Clubs and Diamonds

West was the dealer and passed; I was North and also passed.  East opened a diamond and my partner overcalled 2 clubs.  This was very exciting for me since my hand was distributional with 5 clubs, and, I was sure, worth much more than its sad little 8 points would indicate.  West jumped into the bidding with 2 diamonds and then it was my turn again.

What to bid?  I was 5-5 in clubs and spades with a singleton diamond and 2 hearts.  3 clubs didn't seem to tell the story.  I didn't want to jump to 4 clubs because that would mean I was weak; plus, I was playing with a new partner and nobody likes to see a bid of 4 clubs (or diamonds) across the table.  (I wanted to stay on her good side).  5 clubs seemed excessive; after all, I only had 8 points.  Then all of a sudden it came to me...I could cue bid the diamonds!  I needed at least 10 points to do that, and if I counted the singleton queen as 3, that brought me up to 9.  And I had 5 of her suit!  Problem solved, I thought, and bid 3 diamonds.

East, to my astonishment, promptly bid 4 diamonds.  I waited to see if my partner would bid 5 clubs...but no, she doubled instead.  Uh oh, I thought.  She thinks my hand is much better than it is; she doesn't know that unless we're in clubs it's not worth much.  Should I get her out of it and bid 5 clubs?  I decided to pass.

What happened next is not important.  What is important is the question of how to value a distributional hand.  I often feel like Goldilocks when dealt this type of hand...sometimes I overvalue it, sometimes I undervalue it, and sometimes I get it just right.  Today's game was full of these types of hands, and  I blame the automatic shuffler/dealer for this, even though The Bridge Bulletin says that I shouldn't.