Special EVENTs

2/1 Class Wed, Feb 8th
Tampa Bridge Cruise Wed, Feb 8th
Board meeting Fri, Feb 10th
St. Pete Sectional Fri, Feb 10th
Orlando Sectional Fri, Feb 10th
Home arrow Misc arrow Column Archives arrow Sincerely Somma arrow Lucky Strike III
logoLucky Strike III Print E-mail
Jim Somma   
Tuesday, April 06, 2010

There must be something in the water at the Somma residence or I may be imbibing too much wine.  But these weird hands seem to follow me whenever I play no matter who my partner is.  This hand is from last Friday's club game.  In second seat, you hold:

♠-AQJxx
♥-Ax
♦-Axx
♣-AJx.

And RHO opens 1NT(!) - you must be kidding.

What can you possibly bid that would make any sense to your partner? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely, Jim Somma

Comments
Search
Michael K. Miller   |2010-04-07 09:55:05
IF the opponents 1NT shows a 'balanced' 15-17/18, irrespective of vulnerability, you want to double for penalities. Most common 1NT defenses, e.g. Cappelletti, designate 'double' as penalty.

The two 1NT defenses I play (Meckwell and DONT)assign other meanings to 'double' in the immediate seat.

With an aceless, minimum notrump opener, not all RHO's in the game will open 1NT. Many will open a better minor and you can show your Spades. (Over a RHO 1C or 1D opening, you would double and bid your Spades at your 2nd turn.) So, a 'normal' contract in the game will be 2S, taking eight or nine tricks. To score at least an average, you will need to be +110 or +140.

Here, with RHO opening 1NT, you have other options.

Doubling lays the groundwork for bidding 2S later, however, it gets opener off the hook of playing 1NT (which you may beat 3 tricks, if Spades behave, for +150) and totally misconstrues your hand to partner. Doubling initially and then bidding Spades should yield an average score.

Passing, if LHO acts opposite the 1NT, you can always bid 2S at your next turn. (After an initial pass, coming in with a 2S call must show something other than what (1) a direct, immediate 2S call or (2) a double, then bidding 2S would show. 'Balancing' does apply here, as LHO has not defined his hand to RHO.) If the opponents bid to the 3-level over your 2S, you will double for penalty. Passing, then bidding Spades retains that probability of scoring a Spade partial (+110 or +140) AND leaves open the possibility of doubling the opponents at the 3-level for a near top (+300). If partner pulls your double to 3S, you should raise to 4S ... for a clear top (+420 or +590, if RHO doubles).

** What do you think of playing one NT defense in the immediate seat and a second NT defense in the passout seat? **
john cleary   |2010-04-11 07:54:08
there are only 4 pts.out there so it is not clear anyone will reach dummy---as the opener is balanced and you are ,it rates the other 2 are as well--so-- the most important which was not stated who is red and who is white---if both are red i say double for business,prepared to bid 2 spades if lho pulls---if we are red and them white i bid 2 spades as a double non-vul will get you only 100-and a double may allow lho to bid and find a fit--if they sit for 1nt* i lead the q of spades and cash out for 1 down or i may set myself up for a squeese or ednplay
Only registered users can write comments.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]

Latest Comments

Let's Resolve 299er Issue
By-Laws
Minutes of 1/13 Board Meeting

LOG IN

Click "Lost Login" below if you don't know your password or username. To register and gain full access to the site, contact any Director or Officer.