You hold: void, KQ8542, J3, AT972. None vul, you open 1H. The auction continues 1S-2H-2S; 4H-4S-X-P to you? I think so. It's close but it sounds like 4S will be making. I have less defense than partner is expecting (only 10hcp, extra heart and club length) so unless partner has a really good trump stack, which also seems unlikely, 4S will be making. I mean, he only raised to 2H so he couldn't have too much. Double by partner should be based on spade honors and a clear interest in defending because with a typical hand with nothing in spades, he could pass and it would be forcing. We've bid game, presumably to make so we aren't going to let the opponents play 4S undoubled.
If partner takes 25 seconds to double, does that change things? Yeah, sure. It makes bidding on look more attractive. The slow double in this case clearly indicated that partner is unsure of the double, probably based on something like 4 spades to the QT instead of 4 to the KQT which would be an easy double. No director was called on the hesitation and my opponents at the time would probably have been clueless as to the many inferences and unauthorized information I could have obtained from partner's hesitation. And I did not bid 5H even though I knew well that it must be the winning call in this case. Partner's hand: JT9x, AJxx, Txx, QJ Result: 4SX made while at the other table 5H was set 1 trick.
That's too bad. I don't know if any of your peers would pass that double, but I guess being ethical is about bending over backwards.
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