Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:42 AM

Balancing - Flawed Hands

PITBULLS:

Playing with the Pitbulls individually , I have noticed that none of you make bad 2 level overcalls ( bad suits ) . If you have an opening hand but a bad suit you pass and possibly back in later . I am going to let my bias show here . I think this is good disciplined Bridge . Bidding directly with bad suits at the two level is “bad gambling” . You are setting the partnership up for a penalty double , a pseudo sacrifice , a bad opening lead , helping opponents locate HCP etc . You have to make the risk in line with the reward so passing with these hands make sense to me . A shrug of the shoulder and saying “sometimes you go for 1100” does not make any sense to me . Why take the chance and give opponents options to extract horrible penalty doubles ??

I also notice that the Pitbulls do not make bad take out doubles . If you have a flaw somewhere you prefer to take delayed action and back in later expecting partner to be “at the table” to figure out your distribution . Again this is good disciplined Bridge . Discipline with take out doubles initially avoids disasters and allows the partnership to compete with confidence . However , in order not to let the opponents steal your hand , you have to be able to back in later or balance with flawed hands.

We have discussed some situations for belated doubles in a previous e-mail . These are hands that you could not take initial action due to a flaw somewhere. You back into the bidding in a non balancing position relying on partner to “pick up your distribution” by being at the table and listening to the bidding . What about flawed balancing bids ? You hold xxxx AKxx AJ10x x and RHO bids one spade and LHO bids 2♠ and it gets passed to you . O.K. you have no duplication of value in spades and the opponents have mapped out a singleton or void in spades in partners hand . Time to bid partners stiff spade for her so you double and partner makes the expected 3♣ call . Do you pass ? No , partner knows that in balancing situations you can have a flaw somewhere so you bid 3♦ which is equal level conversion to show diamonds and hearts . Partner has 12 cards that are not spades so we should have some sort of fit in the reds.

O.K. you have a Steve Willard overcall that you do not overcall because your suit is atrocious . 

Axxx Kx Ax Qxxxx 1 spade to your right and 2♠ to your left so around to you . Again the opponents are kind enough to map out a stiff spade in partners hand for you . Now back in 3♣ . Partner will realize that you did not bid 2♣ in the first instance due to a flaw which is most likely a bad club suit . This is a time where undoubled or doubled rescue bids apply . Partner has 12 non spade cards so if she now bids 3♦ or 3♥ its “rescuing” the balance with equal level conversion as she knows that you did not overcall 2♣ initially . Good partners will normally hold clubs for you when you balance with these kind of suits J.

Anyway , playing with expert partners, do not let flaws prevent you from taking delayed action . Partner is at the table at will let the opponents bidding and your non initial action guide the partnership to the correct spot . Equal level conversion theory helps in balancing auctions also. Passing too often can be just as dangerous as making undisciplined bids initially . Double partial swings are 7 IMPS and sometimes you can get to games reached by your opponents who took a bad gamble by bidding initially . Yes , there is some element of risk but by waiting until balancing auctions , you have taken some of the risk out of it . The opponents have shown you their HCP by passing and have shown the distribution in their suit for you to take appropriate action . Be a Pitbull and bid !!