[diana_eva]

All white, IMPs, team match

---

Spoiler

If you double planning to bid spades later, the bidding continues:

---

[Jinksy]

Urgh. 4♥ is tempting, but on a D lead I suspect we'll end up with no entry to my honours, let alone any chance of setting up the suit. 2♠ is presumably natural here. It might occasionally cost us game, but I'll try that and see if P thinks his spade void is above average.

[mgoetze]

Well, double would not have occurred to me, that's for sure. I feel I have a heart too many and TWO clubs too few for that.

What would 3♦ show?

[jogs]

Do you know anything about East? Can 1♠ be a pysche? If not, would it show 5 spades?
I'm passing this round. Think we should play in spades rather than hearts. Just don't
know how high.

[diana_eva]

I don't think 2♠ or 3♦ would have been taken as natural. Semi-random partnership where we know partner is good, but no deep agreements and no discussed way to expose psych. Opps unknown, no info on whether 1♠ showed 4, 5, or a psych.

Michael, I thought X and spades would show spades, since a direct 2♠ looked more like a cue. I don't know what treatments are common in this situation.

[sfi]

My initial thought is to angle for 4S unless I hear something to the contrary. The suit is good enough for trumps despite the expected bad break and little support. In most partnerships I would simply bid 2S and see what happens.

2D is the normal cue for heart support, so unless you have some specific agreements about the other cue here, 2S might as well be natural. If 2C is forcing, then 2S should be as well. The other option is simply to pass and bid spades strongly next round.

[diana_eva]

The way the auction went, I think we'd get out with a decent score at 2♦ doubled. But I didn't have the guts to pass, I bid 4♠ next and my partner was confused about what I'm trying to show. He pulled to 4NT which went down 5

Don't think I'll be invited to another star+++ team match anytime soon lol

[mike777]

pass

no problem yet

[Lovera]

This situation (that i can call Michael by-passed) has become once to me: i open 1♣(=AKxxxx) and opp 1♥(=AKxxx), p, p, i rebid 2 ♣, p and my partner bids 3♥(=QJxxxxx), p,p, X, XX and i became to chat if nat (because i had seen other bidding of this type) without having answere than thinking to a S.O.S. bid 4 ♣ for one down.

[mgoetze]

diana_eva, on 2015-September-18, 22:09, said:

Michael, I thought X and spades would show spades, since a direct 2♠ looked more like a cue. I don't know what treatments are common in this situation.

My metaagreement is the lower of their suits is the cuebid and the higher is natural. I think it's not uncommon but I can't say for sure.

[gszes]

I wish to add to the confusion:) It really makes no sense to treat 2s as natural - why would one opt for an 8 trick contract when one can play in a 7 suit contract (ie the opps playing 1s) especially since we will almost assuredly get another chance to bid 2s later? IMHO 2d is the normal heart raise cue (allowing a weak overcaller to exit at 2h) and 2s should be reserved for a club suit and heart raise (more distributional than a simple 2d) since it forces the overcaller to the 3 level. I would save 4s as natural (rather than exclusion though both will have highly limited utility) and 3s as asking for a spade stop for 3n (xx x QJx AKQxxxx)(though splinter might also be very useful)

With the given hand I would bash 4s which might have serious play even if rho has 6 spades. It is highly unlikely this hand belongs in 4h and the 1s bid should allow us to adopt a LOP that caters to a bad spade split.

[MrAce]

diana_eva, on 2015-September-18, 22:09, said:

I don't think 2♠ or 3♦ would have been taken as natural.

2♠ natural is pretty standard for any level above intermediate actually.

[nige1]

Diana_eva asks about this auction, All white, IMPs, team match:

I rank calls
1. Pass. And bid ♠s later.
2. 4♠. Put down hand and start entering contract on my card
3. 2♠. Cue-bid in support of ♥ -- better ♠ than ♦. But when I attain intermediate level, partner says he'll let me dabble in Mr Ace's theories.
4. 3♦. Cue but misdescriptive if you normally choose the opponents' suit in which you are stronger.

---

[helene_t]

That 2♠ is natural here may be less obvious if 1♠ showed a five card suit.

But double followed by 2♠ is more likely to be taken as artificial than a direct 2♠ is, imo. Double followed by 2♠ is a logical sequence for something like 15-16 points and long clubs. I am not saying that it "should" show that, just that p may well take it as showing that while he would hopefully take a direct 2♠ as natural.

The difference is that if we want to make a direct cuebid (heart support), we can always start with 2♦. But if we want to make a second-round cuebid (strong hands with clubs and maybe doubleton hearts), it is not great to have to bid 3♦ in second round (admittedly, they might be in 2♠ in second round in which case it doesn't matter).

FWIW I would bid 4♠.

By the way, if you are not sure how 2♠ would be taken and/or you think 2♠ is too timid while 4♠ is a bid gross and 3♠ is likely to be misunderstood, you can also pass and see what happens. Maybe you will be more informed in next round. The disadvantage of this is that probably p will take pass followed by 2♠ as weaker than 2♠ directly. Maybe pass followed by 3♠ will do the trick.