[quikwal]

E-W VULNERABLE, N-S NOT VUL.

NORTH HAND

[img]http://https://sites.google.com/site/biddingcontroversy/home/a-bridge-problem-one[/img]

SOUTH HAND

https://sites.google...home/b-hand-two

THE BIDDING
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1D DBL P 1H
P 1NT 2D ?

WHAT SHOULD SOUTH BID?
IF YOU SAY (2H), SEE THE REST OF THE BIDDING BELOW:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1D DBL P 1H
P 1NT 2D 2H
P P 3D P
P DBL P ?

WHAT SHOULD SOUTH BID NOW?

FINAL RESULT
E-W WERE ONLY DOWN ONE WHILE N-S CAN MAKE (4H)..
WHO WAS TO BLAME (NORTH) OR (SOUTH) OR (BOTH)?

SEVERAL NORTH JUST BID (4H) AFTER SOUTH BID HEARTS TWICE.

[helene_t]

hi quikwal, welcome to the forum.

North's 1NT bid is not good without a diamond stopper. he could try 2♦ instead.

I think you will get more response if you show the two hands inline instead of linking to images of them. By the way, the first link is not a link.

Also, to make your post more pleasant to read, avoid unnesecary BLOCK CAPITALS.

Finally, "Natural bidding" or "interesting bride hands" may be a better choice of forum than the expert forum.

[BillHiggin]

---

To save others from looking up the images.

[Cyberyeti]

Having only bid 1♥ I've limited my hand and there's been debate on these forums which IIRC concluded that with 4-4 in the majors and a bust you respond 1♠ so 3♦ and 2♠ will IMO be >4♥ 4♠ (not sure what X is for you), not sure of the difference, but the worst of these is probably the right bid. I would have doubled over 3♦ to show 4♠, this should be our hand.

[mikeh]

I think there are some interesting facets to this hand.

I agree with N's initial actions, including the shape and value-defining 1N, despite the lack of a stopper, and despite the fact that it conveys incorrect information to S about having diamond values.

I agree with S's initial 1♥.

Over 2♦, I think S should be a little more aggressive. I don't think he paid full due to the 6=4 shape and he ought to bid 3♥. Note that I reject the idea of bidding spades. The suit is too weak to suggest as trump, and we are not likely to make 4♠ if hearts don't come home, and indeed we can easily see that hearts can play a lot better than spades even with a 4=4 spade fit. If N's spades aren't very strong, maybe we can pitch spade losers on his minor suit winners.

I give most of the responsibility for missing a reasonable, tho far from cold, game to S for the 2♥ call, which is, imo, an underbid. However, N isn't completely off the hook. His double basically barred S from pulling, given that he had bid 1N earlier. Meanwhile, his xxxx in diamonds had made his hand grow up in hearts remarkably, since East's delayed (fatuous?) 2♦ call had to guarantee no more than doubleton diamond in S and a stiff was entirely possible. That meant that all of N's hcp were likely to be working, assuming partner held 5 hearts and trump behaved....and clearly S held at least 5 hearts. So I think N ought to bid 3♥. Whether that would have persuaded S to bid on is another question altogether. Since S had shown some conservatism already, it is quite possible that he would have seen 3♥ as merely an attempt to buy the contract and would have passed.

[PhilKing]

I would raise 2♥ to three on the North hand. It's true that I don't have any real extras, but I have great controls, a good fit, and no wasted cards in diamonds.

I don't particularly blame South for not doing more, since the hands may not be fitting well at all.

[Free]

TRUE EXPERTS KNOW HOW TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK, so I blame YOU!

[Zelandakh]

deleted rubbish posted from work.

[beautyleg]

The first double was acceptable(3+support on all the other suits) although it's not a full take-out one. Nonetheless, 1NT came to be a selfish and awful bid because north had no stopper in diamonds but 3strong support(AKJ) on your suit. The penalty double to 3D is another awful bid. He thought AKAKA meaned 5tricks without considering singletons. [removed]

This post has been edited by diana_eva: 2015-August-14, 02:47

[phil_20686]

I would have bid 3H initially with the south hand. Opposite a t/o double a jump here does not show a good hand, since all inv+ hands would go through 2D. It shows a pre-emptive hand. Something that looks a bit like a weak two only weaker. 6+h 3-6 points, usually not 6322. This is a reasonably bad hand even for that, but two things might be going on here:

(1) Partner has a classic t/o double and opponents have the balance of the points and a huge diamond fit. We should be preempting with an eye to making the right 5/5 decision against 5d.
(2) Partner has a strong balanced hand. In this case, its important to tell him that I have a weak hand whose only strength is hearts. He will then know that I have a hand that is mostly about hearts, and will make a good decision about a raise. Also this might give the opener a problem, as it is dangerous for him to bid over 3H.

EDIT: Unlike some others I have no problem with the 1N bid - it gets your hand off your chest and stops aren't that important after a 1m opener, rho most likely just a wk NT with 4 diamonds - but after the opponents bid 2d and partner bids 2H your hand has now got a lot better. Your partner is expecting to see diamond values, and you now know with almost compete certainty that he has a diamond shortage opposite your xxxx, I would have bid game now with the north hand over 3D. I think double is really bad, and shows a failure to re-evaluate your hand in the context of what you have learned when the auction comes back around. Definitely north is to blame for missing game. South was in a tough spot and 1h and 2h cannot really be blamed I think. He thought this was a part-score hand and that you had wasted diamond values. When you axed 3D he thought you had scored a goal on a part-score hand.