[ahydra]

These hands are all from an MPs side game at Brighton, so advanced-level field:

1) nobody vul, RHO opens 4H, you hold ♠QJ3 ♥A5 ♦KQJ853 ♣AK. Do you X, bid 5D or punt a slam?

2) they are vul, you're not. LHORHO opens 3S and you hold ♠J96 ♥A ♦QJ842 ♣AKJ5. What's your call?

3) nobody vul. Partner opens 1D, LHORHO bids 3C (PRE) and you're looking at ♠QT83 ♥QJ9532 ♦- ♣543. Bid, negX or pass? If you pass partner will reopen with X - how many hearts now?

Thanks,

ahydra

Edited to correct LHO -> RHO in hands 2 and 3.

[BillPatch]

1. Double. If partner passes I am reasonably happy with the plus score. If he takes out into spades I am very happy to play 4, will accept the slam try if he bids 5. If partner has the distribution to take out into clubs, I am content to let him play. Only if partner has a matching 6 card diamond suit and takes out into diamonds am I unhappy. Luckily, that is an extremely rare possibility.

[BillPatch]

2. An in tempo pass. Nothing else fits the bill.

3. Before I sit down at the table at a tournament I usually know what system we are playing. More clues, please. My guess is acol.

[mgoetze]

 ahydra, on 2015-August-30, 13:03, said:

1) nobody vul, RHO opens 4H, you hold ♠QJ3 ♥A5 ♦KQJ853 ♣AK. Do you X, bid 5D or punt a slam?

Yes.

Oh, you mean which of those do I choose? Ugh... that is hard. On a good day I might just try 6♦.

Quote

2) they are vul, you're not. LHO opens 3S and you hold ♠J96 ♥A ♦QJ842 ♣AKJ5. What's your call?

I can't double because I'll be completely stuck if partner bids 4♥. 3NT by partner might be the place for us to be but can we get there?? Pass might work some of the time but on balance I feel we are too strong and should act. Which leaves only 4NT.

Quote

3) nobody vul. Partner opens 1D, LHO bids 3C (PRE) and you're looking at ♠QT83 ♥QJ9532 ♦- ♣543. Bid, negX or pass? If you pass partner will reopen with X - how many hearts now?

Pass and four.

[Jinksy]

 ahydra, on 2015-August-30, 13:03, said:

LHO

You keep using that acronym senor. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Jinksy]

1) X. 6♦ is suicide. 5♦ could easily be off, and might not score that well even if it makes.

2) An out of tempo pass (if you have to assert that it would be in tempo, it wouldn't be).

3) Pass, 4♥.

[cherdano]

How is 6♦ even a consideration on the first one? LHO is just as likely as partner to have the missing honors in ♠/♦, RHO is occasionally allowed to have one, too, and now and then we might have a heart loser.

[rmnka447]

1. Double -- With 4 losers, any ♦ bid is a bit of a shot. I'll have to accept possibly playing a 4-3 fit in 4 ♠, but anytime partner holds 5 ♠s, at least 4 ♠ would seem best.

2. Pass

3. Pass first time. After partner's reopening double, 3 ♥ as I'm wary of bidding much when void in partner's first bid suit.

[karlson]

On the second one (assuming OP is correct and we're balancing after 3♠-p-p), I think I would pass, but 3n would not be the craziest bid I've ever seen.

[ahydra]

Apologies, I did mean RHO on hand 2 (so you're in second seat where first seat has opened 3S).

ahydra

[P_Marlowe]

#1 X
#2 Pass, since we are green, they are red, this is simple
#3 Pass, 4H

With kind regards
Marlowe

[helene_t]

For those who double on 1) : Is it obvious whether to pass or bid 4♦ after p bids 4♠? I would bid 5♦ but I see that I upvoted a Billpatch post in which he says he would pass

[Jinksy]

I would certainly pass 4♠ after doubling.

[apollo1201]

1) X, if partner leaves it, I'm fine, if he bids 4S, I won't pull and am sure that even in 4-3, there have been much worse 4S before...and even on 5C, he might play better with AK facing Qxxxxx while I might lose 2S and the DA in 5D if partenr is short and they pull dummy's trumps.

2) pass (sadly)

3) pass (on a good day I would try X with 5 better HCPs such as KQxx xxxxxx - xxx), and now 4H (but 4C if I had only 5H in case partner is 4-3...)

[ahydra]

Thanks all for the replies.

On hand 1 it was me who opened 4H and my LHO tanked before bidding 5D on the given hand. His partner had the huge ♠AK8 ♥864 ♦AT6 ♣QJT5 and raised to 6D, missing the cold 7NT. If you X with the 20-count, what do you call on advancer's hand - 5NT pick a slam perhaps? Passing only nets you 500 unless you can defend double-dummy.

Hand 2 it was my partner in the hotseat and he doubled. I replied 4H on ♠6 ♥QT75 ♦K97 ♣QT943 (probably the wrong call - perhaps I thought I was playing teams at the time) and partner squirmed before landing us in a reasonable 5C contract by bidding RKC and passing my response!

Passing with that lot seems dangerous as partner won't balance on several hands where 3NT or 4H are reasonable, e.g. even as little as ♠Kx ♥xxxxx ♦KTx ♣Qxx. I don't agree with partner's double as you're pushed into a corner when partner bids 4H - but can I ask how bad is a direct 4NT?

Hand 3 was mainly a sanity check - everyone voted for pass then 4H and that would be my call too. That gets you to the cold slam as partner has the monster ♠Ax ♥AKTx ♦AKQxxx ♣9 and can probably just punt the slam over your 4H. Opps got nowhere near it however - the big hand reopened with 3H instead and their partner raised to 4H. (Perhaps the question would be more interesting if presented from opener's POV.)

ahydra

[BillPatch]

 ahydra, on 2015-August-30, 13:03, said:

3) nobody vul. Partner opens 1D, LHO bids 3C (PRE) and you're looking at ♠QT83 ♥QJ9532 ♦- ♣543. Bid, negX or pass? If you pass partner will reopen with X - how many hearts now?

Thanks,

ahydra

Edited to correct LHO -> RHO in hand 2.

Jinksey reported that you made this mistake repetitively. Look at LHO in 3)

[ahydra]

 BillPatch, on 2015-September-01, 06:51, said:

Jinksey reported that you made this mistake repetitively. Look at LHO in 3)

fixed, thanks

ahydra