this situation [it isn't common as RHO expects to be on lead], so I felt like it was still a choice between 2H and 2NT. The double didn't bode well for prospects in 2H from my side, I felt, so I stuck with my initial choice of 2NT to put the doubler on lead. Partner passed and this went one off, either 2H or 4H would have been a better spot to alight. In the other room, partner's hand fell into the 12-14 range and they had an easy decision to stop in 2H.
The first thing to note is that we don't play 1N:2C, 2M:3M as invitational, so even if you would like to bid that on this hand, you can't. If partner has a four-card major, we will be playing it in game from his side. What we do only matters when partner has no four-card major.
a) Show a game-forcing 5-4
b) Bid Stayman then 2NT, losing the 5th heart
c) Bid Stayman then 2H, to play
If partner had opened in first, he would be more likely to have 14 points than 16. When he opens in fourth, that's not the case, so I didn't think Stayman then 2H was right. I decided to invite and give up on the fifth heart.
Partner responded 2D to Stayman and RHO doubled. We hadn't discussed this situation [it isn't common as RHO expects to be on lead], so I felt like it was still a choice between 2H and 2NT. The double didn't bode well for prospects in 2H from my side, I felt, so I stuck with my initial choice of 2NT to put the doubler on lead. Partner passed and this went one off, either 2H or 4H would have been a better spot to alight. In the other room, partner's hand fell into the 12-14 range and they had an easy decision to stop in 2H.
One from my partner's side. Your options are 2NT [natural GF] or 3H [4H5+D GF].
Partner chose 2NT, this seems fairly clear to me. I rebid 3H, showing 0-1 hearts and denying precisely five spades. Do you bid 3NT or 4D?
While you have a lot of wastage, your shape is good. Slam is huge opposite xxx x xxxxx Qxxx and if partner has four spades the heart ten means you might have three pitches for them.
Partner chose 4D and we reached the good 6D when I held Jxxx x T9xx Axxx. With both hearts and diamonds coming in this made thirteen tricks.
Partner chose 2NT, this seems fairly clear to me. I rebid 3H, showing 0-1 hearts and denying precisely five spades. Do you bid 3NT or 4D?
While you have a lot of wastage, your shape is good. Slam is huge opposite xxx x xxxxx Qxxx and if partner has four spades the heart ten means you might have three pitches for them.
Partner chose 4D and we reached the good 6D when I held Jxxx x T9xx Axxx. With both hearts and diamonds coming in this made thirteen tricks.
This left the match fairly close, and we were 11 behind with three boards to play. Sadly my partner and I made a hash of this board, and then we lost a few more on each of the last two to lose by 32 imps.
When opener is balanced, we go into full relays here - I would have shown 2(32)6 with two low spades. Relays aren't really suitable when the asker is unbalanced, but we haven't got all our relay breaks sorted properly to cater to these hands, in many other auctions opener is already known to be balanced so it hasn't been an issue. Clearly with better agreements Simon could have shown his shortage at the three-level. Oppo did find the spade lead, so if the QD had been offside we'd have only made 11. Teammates saved against 7C for -1100 so even small slam would have been worth another 17 imps.
I chose to pass, as oppo could be in a 6-1 fit, and my hand hardly screams offence. At the other table, South opened 1C, and in a similar position my hand competed to 3H, perhaps hoping to find a double fit. Both 2S and 3H made so this was 7 imps out.