Julian Pottage
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Raises of partner’s suit are rarely forcing. Why do you think this should be an exception?
It sounds like you should have bid 2S – a bid of the opposing suit is definitely forcing.
You have two tricks in your hand so will need to find five in partner’s hand to take the contract three off for a penalty exceeding the value of game. If the player who overcalled 3S has a reputation as a reckless bidder then doubling is probably right but if East is a sound bidder you are less likely to get rich. A few weeks ago I had a hand with 14 points and four good hearts. The bidding went 1NT-pass-3NT-4H and I doubled expecting an 1100 penalty but the overcaller had 8 hearts and dummy had some unexpected useful cards and the penalty was only 500.
With a six-card major and a five-card major, it is usual just to overcall in the major rather than show the hand as two-suited.
Having overcalled 2H, East should have passed out 2H doubled. Bidding diamonds would raise the level whichever suit West preferred and would quite often result in playing in 3H doubled.
You have not given the vulnerability but I assume from your comment that 2H doubled minus two would also have been a bottom that only East-West were vulnerable. At equal vulnerability there could be a massive difference between down 2 doubled and down 3 doubled because down 2 doubled is less than the value of 3NT made North-South.
Sorry I did not spot your post originally. The best action on hands with 5-4 in the majors depend upon the strength of your hand.
If you have game forcing values, you can transfer into your longer major and then bid the shorter major after partner completes the major.
If you have no interest in game, you normally use Stayman, though if the five-card suit is good and the four-card suit poor you might simply transfer into the longer transfer.
If you have game invitational values with five hearts and four spades, you can transfer into hearts and then bid 2S. This is an exception to the rule that making a transfer and then bidding a news suit creates a game force.
Hands with 5 spades and 4 hearts and invitational values are the difficult ones. Some play that you use Stayman and jump to 3S over 2D. With my most regular partner I play that 1NT-2C-2D-2S is invitational, which means that 1NT-2C-2D-2H is weak with both majors but necessarily with longer hearts.
The jack is the standard lead but there is a big drop below the 10.
Leading the jack will block the suit if South has A-x and an opponent has Q-x. Leading the jack could blow a trick if West has Q-x-x-x.
Of course leading low could blow a trick if the opponents have all of the ace, queen and nine – but that is not so likely as South is marked with strength by the fact that the opponents have stopped in 1NT.
The weakness of the North hand and the poor spot cards below the ten make it a close decision whether to lead the jack or fourth best.
Yes in my usual methods 1NT-2NT is either weak with one minor or strong with both. Hands thinking of 3NT either start with 4C (if looking for a 4-4 fit in a major) or with 2S (without interest in the majors)
I should add that I agree with South’s 3C bid because South is a passed hand. If South were an unpassed hand, 3C would be an overbid.
With only 10 HCP the hand is not worth a reverse. The bid I do not understand is 3D. You have a small singleton diamond and a good six-card heart suit. I would have bid 3H not 3D.
The South hand, despite having 10 cards in the minors, happens to have two useful cards in the majors. You would never guess that.
4H only makes because the spades are 3-3. The auction you had, except with the final bid being 3H rather than 3D seems perfect.
You might have led the ten of hearts rather than the five but I do not see why your partner should have been upset. You found the right suit to lead. If you had held K J 9 5 2 rather than your actual holding, it would be perfectly normal to lead the five.
I wonder why East passed 1NT. With 13 points but poor shape West would have declined an invitation to bid 3NT but East should have made a game invitation. West has more reason to upset than North. I would expect partner to have greater faith in my dummy play!
No – the difference is that after 1 of a suit pass pass you can place responder with 5 points at most. After 1NT pass pass the opponents might have 14 points facing 10.
The slam try hands covered by 1NT-2S are those not covered by other bids; the hand generally be balanced or three suited; a 5-card major is unlikely. Someone has suggested opener bids 4-card suits upward with a maximum – but most of the time responder is looking for game rather than slam and you do not want to be giving information to the defenders. What I play is that 3C shows two 4-card suits, 3D/3H/3S show a 5-card suit and 3NT shows other maximums. If partner is a passed hand, you bid 3NT on all maximums.
Both hands have plenty of values in their short suits so I can see why many people opened 2NT on both hands. The first hand has 5 picture cards in the long suits while the second has only 3, so the first hand is more slamish than the first, though the second hand has the three aces rather than two.
I play a convention known as Blackout, so after 1C-1S-2D or 1C-1H-2D responder bids the fourth suit to show a weak hand. If you play that too, opening 1C on the second hand is relatively unlikely to result in playing 3NT from the weak hand.
I would be worried about what is coming down in dummy with the first hand if the auction went 1D all pass. There was a post a week or two back on which responder was passing opener’s 1-level opening with 5 points. You do not want to play in 1D with 22 points facing 5!
I play 2S as a range enquiry, so either a game try or a slam try. I think this is much better than playing it as purely a game try. So it is either 11-12 or 17+ (but will need some shape if 17-18).
I am not sure there really is an advantage – playing three weak twos is common on the US but not here. A weak 2D has limited pre-emptive effect because the opponents can compete in either major at the two level. If you can manage the slight complexity of Benjamin, it is better. If you play 2C as the only normal strong opening, you will be making a game force on hands that are not quite worth it.
