[gnasher]

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Assuming that you play this sequence as offering a choice of strains, what black-suit lengths do you expect North to have?

[whereagles]

5-4, usually 5 in clubs. If more shapely, less hcp needed.

[Fluffy]

exactly 5 spades, at least 4 clubs.

[mikeh]

I'm with Fluffy.

This situation is tougher than over a 3♦ preempt, because we lack the bidding space that allows us, over a lower preempt, to distinguish between various good hands with spades as a primary suit.

It seems to me that on a frequency basis, we are more likely to have the 5 card spade suit with support for clubs and maybe tolerance for hearts than we are to have the single-suited spade hand too strong for 4♠ (and what would 5♠ be?). So double then spades should be implying clubs as a runout should advancer be short in spades.

At the same time, to allow 4♠ to be a 4 card suit seems too dangerous. I assume that 5=3=1=4 or 5=2=1=5 etc would prefer to double rather than put all the eggs in the spade basket....and one would want to preserve the integrity of the 4♠ overcall in case responder raises to 5♦ and partner has to decide whether to support spades. So overcalling on a 5 card suit seems problematic, thus increasing the frequency with which one doubles with a 5 card spade suit.

When advancer has to guess whether it is safe to pass 4♠ when 4♠ could be 4 or 5, this is rolling the dice a little too often for my taste.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of those who hate platitudes, sometimes preempts work. In future posts, I will simply write SPW.

If we have 4=2=2=5, and feel the need to double, too bad.

[benlessard]

playing standard high level X, I dont ill X with a 4135, and with a great 4225 i think ill X and pass 4H (im not conviced) so 4S has to show at least 5S.

[JLOGIC]

It is reasonable/possibly optimal to play that 4S shows 5 spades, but do it with 4225. I mean, you can't do it all here, and it's just going to be a game of percentages.

[JLOGIC]

And of course it is also possible that it is optimal to play X then 4S showing 4, and to overcall with 5 spades and 5224/5-5 blacks or X and pass 4H with 5314. And if you played that way, maybe it would be right to choose to X and bid 4S with 5 bad spades and 5 bad clubs.

Interesting question but I would be inclined to think it would be more useful to play this as showing 5.

[dake50]

Assuming you play this as a control bid
in support of hearts, what number of controls
do you expect partner to have?
Especially does he control diamonds?
After all, this action must go forward from 4H.
Forward toward H-slam or forward to S-C correction?