[SimonFa]

MPs RvR.

Dummy

Spoiler

♠K5
♥KJ8
♦KJ542
♣842

20% in a big field. 3NT was cold when LHO's long spades were blocked.

Me
♠A4
♥T4
♦QT
♣AQJT975

(P) P (P) 3C
All pass

My thinking went something like:

1C lets ops find a Major fit and may next bid is likely to be 3C. 2C is out so I might as well start with 3C.

So was it the right bid and I was unlucky or the wrong bid? If the wrong bid how wrong?

As always, thanks in advance,

Simon

[dwar0123]

There is no weak preempting in 4th seat, it generally shows a minimum opening hand with a long suit. Partner should perhaps have bid 3nt.

At least that is my understanding for 2 level bids in 4th seat, see no reason that it wouldn't apply to 3♣ as well.

[mgoetze]

dwar0123, on 2012-May-05, 03:07, said:

There is no weak preempting in 4th seat, it generally shows a minimum opening hand with a long suit. Partner should perhapsdefinitely have bid 3nt.

FYP.

[Antrax]

Quote

3NT was cold when LHO's long spades were blocked

I'm sorry, but what does this mean? Do you mean spades were xxxxxx vs. QJT or something?

[SimonFa]

Antrax, on 2012-May-05, 04:07, said:

I'm sorry, but what does this mean? Do you mean spades were xxxxxx vs. QJT or something?

Yes

[blackshoe]

When I first got back into bridge after a twenty year hiatus, I played some rubber bridge at lunchtime at work. I well remember the bidding on one hand... I had a very nice three level preempt of spades (for say first or second seat), so I opened 3♠. Unfortunately, I was in fourth seat. After the smoke cleared, one of my colleagues, who was kibbing, asked me "why would you want to preempt in fourth seat?" I thought about it for a minute (probably should have done this before bidding ) and replied "I don't know".

[ggwhiz]

I agree with all of the above as to your partner having a 3nt bid BUT....

As a matter of style we pass many more flatish 11 counts (or flat as a pancake 12 counts) in my regular partnership than most so a 1♣ opening works best for us. Pard may have a problem with any of the unbid suits that we can deal with in a slower auction.

Sometimes we let the opps in and hammer them or lose a bunch but it seems to be 50-50. More like 60-40 for us given our opening bid style.

ps. Blackshoe, it took you a full minute?

[nigel_k]

I would not bid 3NT with the responding hand. It has no fitting club honour and no aces. Even with everything else fitting well it's basically a 50% game.

[blackshoe]

ggwhiz, on 2012-May-05, 15:43, said:

ps. Blackshoe, it took you a full minute?

No. It's a figure of speech. Probably more like ten seconds, at most. Also, consider that at that point, I hadn't played bridge at all in over twenty years.

[jbaptistec]

nigel_k, on 2012-May-05, 16:50, said:

I would not bid 3NT with the responding hand. It has no fitting club honour and no aces.

It has 3-card support so you can count 5 tricks at the very least, opener cannot have less than QJT 7th (sometimes KQT 6th as the 2-level "preempt" is impossible).
And it has controls everywhere, so even if you are missing all 4 Aces 3NT should still be at least a fair contract as opener will have values.

nigel_k, on 2012-May-05, 16:50, said:

Even with everything else fitting well it's basically a 50% game.

Which means it's definitely worth bidding it, regardless of the type of scoring.

[1eyedjack]

jbaptistec, on 2012-May-05, 19:54, said:

Which means it's definitely worth bidding it borderline

FYP

[gszes]

The 3c bid was very reasonable in 4th seat. You have
an independent suit and enough tricks to make 3n and
rarely 5c feasible opposite a passed hand. Your p
should realize what you are doing and bid 3n. There is
no sense in opening this hand if you have nothing more
than say xx xx xx KQJT9xx the odds heavily favor the opps
and we are bett off just passing. This means the preempt
is actually a game invite with an independent suit but with
a minimum power hand (like yours). Well done.