What should I Bid? - Best enquiry for November 2007

Anne Paul made the best submission for the month of November.

Hand: With both sides vulnerable, West is dealer:

spades KQ108642
hearts 8
diamonds Q653
clubs K
spades -
hearts A752
diamonds A9
clubs AQ98743
Bidding: West  North East South
  1spades Pass 2clubs Pass
  2spades Pass 3hearts Pass
  3spades Pass 4clubs Pass
4diamonds Pass 5clubs All Pass

Comments:     We are playing 4 card Acol with multis. Should I have opened this hand 1spades or 2diamonds multi?  With 10 points and 5 losers I decided to open as I did. Over 3hearts should I bid 4clubs?

Sartaj's Reply:

Hi Anne,

This is a very interesting hand.

Firstly, I agree with you in not opening 2diamonds multi. The hand, as you appreciated, is very strong in playing strength.

If you permit me a slight digression, you might have heard that Stephen Burgess used to advocate opening 4spades on all hands with a 7 card major and 4 cards in another suit. It was his appreciation of the power of such hands, the obstructive value of the 4spades opening and the inability of the pseudo-scientific approach to express the real playing value of hands in this realm.

In the modern age though, preempting with so much stuff in the side suits has become very unfashionable and 1spades is a popular choice.

So while I would advocate a 1spades opening, I think in the subsequent auction you were unable to show how strong your spades really were. Your partner just heard you bid the cheapest number of spades twice in the auction and didn't really appreciate that playing in spades was ever an option with their void.

I think that bidding 4spades either over 2clubs or over 3diamonds would be a better strategy to tune in partner on the "realness" of that spade suit.

Regards
Sartaj Hans

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