What should I bid? - Best enquiry for June 2012
The best submission for June came from Max Henbest.
Hand: Vulnerable against Not
Vulnerable, Teams, IMPs
Comments: What do you bid directly and how
are you planning to bid if left hand opponent pushes on? What if partner pushes
on?
If you can, do you bid 6 at some stage?
Also, do you or do you not pass over 1 ?
Andy's Reply:
Hey Maxy!,
What do you bid directly and how are you planning to bid if left hand opponent
pushes on?
I would now bid 4 . If either of the opponents pushes on I will compete to 5. This could potentialy be a double game swing so there is no
chance that I am selling out to 5.
What if partner pushes on?
I highly doubt that partner will push on, but if they do then I'm certainly not
ashamed about my hand. I have a 7-4 along with a void and I was under pressure
with the 4 bid, so I'm not exactly promising the world with my 4 bid.
If you can, do you bid 6 at some stage?
Interesting question and it probably depends how you overcall at the 1 level
(e.g. what kind of hand have I denied for not overcalling 1?). Ideally partner will have a shape of something like 41xx or
31xx with their takeout double but I guess it's entirely possible that partner
might have a strong 2254 or something like that but that is something I don't
agree with. If I held such a hand the last thing I want to be doing is to
double and to hear partner compete with 4. So if partner is going to force to slam, say for example
partner bids 5NT pick a slam, I will bid 6 and not bother with the clubs. Typical shapes for partner to
be "picking a slam" would be 31(54) type hands where from their point of view
6m could be a much better fit, but given that I have seven of those spades I am
definitely going to play in spades. If partner bids 5m over our 4 then no doubt that would show a strong single suited hand with
that minor but even so if that was 5 I would still be inclined to correct that to 5.
If you meant "If an opponent bids 5 over your 4, will you compete with 6?" then the answer is no.
Also, do you or do you not pass over 1?
No I would not pass over 1 - by all means this is not the "right answer" as it is
dependent upon your partnership overcalling philosophy. My 1-level overcalling
philosophy is that it can be pretty weak but not crazy. Although this hand is
on the borderline of crazy (7-small and unfavourable) I cannot fathom passing 1 with a 7-4 especially when my long suit is in spades. Usually
when I don't have the requisite HCP for a 1-level overcall, I would have some
wild shape to compensate for that fact. I personally think this is a winning
bridge style (get in early, get out early) but I don't exactly have enough
proof to back up my claim as it usually just comes with experience :-)
You might find this interesting, albeit it is a bit meaningless. A few years
ago an Italian Star player Bocchi was in 1st seat and nil vul holding
T98532 KJ 952 Q5. He passed, his LHO opened 1, his partner passed, his RHO (me) bid 1 and he came in with a 1 overcall. Obviously both hands are different in their own
nature, but the philosophy appears to be the same, if not, similar.
Max Henbest:
Thanks for your help again Andy, it was really insightful. I do like the idea
of a 1-level overcall!
One last question:
| RHO |
Me |
LHO |
Partner |
| 1 |
P
|
2
|
X |
| 4
|
4
|
4NT*
|
Pass |
| 5
|
6
|
7
|
Pass |
| Pass |
??? |
|
|
* 4NT:RKC
Do you now sacrifice?
Andy:
I'm still not exactly proud about the 1 overcall at Vul vs Not Vul, but it's just something I think I
"must" do. Of course partner will need to know about our overcalling philosophy
or else they might just get too excited (e.g. bidding too high, or end up
doubling the opponents etc).
Anyway back to your further auction:
Firstly, I'm not sure if I would bid 6. It's not exactly clear if I want to sacrifice because after
all partner should have some sort of an opening hand to be doubling 2 (I.e. all we need is for partner to have A or A in order to give us a diamond ruff - failing that our clubs
and partner's diamonds might be good enough to beat the contract outright). I
would probably have preferred to double 5 to suggest to partner that I want to dive - the worst part of
our hand isn't the seven small spades but in fact it's our doubleton heart
(singleton or tripleton would make it more attractive).
Having said that, it should be clear that when our LHO bids 7 then I am definitely not taking the sacrifice. We've already
told partner that we were inclined to save with our 6 bid so partner was free to bid 7 over that. Not finding a perfect sacrifice is not the end of
the world (the other table could also be in the same making 7) but taking a phantom sacrifice is really like the end of the
world!
Cheers,
Andy
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