A Fun Hand

This one came up on my computer a couple of weeks ago. You are South.

Here is your hand, followed by the early bidding. East dealt – both vulnerable.

West’s 2D bid was alerted as waiting. At this point in the bidding, I would like you to list a) the good things, and b) the bad things about your hand. My list follows below – I’d really like to hear from you if you develop a different list.

Good Things

1. You have a very nice Spade fit.
2. You have a void in the big hand’s big suit.
3. 4S doubled may be a good contract – unless they get a cross-ruff going. Minus 500 might not be a bad score.
4. West doesn’t appear to have too many points. If EW plays the hand in Diamonds, they may have transportation difficulty.
5. If EW plays a Diamond contract, the big hand is exposed as the dummy.

Bad Things

1. It’s red against red if you want to compete.
2. If they declare in Diamonds and partner has 6 - 7 Spades (not unlikely), they may have one, or even no Spade losers. They could be playing with a 30 point deck.
3. Where are the Hearts and Clubs? 
4. If West has a couple of Diamonds, their transportation might not be so bad.

Back to the bidding. What would you bid over 3D by East? Here are four suggestions:

1. Pass
2. 3 Spades
3. 4 Spades
4. 4 Diamonds

I’ll post some thoughts in a week or two about these bids and provide the entire hand. If you e-mail me at dpcattani@shaw.ca, I’ll post both your bid and your reason(s) for making it.