[InTime]

Well. . . I am playing Walsh with my partners where we will respond 1M rather than 1♦ (minors are for children) with a 5-card diamond + 4-card major unless having a reverse type of hand. So I will respond 1♥ (showing 4 hearts & 5+ clubs), leaving the consequent bidding open. If partner happens to have an opening hand with 4-hearts and 5-diamonds and raise me to 4♥, I will not feel that uncomfortable with a 4-3 fit (probably no tolerance for clubs anyway). With a combine 28+ pts we should be in game somewhere. I feel that 1♥ is just as wrong as all the other bids, but leaves me more room and is less of a lie
However, if we do play bidding-up-the-line, I will not respond 1♥.
Being an over bidder rather than an under bidder, I will then bid 3♣.
Regards

[mtvesuvius]

jdonn, on Jan 29 2009, 10:29 PM, said:

mtvesuvius, on Jan 29 2009, 10:20 PM, said:

As for your partner's comment... 1♥ is not an option imo. 

I'm actually still not convinced 1♥ isn't the best option. Do you disagree that it will tend to work well when partner doesn't raise hearts? Do you disagree that it will at least sometimes work well when partner does raise hearts?

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of lying about suit lengths, especially in a major where we might end up playing there if I bid it. But it's no more misdescription than most of the other suggestions, is very low to leave us maximum manuvering room, and does a much better job of showing 'where we live' than any other call.

Heck I'm this close to talking myself into it.

I'm sure rebidding 1♥ will work sometimes here, but I don't think that it is ever good to lie about your suit lengths unless it's unnecessary, and there are certainly other options here. The real problem I see is when partner Jump-Raises ♥...

[Phil]

I like the comment about Walsh.

If pard never raises hearts, we are much better placed than a 2 or 3♣ rebid.

If we rebid 1♥ and pard raises to 2, this usually shows three card support and contructive-ish values. We can extract ourselves easily enough to 3N and pard won't hang us.

If pard has an opening hand with 4H+ diamonds, we might be in a little hot water but,

1. Its BAM and pard might respect our 3N decision
2. We might have slam somewhere