[jeffford76]

I was surprised by what one of my sometimes partners claimed was "expert standard" in this auction. I was also surprised how much he seemed to think it mattered which way you play it. Is this a position where one meaning is clearly better?

[aguahombre]

I am content for it just to be willingness to compete in clubs so they don't get to play 2M cheaply.

[lalldonn]

I'd be scared to assume anything but gun to my head I think standard is it shows clubs, and I also recall Fred Gitelman feels strongly it should show clubs. I don't have strong feelings myself.

[CSGibson]

I would expect all those doubles to be lead directional. You are a passed hand, if you want to compete you can do so (albeit with slightly more risk) over 2M if it comes back around to you there.

If partner wanted to play something different, I would do it; I don't think it matters that much, other than fractionally increasing memory load.

[aguahombre]

 CSGibson, on 2012-August-13, 19:53, said:

I would expect all those doubles to be lead directional. You are a passed hand, if you want to compete you can do so (albeit with slightly more risk) over 2M if it comes back around to you there.

I don't understand "all those doubles". Do you mean the double of a splinter should be lead directional rather than a suggestion of suit for competition? This thread is about 2C Drury and perhaps about 2D if it is some form of drury. There should, IMO, be a difference between doubling 2C and doubling 2D, however. Perhaps a double of 2D (4-card Drury) should be a true takeout of the focus major because of frequency.

[Bbradley62]

 lalldonn, on 2012-August-13, 18:57, said:

I'd be scared to assume anything but gun to my head I think standard is it shows clubs, and I also recall Fred Gitelman feels strongly it should show clubs. I don't have strong feelings myself.

 fred, on 2005-January-26, 19:34, said:

Should a double of Drury be "takeout of the major opened" or "lead directing"?

As far as I can tell there is no strong consensus among the expert community in this area, but I think there is a clearly "right" answer to this question...

 fred, on 2005-January-27, 13:03, said:

Yes, I prefer double as leading directing because I think it is best to wait when you have a takeout double and see how the auction goes.

You make a good point, Hannie, and this is one of the reasons why I said that the case for waiting with a "takeout double hand" is not as strong here as it is when the opponents use a Jacoby transfer. Still, I think I can make a good case that the upside of waiting with the takeout hand and using double as lead directing is greater than the downside of not being able to double for takeout immediately.

Consider what happens after Drury is used. I will assume for the sake of argument that the opponents use "reverse Drury" (which is by far the most common form of this convention at least in the USA). I have no justification other than experience for the following numbers:

1) About 50% of the time opener will either jump to game or make some kind of slam investigation his partner uses Drury.

2) About 25% of the time opener will bid 2D in response to Drury (saying "I have a real opening bid, but my hand is not strong enough to commit to game opposite a minimum Drury response").

3) About 25% of the time opener with rebid 2 of his major in response to Drury (saying "I do not have a real opening bid").

If 1) takes place, you will almost always be better off staying silent with the "takeout double" hand. Making a takeout double could lead to a good sacrifice, but when you are a passed hand and your partner could not act over their opening bid, you usually will not want to get involved in high-level bidding. The downside of doubling for takeout in this case is that you are very likely to make it easier for the declarer to guess well.

On the other hand, if the opponents are about to bid a game or slam, being able to make a lead-directing double can be very important. On some deals the lack of a lead directing double in clubs will also help partner (for example, if he has xxx in both clubs and another unbid suit, he will know that leading the other suit is more likely to work out).

If 2) takes place you will get to hear both opponents bid another time before making your decision as to whether or not you want to get involved. If you had a marginal double to begin with, you might choose to pass now (and if RHO bids 2NT at his second turn for example, you will know that it is probably wrong to compete even if you have a sound takeout double).

If 3) takes place you will know that it is probably right to compete even if you have a marginal takeout double.

One other point: at matchpoints this discussion becomes a lot more complicated, but at IMPs the type 1) hands are the most important hands to get right.

Your point about the opponents possibly being in a 4-3 fit is certainly valid, but in the real world players (even very good ones) do not open 4-card majors as much as they should (at least in my view).

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[CSGibson]

 aguahombre, on 2012-August-13, 20:11, said:

I don't understand "all those doubles". Do you mean the double of a splinter should be lead directional rather than a suggestion of suit for competition? This thread is about 2C Drury and perhaps about 2D if it is some form of drury. There should, IMO, be a difference between doubling 2C and doubling 2D, however. Perhaps a double of 2D (4-card Drury) should be a true takeout of the focus major because of frequency.

I meant all those doubles as being all doubles of drury bids, whether they be 2C or 2D. I don't see a reason to differentiate between the two, other than I feel that it is better theoretically from a safety perspective to double 2D as lead directional than 2C, because it costs less to use an immediate 2M bid as take-out (i.e., if you make a double of 2C drury takeout oriented, you allow for playing at the 2 level always, but to use the same treatment for 2D you have to allow for playing in 3C). Either way, I think lead directional is standard and I personally prefer to play it that way over take-out.