Julian Pottage
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With the hand you quote for partner, I would bid 3S. 10 ten points, including two aces and a singleton is definitely worth a bid once you have overcalled. Raising diamonds is the alternative. I would not consider passing.
Having pre-empted, the opener should not have bid 4C – but as this did happen partner had a second chance to bid. Raising diamonds would be the obvious possibility but with the two aces doubling was possible too.
Three down doubled in 4C would have given your side a good score. I do not see how the opponents scored anything other than their 7 club tricks. Presume your side had a heart ruff available but did not take it.
On your suggested limits, I am not sure I would value every long card at 3 points. Perhaps 9 points and a 7-card suit, 11 with 6-card and 13 with 5-card would be nearer to the mark – this is assuming you can bid your suit at the three level.
East has some rose tinted spectacles here – perhaps unable to find normal ones during the lockdown! With 11 HCP and poor shape as well, 2NT seems perfectly adequate.
Leading low from H-x-x in partner’s suit is entirely normal. The only time you might lead high from such a holding is if you think declarer is short and you are trying to hold the lead for finessing against dummy – obviously that is not the case here where declarer has announced heart stopper(s).
Purists say that you should not splinter with a singleton ace while pragmatists accept that sometimes there is no better alternative.
For the most part splinter bids are jumps while cue bids are not jumps so partner can discern your intention.
You are asking quite wide ranging questions here and you might want to wait until Bernard covers this in a seminar before entering into a detailed agreement with your partner.
The general rule is that you need a sound opening bid. So 11 points and a 5-card suit would not be enough.
You are assuming 7-8 points in partner’s hand. With 10-11 points partner will be raising your overcall, so your hand needs to be good enough for you to want that to happen.
The situation in fourth seat is not the same as when two passes follow a one level opening. If short in the pre-emptor’s suit, the partner of the pre-emptor could have a pretty good hand, so the inferences about how the missing strength is divided are rather different. For an overcall you need just as good a hand as you would in second seat.
Many people play that a 1NT opening is slightly stronger in 3rd seat vulnerable. If you have 12 points, game is unlikely facing a passed hand while the risk of being doubled increases. 13-15 seems a reasonable range and you do not need to change the rest of your system.
Ideally you do not to have a balanced hand for a no-trump opening, though this is less sacrosanct for 2NT openings than for 1NT openings. Hands with around 21 points are difficult to describe if you start at the one level – and you risk missing game. So yes sometimes it is right to open 2NT despite holding a singleton – but do not think you have carte blanche to do so.
The problem here stems East’s 3H bid. East has four-card club support and a heart stopper. 3H failed to convey either feature. Having said that, with four-card club support I do not see why East did not raise 4C to 5C. Fourth suit forcing at the three level ought to create a game force. Having decided to bid 3H, East should see it through and keep the bidding open.
You will get to a slam if East raises 3C to 4C – West cannot really stop after that. Indeed a grand slam is a reasonable bet because East’s clubs are good enough for ruffing two diamonds high.
All other things being equal a 4-4 fit may be better than a 5-3 fit for a couple of reasons. (i) if you have a 4-4 fit, a ruff in either hand generates an extra trick whereas if you have a 5-3 fit a ruff in the long hand does not generate an extra trick. (ii) if the opponents force you to ruff twice and the opposing trumps break 4-1, you can still draw trumps if you started with a 4-4 fit but you cannot if you have ruffed twice in the long hand with a 5-3 fit.
In real life whether the suits are majors or minors and which suit is more solid may be a factor. You do not want to have A-x-x-x facing x-x-x-x as a trump suit in a slam!
Thanks – I understand what you are asking about now.
Suppose declarer has AJx in hand facing small cards and the opening lead is the king from K-Q-10-x-x-(x). If declarer wins and the leader’s partner then gains the lead, the leader can run the suit. usually therefore declarer ducks the first round.
The Pigpen coup arises when declarer is worried about a switch and therefore does not wish to duck the first trick. The solution (which only works if the leader’s partner has a doubleton) is to drop the jack. The leader can then continue the suit without conceding a trick and so is likely to do so. The defenders do not get run to run the suit because the leader’s partner has no card left in the suit to return later.
It is usual to open your longest suit whether it is a major or a minor. If you open one of a minor and rebid in a major, partner should expect you to have four cards in the major and at least five cards n the minor (or just occasionally a hand with three four-card suits and a singleton). Some people (typically those playing Blue Club) do play a style known as canape (sorry cannot mange the acute accent) by which you do open the second suit first but here I think your partner has simply made a mistake.
If you are playing double as takeout in the situation, you need to bear in mind that partner might take out your double to 2NT or 3C, so a weakish hand with support only for the majors (as you had) is not suitable. With your hand I would bid 2S rather than 2D because then if an opponent bid 3D I could compete with 3H.
