[jocdelevat]

Dealer: West Vul: None Scoring: IMP

♠ 65432 ♥ AK42 ♦ ♣ QJT9

West North East South

 1♣    1♦    Pass  ?  

[vuroth]

1♠, prepared to bid 2♥ over 2♦.

I think this might be a tougher question if I was weaker, and might be forced to pass a 2♦ rebid.

[mtvesuvius]

1♠, this is a matter of length before strength... I'm planning to rebid 2♥ over 2♦ and throw something at partner after he bids 3♦...

[Old York]

Pass. I expect opener to re-open, and if not 1♦ has a fair chance of taking 7 tricks. I don't think I am missing game by passing

Tony

[655321]

1♠ is completely normal.

[helene_t]

Not sure if opener will reopen, given our shortness in diamonds and length in clubs he will often have a balanced 12-14.

Anyway, pass may be last chance of avoiding a disaster. I don't think it's unreasonable. I would probably bid 1♠, though.

[Old York]

My main reason for passing is that I expect East's pass to show Diamonds, expecting to pass the re-opening double. Maybe then I can SOS re-double or bid Spades. I do expect disaster if I bid 1♠ immediaely, perhaps 1NT could work?

Tony

[mtvesuvius]

Old York, on May 12 2009, 09:44 AM, said:

My main reason for passing is that I expect East's pass to show Diamonds, expecting to pass the re-opening double. Maybe then I can SOS re-double or bid Spades. I do expect disaster if I bid 1♠ immediaely, perhaps 1NT could work?

Tony

Why are you expecting disaster?

Partner could easily have a lot of hands where 2M or even game is possible. There is absolutely no reason why partner cannot have 3♠ or 4♥. To pass, means risking 1♦ going down 1 or 2, and 2♠/2♥ or 4♠/♥ making... Either way, you lose 5 IMPs or 11 IMPs.

[Old York]

I have a void in partner's best suit, partner has 8-15hcp and a hand unsuitable for a take-out double
I am not optimistic about making game opposite this bid, or bidding my anaemic Spade suit when partner has denied interest in the majors by failing to double
Bidding on a mis-fit and weak suits is very dangerous

Tony

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

With 10 HCP, you should find a bid, actually with 9 HCP,
the void in partners suit is a minus, but 10HCP is still a lot.

This gets even more important, if the strength for a simple 1 level
overcall goes up, and this approaches gets more and more popular.
There was a time a overcall was limited to 15HCP, but now the limit
is around 17/18, i.e. if you pass, there is a high risk that you are
missing game.

Addionnally, partner is not forced to reopen with a X, if you pass.

What to bid is a different question:

1H, 1S, 1NT are all valid options, each have its pluses and minuses,
I prefer 1NT slightly, but mostly, because for me

#1 a new suit showes a 5 carder (and is nonforcing)
#2 the spade suit is not worth calling a 5 carder

If you bid a suit, it is 1S.
If you happen to play, that a new suit is forcing and could be a 4 carder,
1H has something going for it.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[vuroth]

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I don't get downgrading spades to bid NT here. Sure, if I was 5332 with 65432 in spades I'd probably hedge to NT, but with a void outside my spade suit seems much stronger.

V

[Old York]

On the traveller, many of the players who reached 4♥ did so by not overcalling with 1♦, most doubled with the West hand

♠AT ♥QJ75 ♦AK643 ♣32

Not the best double in the world, but it worked this time, or at least it worked for 11 pairs who made 4♥ but not for the 8 pairs who went down in game

Tony

EDIT: Had we been informed that the scoring was actually MP%, I would not have suggested passing. Any plus score at imps is likely to give you a decent score, but not at matchpoints

[neilkaz]

Passing is absolutely out of the question for me. With a double stop and such weak ♠ I'd like to bid 1NT but perhaps PD will expect a small bit of ♦ support and rebid 2♦.

I'll just bid my 5 card ♠ suit .. 1♠

[skjaeran]

Easy 1♠, pass would never ever occur to me. We might easily have game here.

[mtvesuvius]

Old York, on May 12 2009, 10:34 AM, said:

On the traveller, many of the players who reached 4♥ did so by not overcalling with 1♦, most doubled with the West hand

♠AT ♥QJ75 ♦AK643 ♣32

Not the best double in the world, but it worked this time, or at least it worked for 11 pairs who made 4♥ but not for the 8 pairs who went down in game

Tony

EDIT: Had we been informed that the scoring was actually MP%, I would not have suggested passing. Any plus score at imps is likely to give you a decent score, but not at matchpoints

That is why pass is hopeless at IMPs or MPs. Doubling with partner's hand is insane... Guess what! Partner doesn't like playing his 5-0 fit when he has a cold major suit game.

[gwnn]

1♠, 1♠, and 1 spade are all viable alternatives.

[Old York]

mtvesuvius, on May 12 2009, 05:31 PM, said:

Guess what! Partner doesn't like playing his 5-0 fit when he has a cold major suit game.

And 8 pairs registered the only minus scores by failing to make the games that they bid

On this hand, partner happened to have the perfect hand with excellent Hearts and a maximum overcall. But most pairs were happy to play in partscores. Even OP played in 2♥ making 2 overtricks and got a good score
Game on a partial misfit is not good odds. There is no urgency to bid borderline games at Pairs

Tony

[vuroth]

OP was IMPs, not pairs.

[hanp]

1S, I can't believe people are passing. You might miss game while 1D goes down.

[Old York]

vuroth, on May 12 2009, 10:39 PM, said:

OP was IMPs, not pairs.

True, but as I pointed out earlier, that was a mistake

The actual hand was played at matchpoint scoring, and even I would never pass at matchpoints

Tony