[catatonic]

Q85
AK94
Q10
KQJ10

third in hand

pass, pass , 1NT ,pass
2♥ , X , ?

with a maximum opener and possible contracts between two spades and three NT what is the best bid now ?

[matmat]

is xx an offer to play?

[rogerclee]

redoblo

[peachy]

Choices should be the same as 1NT (P) 2C (Dbl). Rdbl when you have a good club suit with tricks. In the actual auction, good heart suit with tricks.

If, by your agreement, Rbl denies holding a major over Stayman, and similarly in the actual auction denies holding three card or better support in the transfer suit, then you obviously should not Rdbl but other than that, I think Rdbl is clear.

[kenrexford]

XX. I'd XX even if it denied three spades.

[Fluffy]

¡redoblo!

[catatonic]

well , I must admit I don't have an exact understanding in a regular partnership to cover this except to say that xx would show a max with a good heart suit

I was playing here with what you could call a BBO expert , fairly sound but no experience of high level bridge ; certainly we had no understanding on this

so rating the possible bids at something like

pass 0%
xx 80%
2♠ 10%
3♠ 10%

I red'd

now pt has to make a decision

holding AJxxx , xx, xxx,xxx he decided that he had 2 ♥'s and an A more than he had promised , that I had no particular interest in spades , so he passed

any comments on his actions in this auction?

[maggieb]

catatonic, on Dec 20 2008, 01:08 PM, said:

any comments on his actions in this auction?

His hand is about a queen or king too weak to pass.

[whereagles]

What's wrong with 2♠?

[gnasher]

If you play redouble as a suggestion to play there, I think it should be a much more suitable hand for hearts - something like xx AQJ8 AKx Kxxx. If redouble just show a random maximum with four ordinary hearts, responder needs a mountain to pass it.

As a corollary, I think that with responder's actual hand pass is obvious. As he said, he had an ace and two hearts more than he might have.

[gwnn]

recontrooo

[han]

Agree with gnasher, I wouldn't redouble with AK9x of hearts and 3 spades. When I redouble I probably have 4 good hearts and a doubleton spade or even 5 hearts.

I agree with responder's pass.

[maggieb]

gnasher and han, it sounds like you play redouble as a much stronger suggestion to play than I do.

I like a very cooperative style of redoubling. In my opinion, it is very important to collect a number here when responder is just balanced with 8+ points. I will lose when we really have them nutted, but it seems worse, just based on frequency, to wait until this happens.

[MFA]

I agree partly with gnasher and han.

I need a hand more suitable for hearts to redouble. But not the absolute 'nuts'. Setting the min. requirements too low makes it too hard to pass the double as responder, and the XX tends to be much more profitable when we really have the hearts locked up.

On the other hand I think that the actual hand with AJxxx, xx, xxx, xxx is too marginal to pass. 'Having an ace + 2 hearts more than promised' is a rubbish argument. I think 2♥XX fails too often and need about a king more to pass. Perhaps a queen would do, if I felt like gambling.

[655321]

I would just bid 2♠ over the double to show 3 spades. I always do this in my regular partnerships. With a pickup partner and no agreements, bidding 2♠ seems safer than redoubling.

[han]

maggieb, on Dec 20 2008, 05:31 PM, said:

gnasher and han, it sounds like you play redouble as a much stronger suggestion to play than I do.

I like a very cooperative style of redoubling. In my opinion, it is very important to collect a number here when responder is just balanced with 8+ points. I will lose when we really have them nutted, but it seems worse, just based on frequency, to wait until this happens.

If we have 4 hearts and 2 spades we can pass, maybe partner will redouble. I play that partner's double means it is our hand and he is willing to sit if we have 4 decent hearts. With the actual hand I would bid 2S though, showing 3 spades. I think the hand is pretty good for spades.

[Edmunte1]

2♠ for me, agree with Michael

[cherdano]

maggieb, on Dec 20 2008, 04:31 PM, said:

gnasher and han, it sounds like you play redouble as a much stronger suggestion to play than I do.

I like a very cooperative style of redoubling. In my opinion, it is very important to collect a number here when responder is just balanced with 8+ points. I will lose when we really have them nutted, but it seems worse, just based on frequency, to wait until this happens.

Lets give partner AKJxx instead of AJxxx. If the doubler has 6 hearts (very well possible he found a reason not to open 2H given he was second seat), 2HXX will certainly go down (they score at least 3 hearts, ♦AK and ♣A). If RHO has only 5 hearts, you still need him to have quite specific shapes to prevent him from scoring three trumps.

[kenrexford]

A minimum redouble for me is something like AJ9x in hearts. AK9x is obviously a redouble.

If you wait for AQJ9, you will never redouble.

What I think you want is a holding where partner can expect to play a Moysian profitably even with a stack (known to be in front), or possibly even Hx. Two top honors and the nine is about the best you can really hope for, because RHO usually has a semblance of his bid, IMO.

With AK9x, oppoiste xxx, you would expect to force RHO with QJ10xx(x) to split, split, and then win, losing one more to the 9. That gives him only two(three) tricks from his long suit.

What my redoubles do, then, are to convert games to games+partial, not to create games out of thin air once every three hundred years.

Oh, so passing the redouble was sick.

[catatonic]

ok , so pt passed and the doubler held K , QJ10xxx,xxxx,Ax having felt that this was too weak to open 1 ♥at game all and too strong for 2 ♥

pt took fright and went for a number ...well he was going for a number anyway but he didn't make the best of it [ am sure I am not the only person here who has struggled to get out for 1400 on foul breaks and gained 7 imps ! ]

now , imho , the doublers bidding is correct , don't open , then x.... am I alone here?