Return of the (sinful) Redouble

I swore to myself I would never do it again...

The sacred blue card would never hit the table again as long as my ACBL membership dues were paid.

No, not the alert card.

The Redouble.

It was a rescue situation. Or was it? And who was rescuing who?

It was the final round of a hard fought day. It had been fun and challenging, but nothing crazy had come up.... until....

Pretty junky. Yup. This is the one. The hand that pushed me over the edge. Back on the wagon. Or off. Whatever.

Both vulnerable, North deals and passes to me. I pass. South opens 1D, and my partner comes to life with 1NT. Passed back to me.

1D in 3rd seat really doesn't mean much, especially when partner has overcalled 1NT.

I could take a chance and bid Stayman, but I'm gonna feel really stupid when he bids 2D. I have 6 points and partner is pretty good at playing 1NT.

I pass.

South finds a 2D bid. Crap!

Passed back to me.... now what?

No, this isn't the part where I redoubled. 

It's good to know what double is here. I guess that's partnership agreement. Takeout vs penalty. And what is 2H? Natural or a transfer?

In my opinion X should be penalty and a suit should be natural. I even think a 2H bid here (minor opening by opponents, 1NT, pass pass, rebid 2-minor, pass pass) would promise support for the other suits in case partner is short in that suit. Maybe it's better just to sit for 2D...

I finally decide to bid 2H. Partner will know I don't have 5 and can figure something intelligent out to do. 

Pass, pass, DOUBLE by righty. I respect the double and assume I'm getting a horrible trump split. Why did I have to open my big mouth?

SOS!

So I redouble, assuming partner will bid 2S or 3C which wouldn't be horrible. We have values and shape so both should have a better play than some silly buns 2HX contract.

Pass by lefty. Pass by partner.

Uh Oh... Righty reconsiders, but sticks with his gut.

Oh boy. Fun fun....

The Ace of diamonds comes down and I hate my partner a little less...

Good news: No wasted diamond points. Bad news: 3C look like cake money right about now.

Lefty cashed the Ace and King of diamonds and continues to his partner's Queen. Did I miscount? What the trump just happened here? A 2D rebid with only 5 diamonds?!

And the fact that lefty didn't lead a trump leads me to believe I'm getting a 6-0 break. Lovely. 

I ruff the diamond as I ponder our beautiful game going down the pooper, all thanks to some crazy redouble. SOS!

I need 8 tricks. Not 9, not 10. No messing around. Just find 8. The good news is, I know* where the points are and I know* where the hearts are.

I play a club to the Jack, it holds. Phew. 2.

I play to the king of spades, it also holds. I play another spade, covered with righty's queen, my Ace. That's 4.

Ok back to the clubs. I play another club to the Queen. 5! Righty may have high lowed. I wasn't paying attention. Shame on me, but even though I trust the double, should I really trust the discards?

I play a low heart from dummy, covered by the 6 to my 9. Lefty shocks me by showing up with a heart (the 3). That's 6!

I ruff a spade in dummy (7!) and play the Ace of clubs, ruffed low on my right. Righty returns a heart to dummy's Ace (8!) and when I play the 12th club he can ruff with either the King or Jack of hearts, making my Queen good. 9!

Bonus points!

All four.

Fun for sure. It helps knowing* where everything is. 

First things first - a heart lead or heart switch after the second diamond holds me to 8 tricks. 

Second - we should all have agreements on this bidding sequence, and what the redouble is. My thought is that it should always be rescue. My partner trusted that I could make 2H and made a smart bid of pass.

Third. South has one of the ugliest 2D bids I have ever seen in my life. 5?!?!!? 5! How much is that King of clubs worth when lefty overcalls 1NT? Vulnerable even! UGH!

Fourth. Redouble part 2 - Even though it's rescue, I actually give my opponents a chance to run. Maybe 2HX is where I want to be. How ever many points that would be, 3D or 3DX down two is much less. I gave him a chance to run. He had a chance and didn't run. Two wrongs make a 1240.

Fifth. The Double. 

Reasons why the double is wrong:

1. If North wants to compete, he should raise diamonds. Not that he should with this vulnerability, but if he trusts his partner's rebid (6 diamonds and like 14+ points) - 3 diamonds might be better, and maybe they don't get doubled.

2. How many diamond tricks can they count on? They have 9* diamonds together. Points Schmoints. Look at shape. Where are the tricks on defense? Certainly not in diamonds.

3. Where are partner's tricks? TRAPPED! In front of the 15-17 points of West!

4. If 2H is a bad contract we can always run. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doubling, because it doesn't happen enough... but sometimes you are better off letting the opponents play a crappy contract undoubled rather than doubling them and letting them run.

SIDE NOTE: I'm not especially proud of this, but a few months back I overcalled 1NT (after 1H) without a stopper. I had a solid 17 count. Partner will transfer me to spades. Partner trusted me and raised to 3NT. Well, he probably has Qxx. I can figure out 9 tricks from there... Meanwhile my Right hand opponent, with 7 solid hearts doubles. Before the red card finished settling, I had my 4C bid on the table. Oops. I can take 5 tricks in NT for -200. 4C made. Anyways, I won't overcall without a stopper anymore.

If you can double any potential running spot than you should always do it. But if you suspect they might fall back to their second suit, you should pass. Maybe 3S goes down 2, but if you double and they run to 4C, maybe that only goes down one. An undoubled 200 or a doubled 200. Bleh.

5. There are no longer any secrets on this hand. Of all the ways I might play the heart suit, I'm never playing lefty for anything. Maybe I would play the queen towards the dummy or the 10 first and then the Q. The double gives away too much information and makes my life easier. Certain auctions are different - sacrifices for example. Undoubled I might find a way to go down 2 for -200. But then again doubled I might find a way to only go down 1 for -200, or worse yet, play it extra cautious and make it. I love passing with a trump stack in the opponents suit. The Happy Pass! Sometimes secrets are good. 

Other times you have 18 points and AKQ of trump and it doesn't matter what they do. Happy Double! This is not one of those hands. Grumpy Pass!