[gordontd]

mgoetze, on 2011-June-27, 11:25, said:

On vugraph, one expert commented, "seems like clear action, 1♥ or even double." Another claimed, "the majority of experts would pass."

Who were the experts?

[gwnn]

nige1, on 2011-June-29, 03:13, said:

2♥

[phil_20686]

I honestly cannot imagine passing. AM very surprised by the poll. However most of the best players on the forum don't seem to have voted, where is jlall, hanp, mfa etc?

[mgoetze]

gordontd, on 2011-June-29, 03:26, said:

Who were the experts?

"Clear action" was Walter Johnson, "majority pass" was Glen Ashton.

[WGF_Flame]

I think it depend on the vul, I would pass for sure if I'm vul, but if not vul, I am close to bidding (give me the 98 of heart and i'd bid 1H with confident)

[rogerclee]

The old school bridge players like to have a good suit or a good hand. I am happy to just have either a reasonable suit or a reasonable hand, but here I don't have either, so I would just pass.

[mgoetze]

rogerclee, on 2011-June-30, 01:46, said:

The old school bridge players like to have a good suit or a good hand. I am happy to just have either a reasonable suit or a reasonable hand, but here I don't have either, so I would just pass.

What's your criterium for a reasonable suit?

On Vugraph, Roland Wald commented that this was not an overcall for Auken-Christiansen because they only did it on a suit which "could stand a lead from Kx". I thought that sounded like a useful rule.

[gordontd]

phil_20686, on 2011-June-29, 11:00, said:

I honestly cannot imagine passing. AM very surprised by the poll. However most of the best players on the forum don't seem to have voted, where is jlall, hanp, mfa etc?

Aren't two of those the same person?

[han]

Despite it's rotten suit I think this hand has much more going for it than the hand I posted here:

http://www.bridgebas...6632-overcall/.

I see for example that Adam overcalled 1H there but not here. I don't agree Adam. Is our main priority to ask for a heart lead? Or is our main priority competing for a good partscore or game? I think the latter is more important, so this hand is better than the defensive 5332 hand I posted. For example, if I overcall 1H here and partner makes a mixed raise to the 3-level, I'd be happy I overcalled. But if I had Qx AJxxx Qxx xxx we'd be almost certain to get -200 at least.

I'm not saying suit quality is not important, of course it is. But in a competitive auction, shape is trump. Our side suits have so much more potential here, and a singleton in RHO's suit is of course much better than three small, which is a horrible holding.

By the way Phil, I'm flattered you think I belong in a list with jlall and mfa but unfortunately I don't. But some day!

[phil_20686]

han, on 2011-June-30, 04:09, said:

By the way Phil, I'm flattered you think I belong in a list with jlall and mfa but unfortunately I don't. But some day!

Sadly, I was only putting you in the less restrictive subset of "players to appear to be significantly better than I/the majority of forum posters".

[hotShot]

han, on 2011-June-30, 04:09, said:

Is our main priority to ask for a heart lead? Or is our main priority competing for a good partscore or game? I think the latter is more important, so this hand is better than the defensive 5332 hand I posted. For example, if I overcall 1H here and partner makes a mixed raise to the 3-level, I'd be happy I overcalled. But if I had Qx AJxxx Qxx xxx we'd be almost certain to get -200 at least.

I think this is an important point and I would like to add, that since we pretty well know of at least 21 HCP in our and openers hand, it is almost sure that partner will face a difficult decision once LHO bids 1♠ or 1NT. If we bid with this hand and don't bit with "Qx AJxxx Qxx xxx" partner is in a much better position to make his decision.

[gordontd]

han, on 2011-June-30, 04:09, said:

By the way Phil, I'm flattered you think I belong in a list with jlall and mfa but unfortunately I don't. But some day!

Didn't he say hanp, not han?

[phil_20686]

gordontd, on 2011-June-30, 10:57, said:

Didn't he say hanp, not han?

yes, but I meant han

[gordontd]

phil_20686, on 2011-June-30, 11:07, said:

yes, but I meant han

Looks like a fielded misbid to me

[Cyberyeti]

gordontd, on 2011-June-30, 11:11, said:

Looks like a fielded misbid to me

Director, he's psyched a Dutchman, is that legal ?

[mfa1010]

1♥ for me. But Sam Lev passed against us in R16 and I don't mind passing. I sat north and declared 2♠ after 1♦-1♠-2♠. The defense started with two club tricks and heart through and heart to my queen. I went one off when I continued low spade to the queen. I suppose I could have made 2♠ by taking a deep diamond finesse immediately, but that seems double dummy'ish, and it comforts me that Meckstroth/Rodwell played the same way as me in open room (and therefore also went one off in 2♠).

[JLOGIC]

I would bid obv. I have a good hand opposite a fit anywhere, and I rate to have a fit somewhere. A 5-3 heart fit might not be great but a 5-4 heart fit certainly would be. Lead value is overrated, why do we assume partner will be on lead, and why do we assume he will always lead a heart and that it will always be bad? Sure some of the time partner will end up on lead AND will lead a heart AND his normal lead would have been better, but that is such a small concern on a competitive auction where we are not sure whos hand it is yet, our primary goal is to find fits and compete for the contract if we are capable of doing so. This hand offers a lot of potential in that regard.

Yes, I'm only making the case for bidding as others have made the case for passing, but I definitely think it's necessary to get involved with a hand like this.

That said, I agree with the commentator who guessed that a majority of experts would pass, so take my opinion fwiw.

Quote

Looks like a fielded misbid to me

Aren't you allowed to use the logic of the auction (conversation) to field things if they don't make sense? I mean, I have made maybe 2 posts life time as hanp, whereas han has made like 10,000, why would he be talking about my joke account rather than hans real account?

[whereagles]

yuck.. I pass and I'm quite an aggressive overcaller. The ODR is just too low.

[Cascade]

nige1, on 2011-June-29, 03:13, said:

• Does it jam opponents' auction? No

If I am considering overcalling on this hand i am not thinking of the immediate preemptive affect of 1♥ but the possibility of partner being able to raise to 2♥ or 3♥ (preemptively).

For me the hand is close to the border for 1♥. I think i would probably bid.

[gnasher]

I used to pass these hands because it was too dangerous to bid, then at partner's turn he would pass because he had a balanced 11-count, then when it got back to me in 1NT or 2♠ it would still be too dangerous, and then we'd lose 5 IMPs.

Nowadays I overcall (but I quite like double).