What's the Difference?


They let me play 2♠-1 on this hand. Now, this is Gavin Wolpert's full series. North does not have a hand which replies 2♠ in that system. By the way, some would also not open 1♦ with 11 high card points and one length point. But diamonds are even rebidable and so I opened it.


This happened on the other side, and similar contracts were played by E/W on all tables but mine. In fact, 4♥ or 3NT cannot be beaten. 

We learned that the preemptive 2♠ is there to prevent the opponents to get into the bidding. But here, it seems to go just the other way around. The reason is that West has no reasonable bid over 1NT. A double would show interest in the unbid suits, clubs and hearts. As you see, it is sometimes helpful to allow, even force, opener to describe his hand, instead of fixing the contract with a preemptiv bid.

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