[jjsb]

661_Pete, on 2019-May-09, 14:00, said:

Here's an amusing one. Love all, dealer S, pairs MPs, I was sitting west:

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I opened 3♥ - can you blame me? - and my partner quietly raised to 4♥. North led a trump and of course I claimed all 13 tricks.

The point is: 7♥ is unbeatable but only if played by East. If West plays it, surely South will have found some way of signalling a ♣ lead during the bidding. So my best bet would have been to pass, let East open 2NT, then I bid 3♦ transfer to ♥. Whether we can reach 7♥ from that point is debatable - I don't think I have the necessary bidding skills.

Perhaps someone can point the way?

it will not make u feel better but i dont have the bidding skills also to bid the slam here
im surprised to hear so many opening 1H with that hand and apparently for some its actually normal i can see that the standard opening is getting weaker and weaker honestly even i know how bridge has changed the last couple of year in term of agressivity i just cant make a 1H opening . personally i am into a 4H bid and so of coruse will not do any better than what happened with u... may i ask what is the score u had for 4H +3 ? i would be super surprised if u tell me u get 10% with every table bidding 6 or 7 . i will take risk but i would actually think u get super close to 50% if not more.
as for the question bidding 7 "by the good side" is totally irrelevant as some other point out
im pretty sure we(bridge player) in a bridge season are doing much more bigger mistake than not finding a 7H with those hands....

regards
syl

[pescetom]

HardVector, on 2019-May-10, 20:10, said:

This just highlights why most bridge authorities recommend that preemptive bids do not include voids or outside 4 card majors. The hand is too strong. It also is NOT strong enough to open. Why is everyone in such a hurry to bid with this?

Because otherwise it's not going to be easy to convince partner that I hold this hand when opponents are already in there bidding spades, which is likely.

To look at it another way, we have 6 different ways of opening a hand of hearts (8 if you include nt). Just how many more do you need before you can open this hand?

[pescetom]

jjsb, on 2019-May-11, 00:03, said:

im surprised to hear so many opening 1H with that hand and apparently for some its actually normal i can see that the standard opening is getting weaker and weaker honestly even i know how bridge has changed the last couple of year in term of agressivity i just cant make a 1H opening .

I don't think it is particularly aggressive to open this hand as 1H, although some RAs might disallow it on basis of HCP, ignoring the distribution.
Kaplan and Rubens evaluates it as 13.6 points, which was considered enough for a 1-level suit opening even a century ago.

[MatthiasK]

HardVector, on 2019-May-10, 20:10, said:

... It also is NOT strong enough to open. Why is everyone in such a hurry to bid with this?

Seriously? Look again. A good 7 card suit + a side king + a void. 9 very good HCP and great distribution.
And why open? It is an advantage to open the bidding, because it makes opponent's life harder. But you probably know this already.

[Y383]

MatthiasK, on 2019-May-11, 08:51, said:

Seriously? Look again. A good 7 card suit + a side king + a void. 9 very good HCP and great distribution.
And why open? It is an advantage to open the bidding, because it makes opponent's life harder. But you probably know this already.

for me, the 1st priority of bridge is to bid our (me and my partner) to the max allowable. 2nd priority is to disturb opponents bid or to create chaos/minor sacrifice bid.

thats why, i rarely bid preemptive, too vague and double edge sword effect. and sometime just useless...

in this case, in my opinion, 3h bid opening is poor, due to its void and potency. the 1h or 4h opening is the better options, both meaning is similar (in this case). and to reach the slam/grand,.. u need 'guidance' from your 20 pts partner. there's 7h or 7c contract possible, or at least slam.

similar:
1h,: ur partner think u have 12 pts, and should be thinking slam possible (30+ pts total).
4h,: 7cards strong, if your partner passed with 20 pts.. find another partner.

[rmnka447]

If I open 1 ♥ playing 2/1 and partner replies with a forcing NT, than my rebid would be 4 ♥. To me, this hand is a classic for that sort of auction, it should show a distributional hand with a long, broken ♥ suit.

[HardVector]

I personally disagree with the premise that a hand can be too weak to open, but too strong to preempt. I am sure I am in the minority, but I would pass in 2nd seat with that hand for the reasons in my first sentence. It's too weak to open, and too strong to preempt. Yes, you allow the opponents to potentially steal the auction, but you gain trust with partner in that when you open, you have an opening hand and when you preempt, you promise you have no outside 4 card major nor a void. Of course, in 3rd seat, all this is moot. If you truly feel the need to act on those kind of hands, overbid it by 1. It's a 7 card suit, open it 4h.