[crapdown4]

Sectional tourney, not vul vs. not vul. In third seat, you pick up:

_, x, x, KQJxxxxxxxx

As you contemplate how many clubs you are going to bid, your partner opens: 2S

BLAUUUUUUUGH

Your RHO doubles. Your first thought is, Jesus Christ, they probably have a slam. I don't expect more than one defensive trick from my partner, and I have no defense at all. Should I bid five clubs? Ten clubs? Fifteen? Jump to four diamonds? Hide under the table?

I decided to PASS. I expected my LHO to go slightly bananas no matter what---and I thought that if I preempted over my pard's preempt, I might provoke them. So my LHO bid 3H, pard passed and RHO bid 4H. It still didn't seem like I should open my mouth. LHO passed, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Pard led the spade K, and dummy came down with Axx in spades and a pretty good hand. Declarer put up the Ace and I ruffed it out. Declarer ruffed my club return, but pard got in with the Kx of hearts and cashed two spades. Down one. Pard had KQJxxx, Kx, xxxx, x.

The goofy part was that at most other tables, when my hand bid, it wound up being on lead. The club lead was won by declarer (A vs. void), but when he lost a heart finesse to my partner's hand, it was too late to give me a ruff. Also, if I had ever bought the hand, I was off all three Aces, so 5C= down one.

So the upshot was that we got a complete top for being the only pair with a plus score. Other pairs either saw hearts making five or six or some amount of clubs down one or two. Other players asked me, "What did you do on Board 19?" When I answered "I passed throughout, and we beat 4H one trick," they looked at me like I had lost my mind.

I'm not saying what I did was right or wrong, and I'm sure that somewhere out there is Dinkle Finklestein's "How to Bid Eleven-card Suits," which I haven't read, and never will.

[FelicityR]

The only problem with not bidding is that it allows them space to explore the slam. Think I would bid 5♣ all the time here. It'll be interesting to see the whole hand and evaluate whether your opponents bid it correctly. Just because you got a good result by your (in)action doesn't necessarily mean that your (in)action was right. (My apologies for sounding negative here but are you able to provide the whole hand?)

[mythdoc]

It sounds like one of two things happened. Either RHO doubled at your table, instead of bidding 3H like at other tables, and that is why you got a top. Or, more likely, the bidding at other tables went 2S-X-5C-X-P-5H putting your seat on lead where there is no chance to set the contract. Either way, I agree with Felicity what your better choice was, even though passing worked better this time.

[Cyberyeti]

Reminds me of a much bigger hand I held, void, Ax, x, 10 solid. I passed, and it went 4♠-P-P so I bid 6♣ which duly made when partner turned up with ♥K. We lost IMPs when team mates doubled it at the other table.

[crapdown4]

FelicityR, on 2020-August-15, 04:21, said:

The only problem with not bidding is that it allows them space to explore the slam. Think I would bid 5♣ all the time here. It'll be interesting to see the whole hand and evaluate whether your opponents bid it correctly. Just because you got a good result by your (in)action doesn't necessarily mean that your (in)action was right. (My apologies for sounding negative here but are you able to provide the whole hand?)

If you will carefully read the last sentence of my post, I'm not saying that what I did was right or wrong, nor am I seeking approval.

I don't remember enough of the whole hand to accurately provide it. My RHO had 3-5-4-1 shape, with the spade and club Aces. The "normal" result in all sections was 5H, making if RHO declared it and down 1 or 2 if LHO declared it (because a spade lead murders it, but if my hand was on lead, a club lead does nothing).

[Zelandakh]

crapdown4, on 2020-August-14, 18:25, said:

I'm not saying what I did was right or wrong, and I'm sure that somewhere out there is Dinkle Finklestein's "How to Bid Eleven-card Suits," which I haven't read, and never will.

Perhaps you were looking for a story in your bidding. I checked your record and see some patterns:-
Hand 1
Hand 2
Hand 3
Hand 4
Hand 5
Hand 6
Hand 7
and here and here are some related bonus hands where you broke the laws of the game.

So yes, I am sure you have plenty of stories to tell. Perhaps the more general results would not be to the taste of most players though.

[crapdown4]

Zelandakh, on 2020-August-16, 18:42, said:

Perhaps you were looking for a story in your bidding. I checked your record and see some patterns:-
Hand 1
Hand 2
Hand 3
Hand 4
Hand 5
Hand 6
Hand 7
and here and here are some related bonus hands where you broke the laws of the game.

So yes, I am sure you have plenty of stories to tell. Perhaps the more general results would not be to the taste of most players though.

It's kind of creepy that I have my own personal stalker. Clearly, you have far too much time on your hands.