[pilowsky]

West, the dealer optimistically decided to bid 3♣
What happened next?
What should have happened?
What's the best contract?
Which side should play it?
Does it matter?

---

[Vampyr]

pilowsky, on 2020-November-02, 02:05, said:

West, the dealer optimistically decided to bid 3♣
What happened next?
What should have happened?
What's the best contract?
Which side should play it?
Does it matter?

---

The hand is interesting, but a little unrealistic as I don’t think that West will open 3♣ very often. Many will open 1♣ with that hand.

[pilowsky]

A good start, but not really warm.

[Cyberyeti]

It appears NS can make 11 tricks in hearts, EW can make 7 tricks in clubs so it's not worth sacrificing over 4♥, and NS +650 would be par.

How the auction actually goes will depend on what N does, if he doubles and E bids 4♣ S is in a spot and not sure what he'll do, NS may end up in 4♥ or 5♦ either of which should make.

[nige1]

pilowsky: West, the dealer optimistically decided to bid 3♣. What happened next? Pilowsky might bid 3NT

What should have happened? Agree with CyberYeti. North doubles or bids 3♥, East bids 4♣, South bids 4♦ or 4♥ or even doubles, North bids 4♥ making +1.

What's the best contract? 4♥

Which side should play it? NS

Does it matter? Of course. In his old age, poor GIB suffers neglect from his carers. Dementia has set in, e.g. East might misdefend, discarding a ♦, allowing NS to make a slam in ♥s or notrump.

---

[DozyDom]

I hope everyone is doubling with the N hand - even at a table with 3 robots, 3NT is much too likely to go down with a major game making. As for what E does, I guess I'd be considering 4C, Pass and 3H.

4C is the textbook bid green on red with 3 card support, but you have to think it isn't going to stop much bidding from the opponents, and if you end up playing 4CX the layout is probably awful enough that it isn't a good sacrifice against anything but slam. To quote the Arctic Monkeys, pass feels like settling down, or giving up, but it don't feel much like you. Green on red, with a 5-count opposite a pre-empt, I don't want to shut up; I want to bid. And bidding 3H might not be that bad an option - if things go wrong, partner supports you and you're doubled, you just run to 5C and force them to guess whether to double you or seek their game. So I suppose I'd bid it; it just doesn't feel like there's a big enough downside to not do so, and the upside is getting them to play in S, D, or at the wrong level.

After that, I suppose it depends whether S bids 4D? If not - which is what I'd expect -someone's going to double 3H and E runs to 4C. At which point one of NS will bid 4H, and E's bid won't have changed anything at all.

Whether you open the W hand 1c or 3C is a question of taste imo? Just depends how weak in HCP, and how shapely, you expect your green on red pre-empts to be. I'd go for it; in the minors I like to open at the 3 level on a very wide range of hands when green.

[pilowsky]

It's a cruel world. This hand is much more interesting than that.
North doubles. East bids 5♣.
The tension in the room rose to a fever pitch.
What did South do?

[helene_t]

pilowsky, on 2020-November-02, 14:04, said:

It's a cruel world. This hand is much more interesting than that.
North doubles. East bids 5♣.
The tension in the room rose to a fever pitch.
What did South do?

South either doubles or passes.

If he doubles, I think North bids 5NT or maybe 6♥.

If he passes, North will double again and now South probably passes although 5♦ is possible. Either way, EW will do OK.

[pilowsky]

South didn't double, South didn't pass.

[helene_t]

OK, South bid 5♦, also possible I suppose. North bids 6♦ then. Or maybe 5NT or 6♣.

[nullve]

I bet West is the main anti-hero of the story.

[pilowsky]

nullve, on 2020-November-02, 14:57, said:

I bet West is the main anti-hero of the story.

That's a terribly perspicacious point.

[Douglas43]

So far the hand only seems interesting in that South hasn't collected the routine +800 by whacking 5C. I usually enjoy your hands pilowsky, but you haven't exactly got me on the edge of my seat with this one...

[pilowsky]

That's a very fair comment. The same thought crossed my mind when I first looked at this hand.
Oddly, the reason I came across this extremely interesting hand is because I was practising no trump contracts apropos of the election.
Otherwise, I might agree with you.
Why would I be doing that?

[pilowsky]

A long time before America became upset with China because of trade and Covid19, it was upset with the Japanese for other (but similar) reasons.
Interestingly, Emperor Hirohito was a noted Anglophile and was annoyed with the Nazis because their bombing of London had set the British Museum on fire.

I can understand his distress; the British Museum is a charming place.
When I visited the British Museum my then 3-year old daughter put her hand on the Rosetta stone and asked me what it was.
Before I could explain a polite attendant asked me if I could keep my child away from the 2000-year-old artefact. It was a fair cop.

Hirohito proposed intervening as a 'neutral party' but his advisors suggested this would not be looked upon well.

On the 1st of August 1941 the United States imposed an oil embargo on Japan (trade sanction).
This caught Hirohito by surprise. What annoyed him a little more was a testy communication from Hull, the British foreign minister.

As an Australian, and a Jew it comes as no surprise that the British are annoying, but apparently, Hirohito was taken aback by the tone of Hull's note.

All of this came to a head on about election day in the USA. Finally, on November the 5th Hirohito stopped insisting on peace with the USA. Gunpowder, treason and plot (for those of you that grew up in Britain).
Two days and one month later, 4 men sat down at a table and West made an ill-advised pre-emptive strike. The North man doubled down. The fool sitting East raised the stakes.
The man sitting South - who was the only intelligent one - bid 5♥. This was a completely reasonable solution, albeit not the best score.

West passed, North stupidly raised the stakes to 6♥ and the only intelligent man in the room immediately transferred.

[Douglas43]

I'll take your word for it that South was the smartest, but I'm not sure that 5H is such a great bid, partly for the reason set out in your post, the risk that North with a good t/o double might be tempted to bid one more. He shouldn't but...

Keep posting pilowsky!

p.s. I think Anthony Eden was British foreign minister in 1941?

p.p.s No need to be Australian or Jewish or both to find the British annoying... [smiles]

[pilowsky]

You've got me there. I'm 'smarting' from the error that was all about Eden, but I chose my words very carefully when I said 'intelligent'.

[Vampyr]

pilowsky, on 2020-November-04, 02:41, said:

the British Museum is a charming place. ]

Yes I love these quaint little boutique museums.

[Vampyr]

DozyDom, on 2020-November-02, 13:21, said:

Whether you open the W hand 1c or 3C is a question of taste imo? Just depends how weak in HCP, and how shapely, you expect your green on red pre-empts to be. I'd go for it; in the minors I like to open at the 3 level on a very wide range of hands when green.

My partners would never put me on 10 HCP unfavourable.

[pilowsky]

So do I - so Stephanie - who was sitting South?