From: adam@irvine.com (Adam Beneschan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Problems from Portland
Date: 17 Nov 92 19:58:00 GMT
Organization: Irvine Compiler Corp., Irvine, California, USA

In article <1992Nov16.230024.2100@rayssd.ssd.ray.com> sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com 
(Steve Myerson) writes:

> Get any two correct and you win the event.
>
> 1. None vul. East dealer. You are West: AJ9542, T, Q7, AT32
>
> West   North   East   South
>                pass   pass
> 1S-1   1N-2    pass   2D       1. 11-15 HCP, at least 4 spades
> pass   2H      (all pass)      2. 15-17
>
> After West passed, South announced that there had been
> a failure to alert, and that 2D was a transfer to 2H.
> The director then permitted West to take back his final
> pass if he wished.  What do you do?
>
I would have bid 2S on the previous round (if I knew that 2D were a
transfer).  2S may force North to guess what to do if he has heart
support, and with trumps possibly breaking badly, they may get one
level too high.  (2S may also take North-South off the hook if North
only has two hearts, but then partner has five and might have bid 2H
himself over 1NT.)  So I'm reserving the right to ask the director for
an adjusted score.

In the actual situation, I'd bid 2S anyway.

> 2. Both vul. South dealer. You are East: T74, KJ52, K7, Q975
>
> West   North   East   South
>                       1D-1     1. Shows at least 4
> dbl    1S      dbl-2  1N       2. Responsive, 6-9 HCP
> pass   5D      ?
>
> Your call.
>
Pass.  Bidding is out because partner knows my hand but didn't bid
over 1NT.  I wouldn't double because it sounds like North has a lot of
distribution and my hand won't take any tricks on defense.  Partner
can still double if it's right.  (But if North does have a
distributional hand, my partner should have good support for one of my
suits, so I don't know why he didn't bid over 1NT.  The answer may
depend on whether I trust North or my partner more.)


> 3. NS vul. West dealer. You are West: Q863, J63, 632, AQ6
>
> West   North   East   South
> pass   1C      2N-1   3H       1. 6-12 HCP, at least 4 spades and 4 diamonds
> 3S     4H      pass   pass        with at least 9 cards total in the 2 suits
> ?
>
> Your call.
>
Pass.  Again, I've shown partner my hand and he made a decision.  (I
could have a little less, but I did support spades freely over 3H.)

> 4. Both vul. South dealer. You are North: QJ95, T97, AKT762, void
>
> West   North   East   South
>                       1S-1     1. 11-15 HCP, at least 4 spades
> pass   2C-2    2H     pass-*   2. artificial, forcing to game
> 3H     ?                          opener may not pass short of game
>                                   2C bidder may pass short of game on misfit
>
> * - To help with the bidding system:
>
>   double - would be for penalties
>   2S - would show 5
>   2N - would show a heart stopper
>   3m - better than minimum opening plus a suit
>
> so the pass says only 4 spades, no heart suit or decent stopper,
> not a distributional hand, and on the low end of the HCP range (11-13).
> In other words, your basic garbage balanced opener with 4 spades.
>
3S.  The trick-taking potential of this hand is huge.  Partner is
likely to have only a singleton heart.  I would not be surprised to
see 6S make with 21 or 22 combined HCP.  If I bid 3D now and support
spades later, partner may take me for only 3-card spade support.

(By the way, would partner open 1S with 4-1-4-4, 4-1-5-3, 4-1-3-5
hands?  I don't know what system is being played.)

> 5. NS vul. East dealer. You are South: 9, J4, AK7654, JT94
>
> West   North   East   South
>                pass   ?
>
> Do you preempt or not?
>
It's close but my instincts are not to preempt.  Change the diamonds
to AKJxxx and I'd probably open 2D.

                                -- Adam