Posted 2014-May-06, 09:48
I think leaping michaels is ok with this hand, if only because there are no better alternatives.
The hand is too strong, in playing strength, to make a simple overcall of 2♠.
A jump overcall of 3♠ is ok on suit length and, just, quality, and is fine on overall hand strength but ignores the club suit and it is easy to construct a hand on which 7♣ is great and 6♠ has no play.
4♠ is too distorted, worse than 3♠
Double then spades is ok on suit and hand strength, but loses clubs almost as often as a direct 3♠ while risking a pass, which might work out but the odds are against it.
4♦ is a matter of agreement. Clearly here partner intended it as natural, and you have a clue, in your hand, that that was what was intended.
I have no explanation for 4N. If 4♦ was intended as forcing, then 4N is keycard, I think.
I strongly suspect that your partner ought to have been passing 4♠
The fact that leaping michaels led to a bad result (and from the sounds of it, would have led to a poor result even had partner passed 4♠) is not a reason to avoid the convention.
As for the relative suit disparity, yes we'd all prefer the 6 card suit to be the minor, but even when it is not we need to consider whether emphasizing the major is a good idea, and here I would say it isn't, for the reasons I set out earlier.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari