[Siegmund]

You have an uninspiring collection in fourth seat, vul vs not:

♠Axxx
♥9xxx
♦x
♣Qxxx

On the first round, you respond to partner's takeout double like a good little boy.

On the second round, LHO rebids 1NT, ostensibly 18-19, and partner doubles again.

Do you leave the double in, or bid your second suit?

How much weaker or stronger would you have to be before you would change your mind?

Is clubs a biddable suit for our side in this auction?

[helene_t]

Partner should have significant extras so rho is broke. I pass. Taking p for 16 points I need about four to be happy to pass it. It obviously also depends on my clubs. Without the queen I wouldn't be happy to pass

[Zelandakh]

Similar to helene except I think Doubler has more than 16 - a big balanced hand would seem to be normal. In light of that it seems completely logical for us to be able to get out in 2♣ if we hold, for example, some 3235 trash. By the same logic we should be passing with most hands without a 5 card suit as there is no certainty of any fit.

Finally, at the risk of thread-jacking (so if you answer this please focus on the OP first) I am going to submit a corrolary question to the audience. What would you expect Advancer to have if the auction had instead been (1♣) - X - (P) - 1♠; (1NT) - P - (P) - X?

[ahydra]

2nd double is essentially penalties - lots of values, and he's sitting over the 1NT so I'm confident we can get this off. I expect the points to be something like 17-16-1-6 round the table.

Quote

What would you expect Advancer to have if the auction had instead been (1♣) - X - (P) - 1♠; (1NT) - P - (P) - X?

Values again - say 8+.

ahydra

[Zelandakh]

ahydra, on 2014-May-28, 04:41, said:

Values again - say 8+.

But general values for you - says nothing about club length for example?

[whereagles]

If pard can be trusted, this is a pass. Pard probably has diamonds locked and I stop the clubs.

If pard is nuts, I'll just pull to 2♥ and stay out of trouble.

[wank]

i would expect partner to have at least 18 which makes this a suspicious deck. which suit did lho open? my guess would be lho has a fairly solid suit somewhere. if he opened a heart it all makes sense so i would pull the double. most likely pulling it to 2 of lho's suit - we can have a game on here. -380 instead of +650 would be sub-optimal imo.

ah i see in the sub-title lho opened a club. well i pass then. i have those stopped. maybe partner has the solid suit. if lho has opened 1c on 7 solid diamonds, well done him.

[gszes]

I guess its time for the minority report---

I am somewhat surprised that so many have opted to leave the 1n in at these
colors. I agree it might be right but there are some strikes against it

1. partner did not like spades which means we can probably expect a dia lead
which will not be to our advantage.

2. P being short (relatively) in spades increases the likelihood of a heart fit

3. lho probably isn't stone cold nuts entering a 1n bid at these colors and there
is a reasonably strong chance the most we will set them is for 300.

4. are we really sure we do not want to invite game. The increased chances of a
heart fit with plenty of entries to our hand to lead through lho makes me wonder.

5. Imagine p with a hand like Qxx AQxx AQTxx x this somewhat lowly combination
might still produce a heart game and we have to admit we expect p to be at least
a Q better or void (4h looking even better) in clubs for the 2nd x.

6. If we are slated for only a part score than paying 3h making 3 is no big loss
and can be quite a gain against 1N x.

ANYWAY to complete my report IMHO the right way to go under these conditions is

3h

[wank]

gszes, on 2014-May-28, 11:52, said:

5. Imagine p with a hand like Qxx AQxx AQTxx x this somewhat lowly combination
might still produce a heart game and we have to admit we expect p to be at least
a Q better or void (4h looking even better) in clubs for the 2nd x.

i expect we would have been told if partner had never played bridge before.

[MrAce]

wank, on 2014-May-29, 17:55, said:

i expect we would have been told if partner had never played bridge before.