[rogerclee]

I thought this was obvious, but there was a little bit of discussion about this at a STaC, where a good player disagreed with what I thought was super-obvious.

MPs, White vs Red, 3rd Seat

♠x ♥Ax ♦Q9xx ♣Axxxxx

P-(P)-1♣-(Dbl)
Rdbl-(1NT)-?

1) Do you agree with your opening bid?
2) What now?
3) Does it matter to you that your opponents are novices?

[matmat]

1) i'd probably pass
2) presumably 2♣ or pass are the options being considered. if opps really are noobs i think i pass. otherwise i pull to 2♣

(ps -- i suck)

[655321]

(1) Agree with 1♣
(2) 2♣. This is not perfect - it would not be a surprise for partner to have a singleton - but:
   I am not interested in doubling 1NT when each side has half the deck, and we have no good lead;
   and not only can't I bid 2♦, but we don't have a guaranteed diamond fit anyway.
(3) No.

[the hog]

2C to show a sub minimum opening and the long C - the reason I opened. Pd almost certainly has 5S and I don't want him bidding them.

[rogerclee]

The_Hog, on Feb 21 2008, 01:02 AM, said:

2C to show a sub minimum opening and the long C - the reason I opened. Pd almost certainly has 5S and I don't want him bidding them.

Does he? Wouldn't partner routinely bid 1♠?

[the hog]

rogerclee, on Feb 21 2008, 03:02 PM, said:

The_Hog, on Feb 21 2008, 01:02 AM, said:

2C to show a sub minimum opening and the long C - the reason I opened. Pd almost certainly has 5S and I don't want him bidding them.

Does he? Wouldn't partner routinely bid 1♠?

If pd has a 10 count or so, and no fit for me he would xx, even with 5S. The xx shows a max pass and a willingness to penalise the opps; but you know that anyway.

[gnasher]

(1) I might open 3C. I certainly wouldn't pass.
(2) 2C.
(3) No, it just makes the problem less interesting.

[finally17]

I'm echoing someone with every response, but a different someone each time.

1) some days I'd open 3♣ too. the other days i agree with you. i'm not sure how often.

2) having bid 1 I'd bid 2 cause it's where i want to play, and i imagine partner's sure to come back in if i don't.

3) if they're seriously novices, setting 1N might be more likely than making 2♣. hopefully partner and his hand agree. i'm also less likely to have bid 3♣ in this case I think.

[Apollo81]

I'd pass and let partner hack them if he sees fit. If he bids a major I'll bid 3♣.

I agree with 1♣

[helene_t]

Should rdbl set op an FP after p opened in 3rd seat? I don't think so. Especially when RHO makes a 1NT opening which we could easily dbl for penalties if we had a sound opening.

So pass. 2♣ should show slightly more than

BTW I would have opened this one 1♣ in 1st/2nd. In third I would have opened 3♣ against normal opps (yes I know it's sick but I can't help it), against noobs I would open 1♣ or maybe even pass.

[655321]

Jlall, on Feb 21 2008, 06:27 PM, said:

I don't understand the 2C bidders. Which suit do you think RHO has?? I mean he must have 4 or 5 clubs. Partner likely has 5-4 in the majors and chose to XX so he too must have short clubs (with 5422 I think most would bid 1S). Our hand and suit are garbage. This seems like a v easy pass.

OK, well perhaps I am wrong, but my reasoning is that, I expect them to make 1NT when partner is a passed hand, yes, I expect RHO to hold 4 clubs (5 would be a disappointment ), and that on a good day 2♣ might make, more realistically I expect to go 1 or 2 down for 50 or 100 on a partscore hand where they can make 90 or 120.

[rogerclee]

On the actual hand, partner (me) had ♠AJTx ♥JTx ♦A8xxx ♣x.

The decision made was to bid 2♣, which I did not like (I may have stated in the postmortem that I thought the auction was impossible). I admit I was influenced by the fact that our opponents were absolutely clueless (typical average club players), and I knew that the 1NT bidder had no idea what he had just stepped in. I chose not to bid 2♦ over 2♣; not sure how reasonable that was.

1NT was probably going for 500 but at least 200. 2♣ making 3 was a poor result, since par was 2♦/3♦ in our 5-4 fit.