[hanp]

White against red

9xxxx
Q
AKJ9x
xx

p - p - (4H) - p
p - ??

[Apollo81]

No thanks. Seems like partner might have doubled or bid 4♠ on many hands where we belong in the auction.

[junyi_zhu]

hanp, on Jun 22 2010, 06:05 PM, said:

White against red

9xxxx
Q
AKJ9x
xx

p - p - (4H) - p
p - ??

If you want to bid something other than pass here, you should open the hand instead of passing.

[jjbrr]

Pass.

Would open 1♠ playing precision definitely, and maybe open 1♠ if playing something else.

[Hanoi5]

I'd double. I don't want to pass in this vulnerability, let my partner decide...

[pooltuna]

hanp, on Jun 22 2010, 01:05 PM, said:

White against red

9xxxx
Q
AKJ9x
xx

p - p - (4H) - p
p - ??

accept the transfer

[wank]

easy pass unless your consumption of colombia's finest is measured in kilos

[gwnn]

This is truly 24-bit insanity. 4S, if LHO doubles me I will try to base my decision on his tempo.

[jjbrr]

gwnn, on Jun 22 2010, 01:06 PM, said:

This is truly 24-bit insanity. 4S, if LHO doubles me I will try to base my decision on his tempo.

lol

[gnasher]

Pass. I think that any action is awful with such bad spots and good defence.

If I did act, I'd double. I think that shows a two-suiter with spades - as a passed hand you can't conceivably have a three-suiter that wants to act at this level.

[gwnn]

Oh that's an interesting idea.

[whereagles]

...though a bit debateable. Still, you can pull 5♣ to 5♦ to show this kind of hand.

[pooltuna]

gnasher, on Jun 22 2010, 02:12 PM, said:

Pass. I think that any action is awful with such bad spots and good defence.

If I did act, I'd double. I think that shows a two-suiter with spades - as a passed hand you can't conceivably have a three-suiter that wants to act at this level.

since you hadn't preempted already I suspect that bidding 4♠ might show a 2 suiter for the same reason. IMO double is to express an opinion that the opponents had made a mistake in the selection of their trump suit.

[Cyberyeti]

I think even I pass here if you told me I wasn't allowed to open the hand which I'd have done as a matter of routine.

[gnasher]

pooltuna, on Jun 22 2010, 09:11 PM, said:

since you hadn't preempted already I suspect that bidding 4♠ might show a 2 suiter for the same reason.

Yes, I'm sure it would. How would thet get us to 4♥x if that happened to be the right contract?

[MarkDean]

gnasher, on Jun 22 2010, 12:12 PM, said:

Pass. I think that any action is awful with such bad spots and good defence.

If I did act, I'd double. I think that shows a two-suiter with spades - as a passed hand you can't conceivably have a three-suiter that wants to act at this level.

In a swiss event a few weeks ago, all red, I was dealt a hand like:

Kxxx
void
Txxx
AQxxx

I passed in second seat and doubled the 3H opening on my left when it came around to me. At the other table, LHO opened 4H and the people I was discussing it with agreed they would double with this hand as well. Would you open it or go quietly?

[655321]

Double.

I kind of like 4♠ too, we are a passed hand and didn't open some number of spades at w/r, so partner can be pretty sure we have 5 bad spades. Still, 4♠ is pretty committal.

If we had opened 1♠ we would really have to pass 4♥ now, so the auction might have turned out OK.

(And double 4♥ with MarkDean's hand obv, so I suppose I don't agree with gnasher that 3 suited hands are not possible)

[gnasher]

OK, "can't conceivably" was an overstatement (though personally I wouldn't act on Mark's hand). Still, given that any hand I might have for a double is going to be a stretch, when I do it I'd prefer to be looking at two likely trump suits rather than none or one.

[hanp]

When I was given this hand I chose double, but I thought it was a difficult choice between pass, double and 4S. I think red against white are the worst colors for doubling, LHO is quite likely to have opened 4H in third seat on a good hand.

It didn't occur to me that double would show a 2-suiter, I would certainly double on Mark's 4-0-5-4 hand and I think that hand is more typical.

[hanp]

gnasher, on Jun 23 2010, 02:39 AM, said:

Still, given that any hand I might have for a double is going to be a stretch, when I do it I'd prefer to be looking at two likely trump suits rather than none or one.

I don't see doubling on a maximal passed hand with perfect distribution as a stretch.

And I'd rather double with a 3-suiter.

I agree I wouldn't double on a 1-suiter or a none-suiter, but then, nobody would.