[Quartic]

Playing at our local club with my regular partner we struggled on a number of boards:

---

Unfortunately 5♥ made (down 1 double dummy) for a bottom. ATB?

[wyman]

If I were bidding 5C over 4S, I would have just bid 5C directly (or 4N depending on your agreements). I don't see why west bid over 4S.

[the hog]

 wyman, on 2012-March-26, 17:24, said:

If I were bidding 5C over 4S, I would have just bid 5C directly (or 4N depending on your agreements). I don't see why west bid over 4S.

I agree with this. What is the point of the double otherwise? Anyway, I would pass 4H.

[Codo]

As West I had doubled 4 ♥ and passed 4 ♠.

I understand Easts X of 5 ♥, ALL finesses are working for them and West has a weaker hand then expected. Bad luck for East.

[ahydra]

X of 4H is a little light, so perhaps W should pass 4 spades.

[HighLow21]

I don't get it. How is 5♥ down 1 double dummy, why is East doubling 5♥ with zero defense, and why is West sticking his neck out over 4H with that hand at unfavorable? And why is 5♣ right over 4♠?

[sfi]

 HighLow21, on 2012-March-27, 13:04, said:

I don't get it. How is 5♥ down 1 double dummy, why is East doubling 5♥ with zero defense, and why is West sticking his neck out over 4H with that hand at unfavorable? And why is 5♣ right over 4♠?

Not enough dummy entries to do what you need to do on a diamond lead. Because partner made a takeout double vul vs. not at the 4 level and you have an 8 count with potential soft tricks all over the place. The last two I have no real answers for.

[ggwhiz]

I can understand a direct 5♣ bid or the actual auction to have a chance to get to diamonds when it's right.

Since 5♥ is cold barring a low ♦ lead AND failure to cover the J♥ and 5♣ is slated for -800 I have to think West was colour blind.

[655321]

 HighLow21, on 2012-March-27, 13:04, said:

why is West sticking his neck out over 4H with that hand at unfavorable?

Because he has a void in hearts, support for all the other suits, enough values to bid, and he doesn't want to get robbed.

[dwar0123]

 HighLow21, on 2012-March-27, 13:04, said:

why is East doubling 5♥ with zero defense

Because west showed a powerful 20+ point hand and this is easts way of saying that I am flat and don't have much offensive help for you so perhaps we should defend.

Quote

and why is West sticking his neck out over 4H with that hand at unfavorable? And why is 5♣ right over 4♠?

That is where the blame belongs, west doesn't have the hand he showed. I have more sympathy for 5♣, which at least shows a distributional hand rather then a powerful hand but I would still pass.

[655321]

 dwar0123, on 2012-March-27, 16:50, said:

west showed a powerful 20+ point hand

Sorry, but that is complete nonsense.

[dwar0123]

 655321, on 2012-March-27, 16:57, said:

Sorry, but that is complete nonsense.

Would you care to elaborate? I am not above admitting I am wrong, but just calling it nonsense is exceedingly unhelpful.

He doubled and then pulled his partner's 4♠ to 5♣. My understanding of doubling and bidding is that it shows around 18 points, doing it at the 5 level vulnerable I would expect at least 20 and some extra distribution to boot.

[gnasher]

 dwar0123, on 2012-March-27, 17:09, said:

He doubled and then pulled his partner's 4♠ to 5♣. My understanding of doubling and bidding is that it shows around 18 points, doing it at the 5 level vulnerable I would expect at least 20 and some extra distribution to boot.

The modern style, or a modern style, is that a double of three- or four-level opening followed by a new suit offers a choice of strains ("a flexible hand"), rather than showing extra strength. In this sequence West has shown something like a 2146 shape, and is offering a choice between clubs and diamonds.

[655321]

 dwar0123, on 2012-March-27, 17:09, said:

Would you care to elaborate? I am not above admitting I am wrong, but just calling it nonsense is exceedingly unhelpful.

He doubled and then pulled his partner's 4♠ to 5♣. My understanding of doubling and bidding is that it shows around 18 points, doing it at the 5 level vulnerable I would expect at least 20 and some extra distribution to boot.

My mistake, I thought you were talking about the initial double (which is normally played as takeout and doesn't have to be anywhere near 20 points).

Still, doubling and bidding a suit doesn't show the strong single-suited hand either, normally it shows a flexible hand, playable in clubs as well as other places. I wouldn't have bid 5♣ on this hand, but would have passed 4♠.

A very strong hand that is only playable in clubs usually has to guess between overcalling 5♣ or 6♣.

[wyman]

 gnasher, on 2012-March-27, 17:15, said:

The modern style, or a modern style, is that a double of three- or four-level opening followed by a new suit offers a choice of strains ("a flexible hand"), rather than showing extra strength. In this sequence West has shown something like a 2146 shape, and is offering a choice between clubs and diamonds.

While we're on the topic, what is the difference between opener's

direct 4N
X-4N
X-5C

I assume 4N is pick, X-4N shows a 2 card difference C<D, and X-5C shows a 2 card diff C>D?

[gnasher]

 wyman, on 2012-March-27, 17:21, said:

While we're on the topic, what is the difference between opener's

direct 4N
X-4N
X-5C

I assume 4N is pick, X-4N shows a 2 card difference C<D, and X-5C shows a 2 card diff C>D?

That sounds sensible, although there's a case for double-then-4NT to be Keycard.

[rmnka447]

West is sitting in 4th seat. His partner has passed and he holds 12 HCP. If the 4 ♥ bidder has all 10 HCP represented by the ♥, that leaves 18 HCP to be split between his partner and the preemptor's partner. There's no reason to expect that the points are anything but split evenly between the hands.

So if he intervenes, his side will be contracting at the 4 or 5 level with somewhere between 21-23 HCP. Whatever points preemptor's partner has are sitting behind his tenaces. The expectation of making any contract his side bids aren't very high.

Besides that, he's Red vs. White.

Sometimes you've just got to stay fixed by a preempt and this certainly looks like one of those times.