Cyberyeti, on 2015-October-13, 13:14, said:
It means 3♥is overworked if it's 1-3 spades, 1-4(small) hearts, it's very difficult to know where to go with some doubling hands. Being able to bid 3N without the stop means partner knows immediately that something like Axxx, x, K10xx, AQJx is huge.
If his 3
♥ is the same as what your 3nt shows, then partner also knows that singleton is good. The question is what you would like to put in your 3H bid, that is more useful to compensate for all of:
- wrong-siding 3nt some portion of the time when partner wants to play 3nt. Sometimes partner's stopper is Kx, and the guy preempted on qjtxxx.
- having to go through alternative sequence and exposing yourself to a lead directing double/non-double of 3c when you just want to play 3nt which is fairly frequent
- maybe giving up a choice of games auction showing both 4 cds in the other major and a stopper for 3nt to allow playing in a safer 4-4 OM when one exists but not when partner doubled on 3.
What do you use direct cue and delayed cue for? What hand type does playing 3nt as no stopper allow you to bid that other schemes do not?
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I agree with your point about the balancing double, but the 3N bid would be much rarer as we balance with a double with much weaker hands short in opener's suit.
Personally I don't think one can afford to shade the double a lot just because of balancing seat, over preempts. This is not a situation where preemptor's partner is known to be very weak, might be strong but misfit so it might not be your hand, and you are often playing at the 3 level. Also you have less room to sort out range, whether to be in game or not, with one level removed, which makes widening the balancing range substantially problematic.