[jdonn]

whereagles, on May 19 2007, 08:34 AM, said:

I think you should act on the "weak" diamond hand. I remember once pard had something like

x
xx
Axx
KQJxxxx

and he passed my LHOs multi. It went

(2♦) pass (2♥) pass
(2♠) 3♣ (pass) ..?

and now I had something like

Axx
Jxx
Qxxx
Axx

I did bid the cold 3NT (opps led a spade), but I only did it because we were losing and I needed a swing..

I don't get it. If he had bid immediately and you play it shows some sort of weakish overcall, say like what partner holds, then aren't you in the exact same position just a round earlier? In fact you are in a much worse position since you don't know opener's suit, which may be hearts, and you have no heart stopper.

Anyway that's a better hand than the one we have been discussing. Short of bad breaks, partner will make 3NT if he bids it after an overcall so long as he holds either the club ace or two stoppers in whatever they lead. On the original example if partner had a stiff diamond he was going to have big problems.

[whereagles]

jdonn, on May 19 2007, 03:33 PM, said:

I don't get it. If he had bid immediately and you play it shows some sort of weakish overcall, say like what partner holds, then aren't you in the exact same position just a round earlier?

no, no, that's not what I meant. I'm not saying you should play (2♦)-3m as some sort of weak overcall. The 3m bid should be a constructive overcall. What I'm saying is that you should make that overcall on hands that have adequate playing strength and defense, regardless of their hcp strength. Both the hand I've shown above and the original one have, in my opinion, that playing strength and should thus bid 3m.

On the hand I've shown, a direct 3♣ would make bidding 3NT a piece of cake. In this thread's hand, I don't know what a direct 3♦ would have led to, but at least it would have saved us the current mess