[Kalvan14]

This is a very difficult problem.
The only things we know for sure are:

• my RHO is broken. Give him 3-4 HCP, on average.
  
• I have 6 HCP, although a great shape
  
• my LHO and pard are sharing something like 30+ HCP. OTOH, pard passed in the direct seat.

IMHO, 4♠ is too much, and might be a disaster if LHO has a strong hand (not unlikely).
2♠ is completely misleading: in the balancing seat, strongish one-suited jumps are the standard treatment.
1♠ is plain crazy. No pre-emptive value vs. LHO: if he's strong, I'm just opening a door to a game swing (just not to be too pessimistic: it would be easy to construct hand where 6m is playable).
3♠ should be really according to Lawrence suggestion: a hand which makes against a random 10 HCP count. The hand I hold is one king shy, IMO.
Pass is attractive: cannot be a disaster, and it is likely that there is no game for us.

If I bid, it must be 3♠, the least misleading bid. Pass is very close.

[Codo]

I surely will pass against good opps.
Of course this could fail dramatically but others bids can too.
In my worst case, pd can have some 2155 hands with 1o HCPS and we make 4 Spade. In my best case. opener has something like -,AKQJxx,AKQxxx,x and did believe, that the bidding will never stop at 1 ♥. I hope for 1 ♥ + 5 and stay quite.

[hatchett]

I think pass is the mature action. I'll pay off to partner having a good 2245 and hope that the opposition are at the wrong level or are in the wrong strain.

[Fluffy]

pass and 1♠ are the only bids IMO since others are way stronger. I'll touch the pass card while looking at both partner and LHO's faces, then decide .

now seriously, reading every coment I think pass is the best one, but at the table I woudln't think that much and bid 1♠.

[coyot]

whereagles, on Mar 16 2006, 05:52 PM, said:

I don't get it, mikeh. You're worried that LHO might bid 4NT over 4♠, but not that he bids 4m over 3♠? Doesn't make sense to me :-)

Bidding 4♠ takes much more guts than doubling it with a 20HCP hand

Or, is it "guts" or just "lack of thinking"?

Partner failed to come up with a takeout, so he is in the (8)9-11 HCP range, he could still have up to bad 15 HCP (give him 2 spades, 3 hearts and 44 in minors and he simply does not have a good bid).

3♠ would be about right - it has decent chances to make against many of the possible hands and does not commit us to a very phantom sacrifice (in the case of a few working tenaces in partner's hand, also given the chance to play this hand on crossruffs as defenders.

[whereagles]

Well, the point is that if you bid 1,2 or 3♠, next thing you know, it might go..

1♥ ........... pass .. pass .. 1/2/3♠
2/3/4♣/♦ .. pass .. 5♣/♦ ... ??

Now I might regret having bid spades. However, if you bid 4♠, the most LHO can do is double. But then again, 4♠ might make or go 1-2 down against a game.

I'll admit it's a bit of a roullette because kinda forces LHO to double, but the alternative of bidding 1/2/3♠ runs a high risk of giving LHO a 2nd chance at a fit. Pass 1♥ is a possibility, but you don't really want to pass with all those spades and heart lenght.

3♠ will work well if LHO doesn't risk a 4m bid and doubles instead. But then again, if he does bid 4m, maybe he finds trumps not breaking (pard having some 2245). I dunno. I guess it depends on who LHO is and how aching to bid is he.

[mikeh]

whereagles, on Mar 16 2006, 11:52 AM, said:

I don't get it, mikeh. You're worried that LHO might bid 4NT over 4♠, but not that he bids 4m over 3♠? Doesn't make sense to me

Read the post again.

My main worry about 4♠ is getting doubled. I would actually be relieved if I heard 4N on my left.

If I play 4♠ x'd on that auction, I expect a very poor result.

And of course LHO may bid 4m over my 3♠, but why should that worry me? Partner will bid 4♠ on virtually any hand where it is right to do so (and some where it is wrong because 3♠ is a mild overbid).

I have read the byplay between you and Roland: and I am driven to side with Roland: you sure like to take charge... I suspect that I would quickly become very frustrated as your partner.

You chose 4♠ here, opened 4♥ as dealer with AKxxxxx A10xxx in the reds, overcalled vul at mps 2♣ over 1♦ with 2=4=2=5 and, if I recall, Kx K10xx xx KQ98x... all presumably because you believe that it is your manifest destiny to make all the partnership decisions. That's your style, and good luck with it, but when criticizing other people's style, at least try to understand the post you are criticizing

[whereagles]

mikeh, on Mar 17 2006, 04:28 PM, said:

You chose 4♠ here, opened 4♥ as dealer with AKxxxxx A10xxx in the reds, overcalled vul at mps 2♣ over 1♦ with 2=4=2=5 and, if I recall, Kx K10xx xx KQ98x... all presumably because you believe that it is your manifest destiny to make all the partnership decisions. That's your style, and good luck with it, but when criticizing other people's style, at least try to understand the post you are criticizing

If there's anyone who should be reading the posts again, that one is you, mikeh. You're twisting some of the things I said in a self-serving, biased manner. I find that rather lowish, but then again, it surely doesn't come as a surprise to either of us.. I think we're all old enough to realize people care more for defending their interests than for being fair and reasonable.

If you want to debate some of my bidding choices in a serious and civilized manner, that's fine and we can do it. Otherwise I'll refrain from commenting on why I bid this or that.

[mikeh]

whereagles, on Mar 17 2006, 12:05 PM, said:

If there's anyone who should be reading the posts again, that one is you, mikeh. You're twisting some of the things I said in a self-serving, biased manner.

Ok: so I read the posts again

AKxxxxx A10xxx: "It's matchpoints, right? Open 4♥..."

K6 K1086 96 KQ863 P (1♦) ?

"I bid 2♣.... my style is to be the master of my own destiny.Meaning: when I have a chance to try and do something myself, I take it....

"I usually get away with murder... I hardly ever get caught speeding....I just happen to be someone who has managed to realize that sometimes it isn't enough to 'bid my hand'.....Failure to take charge is the nr. 1 source of misunderstandings...I'd rather be a hog than a rabbit"

Now, let me see.... who wrote those comments? And what do they reveal about that player's view of his role at the table? A player who sees bidding primarily as a dialogue with partner or a player who thinks that it is his role to make the partnership decisions?

Bridge is a game that plays to one's ego. Just about every bridge player I know reasonably well thinks better of his or her game than do most of his or her peers... and I claim no immunity from that nor am I stating that this is the case with all or even most of the posters on this forum: I know almost none of them well enough to make that statement. But, so long as the self-image is fairly close to reality, this is, I think, a good thing. Show me a pair who, on sitting down against me, thinks that my partner and I are better than them, and I will show you a pair we rate to beat. You need to either own or share 'the table' psychologically.

But the better players subordinate their ego to the partnership, and that means allowing partner an equal role in decision making. Your approach seems to be the precise opposite. But, I concede, I have never (to my knowledge) played against you and I may be misunderstanding what you are trying to say.

[luis]

joshs, on Mar 16 2006, 07:19 PM, said:

bridgeboy, on Mar 16 2006, 06:13 AM, said:

All Vul,imps,

You hold

AQ76543
9654
-
xx

LHO opens 1H followed by 2 passes.

What's your bid?

Seems like a normal 1S bid. Its not strong enough for 2S. Pass might be right, but thats too big a position for me.

Josh,
I don't know you personally but from your posts here I think you are a good player and a smart poster. So I'm perplexed, how can you bid 1♠ with 7 cards? And how can you even think about passing?

I'm asking not because I want to smash your bid but because I'm really interested in knowing why a good player would consider a 1♠ bid holding 7 cards and what kind of advantage do you plan to obtain bidding 1♠ instead of 2, 3 or 4 spades.

[pclayton]

mikeh, on Mar 17 2006, 10:02 AM, said:

snip

....But the better players subordinate their ego to the partnership, and that means allowing partner an equal role in decision making. ...

One of the best things I've ever read on BBF

[whereagles]

To mikeh:

Quote

Ok: so I read the posts again 

AKxxxxx A10xxx: "It's matchpoints, right? Open 4♥..."

K6 K1086 96 KQ863 P (1♦) ?

"I bid 2♣.... my style is to be the master of my own destiny.Meaning: when I have a chance to try and do something myself, I take it....

"I usually get away with murder... I hardly ever get caught speeding....I just happen to be someone who has managed to realize that sometimes it isn't enough to 'bid my hand'.....Failure to take charge is the nr. 1 source of misunderstandings...I'd rather be a hog than a rabbit"

Now, let me see.... who wrote those comments? And what do they reveal about that player's view of his role at the table? A player who sees bidding primarily as a dialogue with partner or a player who thinks that it is his role to make the partnership decisions?

Look, if you insist on taking my statements out of context, I can also do the same. For instance, I can pick two sentences of yours like "I am going to bid 4H" and "clubs is the killer lead", snip a few words and bind them together to write this rather comprimising statement:

mikeh said: "I am... the killer"

I trust you now see how ridiculous it can be to take things out of context

In any case, the comments you made to my statements indicate you clearly had trouble understanding some of them.

Quote

But the better players subordinate their ego to the partnership, and that means allowing partner an equal role in decision making.

That's not the whole story. The point is that bidding isn't only about having an equal role. That is a common misconception that emanates from the way we're tought to bid. As you go to more advanced levels of bidding, you begin to realize that stuff like "bid your hand" and "let pard have a say" are just parts of a much bigger picture, which is arriving at the right contract. At some stage someone has to make the decision to sign-off and this is also part of the responsibilities of the players. It's not masterminding. Masterminding is passing a blackwood 4NT because pard is a weak player who's probably overbidding.

Quote

Your approach seems to be the precise opposite. But, I concede, I have never (to my knowledge) played against you and I may be
misunderstanding what you are trying to say.

If you knew me, you'd know I don't take fliers on a regular basis. I'm actually a very scientific player; I have to because I make bidding systems

If you want, I can clear up some of the misunderstandings, but you have to promise me you'll look at my explanations without bias and prejudice against me...