[Winstonm]

All vulnerable at imps. You hold: 4, 83, AK84, AKQ964. The auction is:

W You E Pard
2S* ?

*weak 2-bid 6-11


For consideration: This hand was given to a panel of 6 experts who had about 16 national championships to their credit as well as 2 world championships (Mildred Breed). Their answers:

3 chose 3S as a stopper ask.
3 chose 3C

All said they would never double under any circumstance. In fact, 4 of the six said they would rather pass than double! For the record, my bid is 3C, a distinct underbid, but I've found that conservative action wins in pressured auctions more than pushing to a minus score.

[Double !]

Bid 3 Spades? asking for spade stopper, implying a running suit (no guarantee on this hand) hoping P can bid 3NT & gamble out the heart suit.
3 clubs just seems like such an underbid, and hand is wrong shape for Dbl of 2S. You don't need much from partner to make 3NT and P might not be able to bid over 3Clubs (I play 4-clubs as leaping michael's) when you can bring in 9 tricks (xxx or Jx, or even J of clubs from P likely ensures 6 club tricks + 2 diamond tricks) As usual, probably wrong again...

[Fluffy]

3♠ is minor 2 suiter (or so I though on standard leaping michael's ovecalls).

3♣ to me is 16+, just what I have.

[flytoox]

3S. I think it is not unreasonable to jump to 5C here.

[luke warm]

i'd double .... if pard bid 2nt (leb), i'd bid 4♣... if he bid 3♥, i'd bid 4♣... but if he bid 3♦ i'd start cue bidding... this hand is strong enough to double and bid, and double first seems to give more options

[pclayton]

3♠ is a stopper ask for me. It doesn't come up enough so when I'm dealt a likely 8 tricks, I'll break it out.

[flytoox]

luke warm, on Jan 8 2005, 02:13 PM, said:

i'd double .... if pard bid 2nt (leb), i'd bid 4♣... if he bid 3♥, i'd bid 4♣... but if he bid 3♦ i'd start cue bidding... this hand is strong enough to double and bid, and double first seems to give more options

The only problem is that if pd leaps to 4H then you will have a headache:)

[mike777]

3S is very nice if asks for stopper, need to make sure my partners play this one from now on. 2h... 3h asks for H stopper, I like it.



Otherwise will bid 3clubs not x here.

[han]

I also play 3S as stopper ask here. If it's not available then I would bid 3C, a serious underbid with a good chance for 8 top tricks.

Fluffy, if 3C shows 16+ points, then how do you deal with lesser hands? Do you use 2NT as a relay here?

[helium]

3♣




kenneth

[HeartA]

It depends on the nature of the match. If we are losing, I would bid 3S to gamble 3N. Otherwise, I would overcall 3C. dbl is not my choice.

[the hog]

3S looking for a S stopper seems right to me. Fluffy, I play Leaping Michaels and have never played 3S for the minors here. Our responses would be:
X t/o
3C/D/H nat
3N to play
4C/D LM
4H nat
4S huge 3 suiter, unwilling to play in 2SX
4N minors

[luke warm]

flytoox, on Jan 8 2005, 09:46 AM, said:

The only problem is that if pd leaps to 4H then you will have a headache:)

true

i wonder what they do if partner has a spade stopper and bids 3nt over 3s? i'd like to see a simulation on this heheh... to see:
1) how often 3nt is down on a heart lead, and
2) how often 6d (or 6c) makes when 3nt makes also

[Double !]

My suggestion of a 3 spade bid had a triple purpose. 1) trying to communicate a certain type of hand to partner, 2) trying to first get us to a reasonable game contract (what are the implications regarding the spade suit and the hand should my lho pass over 3S versus X or 4S?), 3) should lho bid 4S over 3S and partner passes, would 4NT by me now be a reasonable description of my hand? and, if it's right, help get us to that 6 of minor contract afterall? Or help the partnership to better decide how to handle further competition from the opps? My opps seem to enjoy making things difficulty; they never shut up when I want them to!!!!

[Fluffy]

Hannie, on Jan 8 2005, 08:25 PM, said:

I also play 3S as stopper ask here. If it's not available then I would bid 3C, a serious underbid with a good chance for 8 top tricks.

Fluffy, if 3C shows 16+ points, then how do you deal with lesser hands? Do you use 2NT as a relay here?

OK I lie a bit, 16+ menas the equivalent strnght to 16 balanced, so 14 and a good 6 card suit oes the trick, with less just pass, partner will reopen with any hand that can make game.

[firechief]

I'd bid 3s asking for a stopper. If you told me ahead of time partner had a spade stopper, I would certainly want to play 3nt, so I'll try to get there.
Joel

[junyi_zhu]

Winstonm, on Jan 8 2005, 07:27 AM, said:

All vulnerable at imps. You hold: 4, 83, AK84, AKQ964. The auction is:

W You E Pard
2S* ?

*weak 2-bid 6-11


For consideration: This hand was given to a panel of 6 experts who had about 16 national championships to their credit as well as 2 world championships (Mildred Breed). Their answers:

3 chose 3S as a stopper ask.
3 chose 3C

All said they would never double under any circumstance. In fact, 4 of the six said they would rather pass than double! For the record, my bid is 3C, a distinct underbid, but I've found that conservative action wins in pressured auctions more than pushing to a minus score.

3C is the worst among these options in my opinion. Do you hope your partner would bid 3NT with SQxxx HAxx Dxxx Cxxx here? Actually you really don't mind 4H over the double because you can pull to 5C safely. This is actually not a difficult problem to me at all because double really can't do you any harm. 3S is an overbid because even if partner holds a stopper, you may not be able to cash your clubs or you opps may cash 5 or 6 hearts. So a take-out double is really the best bid for this hand.

[paulg]

I bid 3♣ and just hope it works out.

I like Pavlicek's simple methods for cue bids - Michaels at 2- & 4-level, asking for a stop at the 3-level.

p

[shanbari]

3C, i may miss game, but i would gain if we reach 6d/6c.

due to my singleton spade, 3C doesn't seem to be passed out.



shan

[han]

junyi_zhu, on Jan 10 2005, 12:48 PM, said:

Winstonm, on Jan 8 2005, 07:27 AM, said:

All vulnerable at imps.  You hold: 4, 83, AK84, AKQ964.  The auction is:

W            You        E      Pard
2S*            ?

*weak 2-bid 6-11


For consideration: This hand was given to a panel of 6 experts who had about 16 national championships to their credit as well as 2 world championships (Mildred Breed).  Their answers:

3 chose 3S as a stopper ask.
3 chose 3C

All said they would never double under any circumstance.  In fact, 4 of the six said they would rather pass than double!  For the record, my bid is 3C, a distinct underbid, but I've found that conservative action wins in pressured auctions more than pushing to a minus score.

3C is the worst among these options in my opinion. Do you hope your partner would bid 3NT with SQxxx HAxx Dxxx Cxxx here? Actually you really don't mind 4H over the double because you can pull to 5C safely. This is actually not a difficult problem to me at all because double really can't do you any harm. 3S is an overbid because even if partner holds a stopper, you may not be able to cash your clubs or you opps may cash 5 or 6 hearts. So a take-out double is really the best bid for this hand.

If you didn't sound like you are so sure that you are right, I'd say you were way off.