[brianshark]

Teams, favourable vulnerability, RHO deals and opens 2♣ which is a typical strong opening.

You hold:

♠J9754 ♥AKJ765 ♦Q ♣4

Double would show both majors 4+4+.
2/4NT would show both minors.
The rest of your bids would be natural.

What's your call?

[whereagles]

Pass and let them go down in 3NT. A possible scenario is:

2♣ 2♦
2NT 3NT

or

2♣ 2♦
3m 3♠
3NT

If it goes instead

2♣ 2♦
3m 3NT

Now dbl to see if pard can guess the heart lead

[FrancesHinden]

I'm torn between double and 4H.
My hand has enough playing strength that I woudl probably double now, and bid 3H next round (if we get to a next round).

[655321]

3♥ for me, but of course 4♥ is also possible.

Don't like double - the point of bidding is to take away their space, not to give them more room.

[han]

Wow, I would certainly bid hearts. I feel very strongly that we should not aim for a constructive auction but rather try to make it as difficult for them as possible. I would preempt even if I thought that it was our hand, which I don't.

[gwnn]

4♥, the -1100 will more than make up the +50 from 3NT-1.

[the hog]

4H. Double for the majors is not pre emptive enough. Change the system!

[han]

I agree that double is not preemptive enough Ron... on this hand. If everybody was red and we were 5-5 I would be happy to double though so I think I'm keeping the agreement but just won't use it on hands like this.

What would you recommend for the double? (and/or other bids)

[andy_h]

I guess the question is that will spades be a better spot for a sacrifice for us or not vs. making life difficult for the opponents. Agree that X pretty much affects the opponents, like nothing so I'm going to bid. Let's preempt and give the opponents the last guess!

[pclayton]

I really want to preempt this more than a "double". Please come up with a way to show the majors other than a x.

I guess I'll just double and compete with 3♥ over 3m on my right.

[NickRW]

The_Hog, on May 27 2008, 01:48 PM, said:

4H. Double for the majors is not pre emptive enough. Change the system!

Well, I don't disagree with 4♥ in this case. However, Dble, 2♦ and 2♥ do not consume any of the opps bidding room. It makes sense to use them for something that partner can pre-empt instead surely - so specific 2 suiters is a possibility I would have thought. In which case x for majors is not so bad....

What sort of thing were you thinking of?

Nick

[brianshark]

Double provides no pre-emption in itself. It's obviously desiged as a safe bid to get 4-4 Major shapes into play so that pard in 4th seat can pre-empt the strong hand.

If you want to have other bids also show higher more shapely both major pre-empts (say 3H showing 5+5+) which also pre-empt responder then fine. It'll work wonders on this hand, but on other hands where a single-suit pre-empt is needed, it'll be found wanting.

We elected to use a fairly simple defence to strong openings. It works fine. There is nothing wrong with the methods. This hand is simply a judgement call.

Tally so far:
Dbl - 3
4H - 3
?H - 2 (said they would bid but did not specify level)
3H - 1
Pass - 1

[whereagles]

Are you sure you want to enter the bidding with a mere 4-4 when you're WAY outgunned? I think at least 5-4 is more appropriate.

[Apollo81]

I'd double planning to bid hearts later. Finding the best sacrifice is probably more important than preemption on this hand.

[Halo]

If double is majors, then double.

I don't expect to prempt them out of anything on this round.

[kenrexford]

I think it is really useful to have a call that shows a stronger hand (playing strength) with both majors. Maybe 3NT. It is not that far out there for us to have a major game.

In practice, with one partner, I'd transfer to hearts (2♦) and then bid spades if I can cheaply, or double for spades if it would be understood as such.

[brianshark]

Scoring: IMP

---

My partner bid 4♥. It was not a success. He ended up going down 4 doubled. The other table opened 1♦ and south elected to overcall in hearts and rebid spades. But EW ended up playing in 4♦ making.

He got a lot of criticism for 4♥ by some people, but there were lots of varying opinions on what he should do. So I posted here to see what y'all think.

[jdonn]

In fairness to your partner, the votes for double were because spades might be better, not because anyone was scared to bid as much as 4♥. So criticizing him seems quite harsh.

[gnasher]

Did the people doing the criticising include your teammates, who seem to have missed a good game? More than half of the IMPS you lost on this deal were lost at the other table.