[JT23456]

What to do when the opponent in 1st seat bids your only suit? 1st seat opens 1H, me in seat 2 stuck for a bid with 15 points xxx in spades, AKQJx in hearts, Kxx in diamonds and Qx in clubs. Neither double nor pass seems right. Opponent had 5 hearts to the 10.

[manudude03]

With 15 HCP, you can overcall 1NT if you want, or pass hoping partner can find a double (which they should stretch to do).

[wank]

if the opponents open the bidding in your suit the chances of your making a game have decreased considerably, so you can often afford to sit there quietly and defend if they play in your suit or no-trumps or make a delayed takeout double if they bid your short suit.

with a sufficiently above average hand you will still often make 3NT though so good hands with their suit can overcall 1NT. it doesn't sound like this hand is quite hand good enough, but it's close. if responder turns out to have nothing and passes, partner will bid on very little in the passout seat to protect you.

[Stephen Tu]

You either pass or bid 1nt, depending on honor location, total strength, and vulnerability. Double with most 18+ hands. Definitely pass any < 15. Most honors in their suit makes defending more attractive. Them being vulnerable makes defending more attractive. Down 3 vul almost makes up for a nv game our way, and maybe we don't make game. If we are stronger and vulnerable and they are not that makes declaring more attractive, looking for a 3nt vulnerable game instead of getting them only 50 a trick.

On this hand, I would pass.

It's fine to pass, because:
- they may end up in hearts, which is fine by you. If it's passed to partner on a good day he might reopen with double
- if they end elsewhere still defending rates to do well, declarer will often try to ruff hearts, but partner will be in position to overruff dummy and you will lead trumps to cut the ruffing power.
- knowing the suit breaks badly really makes your offensive expectation suffer. You won't want to play in hearts yourself usually, and you most often only have 4 tricks in the suit not 5 when your x isn't the 9, whereas if you didn't know about the split you would expect 5 tricks. So the hand has become weaker on average than if you picked it up after a pass.
- If your side ends in a suit, you have too much in hearts opposite partner's shortness. You don't have honors to cover losers in the other suits / trumps, will tend to lose tricks before trumps are drawn and the 4 hearts can be taken. Or LHO may be able to ruff some of your heart winners.

Pass doesn't deny values. It just denies an appropriate hand for a takeout double or overcall or other action. You may end up entering the auction later.

[TylerE]

Pass, in tempo, without giving the game away

[msjennifer]

With seven losers outside the hearts it is better to pass leaving other options out for next round.An adventure oriented may opt for 1NT get doubled and lose 1100 .I remember one hand where in second seat I held KQ10xxx,void,void,AQJ9xxx and dealer on my right opened 1Spade. I passed.LHO bid 1NT and RHO bid 2Spade showing a six carder suit.Now What?.We were Red against White. Such deals do occur and one is helpless unless one has discussed similar situations (even in a regular partnership.).Some sort of action is necessary on spot which may turn out to be unlucky or not.I shall Pass.

[aawk]

No hand for a info double.

No hand for a overcall of 1nt (need 16-18 HCP imho) even if it is allowed in your system with 15 HCP you got 66 % of your points in ♥.

No hand to give a overcall in a suit.

So the only thing left is pass and see what happens.

[miamijd]

With these sorts of hands, you bid 1NT with 16-18 and X with 19+. With 15, you can either pass or bid 1NT. With the actual hand you gave, I would probably pass and await developments.

Cheers,
Mike

[dbl118]

I'm more of a GIB player, but I would bid 1nt. Every time I pass in these situations it seems the opponents find a nice fit in the minors, and the opener usually wants to keep the level low. Or my partner gets in on the bidding and pushes us in to a bad fit or 3nt.

[mycroft]

Well, the big issue is when responder with a random 8- to 10- count and no heart fit (obviously) doubles for penalty. Last night (don't know the auction, it was our teammates), 1NT went for 1100 into our -450; 500 into partscores is also common. Compared to that, what partner can do to you is almost ignorable.

One of my teachers got to the point where they were making the minimum for a 1NT overcall so high that they weren't using it; and Raptor 1NT (showing "a 4 card major and a longer minor, the wrong shape to double, and not enough to reverse") was born.