[Hanoi5]

You open the bidding (you're dealer). No matter the vulnerability, I just want you to tell me which of the opening bids in the poll is the most abnormal for the following hand:

♠Axx
♥AKTxxx
♦KQ
♣Qx

[jillybean]

barrage is a preempt ,is it?

[Hanoi5]

Yes, barrage is a pre-empt.

[jtfanclub]

I could see opening this 4th hand 4♥ in Total Points.

[Hanoi5]

My mistake, when I said you open the bidding I meant you're dealer.

[jdonn]

Least likely? I guess I think 2♣ is likely to work out the worst on balance. 4♥ may reach the wrong contract for us more often in abstract, but it will have a few compensating gains when the opponents wrongly bid so I think it would work a little better than 2♣.

[awm]

If someone took the 1♥ card out of my bidding box, I'd say that 4♥ is the best of the three options. A lot of bridge-browser study has convinced me that these calls work pretty often, even on hands that seem too good.

Opening 2♣ is just a huge overbid that will get us too high a lot of the time opposite most partners. The 2NT bid is right on values, but there's a lot that can go wrong with this kind of action (and fairly frequently does) when we reach the wrong game contract.

[kenberg]

I can think of no circumstances where I would open this 2C.

If I were playing with GIB in the total point robot race and the clock was such that I might be able to get this one in and still have time for another by having a 4H-all pass auction I might try it, especially if I had been going heavy on the wine.

[jtfanclub]

Hanoi5, on Jan 17 2009, 01:20 PM, said:

My mistake, when I said you open the bidding I meant you're dealer.

Oh. Never mind.

[Phil]

4♥ is a swingy action that might work. You might shut out a sac, catch the opponents speeding or whatever.

I've known maniacs that have opened these kinds of hands 2N. Catch the right 4 count and you get a matchpoint top.

2♣ is just plain wrong and I see little upside to it. I would never expect an experienced player to make this call.

[barmar]

It's a 6-loser hand, and one of the queens is completely unsupported. I don't see how 2♣ could even enter one's mind.

[mtvesuvius]

2♣. This is an 18 HCP hand with 6 losers. Disgusting.

[ArtK78]

Slightly different context, but something I saw on BBO last night.

My RHO, responding to his partner's opening 1♣ bid, called 4♠ on AKJxxx of spades and a 6322 18 count.

It turned out that 4♠ was the technically correct contract, as 6♠ required bringing in the trump suit (partner had Tx of spades) for no losers and bringing in the heart suit (Kxx opposite AQTx) for 4 winners. But slam rolled, and we got a pretty decent matchpoint score.

[Gerben42]

4♥. Whereas 2♣ is just a silly overbid, 4♥ says partner cannot judge anyway and should be treated as an insult.

[kenrexford]

2NT is not even a bad option, IMO.

[rogerclee]

4h is the worst bid out of all of these.

[olegru]

I will not bid any of them, but I've seen people do it. 2NT and 4♥ are the swingy actions, against the odds by my opinion, but not neccesary bad. 2 clubs simply the bad bid of the weak player. By the way, what would by 4 clubs opening, not strong pre-empt with ♥?

[hrothgar]

Here's my not so humble opinion

With 1 being the best opening and 4 being the worst

1. 1♥
2. 2NT
3. 4♥
5. 2♣

I can't fathom 2♣. I think that this shows dreadful hand valuation and seriously cramps the auction.

4♥ also doesn't appeal. I might consider this if I were white on red and the opponents could be trusted to balance on anything.

2NT looks about right on strength. I might consider this if I were playing a much better team and needed to shake things up. Still doesn't appeal much to me.

1♥ seems completely normal...