[gambolero]

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Firstly, could south have bid a 4 card major after the double and would such a bid be forcing?

Secondly, a redouble generally denies fit right? so I must bid 1NT or something?

[HighLow21]

gambolero, on 2013-November-13, 21:18, said:

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Firstly, could south have bid a 4 card major after the double and would such a bid be forcing?

Secondly, a redouble generally denies fit right? so I must bid 1NT or something?

Redouble simply means 10+ HCP and a desire to take penalties if possible. It means that either N/S will declare this hand, or E/W will be doubled in whatever they bid. It usually implies a lack of fit for the opened suit but it doesn't have to. But even with a poorish trump suit, N/S should have enough to make 7 tricks in diamonds.

Since West passed, about 95% of the time East will bid something at the next turn. South with then either double for penlaties, pass the decision to you, or bid something descriptive. If I were North and East's bid were passed back to me, I would double 1♥ or 1♠ by East and I would bid something is 2♣ were passed back to me.

[JonnyQuest]

gambolero, on 2013-November-13, 21:18, said:

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Firstly, could south have bid a 4 card major after the double and would such a bid be forcing?

Secondly, a redouble generally denies fit right? so I must bid 1NT or something?

Yes. South can bid a 4 card Major after the double. And yes, it is 100% forcing (if an unpassed hand). It does not deny 10+ HCP.
Two level responses are another matter; they are generally played as weak and are not forcing.

Hard to say what to do with your hand, assuming the auction shown, without seeing the hand.

[HighLow21]

JonnyQuest, on 2013-November-13, 22:30, said:

Yes. South can bid a 4 card Major after the double. And yes, it is 100% forcing (if an unpassed hand). It does not deny 10+ HCP.
Two level responses are another matter; they are generally played as weak and are not forcing.

Hard to say what to do with your hand, assuming the auction shown, without seeing the hand.

Note: it's forcing for one round but you do not have to bid here -- and I would not bid anything at this stage. Pass the redouble to East. The whole point is, East may have no decent suit to play in and may be in desperate trouble. Do NOT let him off the hook by bidding now. As I've mentioned above, knowing that your partner is strong you would love to double 1 of a major by the opponents unless partner has a singleton.

More will be revealed on the next round of bidding. Pass. You're in great shape right now.

[mycroft]

I know I'm repeating some things:

• Yes, partner could have shown a 4cM. She chose not to (if she has one), preferring to suggest defending.
  
• Yes, it implies no diamond fit, but it could still have one (2=4=3=4 maybe? 4=1=4=4?). The key is that she'd prefer to defend "at least two suits" over playing diamonds or NT, if she has a fit.
  
• If you bid anything here, you're telling your partner "I heard you're interested in defending a low-level contract, it's a bad idea with my hand." I've done it maybe a couple of times in the last 5 years; I think the minimum hand was some 6-4-horrible 3-0. If you bid 1♥ here, for instance, you're probably showing something like:

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• Part of the agreement requiring strength by partner is "if they leave us in 1♦XX, we have enough strength to make it even if it's their suit." Because of that, the most common meaning for East's pass is "I don't have a preference where to play, you pick" as opposed to "I have all the diamonds, they're not making this". It's not like 1♦-X-p-p, where they think you're in trouble here (and you probably are).
  
• Granted it was a (guaranteed 5-card) 1♥ opener that was my last 1x-X-XX-AP hand, but partner dropped a low stiff and I made 3.

[ggwhiz]

I like to think of the redouble in terms of partner has just said, I'm captain, you are crew. That changes frequently on the next round of bidding but until then the redoubler steers the ship.

We added an exception to this in that if opener bids in front of the redoubler (say 1nt or 1 of a major) it shows a shapely or balanced dog of the I'm almost ashamed I opened variety so proceed with caution.

ps. redoubling instead of making a more descriptive forcing 1 level bid or constructive 1nt generally played as 9-11 after the double is a common failing.

[ArtK78]

HighLow21, on 2013-November-13, 21:46, said:

Since West passed, about 95% of the time East will bid something at the next turn.

I would say that it would be about 99.99% of the time. I have heard a few stories about someone making a takeout double holding 7 solid in the opener's suit, and having the auction go redouble - pass - pass, resulting in a slaughter, but the reason you hear stories like that is that they happen so rarely.