[Jinksy]

♠ A K
♥ Q J 6 5 3
♦ J
♣ Q 10 8 6 4

You open 1♥, LHO overcalls 2♣, P bids 2♠ (forcing), which comes back to you. I don't know the vul - this was passed to me. Assume scoring is some form of imps. What's your call?

[nullve]

I don't think 2N is a lie in any way, but 3♠ is.

[gszes]

there is nothing "robust" about this 13 count. I have a great deal of pride in my spade AK and club stop but nothing much else. Bidding more than 2n seems wrong and catering to spades with no worries in clubs seems like heading in the wrong direction.

[blackshoe]

I can't think of any "other" I would want to bid here. So the question is which is the least worst bad bid. I pick 2NT. I don't like it, but I like the other options less.

[rmnka447]

I'm in with the 2 NT crowd.

It isn't great to have to bid it as NT may be a terrible contract because of transportation issue. But what's the alternative?

OTOH, unless LHO has made a 2 ♣ overcall on a really bad suit, partner ought to have some good ♦ values and possibly something in ♥ beyond anything held in ♠. 2 ♠ was a forcing bid after all.

2 NT also frees up the whole 3 level for partner to describe his/her hand. If partner rebids a major we play game in that suit.

[ggwhiz]

A VERY uncomfortable 2nt bid that may present an even worse conundrum coming up.

[WesleyC]

Maybe i'm crazy, but i'm very comfortable with 2NT here. It's economical, describes my hand relatively accurately and if we have a better contract than 3NT we've got plenty of room to find it!

[wank]

Passing 2s would be a decent gamble particularly non vul.

If you're too scared to pass of course you bid 2nt. This part is a non-question. Anything else would be ridiculous.

[daffydoc]

For the one person who said pass - if thats your action hope you have a large stable of partners cause you will lose this one quickly - one CANNOT pass forcing bids and expect partner to be understanding about it - it would a a unilateral action which serious players cannot abide. Better you bid something and perhaps land in a horrible spot then be right and lose a partner. Daffydoc

[zillahandp]

3hts nothing else even close to consideration,,

[wank]

daffydoc, on 2016-March-21, 06:26, said:

For the one person who said pass - if thats your action hope you have a large stable of partners cause you will lose this one quickly - one CANNOT pass forcing bids and expect partner to be understanding about it - it would a a unilateral action which serious players cannot abide. Better you bid something and perhaps land in a horrible spot then be right and lose a partner. Daffydoc

This is the standard reply (which i fully expected to get). All it shows is a lack of moral courage. Should you be trying to find the bid which has the biggest positive expectation or which has the smallest chance of annoying partner?

If you make unilateral decisions too frequently you're probably a very deluded person, but sometimes constant buck-passing doesn't get the job done and someone needs to stick their neck out.

If we got a bad result on the back of it, I would expect my partner to appreciate I was trying to get us the best result on the board just as I expect the same of him whenever he takes any decision, mundane or otherwise.

As for the expectation from passing versus bidding on, I assess the former as having a better return on average non-vul. You should devote your time to proving me wrong.

[nullve]

wank, on 2016-March-21, 09:58, said:

This is the standard reply (which i fully expected to get). All it shows is a lack of moral courage. Should you be trying to find the bid which has the biggest positive expectation or which has the smallest chance of annoying partner?

If you make unilateral decisions too frequently you're probably a very deluded person, but sometimes constant buck-passing doesn't get the job done and someone needs to stick their neck out.

If we got a bad result on the back of it, I would expect my partner to appreciate I was trying to get us the best result on the board just as I expect the same of him whenever he takes any decision, mundane or otherwise.

Agree. It's a kind of bridge player's fallacy, committed in almost every thread on BBF, to think that just because an action can have silly outcomes, it must be wrong.

[ggwhiz]

wank, on 2016-March-21, 09:58, said:

All it shows is a lack of moral courage.

Au contraire mon chum.

I've seen countless partnerships disintegrate when the partner starts overbidding to compensate for impending moral courage and if I do it twice with the same partner the Director or a committee will roll back my successes if my partner so much as flutters an eyelash before they make that forcing bid.

Passing a reverse after having responded on a (the wrong) shapely 5 count is not in the same league as this one.

[zillahandp]

Pass says i dont trust you p, great but who else is on your side at the table? Utter tosh to pass.

[fourdad]

wank, on 2016-March-21, 09:58, said:

This is the standard reply (which i fully expected to get). All it shows is a lack of moral courage. Should you be trying to find the bid which has the biggest positive expectation or which has the smallest chance of annoying partner?

If you make unilateral decisions too frequently you're probably a very deluded person, but sometimes constant buck-passing doesn't get the job done and someone needs to stick their neck out.

If we got a bad result on the back of it, I would expect my partner to appreciate I was trying to get us the best result on the board just as I expect the same of him whenever he takes any decision, mundane or otherwise.

As for the expectation from passing versus bidding on, I assess the former as having a better return on average non-vul. You should devote your time to proving me wrong.

"moral courage" What the heck is that in a card game? Are you a lawyer?

How could lying to you partner be "moral" anything?

[nullve]

fourdad, on 2016-March-21, 13:47, said:

"moral courage" What the heck is that in a card game? Are you a lawyer?

How could lying to you partner be "moral" anything?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courage,

especially:

"Courage (also called bravery, bravado or valour) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss."

[zillahandp]

Try foolhardy, lack of discipline, incomptence not courage,
Courage is not the right word, treachery, cowardice , deserting your only friend,
Or better still very very bad bridge.

[akwoo]

I don't think pass is right unless LHO is a very sound overcaller, but I don't think it's terrible.

However, if partner wants to pass on these hands, I think we're better off playing non-forcing free bids (and I'm happy to play them). This isn't an annoyance at breaking agreements so much as a recognition that we should be playing systems that match our natural inclinations.

[WesleyC]

wank, on 2016-March-21, 09:58, said:

Should you be trying to find the bid which has the biggest positive expectation or which has the smallest chance of annoying partner?

As for the expectation from passing versus bidding on, I assess the former as having a better return on average non-vul. You should devote your time to proving me wrong.

Although I agree in principle that both partners should be allowed to sometimes take speculative action, the fact that you are proposing to pass 2S on this hand suggests that maybe you're not ready for that kind of power...

Partner should have a relatively sound 2S bid because they have the option to double 2C and then convert to 2S and if partner has stretched in terms of HCP, then then they should have short clubs, extra spade length or both!

If partner rebids a non-forcing 3S, you have an obvious 4S raise.

Finally, holding 2 keycards and a diamond control, slam is absolutely in the picture. How about [QJT9xxx AKx xxx ---] or something similar?

If I held an actual minimum hand like [xx KQxxx Kx Kxxx] AND I had a hint from RHO's tempo that they might have some values, then pass *might* have some merit.

[nige1]

Jinksy, on 2016-March-20, 06:11, said:

♠ A K
♥ Q J 6 5 3
♦ J
♣ Q 10 8 6 4

You open 1♥, LHO overcalls 2♣, P bids 2♠ (forcing), which comes back to you. I don't know the vul - this was passed to me. Assume scoring is some form of imps. What's your call?

I rank

• 2N = NAT. Perhaps they won't lead a ♦.
• 3♠ = NAT. Susceptible to ♣ ruffs but could well win the post-mortem.
• 3♥ = NAT but daft.
• 3♣ = UCB and demented.
• Other e.g. Wank's Pass (or an urgent telephone summons) might be best of all.