[mike777]

Pairs, both NV

(1nt)=p=p=?

1nt=11-14

Your hand is: Qxx...AQJ...QTx...KT98

You are playing cappelletti in this situation

Your call?

[Tramticket]

Wtp pass.

You have a (very) balanced hand. No trumps is the right strain. I want a queen more to double.

[nige1]

mike777, on 2016-January-20, 13:32, said:

Pairs, both NV. Your hand is: ♠ Q x x ♥ A Q J ♦ QTx ♣ KT98
(1nt)=p=p=?
1nt=11-14. You are playing cappelletti in this situation. Your call?

I rank

• Double = Penalty. A reasonable gamble, provided that this hand satisfies partner's expectations. Your side is likely to hold the balance of the points. You have excellent intermediates. Of course, declarer may make 1NX, but If a non-vulnerable opponent makes 1N, undoubled, at pairs, he usually earns a good match-point score, anyway. If he goes down, you may need to double to convert 50/100 into 100 /300 in case other pairs, your way, play 1N and make 90 /120.
• Pass = Discretion may be the better part of valour. Your high-card quality is bad. Declarer's honours lie over yours.

[sfi]

Double. The opponents don't get to open and play 1NT at pairs at this vulnerability. It's pretty much that simple.

[Phil]

I'd double. We might set them, chase them out of 1N or we might get to a playable spot.

Against that we might be in trouble when responder has a max but I'm not sitting on my hands and get 50 a trick.

[Zelandakh]

That opps feel the need to double in on these hands is one reason I generally like the weak NT, at least when NV. Not only is it initially preemptive, we also get a chance to find our fits through the runout structure. That seems easily to be worth the known disadvantages in other (mostly 1♣) auctions. At IMPs this would, as in the first reply, be a wtp pass; MPs makes this more difficult and the best call here might well depend on how highly we estimate the opps. I reckon double is only right when we are close to the same strength as them - if we are much better or much worse I am more inclined towards passing.

[foobar]

Pass for me, too flat and only 14.

[SteveMoe]

When playing penalty doubles of 1NT, doubling in the balancing seat should be takeout. You values sit under opener's and it is more important to land in a 7+ card fit at the 2-level than let them play 1NT. DOUBLE.

[mcphee]

One problem playing Capp in the pass out seat is dble being penalty, its not so practical, Even a 17 or 18 count has far less value when the other strong hand is over them. Penalty means they are going down and does not invite partner to pull.

Fortunately this is a pairs event and I am supposed to make the odd bad bid, no excuse me, EXPECTED to make the odd poor bid and I pull a red card, in tempo and hope.

[Zelandakh]

mcphee, on 2016-January-22, 02:06, said:

Penalty means they are going down and does not invite partner to pull.

Does it? This is not how most pairs play a penalty double of 1NT in my experience.

[ahydra]

I can get behind a double here if it's in line with partnership style.

ahydra

[gszes]

lets approach this from another perspective. Let's say you had this hand 1st chair 15-17. You are normally quite happy to open 1N dealing with the averages that the remaining HCP are split around 8 apiece among the other 3 players. Would you be equally happy to open 1n if you knew lho started with 11-14 balanced instead of the expected 8? That's what I thought:)

PASS and be thankful lho has warned you about the danger to your hand. You can support whatever p decides to lead and a pass here may very easily be the only way to achieve a positive score on this hand.

[mycroft]

Odd, I want to double, too, especially if we play CAPP in direct seat as well. The thing is, in direct seat, I don't double. Yeah, I'm "over the NTer", but I'm under dummy. Now that dummy's said they're limited to <INV, it's more likely that partner has something they couldn't bid directly (or just "something") and we're not playing "whenever I get in I'm endplayed" (which works over or under the opener, frankly).

But if you direct-seat-action with these kinds of hands (and 10-high and- 6-card suits), then I'm less inclined to balance in.

I love playing the weak NT because these hands (for an opponent) are deadly and frequent. If you double, oops, my partner has the rest, redoubles for blood, and we get a great score. If you pass, oops, we're scoring up -50-a-trick into your game. If you're right to double, our rescue system gets us to a reasonable spot, most of the time. If you're right to pass, we're still getting +120 or +150 in hands where nobody else is bidding game either (and that overtrick may come from a low-information opening lead). You just have to guess, and you will guess wrong sometimes, there's nothing you can do.

[MrAce]

DOUBLE!