[mtvesuvius]

Scoring: IMP

You deal:
1♦-(P)-1♠-(2♥)
X*-(3♥)-P-(4♥)
?

---

*Support
Your call?

EDIT: What about at MPs?

[Jlall]

pass?!

[kenrexford]

Jlall, on Dec 12 2009, 04:39 PM, said:

pass?!

I mean, there's double and redouble. Maybe this situation calls for repass? Twice as much a pass as usual?

[neilkaz]

I pass. PD heard me open and heard my supX. I do have decent ODR but I still pass and hope to set, rather than 4♠.

[aguahombre]

The title: "Implied"? scares me into thinking you would try 4S now because it implies 3 0 5 5. Maybe it does, but Pass implies I don't want to bid.

[andy_h]

Pass

[Phil]

Does 'implied' mean that because partner isn't 4-4 in the majors that they either have a 10 card fit, or we have 8 spades?

Neat idea, but we don't have a clue to partner's diamond length, which is the key to our offensive / defensive potential.

Can you blame pard for getting angry about playing 4♠ x'd holding: Qxxxx, JTx, x, Axxx? With a diamond fit along with 8 spades (QJxxx, xxx, xxxx, A for instance, which is about the best kind kind of hand you can hope for), I think pard bids 3/3.

[mikeh]

Even thinking of a call other than pass is a huge overbid

[whereagles]

gawd I hatr supp doubles.... Pard is very likely to have some 7-8 hcp with a 5-4 majors.

I think I double.

[Siegmund]

Even playing support doubles I don't think I am doubling at my 2nd turn here. I will be happier passing at my 3rd turn after showing both my suits - and if I decide I am not happy passing at my 3rd turn I can at least have a cheap spade rebid available.

(Actually with my regular p I have an agreement that a support double promises Qxx+, never xxx/Jxx. Sort of halfway between support and Rosenkranz.)

[eyhung]

I don't understand the hate for the support double. In competition, the side that first understands how high they should bid has a huge advantage -- they can bid to their level or slightly over it and let the opponents guess. By support doubling, we put partner in the driver's seat first -- West still has to clarify to East how many hearts he has, and East may have extra undisclosed heart length.

True, a support double does not guarantee a good result. But for every time a support double backfires, I can think of multiple auctions where communicating to partner that you hold 3-card support for his major helps you with the contested part-score auction. And here, you are void in the enemy suit, so you would much rather encourage partner to bid than to pass. The hands where I don't support double with 3 are those with soft cards in the enemy suit & bad shape & bad trumps, where we really don't want to be encouraging partner to bid. Just xxx is not enough of a deterrent for me -- the number of trumps is far more important than their strength in what looks to be a LAW auction.

Once partner makes an informed pass over 3♥, I am not even tempted to bid 4♥. He knows our 3 spades, he knows our best suit, he knows our values, he can probably discern our shortness from the bidding, and he still has the opportunity to bid 4♠ or double himself. Doubling is similarly misguided -- we have exactly what we have bid, and nothing more. Given a capable partner, there is no call here to do anything but pass.