[Jinksy]

On the first board, ATB:

xx
9xx
AKJT
AKxx

vs

Txxx
AKTxxx
x
Jx

N dealt, and the bidding was constructive:
1N (15-17) 2D
2H 3H
P

Atb. Possible relevant considerations:
We had Smolen available
2S over 2H undiscussed
Opener can xfer break naturally with a max, or a direct 4H bid to show min with 4 card support and a ruffing value


On the second board, two questions:

1) You hold
Q7
KJ
Axxx
AQJT8

Teams, love all. Dealer is to your right, and opens 1H. Your call?

2) Another ATB. At the table, the call was X. LHO bid 3H, P bid 4S, which I think was passed out. P's hand was
J9863
x
K
K97xxx

This fared poorly when opener showed up with 5611 dist. Any blame? Or reasonable bidding by both and bad luck?

[the_clown]

1. I would certainly force to game. With these good ♥s I am not going to investigate the 4-4 ♠ fit and will just texas 4♦.

2. I would never X, my choices are 1N and 2♣. Its close, but I vote 2♣. The suit is nice and KJ as a stoper is not best. But apparantly I have a real problem if it comes 3/4♥-p-p back to me.

[aguahombre]

1. The invite is fine. Opener has a roughing value, and solid combining primes in the minors; and he didn't accept?

2. 2C, and we get overboard at 5C, while they can make 4H.

[wank]

inviting is far from fine. south has a clear game bid. on the second hand, south has an equally clear 1NT.

[Fluffy]

with 6331 and a suit headed AK10 you already have a game drive, the 4th spade* in the 6331 hand just makes it totally obvious.

* The 4th spade is very powerful, I would say that it is worth something around 1 and 2 HCP in a 3613 hand.

[lowerline]

Jinksy, on 2013-January-20, 16:59, said:

On the first board, ATB:

xx
9xx
AKJT
AKxx

vs

Txxx
AKTxxx
x
Jx

N dealt, and the bidding was constructive:
1N (15-17) 2D
2H 3H
P

Atb. Possible relevant considerations:
We had Smolen available
2S over 2H undiscussed
Opener can xfer break naturally with a max, or a direct 4H bid to show min with 4 card support and a ruffing value


On the second board, two questions:

1) You hold
Q7
KJ
Axxx
AQJT8

Teams, love all. Dealer is to your right, and opens 1H. Your call?

2) Another ATB. At the table, the call was X. LHO bid 3H, P bid 4S, which I think was passed out. P's hand was
J9863
x
K
K97xxx

This fared poorly when opener showed up with 5611 dist. Any blame? Or reasonable bidding by both and bad luck?

1) With Smolen available I would have used it to get to 4♥. South's hand is good enough for game opposite a strong nt.

2) I would have overcalled 1nt iso double. Though 4♠ is aggressive, it is the double that caused it.

Steven

[Codo]

1. I had accepted the invite with these prime values and a side doubleton despite the low point count , but I would not critize someone who declined too hard.
But I cannot accept only an invitation with the south hand. Bid game, no smolen, no tricks, just a way to show that you want to play 4 ♥, whatever this is in your world...

2. It is 2 ♣, second choice one NT, distant third choice pass. No other choice.

[helene_t]

On the first one I think both players underbid, especially North.

On the second one I think both players bid reasonably. South obviously could chose to bid 1NT or 2♣ instead and personally I would prefer either to double, but not by a large margin. North cannot do anything but bidding 4♠ and it is the price you pay for doubling with such a hand.

[dake50]

1. As others, 6-suit to AK with shape insists 4H.
Primes: AK+AK accepts.
2. T/O Dbl NOT ASKING OTHER MAJOR RISKS JUST SUCH RESULTS.
Take your bad result in stride, since you (I assume) think
this hand is too strong to overcall (so, must X 1st).
What do you play overcall, then double shows?
Good suit for overcall AND non-minimum, but not accenting
other major seems correct.

[lalldonn]

First hand both. My instinct was south more since it's such an obvious game force, but whatever, both.

Second hand just overcall 1nt.

[Free]

Agree with lalldonn. First I'd GF with the South hand and I'd accept with the North hand. But GF South is easier than accepting on a minimum. Still both are to blame. Second hand is a 1NT overcall, I don't understand Dbl.

[SteveMoe]

Agree with Fee, Lalldon and many others. South should force to game and the second hand is a 1N overcall.
Add that on first hand I prefer 2♣stayman, followed by delayed texas transfers over a 2♦ reply.
1N - 2♣
2♦ - 4♦
4♥

[mgoetze]

What's this doing in the Expert-Class Bridge forum?

[Jinksy]

I discussed the second hand with MickyB, saying I was concerned about the weakness of the H stopper for NT. His response was that though it’s not ideal, having towards the upper end of the range for your bid compensates.

I wanted to ask a further question about that reasoning, but he had to go before I get the chance:

If partner invites after your NT overcall, given that you’ve already ‘bid’ those extra points to justify the NT call in the first place, does that mean you’ll then turn down the invitation? If not, what explains the apparent inconsistency?

[gnasher]

Jinksy, on 2013-January-23, 07:53, said:

I discussed the second hand with MickyB, saying I was concerned about the weakness of the H stopper for NT. His response was that though it's not ideal, having towards the upper end of the range for your bid compensates.

I wanted to ask a further question about that reasoning, but he had to go before I get the chance:

If partner invites after your NT overcall, given that you've already 'bid' those extra points to justify the NT call in the first place, does that mean you'll then turn down the invitation? If not, what explains the apparent inconsistency?

Perhaps Mike's argument was that the extra strength makes it more likely that we have game values, so there is more upside to bidding?

I'd bid game because I expect it to be a good contract, and because some of the time that 3NT goes down 2NT will also fail. For example, I want to be in game opposite ♠A and ♦K, or ♦KQ and ♠J, or ♠AK, or ♠A ♦J and ♣K. When you have a good idea where your tricks are coming from, it makes sense to count them rather than counting an abstraction like high-card points.

[MrAce]

-First one i also think both players underbid, but mostly south. We would start stayman though, I open 1NT with 5 card majors and do not require to other major to be 3 card when we have 5 card majors to open 1NT, so basically we can stayman and if pd response 2♠ or 2♥ i am fine, if he bids 2♦ i will bid 4♣ showing 6♥+4♠. Downside to this aproach is to play 4-4 spade fit when 6-2 or 6-3 was playing better and/or giving too much info to opps when you bid game.

- I start 1NT, as i said in the past, regardless of how flawed 1NT opening or overcall might be, it is usually much better than any other calls for many reasons.

mgoetze, on 2013-January-22, 05:47, said:

What's this doing in the Expert-Class Bridge forum?

I was thinking the same thing untill i read some of the replies from players that i consider "descent". Helene is a very good player imo and she has diferent opinion than us about who has the most fault in hand 1. Aguaman says invitation is fine with hand 1 also, so i think these contrast of views by good players qualifies this topic for expert forum, at least in BBF. Although i think it is more suitable for I/A section, it is still far from being one of the Rduran topics.