[Winstonm]

Never one to shy away from personal beliefs, my partner followed his and made his bid. What's your choice with his hand, 2 or 3? Imp pairs if it matters.

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For the curious:

Spoiler

Q spades led. Heart shift after winning the ace.

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[pescetom]

Is it a trick question? 3 for me. I'm not thrilled about the stiff king, but it still looks worth it.

[apollo1201]

Playing vanilla methods, I guess it has to be 3H, 2H is really an underbid, even with a sg K and so much stuff in H that you don’t wanna trump with. And it’s red at IMPs.

Partner must have felt lucky, though, that you didn’t bid 1S, what would his rebid have been? Ag least opening 1D looks safer as it leaves a 2C rebid open, barring the relative suit strengths. He knew with a 16-count 1444 that he’d likely have to lie at some stage in the auction, but opening 1C seems to put a bad start in what promises to be a shaky auction.

Lots would have opened a strong NT, if they don’t play weak…

[mw64ahw]

2♥ only for me 16/17 total points, 6.5 MLT at best. Opposite a weak responder you'll likely go down.

[paulg]

2♥ for me, not enamoured by having to ruff with top hearts.

Coincidently I would have opened this hand with 1♦ as I have no rebid after the likely 1♠ response.

[Winstonm]

 paulg, on 2021-September-19, 11:57, said:

2♥ for me, not enamoured by having to ruff with top hearts.

Coincidently I would have opened this hand with 1♦ as I have no rebid after the likely 1♠ response.

The rebid after 1S would have to be 1NT

[Cyberyeti]

 Winstonm, on 2021-September-19, 12:22, said:

The rebid after 1S would have to be 1NT

Showing 12-14 for most people in the US, yes I could do this playing a weak NT, we open 1♦ and probably rebid 1N over 1♠, 3♥ over 1♥.

[mw64ahw]

 paulg, on 2021-September-19, 11:57, said:

2♥ for me, not enamoured by having to ruff with top hearts.

Coincidently I would have opened this hand with 1♦ as I have no rebid after the likely 1♠ response.

Me too, playing an unbalanced ♦ or standard.

[pescetom]

 paulg, on 2021-September-19, 11:57, said:

Coincidently I would have opened this hand with 1♦ as I have no rebid after the likely 1♠ response.

1♦ is bog-standard in Italy when holding 4-4 minors.
I understood that playing 'Better Minor', 1♦ would be preferred with 11-15hcps and a singleton (considering the black suits here I would downgrade to that).

[AL78]

I would only bid 2♥ and miss a game that happens to make because both hands are stacked with honor cards in the red suits and have shortages opposite black suit junk. Replace the stiff ♠K with a spot card and game is still cold, but I doubt as many will be jump raising hearts. Switch one of North's spades for a club and game has no chance. I'd be interested to know the odds of North holding a hand where game is at least 40% and can't move over a simple raise by opener.

[Winstonm]

 AL78, on 2021-September-19, 15:11, said:

I would only bid 2♥ and miss a game that happens to make because both hands are stacked with honor cards in the red suits and have shortages opposite black suit junk. Replace the stiff ♠K with a spot card and game is still cold, but I doubt as many will be jump raising hearts. Switch one of North's spades for a club and game has no chance. I'd be interested to know the odds of North holding a hand where game is at least 40% and can't move over a simple raise by opener.

You can't get back to hand often enough. You lose 2 spades and 2 clubs unless I missed something.

[nige1]

Spoiler

WinstonM 'Never one to shy away from personal beliefs, my partner followed his and made his bid.
A. What's your choice with his hand, 2 or 3? Imp pairs if it matters.
B. Q spades led. Heart shift after winning the ace.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
A. Would always raise to 3♥.
B. In 4♥, after ♠A and a ♥ shift, try... .
Win the ♥ shift cheaply. Ruff a ♠ high. Cash a high trump, Cross to ♦K. Ruff a ♠ high. Cross to DIQ]. Draw trumps and claim. Making 6 trumps and 4 diamonds

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This post has been edited by nige1: 2021-September-19, 19:28

[LBengtsson]

2♥ reply sound like weak opening bid with 11-14 points and 3 or 4 trump support. 3♥ at least tells partner you have 4 card trump support with stronger hand. so 3♥ for me at red. if you only bid 2♥ partner will never go to game with a reasonable hand such as ♠xxx ♥Kxxxx ♦Qxx ♣Ax

[nige1]

 Winstonm, on 2021-September-19, 16:13, said:

You can't get back to hand often enough. You lose 2 spades and 2 clubs unless I missed something.

Run East's ♥ return to dummy's ♥A9 tenace (winning cheaply). Ruff a ♠, Cash a top ♥. Cross to ♦K. Ruff a second ♠. Cross to ♦Q. Draw trumps and claim 6 trumps and 4 diamonds.

[Winstonm]

 nige1, on 2021-September-19, 19:34, said:

Run East's ♥ return to dummy's ♥A9 tenace (winning cheaply). Ruff a ♠, Cash a top ♥. Cross to ♦K. Ruff a second ♠. Cross to ♦Q. Draw trumps and claim 6 trumps and 4 diamonds.

Sorry for showing the hands in the wrong position and for being dense, but the only way to win cheaply in hand is with the K. You can try the 9 but it doesn't work. If you ruff twice, you will lose a natural trump trick because you are ruffing with two high trumps.

Spade Q lead

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I've corrected the north-south orientation so maybe that was the problem. This is the correct situation.

[akwoo]

Even playing Kaplan-Sheinwold (where raises in this situation are systemically stronger than standard) I think this is 3♥. And, yes, playing K-S, South would raise to 4 if North had opened 1♦ and still might raise to 4.

Yeah you get unlucky sometimes.

[mw64ahw]

 mw64ahw, on 2021-September-19, 11:26, said:

2♥ only for me 16/17 total points, 6.5 MLT at best. Opposite a weak responder you'll likely go down.

Thinking about the problem further how about 2♠ as a reverse help suit game try looking for ♣s? Revert to 3♥ when ♣s are bypassed.

[pescetom]

 AL78, on 2021-September-19, 15:11, said:

I'd be interested to know the odds of North holding a hand where game is at least 40% and can't move over a simple raise by opener.

So would I, but unfortunately BBO is still forgetting a promise.

[nige1]

Winstonm '♠Q lead. Sorry for showing the hands in the wrong position and for being dense, but the only way to win cheaply in hand is with the K. You can try the 9 but it doesn't work. If you ruff twice, you will lose a natural trump trick because you are ruffing with two high trumps.
I've corrected the north-south orientation so maybe that was the problem. This is the correct situation.
++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you WinstonM, for correcting the layout of your intriguing problem..
On the given defence, with the actual layout, 4♥ is unlucky to fail If the declaring side held ♥7, game prospects would be better
It's hard to allow for such considerations, during the auction

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[Winstonm]

 nige1, on 2021-September-20, 14:13, said:

Winstonm '♠Q lead. Sorry for showing the hands in the wrong position and for being dense, but the only way to win cheaply in hand is with the K. You can try the 9 but it doesn't work. If you ruff twice, you will lose a natural trump trick because you are ruffing with two high trumps.
I've corrected the north-south orientation so maybe that was the problem. This is the correct situation.
++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you WinstonM, for correcting the layout of your intriguing problem..
On the given defence, with the actual layout, 4♥ is unlucky to fail If the declaring side held ♥7, game prospects would be better
It's hard to allow for such considerations, during the auction

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Yes, and in the play it's easy to overlook the necessity of at least trying the 9 when the heart comes back. If the heart 10 is with east, the contract makes.