[Cthulhu D]

Scoring is butler IMPs. Should east double instead of bidding directly? Should west have pulled 4H? The field mostly found 5D, but I'm not sure how.

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E/W are a regular partnership, but we are both very inexperienced. System is 2/1 GF. I was sitting west, and am still not sure what the best thing to do is, and what should the meanings of 4H vs Double be here?

[ArtK78]

Double is negative. Almost certainly has 4 or more hearts and some values (perhaps not enough to force to game, but must be very close).

4♥ is natural, and is very wide ranging. A hand that believes the partnership's best chance for a good score is in 4♥.

I can't fault the auction, even if 3NT or 3♠x is better than 4♥. 4♥ is certainly a reasonable spot, and can be made. 5♦ is no bargain.

[helene_t]

dbl just shows values and a hand that can handle any rebid by opener, including pass. It does not promise hearts although there is some negative inference that it will have something in hearts and/or clubs. Opener should rebid 4♥ only with unbalanced hands, offering 5♦ as an alternative in case doubler does not have four hearts.

I would double with the east hand but I don't think 4♥ is crazy.

[jmcw]

Very clear X IMO.

4♥ is way too unilateral with this hand, (I think you need a 6th ♥). X is negative and caters to a possible pass and 3NT, both of which I would be content to play.

If partner rebids ♦ or ♣ after the X, I would try 4♥ and go from there.

[neilkaz]

Sitting west you have a trivial easy pass of pard's 4♥ as I'd expect him to have 6 of them at least. I prefer a neg X with pard's hand.

[S2000magic]

Although a lot of responders have said that a double by East is negative, this is a really a matter of partnership agreement; some partnerships play negative doubles through only 2♠, others through 3♥, still others through 3♠.

Assuming your double here is negative - that's how I would play it - I agree that a double is better than 4♥, the latter being more appropriate with a (good) 6-card suit (telling partner that you really don't need his cooperation to determine the trump suit).

Over a double, I'd expect West to bid 3NT (he'll credit East with control of hearts and clubs) though I wouldn't expect him to be elated with it until he saw the ♥ K Q J 9 3 and the ♦ K 8 come down in dummy.

To answer the question in your subtitle, you bid when you don't really need partner's help to determine the best trump suit, and double when you would like partner's cooperation in deciding which suit should be trumps. The dividing line will vary with the level at which you have to bid: at the 2-level you might bid a fair 5-card heart suit, at the 3-level you'll want at least a good 5-carder or a fair 6-carder, and at the 4-level you'd better have a good 6-card or fair 7-card suit.

[flametree]

S2000magic, on 2012-January-05, 13:18, said:

Although a lot of responders have said that a double by East is negative, this is a really a matter of partnership agreement; some partnerships play negative doubles through only 2♠, others through 3♥, still others through 3♠.

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To answer the question in your subtitle, you bid when you don't really need partner's help to determine the best trump suit, and double when you would like partner's cooperation in deciding which suit should be trumps. The dividing line will vary with the level at which you have to bid: at the 2-level you might bid a fair 5-card heart suit, at the 3-level you'll want at least a good 5-carder or a fair 6-carder, and at the 4-level you'd better have a good 6-card or fair 7-card suit.

Agree with all the above. If playing in a regular partnership, you should a) be very clear about the cut-off point, and b) consider raising the level of takeout doubles to at least 3S. I'd recommend going up to 4H myself. You do then need to think about when doubles might not be take-out, of course...

East needs a good reason to bid beyond 3NT. A take-out double here is best as it's the only bid which keeps 3NT in the picture and that may well be our best spot.

[the hog]

Well 4H is very poor. Double is the bid here, showing H & C.

[frank0]

4♥ if I play penalty double, double if I play takeout(negative) double.