[CamHenry]

Here's an auction that with one fewer pass might look like a sensible way to reach 6♣:

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I'm not quite sure how a 3♣ balance from a passed hand ended up going for 800 in exactly this fashion...

[gszes]

these kinds of hands show the standards players have for when they make
balancing bids and therein lies the trouble. The partner of the 3c bidder might
make a 3c bid with say KTxxxx and since they are void they are desparately
doing everything the can to "improve" on what they think is a looming disaster.

the player that balanced should just give up since they are obviously playing with
someone that trusts them not one whit. The 4n bid only makes things worse since
a simple 5c might have held this to -500 so both are to blame but west is out to
lunch if they think p has much besides clubs for this bidding.

[wank]

well you've not shown us the hands but it's obviously west who was absurd.

[ggwhiz]

I would NEVER declare on this auction and would NEVER bid 4nt along the way as a safety play to make sure.

[PhilKing]

 ggwhiz, on 2013-July-18, 15:54, said:

I would NEVER declare on this auction and would NEVER bid 4nt along the way as a safety play to make sure.

Yep, you need the option of putting pard in 7♠ with no escape.

[rmnka447]

3 ♣ really just says that balancer has ♣. Opener could have opened with a 3 card ♣ suit, but it's also just possible that the opening bid was a real suit. So, the 3 ♣ bidder ought to have at least 6 decent ♣s for the 3 ♣ balance.

A balance in a suit also tends to deny opening values.

The other side had an opening bid and response, so both sides rate to have about half the points -- making the hand a part score hand.

West likely is void or singleton in ♣.

The first rule of misfit situations is to get out of the auction as quickly and cheaply as possible. (Occasionally, this might mean missing out on a better contract. But more often, this approach just keeps from raising the size of the set penalty. )

West should only bid over the balance if holding a suit which is likely to play better than balancer's suit. However, West had a chance on the first round to make an overcall at the one level in the three remaining suits and didn't. So that's highly unlikely.

West should realize that any HCP in his hand are more likely to be useful to his partner, then balancer's ♣ values will be to West if West declares.

[Free]

Only reasonable explanation is that West is a GIB and 3♣ was explained as something artificial. On the other hand, if West was in fact a GIB, it would persist up to the 7-level (happened to me once after a wrong super accept of a transfer)...