[wyman]

Matchpoints

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* 2N
* 3N
* X
* ♣3

Bad decisions? Or bad luck?

[whereagles]

I would not dbl as north, but then south would probably dbl anyway, so this looks like normal to me.

[S2000magic]

I think 2NT is reasonable, if a bit aggressive.

I think 3NT is wildly optimistic: partner shouldn't have 20 HCP.

I think that the double unsound, unless West is known to be an incurable overbidder.

[wyman]

I'll add a bonus question to the mix: Is west allowed to play 4C undoubled on this auction?

[S2000magic]

wyman, on 2012-February-16, 09:08, said:

Is west allowed to play 4C undoubled on this auction?

I think so: North-South aren't forced to game (though they bid it, it may be a stretch), and East/West aren't (both) passed hands; it's possible that West is quite strong.

[CSGibson]

I don't like 2N, I would prefer X followed by 2N if partner bids spades.

3N is also a bit much in my opinion

I have no strong feelings on X.

I don't feel the club should have been led, but I understand the lead. personally, I might have tried the diamond.

[Codo]

2 NT was a stretch.
3 Nt looks fine to me.
Double with the spades well locked up looks fine.

Mostly bad luck. Dummy has 4 points of which three are working extremly well.

[phil_20686]

You would make 3N on a (not unlikely) club lead. Fortunate diamond lie, but once you find out he has a heart he is 6511 and you lack entries to play diamonds towards hand enough times .

It feels like there should be somewhat to get hearts into the picture. I think south has to dble then bid 2N with a 4cM, seems analogous to those ugly situations where you have to make neg x with only one major.

[gszes]

a balanced 18 count with clubs stopped (twice?) makes 2n appear
reasonable. I am unhappy with 2n for 2 reasons.
1. no spade stop
2. too much risk of losing the heart suit.

an x goes a long way to solving my problems with 2n but has one
big problem that cant be ignored. P may vastly overvalue their
hand thinking they have a spade fit.

IMO there is only one bid that fits these circumstances and that is

2h

slightest lie by a ton (short a dia) and leaves us room for nt hearts and
diamonds and maybe even spades since we could now trust any spade bid by
p to have extra length/quality.

bidding 2h here wont guarantee a great score but at least we will have found
a heart fit.

[han]

I also think that south should double followed by 2NT, I would expect a different sort of hand for 2NT (for example a 2-2-6-3 hand with good diamonds).

[JLOGIC]

Yes I would double as south, maybe partner will bid hearts.

3N is fine. Double is quite bad, you have 4 diamonds with partner and already showed values. Very easy pass of 4C. South would have an easy pass if he trusts the opponents (which from the looks of their bidding, he shouldn't)... he has all red values and an opponent who is likely 7-5 in the blacks.

The trump lead is probably fine, it sounds like dummy has short spades.

[JLOGIC]

wyman, on 2012-February-16, 09:08, said:

I'll add a bonus question to the mix: Is west allowed to play 4C undoubled on this auction?

Absolutely. The world is forcing pass crazy. I had a rule once with my partner that we are never in a forcing pass white/red. It was probably a more reasonable rule than anything else. It is just common sense that when a guy shows a huge 2 suiter, you cannot be in a forcing pass. Once I opened 2C and the opponents red/white bid a slam, with my partner showing some values along the way. I thought that my LHO was 7-6 so I did not double, turns out he was only 6-6 so he was down 1 but still, why do we have to be doubling on a hand like that? It doesn't make sense.

On this hand we both bid our hands, and the opps bid 4C. Neither player has any reason to think it's down. North has 1 trick. South has on a good day 2 tricks. We are probably down a lot due to the bad splits in the red suits. We have both bid our hands, now we are done. Having 24 HCP or so does not mean we can beat a guy who has a huge black 2 suiter when most of our HCP are in the red suits, and both of their suits are splitting 3-2. Common sense must trump everything else.