[HighLow21]

First bid, opener has a choice to make at first rebid after enemy preemption:

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WWYD?

Next bid. Same deal, hand opposite the opener above:

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WWYD?

Next question: was the 4♥ bid by East reasonable, yes or no?

Final question: as you can imagine, the hand did not end well for E/W. What do you think happened and how do you ATB?

[FrancesHinden]

west has an obvious pass over 2S on the first round. To be honest, that doesn't strike me as anything resembling a problem. Playing good/bad NT, you could do a warped 'bad' 3D bid, but 3H is crazy opposite a 1-level response.
As for East's 4H bid, I'm not sure what else you expect him to do opposite what should be 4-card heart support, pass would be insane.

After this start, as given, I still struggle to imagine what can go badly wrong. 5H looks a good save, and the auction as given should help them get there; however it looks likely to be 300 against 450 so it's not a disaster missing it (if the DK is onside that might only be 100 which would be worse). I'd have expected -450 to be a flat board much of the time.

From the fact you've posted it, I assume East doubled, but I can't see any reason at all why East should double. I would prefer (in any order) all of pass, 5H, 6H, 5C and 5D to double because it looks almost certain to be making given that responder has 0 defensive tricks and opener passed 4S.

[MrAce]

1- Pass and not close imo.

2- I have zero tricks when the trump is ♠, and pd didnt double 4♠. I have tons of tricks when trumps are ♥ and pd says he has 4 of them. It would be a really fun debate what to bid had pd decided to DBL 4♠ imo.

3-Yes, i like 4♥.

[Statto]

Presumably you'd have rebid 1NT without the 2♠ bid. Now you can devalue your ♠Qx to nothing in offense, yet you still have a flat hand, and now a bare minimum opener despite the good ♦. If the hand were somewhat better you could X, whether actually agreed as support X it would often imply 3 card support prepared to commit to the 3 level. But with the minimum here you should pass. Partner still has a bid.

[Codo]

Obviously you do not play/know a style where opener will double 2 ♠ even with a minimum hand with 3 ♥. If you do not play "mandatory" support doubles, this is an easy pass.
4 ♥ is fine, 5 ♥ looks obvious.

[wyman]

would dbl as opener on (1)

Would bid 4H, 5H as responder. This looks like we have a lot of tricks in hearts, and I have no defense at all. I'd really need partner to show up with 4 defensive tricks, and especially when I give him a pop to 4H, he'll smash 4S with that much defense. This is not a FP auction imo.

Opener bidding 3H with a min and three little hearts is, to be kind, very questionable.

[Cyberyeti]

My guess is that 5♥ was bid and 4♠ isn't making.

If the 2♠ bidder is 6133 with both club honours for example, 4♠ is just no play.

I agree with most of the other comments about P and 4♥ being totally normal.

[ArtK78]

I agree with the consensus here.

Opener should pass at his first rebid, and it is not close.

Given opener's 3♥ rebid, responder's 4♥ bid is clear.

And, given what has transpired before, responder has a clear 5♥ call in passout seat over 4♠. I don't know if I would play this as a forcing pass situation, but, if it were, then 5♥ is the 100% call.

I will take issue with the suggestion that this is a support double situation over 2♠ as suggested by Codo. In my opinion, support doubles do not apply to situations in which the intervening bid is above 2 of our suit. Had intervenor bid 1♠ it would have been a support double situation, and, if the partnership played support doubles, opener's hand would be a clear support double. However, over intervenor's 2♠ bid, support doubles are off. Or, let us just say that I am unaware of any partnership that would play a double of 2♠ as a support double.

[HighLow21]

Thank you for all the feedback; looks like we have some broad consensus here.

I have posted the full hand below. 4♠ is unbeatable and I was dummy. The responder carried on to 4♥, but then doubled 4♠ when it came back to him. My partner played a few tricks and claimed.

Responder, a self-rated "expert", then started bawling his partner out for his bidding. I tried to reason with him saying that 3♥ was suspect, but one could argue that it's best to show a modicum of support while one safely can. Furthermore, his double was completely ridiculous.

It seems to me like everyone agrees that 3♥ was a bad bid (but primarily because opener is minimum and responder had only shown hearts at the one level --> maybe on a bad 4-card suit), that 4♥ was eminently correct (I agree wholeheartedly), and that doubling 4♠ was by far the worst offense. Simply put, East's ODR was far too high to double. He has 5 offensive tricks in hand in hearts and none whatsoever in spades. Partner would need to supply all the defense and declarer is known to have at least a 6-card spade suit. There is no reason to believe declarer will not make.

As it turns out, West panicked when he took the A♦ and cashed A♣ (what else could East have for his double but club tricks?!), giving us 11 tricks.

The best thing for East to do is to carry on the 5♥, going down 2 if doubled or, better, maybe pushing us to 5♠ which should be 1 down.

A side note: if the overcaller had bid 1♠, then 2♥ by opener is best, no? Or would it STILL be pass? (Assuming no support doubles in use of course.)

The full hand and play:

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[ArtK78]

Two points:

1) Not playing support doubles, I would be tempted to bid 2♥ on the West hand, but the "book" bid is pass. Opener is minimum (sub-minimum if you assume that the ♠Q is likely to be worthless) and the heart support is three small. Really, there is no reason to bid here. This really points out how bad the 3♥ bid was on the actual auction, since I don't believe one should bid 2♥ over 1♠.

2) I strongly recommend that you do not get involved in the opponents' discussions or arguments. The chance of anything constructive coming out of your intervention into their "discussion" is much less than the chance that you will be attacked by one or both of the opponents.

[wyman]

HighLow21, on 2012-March-19, 09:35, said:

Responder, a self-rated "expert", then started bawling his partner out for his bidding. I tried to reason with him saying that 3♥ was suspect

For the love of god, don't try to teach or "reason with" these people at the table.

And just so you have some priors, if you find yourself in a game with an "expert" by chance, (s)he's probably not.

[HighLow21]

wyman, on 2012-March-19, 09:58, said:

For the love of god, don't try to teach or "reason with" these people at the table.

And just so you have some priors, if you find yourself in a game with an "expert" by chance, (s)he's probably not.

I tend to agree with you Wyman; this seemed like a different situation. I had already played 5 or so hands against this guy and he seemed very nice; there had been some pleasant post-mortem discussion prior to this hand.

He also was at least Intermediate skill based on his prior play and bidding. So I thought I'd give it a stab because he obviously has a hole or two in his understanding of the game (don't we all). He didn't respond kindly to it, but people tend not to when they blow 12 IMPs on this type of hand.

Anyway he turned into a bit of a jerk from this point forward, as you can imagine, but not as bad as so many other people would.

Besides: I'm a bit militant on this. I won't take it very kindly if people start bawling their partner out even when they're right. But if they do so when they are DEAD WRONG, you can rest assured I'm going to say something...

[daveharty]

HighLow21, on 2012-March-19, 09:35, said:

A side note: if the overcaller had bid 1♠, then 2♥ by opener is best, no?

No. I mean, it's not terrible, I'm sure it would cross my mind at the table, but three small trumps in a balanced hand with Hx in their suit is a bit rich.

[Phil]

Why do you play in these random pickup games?

[HighLow21]

Because it's more convenient than anything.

[daveharty]

Phil, on 2012-March-19, 10:59, said:

Why do you play in these random pickup games?

Maybe he's hoping to meet that special someone? Be advised, though: "BridgeBabe4U" is actually a 56-year old accountant with halitosis named Ron. And he overcalls bad four-card suits.

[wyman]

daveharty, on 2012-March-19, 12:21, said:

And he overcalls bad four-card suits.

...in hopes of being punished.

[HighLow21]

daveharty, on 2012-March-19, 12:21, said:

Maybe he's hoping to meet that special someone? Be advised, though: "BridgeBabe4U" is actually a 56-year old accountant with halitosis named Ron. And he overcalls bad four-card suits.

Sounds like a dream partner, relative to some that I've had...