[Fluffy]

♠QJxx
♥Axx
♦xxx
♣KJx


all vul IMPs RHO deals

(pass)- pass -( 2 ♥ )-pass
(pass)-double-(pass)- 3♠
(pass)-???

[rhm]

I bid 4♠.

My philosophy is to invite heavy, accept often. I do not like to stop one level below game if the situation is unclear.
My honors look well located and I could hardly have more.
Partner's hand is not so well defined, but if his second suit is clubs I like my chances. If he can invite opposite a passed hand I accept

Rainer Herrmann

[whereagles]

Assuming 3S is indeed an invite, I expect pard to have some hearts and only 4 spades.

There is thus a high likelyhood of finding a 4342 or even a mirroring 4333 across, so my instinct tells me to PASS.

[caky_]

i would bid 4♠ too..

3♠ must be an invite if u had max pass with ♠.. it seems like ur partner had with HXX in ♥ and do not prefer X with 13-14 count ..

[mikeh]

I don't understand pass.

Forget about trying to picture partner's hand.....he has asked us a question. Do we have a maximum for our double, given that we passed originally?

How can anyone see this as less than a maximum? We have 4....count them, 4 trump. We have 11 hcp...is there anyone who would have passed with say QJxx AJx xxx KJx? I don't see many such players on these forums.

There are times when we should be trying to construct hands in order to make close decisions, but this isn't, imo, one of them....we are red at imps, partner wants to take a shot at game opposite a max, and we have a max. End of story. Will I be surprised to see game fail? No. So what?

[quiddity]

This doesn't look like a "maximum" to me; I think the question of whether to balance in the first place was pretty close. Still, I think I would bid game. Maybe partner is more likely to act initially with short clubs than with short diamonds - he could be 4315 and afraid to double. In that case our club honors will be welcome.

[whereagles]

mikeh, on 2012-January-19, 13:37, said:

Forget about trying to picture partner's hand.....he has asked us a question. Do we have a maximum for our double, given that we passed originally?

That's a bit dogmatic, no? Pard may be thinking the other way around: "I have a max for my pass over 2H, so let me tell that and bid 3S." Perhaps he has like a good 13 or 14 HCP with 4 spades. Do you want to be in game in that context? Sure, you may have 25 HCP but will game be good? I'm not so sure.

On the other way, it's red at imps, so...

[Phil]

Unlike MikeH, I will try to go through the exercise of attempting to reconstruct partner's hand type. My gut says "4♠", but maybe we can back that up.

It seems we can infer that partner had a flaw for not competing over 2♥, but chooses to jump after our balancing double. I think a few possibilities are a 4=3=(2-4) 13 or maybe 14 that doesn't want to make an offshape double. Kxxx Qxx Ax Axxx. 4♠ is touchy opposite that but I think on the auction you'd like to be there. By the way, my preference would be to bid 3♥ with this hand type, not 3♠.

What about a 10-12 with really bad spades? Txxxx xx AKx Axx is not everyone's idea of an overcall, but its a funny bid opposite a balancing double too. Txxxx xx AKxx Ax looks more reasonable. This hand is on the same finesse, and dodging a 2nd trump loser, so 4♠ looks OK. To me, this feels just right for 3♠.

[FrancesHinden]

Do you still play lebensohl in this auction? (I do, it's useful to distinguish various invites and game forces)
If so, what's the difference between a jump to 3S and 2NT followed by 3S? For me the former is an invite with 5 spades and the latter an invite with 4.

I'm more nervous about bidding game opposite an invite with 5 spades, because partner couldn't overcall 2S, while there are plenty of quite strong hands with only 4 spades that would have passed 2H.

[gnasher]

I don't think this is close to a maximum. QJxx x Kxxxx KJx would be a maximum.

[bigbenvic]

gnasher, on 2012-January-19, 17:45, said:

I don't think this is close to a maximum. QJxx x Kxxxx KJx would be a maximum.

I think the key reason I'm bidding game here is that I have the A♥ (and it's imps).
Pards sounds like he has some issues (he didn't bid direct) and usually that implies 2 or 3 ♥ to at best the Q and/or a flattish hand. yes we could be mirrored 4333 which is why I'm thinking about bidding 3nt.

Think I'd bid 4♠ at the table but what would 3nt show here? Flat hand, ♥ stopper and an 11 count sounds reasonable., would allow partner to make a better decision (blame passing???) and 3nt might be the only making game.

[MrAce]

When i looked at the hand i thought exactly as Rainer and Mikeh did, and i even upvoted them. But Andy has a good point.

Also i am asking myself, knowing me coming from pass, what kind of hand pd has that couldnt act over 2♥ but is inviting me now ? He deffinetely doesnt have 5♠ imo. I predict pd has about 13-15 hcp balanced or semi balanced hand which was not suitable to make a suit or NT overcall or DBL. Hands like..

AKxx
xxx
AQxx
xx

AKxx
xxxx
AQx
Qx

AKxx
Kxx
xxxx
Ax

Etc etc, my point is those hands dont fit well (some of them do) with what we have as much as the max hand Andy suggested.

I would still bid 4 spades tho IMPS+vulnerable words in same sentence are more than enough for some of us to bid game