Toronto Regional, Day One

[mczen]

We made it to the semis of the first knockout. Go team!

red vs. white, 2nd seat, IMPs

JT98xxxx J Jxx T

(P)   P?   (1H)   1S
(2S)   ?

Do you pass in second chair?

What's your bid?

red vs. white, 3rd seat, IMPs, opponents silent

Q JTx Jx KQ98xxx

1S - 1N [semi-forcing];
3D - ?

Comments

[jianantonic]

Yes I pass in 2nd seat. 4S. Down 2 at the most, so it's safe, and if pard has AKQxx and out, they've got 7H. If pard has AKQxx and even some side values, they're probably still making 6. But I want them to struggle about going to 5. If they don't have 5H, then the chances are very good we're making 4S or 4SX.

3D is gf, yes? I think 4C is my next bid, and I can try 5C over whatever pard bids next, but I suspect we'll play 5D in the end...? On the other hand...if 3D promises a big hand, 3N might be a decent gamble here. Assuming pard has no club values, we can reasonably place a heart honor in his hand, which makes 3N look okay. Better than a 5L contract where there's no fit. Also what sort of spade length is promised so far? Just 5, right? If p says
4S over any of my choices, I think pass might be best.

[nobleshore]

1. 4s because I think bidding more will just push them into a making slam or grand. I'm hoping they stop in 5h or 6h. Even if they cant legitimately make slam/grand the opening ruff and sluff could help them. The most likely result for us in spades is 9 or 10 tricks. BTW I think passing is a HUGE error with an 8 card SPADE suit and a singleton heart. I would open 2s and show a min if asked. Look how much better off we would be here if we had just opened 2s.

2. 4c, I'm not creative enough to do anything other than bid my good 7 card suit.

[jjbrr]

i agree with noble. 4S is plenty, and bidding originally is quite appealing.

and theres nothing more frustrating to me than when partner has a good 7-card suit and never mentions it once. no real issue, to me.

[agh]

I would bid 3S on the first board, despite being three tricks off. If I had passed, I'd bid 3S this time... I think the opponents would figure out any psych, and 3S is just plausible enough it might be true.

On the second one I like 3NT, and you know I would tend to bid 4c on these types of hands. I've got lots of interior values but few prospects for slam.

[agh]

Oh, and I found another alert stick.

Heh.

[mczen]

Where was it?

omg

[nobleshore]

re: the second hand, my wife had almost this exact hand in this exact auction (change the h10 to diamonds) playing with me over the weekend. 5c=, I had stiff ace and trumps were 4-1.