[pescetom]

MP.

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Please indicate your choice in the poll and add any comment to your choice here.

[shyams]

I suspect I will be in the minority but I double (for blood). Partner will bid if holding a wildly distributional hand (I hope).

Opponents could easily have cards where 10 tricks roll in. However, on balance at MPs I think the percentage action is to double.

[FelicityR]

I do not see why I should Dbl. at MPs. Trying to turn +100 into +200 is pushing things too far. If partner has any sort of hand to balance here, we're at the right vulnerability. I'm not even hesitating when passing***. West can be a lot more stronger than a normal pre-empt given that East has passed. As boring as it sounds I'm playing with the room this time around.

***Edit***(as per mikeh see below) I am always waiting the obligatory 10 seconds after a jump bid. What I perhaps mean to say is in my mind there's no hesitation that 'pass' is the bid that I would make here.

[mikeh]

FelicityR, on 2020-August-04, 23:29, said:

I do not see why I should Dbl. at MPs. Trying to turn +100 into +200 is pushing things too far. If partner has any sort of hand to balance here, we're at the right vulnerability. I'm not even hesitating when passing. West can be a lot more stronger than a normal pre-empt given that East has passed. As boring as it sounds I'm playing with the room this time around..

You should definitely ‘hesitate’ before making what I see as a very clear pass. It is important, if one wants to be seen as an ethical player, to ALWAYS pause (hesitate) for approximately 10 seconds any time the opponents make an unexpected jump. Indeed, I try to pause no matter how clear it should be that I can’t have a problem. Say I pass as dealer and the auction proceeds (1N) P (3N).

I have trouble constructing a hand on which it now makes sense for me to act, so an insta-pass won’t convey much info, but it is still correct to pause before passing. It’s a good habit to get into.

As for the choice of call, this is an obvious pass. Partner is still there, and I will pull a double to 4S.

Btw, most experienced players don’t have a penalty double available here. Double is most often played as ‘cards’ or ‘transferable values’. Double says we expect to go plus, on defence if opener has a flattish hand and on offence if he is very distributional.

[pescetom]

mikeh, on 2020-August-05, 00:10, said:

Btw, most experienced players don’t have a penalty double available here. Double is most often played as ‘cards’ or ‘transferable values’. Double says we expect to go plus, on defence if opener has a flattish hand and on offence if he is very distributional.

Thanks.
Out of curiosity, how do you see most experienced players using 4nt in this bidding situation?
Clearly not applicable to the current hand, just to complete the picture.

[mikeh]

pescetom, on 2020-August-05, 06:31, said:

Thanks.
Out of curiosity, how do you see most experienced players using 4nt in this bidding situation?
Clearly not applicable to the current hand, just to complete the picture.

In my current most serious partnership, we have an agreement that after 1x (4minor), responder’s 4N is keycard but over 1x (4M), 4N is two places to play or a very strong hand, too strong to bid, say, 4S over 4H, or 5H over 4S.

I don’t claim this is mainstream: it may be, but I am not familiar with how the top pairs play this.

[pescetom]

Thanks to those who replied so far.

Mainly I just wanted a sanity check, as N bid 4♠ which surprised me; he was lucky to find ♠AQ72 in dummy.

But the discussion that ensued here is worth more than that.