Our agreement is that the first double is support and the second penalty. I'm willing to accept that this is perhaps not the best treatment, but let's roll with it for now.
The question is does west have the right to pull? My partner did and I claimed that this could not exist.
I think his position is more intuitive so I will explain mine:
He has already failed to compete to 3♠, my hand is certainly poorer for offense/ better for defense now, so how can a delayed 3♠ be right? We are now less likely to make 3♠ and more likely to beat 3♣.
He had a hand which was very borderline for bidding 3♠ immediately, 5 spades, no clubs and pretty weak. I have no quarrels with doing it or not doing it. But I claim that once you pick one you have to live with it. It's just too much to live in fear of reopening the auction when you simply want to penalize the opponents.
We fought so much about this that we had to stop talking about it and we rarely disagree on things.
The question is does west have the right to pull? My partner did and I claimed that this could not exist.
I think his position is more intuitive so I will explain mine:He has already failed to compete to 3♠, my hand is certainly poorer for offense/ better for defense now, so how can a delayed 3♠ be right? We are now less likely to make 3♠ and more likely to beat 3♣.
He had a hand which was very borderline for bidding 3♠ immediately, 5 spades, no clubs and pretty weak. I have no quarrels with doing it or not doing it. But I claim that once you pick one you have to live with it. It's just too much to live in fear of reopening the auction when you simply want to penalize the opponents.
We fought so much about this that we had to stop talking about it and we rarely disagree on things.