[Hanoi5]

♠T8x
♥Jx
♦Axx
♣KJTxx

Partner opens in 4th seat with 1♦ (you play best minor if you need to know). RHO passes. MP's.

[aguahombre]

Passed hand status does not give me license to do anything other than show a balanced 6-10 and no four-card major with this one.

"But I was a passed hand." and "You were a passed hand" are frequent things I hear when players are discussing how they screwed up an auction.

[mikeh]

You could bid 2♣ if you held a 6th card, protected by your passed hand status....in that case, 2♣ is probably better than 1N even at mps, especially if your partner would open a 4 card major with a 'one-bid' sort of opening.....intending to pass any non-artificial response by you.

But with this hand, 2♣ is silly. There is no reason not to bid 1N, even tho your majors leave a lot to be desired.....as aquahombre points out, you'd be in the same boat if you were unpassed....sort of 'hate to but have to' bid 1N.

Please don't get annoyed, but this problem really is a B/I issue and ought to have been posted there, imo.

[gnasher]

It seems a bit wasteful to use 2♣ as specifically a 9-10 count with a six-card suit. Or does it cover a wider range of hands than that?

[mikeh]

gnasher, on 2011-September-30, 13:50, said:

It seems a bit wasteful to use 2♣ as specifically a 9-10 count with a six-card suit. Or does it cover a wider range of hands than that?

What would you suggest, given that partner will often, in the NA context and in many other places, frequently hold a minimum balanced opener?

[aguahombre]

gnasher, on 2011-September-30, 13:50, said:

It seems a bit wasteful to use 2♣ as specifically a 9-10 count with a six-card suit. Or does it cover a wider range of hands than that?

That would be a good use for it and taking advantage of passed hand status to show what you couldn't show as an unpassed hand. Drury for diamonds seems like a distant second choice for 2C.

[gnasher]

mikeh, on 2011-September-30, 14:06, said:

What would you suggest, given that partner will often, in the NA context and in many other places, frequently hold a minimum balanced opener?

I'd quite like to be able to bid it on the hand in the original post, at least at IMPs. 2♣ seems a much better description than 1NT, and it avoids wrongsiding 3NT if that's where we end up. If it's a partscore deal 2♣ or 2♦ should be safe.

I agree that 2♣ is less attractive at matchpoints.

[mikeh]

gnasher, on 2011-September-30, 15:08, said:

I'd quite like to be able to bid it on the hand in the original post, at least at IMPs. 2♣ seems a much better description than 1NT, and it avoids wrongsiding 3NT if that's where we end up. If it's a partscore deal 2♣ or 2♦ should be safe.

I agree that 2♣ is less attractive at matchpoints.

'Less attractive' seems like an underbid! We'd need to make 2 more tricks in clubs than in notrump to make it attractive. Not impossible, of course, but improbable. And the problem was explicitly stated to be in mps.

At imps, 2♣ has far more going for it, including the possibly non-trival benefit of right-siding 3N should partner hold the hand to bid 3N over 2♣ or to bid 2N or 3N over our 1N. Different horses for different courses, but at mps, 1N seems the only sensible choice.

[the hog]

Hanoi5, on 2011-September-30, 11:26, said:

♠T8x
♥Jx
♦Axx
♣KJTxx

Partner opens in 4th seat with 1♦ (you play best minor if you need to know). RHO passes. MP's.

Do I hold 6-9 and a balanced hand?
Are my clubs of excellent quality?
Do I have 4 card D support in an unbalanced hand?
Is there any reason to bid anything else apart from 1NT?
I really do not understand the reason for the op.

[whereagles]

Any of 1NT, 2C or even 2D should be fine. I'm going with 2C.