Brian Davies
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Thanks Brian. I haven’t played five-card majors much, but wouldn’t you respond 2♣ with the West hand – even in a five-card major system? (Jacoby 2NT usually promises four-card support I believe). Opener will surely raise clubs and Responder will have the same choice with the same knowledge in either system.
Thanks David. I wish that I could say that our partnership has discussed it, but I have to admit that we haven’t – yet!
The Fishing Club is a great name! I love the idea of playing conventions because you like the name – we used to play SWINE for that reason alone! 🙂
One of the reasons for not protecting is if you have length in the opponents’ suit. You know that partner is short in hearts, must have some values, but didn’t compete. It is likely that partner’s longest suit is clubs and the hand is a misfit. With only 4 HCPs, it might be a rare hand where it is best to pass and let them play at the two level, unless you know your opponent’s and judge that they will compete to 3H.
If I did bid, I would choose 2S.
In the absence of Check-back, the standard Acol approach is for responder to jump to 3♥, which is played as forcing and offering a choice of game between 3NT and 4♥. The 3♥ bid will usually show exactly five hearts, but Bernard gave a pair of hands with six hearts in Monday’s live presentation:
and
Personally, I think it unusual to bid 3♥ with a six-card suit, but it works well here because partner chooses to bid 4♥ on the first hand and 3NT on the second because the first hand has plenty of aces whereas the second has more queens, jacks and tens. Jack should similarly follow Bernard’s logic, with South bidding 3♥ offering a choice of games and if you trust this logic, North should choose the 4♥ contract despite the doubleton because North holds three aces and a king and has no queens or jacks.
I suspect that Jack leapt directly to 4♥ because it is not programmed to understand 3♥ as offering a choice of game. Note that the choice of game interpretation would not be usual in North America, because a strong NT dominates and some form of Check-back is normal (e.g. NMF / Two-way Check-back).
It really is a very strange 4H bid – whether it is after a 1NT or 2NT rebid. Although the North hand only has doubleton support for hearts, it is surprising suitable because it turns up with three aces (aces tend to be worth more in suit contracts than no trumps). On this occasion the aces ensure that declarer can win the first trick and draw trumps before running the clubs and will not be vulnerable to a forcing defence even if trumps are 4-2.
I am rather surprised that Jack leapt to game on a nine-count and didn’t investigate alternative contracts. Does it use Checkback or similar methods?
In my main partnership we play that 1C-(Pass)-1H-(Pass)-1NT will promise at least two hearts. But we would bid 1C-(Pass)-1H-(Dbl)-1NT with a singleton heart if we had good stops in spades and diamonds.
The 3-3 heart break helped them – which had to be unlikely after your double.
But the 3-3 heart break also means that 6C can’t be beaten!
Stephen, you have to remember that you are entitled to borrow a king in fourth seat and your partner will bid in the expectation that you have borrowed a king. It will depend upon your over-calling style, but for me, you might have a shapely six-count for the 1D bid. It simply can’t work to make the same bid with a thee-loser, 6-6, hand with 16 HCPs.
You must start with a strong bid – double in this case – then bid one of your suits (you are so strong that you might double, then cue bid).
Now let’s consider which suit to bid. Yes, you can reverse as an over-caller, but this is a bad strategy because (a) your first suit should be longer than your second suit to reverse (if you were opening you should open 1S); (b) the opponent’s might raise and you might be showing the second suit at an uncomfortably high level – better to show your major straight away.
Are you sure that the nine others weren’t playing a strong no trump? Upgrading and downgrading is good bridge, but few do it.
The East bid would not be my taste. Some do sometimes open a weak two with a 5-card suit. But this is a 5332 balanced hand with a poor suit and plenty outside. Your double was fine. The raise on a singleton is bizarre – particularly if he knows his partner’s weak two style.
The second double is usually played as a responsive double, but your partner must have thought that it was penalties. I would not expect it to be penalties unless specifically agreed by the partnership – which I would not recommend. Your partner should pass and allow you to double again and now they can pass for penalties.
But given the responsive double, your 3NT looks fine.
That’s interesting David. I have only discussed of 1♣-(1♦)-Dbl to show four spades and I have not personally played this method, but it was recommended by a player that I respect. I can certainly see the logic in your amendment.
Presumably under your method 1♣-(1♦)-Dbl shows four hearts and might or might not have four spades?
Thanks Bernard. As I said above, this is a new idea to me, which I had never considered. I will discuss it with my main partner next time we have a systems discussion.
