[32519]

Dealer = South, N/S Vulnerable

As the dealer your pick up this hand:
♠ Void
♥ 7
♦ KQ1082
♣ KJ87653

You have zero defence against the majors. So how do you suggest that the bidding should proceed?

[ahydra]

open 4NT if I have it available, else pass.

ahydra

[gszes]

The vul sign is not designed to get you to charge like a bull. It is designed
tio warn you that bidding can rapidly become dangerous to the health of
your partnership. It is very difficult to find a successful vulnerable sacrifice.

This means any high level bid you make to show these minors has a superb
chance of backfiring and this does not even address the issue of the huge
difference btn the 7 card club suit and 5 card dia suit.

Since looking for a vul sacrifice is a poor idea you are best off waiting to see if
there is any way your side has the power to successfully compete. It is very
unlikely the hand will be passed out and you may still find your hand is quite
useful if p is strong enough.

PASS

[32519]

WOW! That’s advice from opposite ends of the scale. At favourable vulnerability or both white, I like the idea of opening the bidding with 4NT. However if partner has a preference for the 5-card suit, I think he should at least be given a playable suit e.g. 3 of the top 5 honours. This hand meets that requirement, so maybe I will choose opening 4NT with this one anyway despite the vulnerability next time I am dealt something similar.

The hand records distributed at the end of the tournament indicated the opponents could make either 6♠ or 5♥. No one actually bid the slam. The opening side could make 5♣ on the actual hand layout.

Thanks for your ideas.

[rhm]

gszes, on 2012-September-16, 05:10, said:

The vul sign is not designed to get you to charge like a bull. It is designed
tio warn you that bidding can rapidly become dangerous to the health of
your partnership. It is very difficult to find a successful vulnerable sacrifice.

This means any high level bid you make to show these minors has a superb
chance of backfiring and this does not even address the issue of the huge
difference btn the 7 card club suit and 5 card dia suit.

Since looking for a vul sacrifice is a poor idea you are best off waiting to see if
there is any way your side has the power to successfully compete. It is very
unlikely the hand will be passed out and you may still find your hand is quite
useful if p is strong enough.

PASS

So what does a vulnerable preempt red versus white look like?
I refuse to pass with this hand, though your critic of 4NT is justified.
I would simply preempt in clubs.
3 ♣ looks right to me and partner will know I have 7 tricks (at least) in my own hand.

Rainer Herrmann

[ahydra]

The thing I don't like about 3C is the crappy suit and teh fact we could well belong in diamonds. I'd rather pass and back in later with UNT than open 3C. If it was 7-4 then I would understand a pre-empt in clubs.

ahydra

[PhilKing]

My initial reaction was to open 4♣, which shows a pretty good hand at these colours - partner will usually raise when we can make game.

The way I see it, I am never going to be happy if I pass until I have done quite a lot of susequent bidding, so I will do it now and hope to give someone else (hopefully the opposition) the problem.

I ran a simulation on playbridge.com, and 5♣ is reasonable at other colours, but produced far too many bad results.

Over 4♣, when we ran in to a nighmare scenario, they were sometimes dealt a 4M overcall on hands that would double if we opened five. And overcalling 4M sometimes got them in to trouble.

Having said that, pass came out as the best option (as long as you don't play Drury and fit jumps), although that may be tainted by me crediting them with consistently rational decisions over the preemptive openings.

The problem with 4♣ wasn't that it could be right to play in diamonds (it virtually never was), it's just that the deals were very freaky, and by going slow we could judge thing pretty well.