[Phil]

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[phil_20686]

Ill bid here but i dont feel great about it.

[rduran1216]

partner is either 4414 or 4423, big fan of my ace of diamonds for offense. I bid 3H

[RunemPard]

Where do you get this partner holding 4 spades from? A more likely holding is something like 3415, 3424, 2425, or 2434.

[RunemPard]

Regarding the bid...I am expecting the hearts to split 4/1, but I still like going to 3. The majority of the remaining HCP appear to be with our LHO. We have 2 entries to our hand + a possible spade ruff entry. I feel more confident about gaining some tricks knowing this.

[quiddity]

I would pass but it feels close.

[wank]

i don't see the temptation to bid at all - hearts splitting poorly with our hand being overruffed in spades makes bidding terrible imo.

i do see a temptation to X though. i agree that partner probably has 4 spades (LHO didn't raise, and RHO would probably just repeat his spades with a 6 at MPs) which makes our diamond pips very hot defensive cards.

i'm inclined to say i would X it, but that may well be a case of paper tigering, after all it's a very small target you're aiming for, i.e. -1.

now what to lead? Lots of creative options available. I'll try the ace of hearts.

[JLOGIC]

This one is much closer than the other one. There is a huge difference in competing over the 2 level with 2 small in their suit and a fit (often the right thing to do), and the 3 level (rarely the right thing to do with no shape).

Personally, I would pass, they might not have a fit which is a big consideration to me (this sequence is often a 5-2 fit), and our diamond honors are very defensive. AT9x of hearts and Axxx of diamonds I would bid since I have much less defense and more offense (given the likely bad heart split). Being vul is obviously bad, we could get doubled pretty easily (by either hand), and if we aren't we might go down 2 anyways.

[Phil]

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The defense lost its way a little. I led a club to the J and Q. Declarer drew three rounds of trump and I pitched a heart on the 3rd. She exited a heart, and I did not unblock on the 3rd round, so she pitched a diamond forcing me to play a diamond or a club, so we were +100.

Even if I pitch a diamond on the 3rd round of trump, declarer can establish a diamond trick by force, even if it isn't obvious early where the diamond pictures are.

+100 was a 25.5 on a 75 top.

If you bid 3♥, +140 is 53.5.

If you double 2♠, +200 is a 69.

[JLOGIC]

We also played 2S -1. Unlucky, partner had no spade values and nutterball hearts, your diamonds were valuable on offense, hearts were 3-2, and they had 8 spades. Again, getting 1/3rd of the MP on a hand like this is not a disaster. Some hands you will have some decisions and you will get average minus. It happens. Doubling would just be absurd.

Getting 35 % on a hand like this has never lost anyone an event, and IIRC this was a hand from the qualifiers anyways.

[rduran1216]

 JLOGIC, on 2012-July-26, 22:00, said:

We also played 2S -1. Unlucky, partner had no spade values and nutterball hearts, your diamonds were valuable on offense, hearts were 3-2, and they had 8 spades. Again, getting 1/3rd of the MP on a hand like this is not a disaster. Some hands you will have some decisions and you will get average minus. It happens. Doubling would just be absurd.

Getting 35 % on a hand like this has never lost anyone an event, and IIRC this was a hand from the qualifiers anyways.

even if he has spade values they are poorly placed though. I mean can partner really be 3433 on this auction, yeah maybe, but you could rearrange his HCP around and 3H would still be the good call, the A109x and Axxx and xx spade are worth 3H in and of themselves in this auction IMO.

[CSGibson]

We were 2♠ -2. Which sucked, of course - they defended it so that I played the entire thing out of my hand, club lead, and then they played passively

[JLOGIC]

 CSGibson, on 2012-July-27, 14:34, said:

We were 2♠ -2. Which sucked, of course - they defended it so that I played the entire thing out of my hand, club lead, and then they played passively

You still could have guessed the diamonds

[JLOGIC]

At my table it went club to the jack, 3 rounds of trumps, diamond. Now the only suit they could play was hearts, perhaps they could have masked the honors better but it was obvious to play for Qx.

[CSGibson]

 JLOGIC, on 2012-July-27, 14:52, said:

You still could have guessed the diamonds

I could have, but didn't, alas.