[han]

Hand 7.

AJ QJxxxxx - J10xx

None vulnerable, IMPs.

(1D) - 1H - (1S*) - 2D
(3S) - ??

* = 5+ spades.

What do you bid and what is your plan if the opponents bid 4S?

[hrothgar]

I am bidding 5♥

I will call the director if the opponent's bid 4♠

(The second part of this answer was the easiest part of the quiz)

[Phil]

4♥, 5♥.

With a fair 7-4 and w/w, I think I would bid 4♥ the first time. I don’t have any clue who is making what. I don’t know for sure I’m getting a 4♠ call. If I did, I would bid a direct 5♥ now. This could be very wrong, but 5♥ isn’t getting crushed and we might not be beating 4♠.

[mike777]

4h and then 5h

[rogerclee]

I'm probably out to lunch but when I responded to this I definitely thought I had the CK.

[Echognome]

4♣. It is showing more values than I have, but I do not plan to let them play in 4♠ anyway. If 4♠ comes back to me (even doubled by partner), I am bidding 5♥ and then leaving it up to partner. I could alternatively bid 5♥ now, but that would seem crazy if we might have been able to play in 4♥. Against that, 5♥ makes it much more difficult for them if I bid it right now and they were going to bid 4♠.

[whereagles]

We should have enough playing strength for 4, then 5.

[AlexJonson]

If I remember my choice correctly, I felt after bidding 1H..4H, it was time to pass and let partner take a view after his cue bid.

[whereagles]

Alex, pard can't possibly imagine you have a hand of this sort. It's your responsibility - not partner's - to take views, based on what he showed you: a decent raise.

[Fluffy]

4♥ now, 5♦ next

Its a double fit hand, and I have enough to go to the 5 level. Partner is on lead against 5♠, so make it clear for him what the lead we want is.

A direct 5♦ or 5♥ is not recomended, not only because it shows a different hand, but also because bidding 4♠ over 4♥ leaks close to zero info anyway, so just for a chance of buyig it cheap bid 4♥ now.

[Free]

Probably not a popular choice, but I kind of like 4♦, it describes my hand pretty nicely. Cue and denying a ♣ cue. Partner may always push to 5♥ or higher if he wants.

[P_Marlowe]

4H, if they bid 4S I plan to make a penalty X.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[han]

Hand 7.

AJ QJxxxxx - J10xx

None vulnerable, IMPs.

(1D) - 1H - (1S*) - 2D
(3S) - ??

* = 5+ spades.

What do you bid and what is your plan if the opponents bid 4S?

Hanoi: 4D, 5H
Justin: 4C, ...
Roger: 4D, 5H
Frances: 4H, 5H
Gonzalo: 4H, 5D
Vincent: 4D, 5H
Andy: 4H, 5D
Fred: 4C, 5D
Nigel: 4H, 5D
Josh: 4H, 5H
Adam: 4H, 5D
Ben: Pass, 5H
Michael: 4H, 5D
Paul: 4H, 5D

Frans Borm gave me this hand from the Dutch senior trials, and asked me what I would bid over 1D. 1H of course, I responded (Adam doesn't agree). We looked at what would happen if his partner had bid 1H and it looked like the auction could get very interesting, as the comments from the panel illustrate.
I think I asked the questions in the wrong order. Before we decide what to bid, we should first decide what we are going to do if the opponents bid 4S.

Josh: I'll bid 4H and if they bid 4S I'll bid 5H. I have a void and my 7 card suit just got raised!

Yes, passing out to 4S does not look right, unless partner doubles. Should we help partner to make the right decision?

Fred: I will bid 4C now. In the (unlikely IMO) event that my partner DBLs 4S then I will Pass. Otherwise I will bid 5D.
Though I hardly have a typical hand for this call, 4C should help partner decide whether or not we should be defending 4S. 5D should help partner to find the best opening lead should we end up defending 5S.

Justin also bids 4C to involve partner but doesn't comment on what he would do over 4S.
Three panelists bid 4D.

Vincent (with Hanoi similarly): 4D, pd might need to know what to start if they play in spades.
If the opps bid 4 spades (very likely) I bid 5H.

Does 4D really ask for a diamond lead?

Andy: 4H. 4D would consult partner about whether to compete to the five level, but I don't want to do that. With all this shape I know I'm not going to defend 4S.

That's closer to what I think. For me 4D shows a good hand and sets up a forcing pass over 4S, as for Frances:

Frances: I bid 4H now. Anything else shows too good a hand, and I don't have a bid that says to partner 'I'm interested in saving over 4S' - my conventional bids all set up a forcing pass and I don't really want to consult partner about defending when I have limited high card strength, while 4H shows offence rather than defence. And the opponents haven't bid 4S yet.

Using 4C naturally to suggest bidding 5H seems like a very good idea to me, and I would not like it to set up a forcing pass.

Roger bids 4D for different reasons:

Roger: 4D, it's a little weird and I don't think it will get much support, but there is a lot of tactical upside to this bid. It increases the chance that they won't double us in 5H, which I am always bidding for better or worse.

The rest of the panel bids 4H, and none of the 4H bidders passes if 4S comes around to them undoubled.

Fluffy: 4H, 5D. Its a double fit hand, and I have enough to go to the 5 level. Partner is on lead against 5♠, so make it clear for him what the lead we want is.
A direct 5D or 5H is not recomended, not only because it shows a different hand, but also because bidding 4Sover 4H leaks close to zero info anyway, so just for a chance of buying it cheap bid 4H now.
5D next is obviously lead-directing, because I didn't do anything stronger on the previous round.

Nigel: 4H then 5D over 4S
I am willing to bid up to 5H and would like a diamond lead if they continue to 5S. Slam is not impossible but I think 4D followed by 5H over 4S is too encouraging with this hand. Since I can direct the desired lead without suggesting slam I would prefer to do that.

Adam: 4H. I am going to bid 5D over 4S to (hopefully) get a diamond lead against 5S if it comes. A direct 4D could work, but this sounds like it might be a slam try and I'm also not convinced I want to sell to 4S even if I'm getting a diamond lead. I would've bid 4H at first turn, which just might shut opponents out of the auction.

Michael: 4H and then 5D over 4S. 4D would show a strong hand with at least a slight hope for slam.

Paul: 4H. Easy first bid. Then 5D. If they bid 4S then I am bidding 5H, but does not cost to highlight the diamond lead in case they bid on to 5S.

I agree. It may be best to bid 4C as Fred does to give partner a better chance to double 4S, but if partner passes over 4S then we should bid, and it looks right to bid 5D on the way to 5H. 5D is more likely to help partner than to help the opponents.

Scores:
4H, 5D = 100 (6)
4C, 5D = 100 (1)
4D, 5H = 80 (3)
4H, 5H = 60 (2)
4C, 5H = 60 (0)
Pass, 5H = 40 (1)
4C, Pass = 30 (1?)
Direct 5H = 20 (0)

Again Fred is all by himself, but this time I gave him also the top score as 4C followed by 5D has almost the same effect as 4H followed by 5D. I don't think that 4D followed by 5H asks for a diamond lead, but this is how two of the panelists intended it.

[kgr]

AlexJonson, on 2011-June-01, 04:42, said:

If I remember my choice correctly, I felt after bidding 1H..4H, it was time to pass and let partner take a view after his cue bid.

Exactly the same for me. (including the remember part)

[JLOGIC]

I would 4C pass fwiw, didnt see part 2

[y66]

Quote

Fred: I will bid 4C now. In the (unlikely IMO) event that my partner DBLs 4S then I will Pass. Otherwise I will bid 5D. Though I hardly have a typical hand for this call, 4C should help partner decide whether or not we should be defending 4S.

I'll search the forum for discussion of this problem type which I am not familiar with. Is a more typical hand one with better clubs and no spade ace?

@Frances - how do you play 4C here?

[awm]

y66, on 2011-June-03, 06:41, said:

I'll search the forum for discussion of this problem type which I am not familiar with. Is a more typical hand one with better clubs and no spade ace?

@Frances - how do you play 4C here?

The idea is that holding a two-suiter, I want to compete more if we have a double fit and sell out if our side suits are not working. So the 4♣ bid suggests that if partner has club length/values we want to be at the five-level, whereas if partner's values are elsewhere (i.e. diamonds) we might want to double the opponents or in any case defend. The more typical hand is probably a 5/5 or 6/4 with values in suits though; personally I don't like 4♣ here because with seven hearts I want to compete over 4♠ regardless of partner's club holding, and because my JTxx clubs would play pretty well opposite a singleton or small doubleton on the other side.

[benlessard]

5H no comments. I cannot really afford to make cue bid at the 4 level since it would setup forcing passes and i dont think i want to be forced to play 5Sx or 6H. But i really hate the 1H overcall. For me this is a 4H or 3H hand.