[FrancesHinden]

Two very similar problems:

First one:

♠KJ642
♥9842
♦72
♣J5

LHO deals, you are vul against not

1♠ dbl 1NT* Pass
2♠ dbl Pass ?

*Natural

Does it make a difference if there are 8 boards to go and you are 21 imps down?

Second one:

♠K8742
♥1062
♦62
♣983

RHO deals, you are vul against not, again.

Auction 2:
1S P 1NT* dbl
2D P 2S dbl
P ?

*forcing

[mike777]

1) 3h
2) pass.

[aguahombre]

FrancesHinden, on 2011-December-12, 13:48, said:

Does it make a difference if there are 8 boards to go and you are 21 imps down?

Of course, it makes a difference. It means you are giving us someone else's problem.

I guess we have to decide whether it is more likely partner can produce 8 tricks in hearts (I probably have one trick in hearts), or she can find 3 tricks defending spades.

Or maybe minus 470 will be the best we can do at this point,

This post has been edited by aguahombre: 2011-December-12, 14:20

[jmcw]

Pass and pass and pray.

[mikeh]

3♥ on the first one, but if I knew I was 21 imps down with 8 boards to go, I'm more inclined to pass. Tho I wouldn't. Maybe -200 will win imps.

On the 2nd, I pass because while my trump aren't as good, they are behind declarer, and declarer only has 5 of them, and I have no assured fit anywhere.

[Valardent]

mike777, on 2011-December-12, 13:53, said:

1) 3h
2) pass.

Same here.

[phil_20686]

The second one is an obvious pass. I would lead a small spade vs this.

The first one seems tough. Since I am quote drunk and generally quite agressive in passiong out these partscores it is surely obvious t bid 3H if I were sober. I make no promises on this type of conditional logic.

[bluecalm]

3♥ on the first, even if I am down a ton. Maybe they will settle for it on other table and I will net +13.
Pass on 2nd one. Looks like Christmas came early this year.

[Statto]

Spent some time thinking about the 1st. Then looked at the 2nd and thought: that's an easy pass. Wonder if it would have been the same if the problems had been presented in the other order...

FrancesHinden, on 2011-December-12, 13:48, said:

Does it make a difference if there are 8 boards to go and you are 21 imps down?

Doubt it, I can't even decide what the safe option is. Though I'm tempted by 2NT. Is it VPs or do we need an outright win?

[whereagles]

1. Normally bid 3H. But here I need some action, so pass. Losing by 21 or 33 is the same.

2. Yuck. This one I will bid a scrambling 2NT. I'm a trick shorter and my instinct tells me pard might not be as strong as in case 1. There's a chance pard will have a 5 card suit too.

[Free]

Pass twice, and it doesn't make a difference how many boards we have to play and how many imps we are behind imo.

[Yu18772]

1) 3♥ (doesn't matter how much we are behind -just based on ♠ position and having 4 hearts),
2) pass .....

[aguahombre]

I am not sure the "position" of the spade suit is that important when they are 6-5-1-1 around the table. It is not as if declarer is going to be leading a lot of them through me.

[Siegmund]

First one I would have considered 2H on the previous round, but think pass is obvious now and expect a good profit.

Second one I don't expect to beat but have nowhere to run, so am endplayed into passing anyway. I sure don't like it.

[nige1]

IMO

• Pass = 10, 3♥ = 8.
• Pass = 10, 2N = 7, 3♣ = 5. 3♥ = 4.

Just guesswork. If partner has a ♠ then pass may be right. Otherwise bidding may be better. You have little space to explore. You may be jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire. At red, 2♠X= may be the lesser evil.

[FrancesHinden]

I make the voting 6-5 in favour of 3H on the first, and a huge vote in favour of passing the second.

At one table, the first one was passed for -470. 3H isn't fun, but it probably won't be doubled even at the score.
At the other table, Zia chose to redouble rather than bid 1NT, and the auction went 1S x xx 2H; P (forcing) P 2S P 4S P P dbl for +300. A nice pickup for us.

On the second one, as there is a unanimous vote for pass, I'll give it as a lead problem in another poll...

[nige1]

FrancesHinden, on 2011-December-15, 12:14, said:

I make the voting 6-5 in favour of 3H on the first, and a huge vote in favour of passing the second.
At one table, the first one was passed for -470. 3H isn't fun, but it probably won't be doubled even at the score.
At the other table, Zia chose to redouble rather than bid 1NT, and the auction went 1S x xx 2H; P (forcing) P 2S P 4S P P dbl for +300. A nice pickup for us.
On the second one, as there is a unanimous vote for pass, I'll give it as a lead problem in another poll...

On the first board, how is 3♥ (doubled or not) likely to fare, in practice?