Saturday, August 30, 2008

Great Hand

Here's an interesting hand from Jason that could lead to some good discussion. you are red vs white in 2nd seat with:
Qxx
AK9xxx
xxx
x
RHO opens 3 clubs, you pass and LHO ups the ante to 5 clubs, which partner doubles. Pass to you.

4 comments:

Memphis MOJO said...

I guess I'd bid 6 hearts . Bidding 5H shows a long suit and some points, but doesn't really do justice (the sixth heart is powerful). If it goes down, you should quickly apologize and change the subject. If it makes more than 6H, pard has to do the rest of the work.

Kenny Z said...

I always seem to be the conservative voice on these posts, but I think 5H is enough. There are so many great hands partner could have where 5 is the limit, and may even be an overbid. Note that he does not even need to have this much for his X:

AKX QJX AKXXX X
AKXXX JX AKXX QX
AKXX QJXX KQJX X
AXXXX QXX AQX KQ

and there are many more. Sure, there are also some hands where 6H makes, but I think bidding it here is, in the long run, a losing proposition.

Memphis MOJO said...

My first comment was a vote for 6H, but I'm reconsidering. When you get preempted, sometimes you just have to try and survive, something 5H rates to do.

I discussed this deal with the walkers. One of them voted for 6H, the other for 5H. After discussing it, the 6H guy began leaning toward a 5H bid.

The solution is to forbid the nasty opponents from preempting against you!

Becker said...

I'm also an original 6 heart bidder who has since changed opinions. As zuckerberg said, there are tons of hands partner can have and he isn't really expecting you to pull the double very often. When I first looked at the problem I considered it a close call between 5 and 6 hearts. One excellent player that we posed the problem to also thought it was a close call, but between pass and 5 hearts. That's a very disciplined, well-reasoned answer. I'm glad to say that I've learned a bit by looking at this problem!