[Ant590]

Scoring: IMP

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You deal and open 1♥:

1♥ – (2♦) – pass – (3♦) – ?

[Ant590]

A shameless plug to try and get some responses here!

I've asked a few experts f2f and the split is roughly 70% for 4♥ and 30% for 3♥, which is almost the opposite of this anonymous poll. I'd be interested in what some of you guys and gals think.

[Echognome]

I think it's actually close given the vulnerability. I think 3♥ should show a hand that is pretty good, as far as trick taking capability goes. The difficulty is how partner should evaluate on the basis of the bid and his hand. I believe the expectation is that 3♥ would show a good 6-7 card heart suit and enough tricks not to needlessly go for a number at these colors. Do we have more than that? I think so, but I'm not all that confident that we have enough extra that we want to risk getting doubled opposite a bust from partner. Also, the 2D bidder is over me, so I think that slightly increases the odds that the ♠K isn't pulling its full weight. So I'm going to go with 3♥, but don't feel particularly strongly about it.

[Cascade]

3♥ shows a very good hand at these colours so I bid that.

There is no guarantee of a heart fit or that partner has anything useful a heart more and a diamond less before I bid 4♥

[rogerclee]

I don't think 3H shows a hand this good and we will miss game opposite a lot of normal hands if we only bid 3.

[han]

I would rather double than bid 3H.

Anybody up for opening 2C with this hand?

[jdonn]

Double is tempting in a way but I don't think it will help us. It's a tough situation since partner could pass 3 if 4 is making, or 3 could already be too high. I'll guess to bid 3. I'll say if I could reverse the majors I would probably double since I could hope partner will bid 3♥ and I can bid 3♠ over that.

[the hog]

3H. Shows what I have. 4H is an overbid.

[Cascade]

rogerclee, on Oct 22 2008, 12:04 PM, said:

I don't think 3H shows a hand this good and we will miss game opposite a lot of normal hands if we only bid 3.

We have somewhere between 7 and 9 tricks - on a bad day fewer than seven.

Vulnerable I don't think 3♥ shows a hand that is happy to give up several hundred when partner has little or nothing useful.

I expect partner to raise on a sure trick and a fit which should give me decent play for four. Even as little as stiff diamond and three hearts would consider raising.

[Echognome]

Cascade, on Oct 21 2008, 05:06 PM, said:

Vulnerable I don't think 3♥ shows a hand that is happy to give up several hundred when partner has little or nothing useful.

I expect partner to raise on a sure trick and a fit which should give me decent play for four. Even as little as stiff diamond and three hearts would consider raising.

I agree with your first part.

For the second part, partner already bid 2♥ over 2♦ with that hand. I really don't think we can hope for 3♥ (unless partner is 4333) and so I think our best hope for game is if partner has a doubleton heart and a few scattered honors outside. Something like Qxxx xx xx Qxxxx would be great for game, but partner would never raise us. Maybe Axxx xx xx JTxxx would?

[cherdano]

Cascade, on Oct 21 2008, 07:06 PM, said:

rogerclee, on Oct 22 2008, 12:04 PM, said:

I don't think 3H shows a hand this good and we will miss game opposite a lot of normal hands if we only bid 3.

We have somewhere between 7 and 9 tricks - on a bad day fewer than seven.

Vulnerable I don't think 3♥ shows a hand that is happy to give up several hundred when partner has little or nothing useful.

I expect partner to raise on a sure trick and a fit which should give me decent play for four. Even as little as stiff diamond and three hearts would consider raising.

I think you have to bid with many hands with seven hearts where you could make 9 tricks if parter has a little something. I don't think I would raise with a doubleton, an ace and a balanced hand.

[Codo]

I had a reason to open this hand 1 ♥. I thought it is not strong enough for a 2 ♣ opening. My hand did not improve during the bidding, so I still have no game forcing and bid 3 ♥.

And to raise with an ace or some other sort of tricks is quite easy. If this is not enough, my pd had no 3 ♥ bid v/nv.

[MFA]

I would bid 4. Sure it might be bad, but partner is not likely to raise 3 when it's right. 3♥ is usually a competitive move with a 7-bagger that hopes to catch at least a reasonable dummy, so we could win the partscore battle.

[Walddk]

4♥. Bidding only 3 puts too much pressure on partner. I am sure no-one expects him to raise with the two black queens and a doubleton heart.

I disagree with codo when he says that the hand did not improve. It would often be worth less if the overcall had been 1♠ raised to 2♠.

Roland

[peachy]

Vul vs. not, this is not a partscore battle when partner could have nearly nothing, so 3H shows this hand.

[Codo]

Walddk, on Oct 22 2008, 05:40 PM, said:

4♥. Bidding only 3 puts too much pressure on partner. I am sure no-one expects him to raise with the two black queens and a doubleton heart.

I disagree with codo when he says that the hand did not improve. It would often be worth less if the overcall had been 1♠ raised to 2♠.

Roland

Do you mind to explain this to me?

IMo, these things got worse:

The guy who did the strongest bidding so far is sitting behind me, so my King of spades could be less valuable. (Lets say the ace of spade is not just with 33% chance in his hand, but with 50%?)
Both opps have spoken, so the chance of partner to have a decent hand is smaller.
I have a doubleton in their suit, surely one of the worst holdings.

I agree that opponents bid 1 Spade/2 Spade had been even worse, but still....

So, in your opinion, which of this points is wrong or which points did I overlook, that improves my hand so much that my hand is better now then before?

[Walddk]

Codo, on Oct 22 2008, 11:48 AM, said:

So, in your opinion, which of this points is wrong or which points did I overlook, that improves my hand so much that my hand is better now then before?

Your hand improved slightly because LHO did not overcall 1♠ and was not raised by his partner. Everything being equal, there is a greater chance that your partner has a spade card when the opponents did not bid and raise them, compared to if they did.

Roland

[Ant590]

To throw another opinion into the mix- a local expert told me that 3♥ was standard on a hand with AKJxxxx hearts and a 13 count, and so I have to do something more with this hand. I think this is similar to what MFA said.

In actual reality I bid 3♥, all passed.

Partner had
Jxxxx
xxx
xxx
xx

Trumps were 2-2 and ♠A was onside.

[Codo]

I am still wondering about this concept:

You decided to open 1 HEart, because you don`t think this is a game forcing.

Now the opponents come to life and show that they have a fair share of the high cards and many happily jump to game.

If you say: Hey my hand is strong enough, I make game even opposite jxxxx,xxx,xxx,xx, why did you open 1 Heart and not 2 Club?

[jdonn]

Part of my reasoning was that with the overcall on my left, the ace of spades would probably not be onside if I needed it to be. Shows what I know!