How should you bid this hand?

[bhmwe...@gmail.com]

During a training session I encountered the following hand:

AKJxx
JT98xx
Kx
-

Partner passed, RHO opened 1H (4+)

Should you bid 1S or do you pass?

I decided to pass, Whereupon LHO passed, and partner called 1 NT, which had shown 11-13 had he not passed before.

What now?

You play transfer in this situation, but a transfer with 2D denotes 4 spades and 5+ clubs.

[Co Wiersma]

Op 10-6-2013 12:25, bhmwe...@gmail.com schreef:

What else can you do than transfer to spades?
Clearly the likely best contract is 2H, but I cannot reach it and it
seems you cannot either.

Co Wiersma

[Adam Beneschan]

On Monday, June 10, 2013 3:25:43 AM UTC-7, bhmwe...@gmail.com wrote:
> During a training session I encountered the following hand:
>
> AKJxx
> JT98xx
> Kx
> -
>
> Partner passed, RHO opened 1H (4+)
>
> Should you bid 1S or do you pass?

1S. You have everything you need to overcall--good suit, enough overall strength. The only reason not to bid 1S is because you think you might be able to play in 1Hx. The bridge term for this sort of strategy is "dreaming".

-- Adam

[jonathan23]

On Monday, June 10, 2013 6:25:43 AM UTC-4, bhmwe...@gmail.com wrote:
> During a training session I encountered the following hand:
>
>
> AKJxx
> JT98xx
> Kx
> -
>
> Partner passed, RHO opened 1H (4+)
>
> Should you bid 1S or do you pass?
>

I bid 1S. There is nothing in this hand that will make it easier to bid if I wait (For what? They won't be playing in hearts).

At this juncture it doesn't make so much difference to me, but what is the scoring and vulnerability?

>
> I decided to pass, Whereupon LHO passed, and partner called 1 NT, which had
> shown 11-13 had he not passed before.
>
> What now?
>

This has now become an alien-context problem for me, since I wouldn't have passed the first time. I don't relish 1NT so I guess I would just get into 2S however you can and try to play there, hoping it's not a bad score (now the scoring and vulnerability might matter more). If you have to have partner declare, I think having to put my hand on the table after the opening lead is likely to make the heart position patently obvious to the defence.

>
>
> You play transfer in this situation, but a transfer with 2D denotes 4 spades
> and 5+ clubs.

What denotes five spades, "to play"?

--
- Jon Campbell
Ottawa Canada

[Lorne]

I ran a DD test with west opening 1H in a weak NT, 4 card major
structure, North fixed, and south having a balanced 11 count with 2+
hearts and 2+points in the heart suit, max 3 spades. It suggests you
want to play in 4H !

hearts:
10+ tricks, 506 hands
9 tricks, 368 times
8 tricks 114 times (12 <8)

spades
10+ tricks, 364 hands
9 tricks, 359 times
8 tricks 226 times (51 <8)

I think many of the hands would double with 4 spades but if I allow the
hand to hold 4 spades the spade game contracts improve to just under 50%
so the real position is probably between 36% and 45% for spade games.

I doubt if many of us can invite in hearts so the best practical option
is not clear. Inviting in spades will go off in 3S quite often but
playing 2S also misses a lot of games if you the the 1N bid will often
include 4 spades.

[Travis Crump]

I must say I am suspicious that 1N is for the minors. What were
partner's options in first seat? Did either partner consider this
possibility?

[dake50]

Good evidence for 4cM openers, isn't it?

[Steve Willner]

On 2013-06-10 6:25 AM, bhmwe...@gmail.com wrote:
> AKJxx JT98xx Kx -
>
> Partner passed, RHO opened 1H (4+)

Like everyone else, 1S seems completely obvious to me. How will you
ever describe this hand if you don't get started?

> I decided to pass, Whereupon LHO passed, and partner called 1 NT,
> which had shown 11-13 had he not passed before.

So now it shows what? 10-11 balanced? Looks like game should be good
if partner supports spades, maybe less than a favorite if he doesn't.
(Lorne's simulation bears this out, though I hadn't seen it when I
formed my opinion. The simulation suggests I'm a bit over-optimistic.)

I wouldn't expect partner's 1NT to guarantee a heart honor, but you
might have a different approach. In that case, you might consider 4D,
which should still be a transfer if you normally play them here.

> You play transfer in this situation, but a transfer with 2D denotes 4
> spades and 5+ clubs.

If 2H is a transfer to spades, then 2H followed by 2NT looks right. If
partner corrects to 3S, I'm bidding four. If hearts is the right suit,
too bad, but maybe our NT contract will come home.

If 2H isn't a transfer to spades, you need to tell us more about your
methods.

--
Help keep our newsgroup healthy; please don't feed the trolls.
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 swil...@nhcc.net
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

[bhmwe...@gmail.com]

Den måndagen den 10:e juni 2013 kl. 16:17:06 UTC+2 skrev Co Wiersma:
> Op 10-6-2013 12:25, bhmwe...@gmail.com schreef:
>
> > During a training session I encountered the following hand:
>
> >
>
> > AKJxx
>
> > JT98xx
>
> > Kx
>
> > -
>
> >
>
> > Partner passed, RHO opened 1H (4+)
>
> >
>
> > Should you bid 1S or do you pass?
>
> >
>
> > I decided to pass, Whereupon LHO passed, and partner called 1 NT, which had shown 11-13 had he not passed before.
>
> >
>
> > What now?
>
> >
>
> > You play transfer in this situation, but a transfer with 2D denotes 4 spades and 5+ clubs.
>
> >
>
>
>
> What else can you do than transfer to spades?

And when partner bids 2S, then what?
2N? 3N? 4S? 4H?

[bhmwe...@gmail.com]

There is another reason:

Suppose you pass, LHO passes as well, partner doubles.
RHO pass. You pass.
LHO now runs to some minor -
when you bid 2S your partner KNOWS that you have a stack of hearts, and may actually correct to a heart contract with something like Qx.

If you bid 1S it is completely impossible for partner to understand that you actually have a longer heart suit.

[bhmwe...@gmail.com]

Den måndagen den 10:e juni 2013 kl. 17:38:58 UTC+2 skrev jonathan23:
> I bid 1S. There is nothing in this hand that will make it easier to bid if I wait (For what? They won't be playing in hearts).

It will make it easier for us to play in hearts if we pass!

> This has now become an alien-context problem for me, since I wouldn't have passed the first time. I don't relish 1NT so I guess I would just get into 2S however you can and try to play there, hoping it's not a bad score (now the scoring and vulnerability might matter more).

And why not 4S?

> > You play transfer in this situation, but a transfer with 2D denotes 4 spades
>
> > and 5+ clubs.
>
>
>
> What denotes five spades, "to play"?

2H.

I did bid 2H, and when partner bid 2S I continued with 3N, wanting to play 4S if partner has three spades, which he is likely to have as he probably only has 2 hearts.


But another method was suggested:
Bidding 2C (Stayman), and after partners 2D bidding 4H.

As I do not transfer with 2H but instead asks majors, I can't intend this as a transfer. As I passd on 1H and then bid game, the bid must be based on a long heart suit.

Perhaps even better is bidding 2H (showing 5 spades), and then 4H...

[Co Wiersma]

Op 11-6-2013 11:37, bhmwe...@gmail.com schreef:

Sorry: then I pass
And I guess them others are right about bidding 1S also.


Co Wiersma

[Co Wiersma]

Op 11-6-2013 11:40, bhmwe...@gmail.com schreef:

That is a very narrow target to aim at.
much more likely the bidding goes something like
1H - pass - 1NT- pass
pass
and now how do you tell partner about your hand?
If you pass or double, partner will likely lead a club.

Co Wiersma

[bhmwe...@gmail.com]

What about 2S?

[Eric Leong]

Assuming partner does not open all balanced 11 or 12 hcp hands, I would take the 1NT bid as natural. In which case, assuming partner has at least a heart honor with two hearts I would bid 4H to play.

Eric Leong