paulg, on 2011-January-24, 05:39, said:
Of course East's bid of 5♦ cannot be allowed. It would not occur to East to bid if West has passed smoothly.
I completely disagree with this. West is not bidding 2
♦ just to hear the sound of his own voice. He needs a hand good enough to expect to sometimes outbid the opponents on strength or have a sacrifice. Opposite a partner who cannot respond to one of a suit this must be a pretty good hand. For me this is a clear 5
♦. Partner's spade void is nice but they have the worst possible heart holding and the opponents also have mirrored red suits and we are still right to bid.
I don't know what East was thinking when he passed 3
♦ but he has a monster in the context of the auction and I don't think you can infer he thought his hand not worth 4
♦ when their bid is forcing. Some people just think it's clever to pass and bid later with strong hands. Since obviously there are some good players out there who consider pass of 4
♠ a logical alternative I suppose you would need a poll. But if you polled me I'd say I wouldn't seriously consider passing.