NS VUL, I was South holding
♠ KJ5
♥ AK7
♦ QJ532
♣ A5

The bidding:

Should I have doubled 1NT?
We play my first X as takeout of spades or a very big hand.
What should I bid over 2♥? Options at this point seem to be Pass, 2NT, 3♦ or possibly 3♥.

I thought any action was really dangerous Vul v NV when partner could have almost nothing.

So eventually I chose to pass.

The whole hand:

NS Vul W Dealer	♠ 10 9 4 ♥ Q J 10 6 3 2 ♦ K ♣ 10 9 6
♠ Q 8 6 3 2 ♥ 9 8 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ K Q 2		♠ A 7 ♥ 5 4 ♦ 10 9 8 6 ♣ J 8 7 4 3
	♠ K J 5 ♥ A K 7 ♦ Q J 5 3 2 ♣ A 5

4♥ rolled home.

At the other table, my hand passed on the first round after the same start to the auction. They defended 1NT 3 off for +150 so we actually gained 1 imp but missed a vulnerable game.

Hi Julian,

That’s an annoying problem!

My first instinct was to pass, then when I looked at the vulnerability, the opponents could be messing around by opening light in first seat favourable, or possibly the 1NT response could be very light, so I probably don’t want to pass.

I think I would also double as I don’t want to be stolen blind, and over partner’s 2♥ response, I would pass it out. Our spades are terrible considering that RHO bid 1NT so he will have a singleton or doubleton spade and leading through our KJx will be three fast defensive tricks (very likely).

As it turns out, it was lucky that the spade honours were split so that 4♥ rolled home. Obviously if opener had the ♠AQ then 2♥ would have been the limit of the hand.

If anything, I would think partner is closer (maybe clear?) to a jump to 3♥ than it is for our hand to raise 2♥ to 3♥.

Cheers,
Andy