Good Fit, Bad Fit
|
 J |
|
|
 K 7 |
|
|
 A K 8 7 2 |
|
|
 A K 8 6 2 |
|
| K Q 9 4 3 |
|
A 7 6 5 2 |
| 9 8 6 2 |
|
J 5 3 |
| 3 |
|
6 5 4 |
| Q 10 4 |
|
J 5 |
|
10 8 |
|
|
A Q 10 4 |
|
|
Q J 10 9 |
|
|
9 7 3 |
|
| North | East | South | West |
| 1 |
Pass |
1 |
1 |
| 2 |
2 |
Pass |
Pass |
| 4 |
All | pass |
Good fit, bad fit. Which do you prefer -- if the former is a minor, the latter a major? Of course there are degrees of "bad" and there are no demarkation lines between good fits shading off to tolerable fits, and tolerable fits shading off to the bad. So there isn't any single answer for all situations. But you do want to avoid the extremes of spurning a very good minor for a totally inadequate major, or in other words, Let's not miss the easy ones.
I would blame both North & South for the disaster here (down two when they have a diamond game). I think South can spare a three diamond bid opposite the strong hint of a distributional hand (no raise in hearts, no stab at no trump). I've always regarded 10 points as the cutoff where I'll take a second (unforced) bid as a responder, and it seems to me South can value his hand at 10 points and announce diamond support. But the lion's share of the blame, I would say, lies with North. Of course a K doubleton is fine support for an indicated 6-card major suit, and perhaps sufficient in a pinch opposite 5 cards. But opposite a promise of no more than 4 cards? Which indeed was South's holding? No, that won't do.
Further, North had a fairly safe and descriptive bid open to him, which, of course, was 3 clubs. Now that should promise (at least) five clubs and five diamonds. Scared of missing game? Hey, man, if your partner can't bid over that then maybe you don't have game! Let's give South two small diamonds for the Q J. Does he have a bid over one diamond, or should he pass? Of course he has a bid to make with 6 hcp's and a four-card major. That's one bid he's got coming and that's it (unforced). So there should be no fear of missing game. If he can't bid over 3 clubs, you probably don't have a good fit or his hcp's are at a minimum.
Bid your hand and no one else's. Just let your partner know that you have (at least) 5 cards in each minor, and above average opening strength (or you could pass 2 spades and not venture onto the 3 level) and let your partner make a decision now based on his hand.
This hand is also an illustration of a proclivity for sneering at the minors.