From: maillist@base.cs.ucla.edu (Generic Mailing List ID (Guest))
Subject: PSP #20.9
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: 12 Sep 92 15:00:03 GMT

Problem 9.
IMPS (Calcutta)
E-W Vulnerable
Dealer East

You, South, hold, S-void H-AJ732 D-QJ752 C-QT8

South  West   North  East
		     Pass
Pass   1S     Pass   4D(1)
?

(1) splinter - shows spade support and a diamond singleton or void

What call do you make?

The bids:
(PW) 4H.  Prepare for a save.  Bids diamonds next time.

(JOHN) 4 Hearts - If I double the Diamonds to show that suit, I'll never
              get to show hearts at this level.

(CC1) 4H    Looks like 4S is cold. With this vulnerability and such a
         distributional hand, it's sin not step in. I will bid 4H
         preparing for a 5 level sacrifice.

(CC2) 4H.  Highly unlikely to be left playing 4H*, and this will help
        partner with his lead against 6S contract.

(DK) 4h. If i get the chance, I'll bid 5 diamonds.

(DAG) 4H.  Then diamonds next to give choice of sac.  I would really have
        been tempted to open this hand 1H.

(RB) 4S.  Showing hearts and a minor. Favorable vulnerability
suggests sacrificing. I don't think 4S should be used to show
a three suited takeout or for that matter a strong hand.
4NT should still specifically be for the minor suits.

(DESJ) 4S.  I think this should show some sort of two-suiter, and I can
rebid in diamonds to clarify.  4NT would be the same general idea, but a
bit more risky because partner might get carried away in clubs.

(AH) 4s.   Show general takeout for H and a minor (likely diamond)
             in this sequence.

(JLD) 5D.  Only at this vulnerability.  By robbing them of space,
they may get to a bad slam.  Partner has a few diamonds and if
we get doubled we should escape for -500.  I could be very wrong.

(PYNQ) X.	Why not?  Suggests the save and should get partner off
	to a safe lead.

(DM1) Dbl. Too many possibilities for defense, two suits for possible sacks. 
	This at least suggests to partner that some action might be in order, 
	depending on   his hand.

(NAIR) Dbl.  Marginal at best.

(DOUG) X.  This can lead to a sac and there's not one pair in a hundred 
	can catch you  here  because they all will have either no agreement 
	over double or will have control showing info built in. You can't 
	tell partner about hearts but half a loaf is better than none. This 
	started out as a justification of PASS but I see I'm going to have 
	to change my bid and edit the start of the text !

(RLG) Pass.  You had just enough points to eek out a 1H opening, but since
you missed your chance, there is no reason to try to step into the bidding
now.  Who knows? Maybe your partner has a S stack and you can set 4S.

(PRM) Pass.  Unfortunately, a double would ask for a diamond lead,
rather than suggesting a diamond sack.  Maybe the bad spade
split means they can't make game.

(MARC) P.   Or should I bid a highly unusual 8NT?

(EDT) Pass           Yuck.  What a pile of crap.

(PBHYF) Pass. Just hope pard has good spades to beat the spade contract.

(MSB) Pass. The time for action was the previous round, when I would have
      cheerfully bid 1H.  The only reasonable non-pass now is Double,
      which would ask for a diamond lead, which I do not want.

(WU) Pass.  I don't know what else to bid. 4 hearts is too ineffective
          (does not get in their way much) and it screams for a diamond
	  lead which hurts us.  5D gets a bit too high for my tastes. 

(EKP) P. Are people planning 6H-6S P P P X?  I expect they'll get to 
6S without being pushed.  Certainly not worth the chances of outlining
the offense or getting torched in 6H.  All you know is diamonds split
poorly, not that you have a fit.

(MOJO) Pass.  Partner has all our spades.  Their spade game will be difficult.

(IM) Pass.  I can stand a lead in any suit; a diamond lead might be disastrous.
I will let partner make his natural lead.  I'm leery of suggesting a save at
this level, so I'll just hope we have defense.

(BB) Pass. And listen. Spades are breaking ?-0 offside and I have defense in 
	my own hand. Why go diving into the auction just yet? Let's see where 
	they go.

(DM2) Pass. I have some defence and spades may be poorly placed for the 
	opponents, so I have no desire to sacrifice against slam while 5H 
	could go for as much as 1400.

(SGM) Pass. I don't particularly want a diamond lead.

(KP) P.  I don't think I was invited into this auction.
Now to locate that Bulletin and find out just how wrong I was...

[ With this answer, Kevin wins the award for "Answer of the week". ]

(IL) pass.  X is only good if there is a sac, slam is not probable for EW.
          A problem with X is that it might suggest a non-heart lead to 
          partner when it is right. 

The totals:
4H	6
4S	3
5D	1
DOUBLE	4
PASS	15

This problem is the discussion in Matthew and Pamela Granovetters' 
"Partnership Bridge" column.  Jimmy Cayne provided the problem.  Pamela
extolls the virtues of 4H, while Matthew defends Double.  Neither of 
them mentioned "pass" as an alternative. :-)

New problems sometime soon.

The players:
(AH)	ahaas@ecn.purdue.edu (Alan Haas)
(BB)	Brett Barksdale <brett@porky.oce.orst.edu>
(CC1)	Chun Chang <chunchan@aludra.usc.edu>
(CC2)	chris.chambers@rose.com
(DESJ)	desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
(DAG)	dagibbs@quantum.qnx.com (David Gibbs)
(DK)	Dennis Kibler <kibler@turing.ICS.UCI.EDU>
(DM1)	mytelka@enzyme.Berkeley.Edu (Daniel Mytelka)
(DM2)	davidm@Rational.COM
(EDT)	taylor@tivoli.com (Eric Taylor)
(EKP)	Edward Pavelchek <ekp@mcnc.org>
(IL)	Ingvar Lagerstedt <LAGERSTEDT@oc.chalmers.se>
(IM)	Ilene Morgan <morgan@math.psu.edu>
(JLD)	jld1@ihlpm.att.com
(JOHN)	<john@picks.almanac.bc.ca>
(KP)	hampton@ais.org (Kevin Podsiadlik)
(MARC)	marc@wrs.com (Marc Shepard)
(MOJO)	mojo@caere.com (Morris Jones)
(MSB)	msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)
(NAIR)	nair@astro.ufl.edu
(PBHYF)	pbhyf!skataba@ns.PacBell.COM
(PRM)	Paul Markowitz <PRM@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
(PW)	Per Westling <c85perwe@und.ida.liu.se>
(PYNQ)	"George Jetson" <pynq@midway.uchicago.edu>
(RB)	rainbow@ihlpf.att.com
(RLG)	Raymond L. Gilbert <pi@wam.umd.edu>
(SGM)	Myerson <sgm@ssd.ray.com>
(WU)	Warren Usui <aardvark@snap.la.locus.com>

--

Matthew Merzbacher	ARPA:	matthew@CS.UCLA.EDU
Moo - Moo Moo  		UUCP:	...!{uunet|rutgers|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!matthew
               		This time, *with* the oys