South did not attend the hearing. North
stated to the Committee that had he been told that West's double was for
penalties, as East's pass suggested, he would have ruffed the third heart with
dummy's ª9. Later he might have
guessed to finesse West for the ª8,
although he might still have played for spades to have been three-two
originally given East's pass of the double.
E/W said they had played together a couple of
times on Okbridge, but this was their first time playing together at the bridge
table. This was also the first time they had filled out a WBF convention card
together. Their card was marked 'competitive' doubles in competition when the
opponents have bid and raised a suit. West said that he had too much to pass
3ª. He believed he had two-way values
and that his double asked East to decide whether to bid or defend. He believed
his spade holding was good should East decide to defend, while he had club
support if East chose to bid that suit; otherwise, he could prefer hearts. When
asked, West indicated that he would have doubled with a variety of hands,
including some with shorter spades but more high-cards.
East indicated that he fully expected West to
hold shorter spades: perhaps as few as two. He said that he knew that passing
3ª doubled was risky, but the Law of
Total Tricks guided him in his decision. If N/S had a nine-card spade fit and
E/W an eight-card club fit, then if his side could make 4§ they would likely collect 300 defending 3ª doubled, while if they would be down one
in 4§ they would be plus 100
defending.
E/W said that, beyond their agreement to play
these doubles as card showing ('Cards rather than trumps' was marked on their
ACBL convention card, which they had never used but had filled out in
anticipation of playing together) they had not discussed the requirements for
the bids. East indicated that he personally would readily have doubled with as
few as two trumps in West's position, while West was less convinced that he
would have doubled with only two trumps without significant extra high-card
strength. East requested guidance from the Committee on how he should explain
these doubles in the future, so as not to run into this sort of problem
again.
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