Wednesday, April 28, 2004 12:50
AM
Hand Evaluation - Decision Making
PITBULLS:
Bridge
is a partnership game . When you can use that fact to your advantage you are way better off. The beauty of forcing pass theory is with a pass you
giving your partner information to make a joint
decision for the partnership . Your pass says you want to take
offensive action in a high level auction but if partner’s hand is more
defensive oriented or weak then lets double the opponents. Your partner’s
opinion was taken into consideration when you decided to double the opponents.
Much better then making a single handed
decision for the partnership.
Results when the partnership has made a
decision as opposed to one partner taking matters into his own hand
are far far better.
D.S.I.P.
theory is an attempt to re-enforce that Bridge is a partnership game by getting both partners input into the
decision making process. D.S.I.P. borrows from
forcing pass theory but it uses
the double rather than the pass to encourage
bidding. Lets use & modify the
Tom/Bob 2♣ auction against Maurice & Susan as an example.
!♦-P-1♠-2♣
2♠-3♣-4♠-?
Say Tom has this collection ♠x ♥AKx ♦1098 ♣AKxxxx . With the opponents bidding his singleton &
partner raising his 6 card suit is not a 5♣ bid reasonable ? Not
playing D.S.I.P. doubles ,
he only bids 5♣ with a hand that does contain defensive values as well
as offensive values. Partners 3♣ bid was based on the wrong values for your
side ♠Kxxx ♥xx ♦KJxx ♣J10x or a
similar defensive hand. Ace of
spades lead , partner plays a low spade . Switch to the diamond Ace so RHO
ruffs . Turns out opener had Qxx of clubs so you go for –500. Now playing
D.S.I.P. doubles , you want to bid 5♣ so you ask partners permission to do so by doubling 4♠ . Partner
happily passes so you collect 1
club , 2 hearts , a heart ruff &
your spade King. This is +500 your
way for a 1000 difference !!
What
if the 2♣ bidder had ♠Kxx ♥Axx ♦xx ♣AKxxx with the same auction ? This time he passes 4♠ as he wants to defend so partner wants to bid 5♣ . Partner has a singleton spade , well
located diamonds with 4 trump. ♠x ♥xxxx ♦KJ10x ♣QJ109 so 5♣ looks nice from his perspective. You double saying you want to bid 5♣ but
partner says no thanks lets
defend. You score both diamonds, the clubs are 2-2 , you get a heart & a
spade trick. Down 3 for the
opponents +800 & 5♣ goes for -500 !
Lets
look at the positive offensive hands . Partner doubles with the first hand
saying he wants to bid 5♣ . You hold ♠Qxx ♥QJxxx ♦x ♣QJxx & bid 5♣ . This is a double game swing as both sides
make their contract ! Say partner bid 2♣ just for a lead with ♠x ♥xxxx ♦xx ♣AKQJ10x (
I would pre-empt to 3♣) so of course he passes 4♠ as not enough defense to double. You want to bid 5♣
from your side with ♠xx ♥KQxx ♦Kx ♣xxxx so you double . Partner bids 5♣ so you have a one
down sacrifice against a cold 620 in spades . If the vulnerability for a sac was not right , you simply pass.
The
difference in these auctions from
standard bidding is that there was no single
handed decision making. The double as “asking permission to bid”
brought the other partner into the
process. Of course , you should not over do
that . Do not leave up to partner what you can do yourself if you had the hand
for it . You hold ♠x ♥AKx ♦xx ♣AKxxxxx you simply bid 5♣ over 4♠ as long as partner raised clubs we are playing this
hand.
This
treatment of course is not a 100% magic bullet. You still need to exercise judgment like duplication of value
in the trump suit , shortness in their known suit , extra length in partners
suit , controls vrs queens & jacks etc , vulnerability considerations ,
state of the match etc . In other words , Bridge experience is very necessary.
Standard
bidding has the penalty double as an either
or bid . Partner can have a strong defensive hand for doubling 4♠ which combined with your distributional hand will
make a 5♣ game . However , what if partner had spade values for his penalty double of 4♠ ?? You can not pull the double for fear that it might
be that hand . This ambiguity
screws up the decision making process . The double should not be ambiguous in these auctions. The advocates
of this type of bidding just make a rule “ do not pull my penalty doubles” .
–790 occurs when your distribution obliterates partners defense so if you do
bid 5♣ with his points in spades an awful pseudo
sac happens . The trouble with this bidding is the decision is made
from only one side of the table &
only looking at one hand. D.S.I.P. theory “looks at two hands “ .
There
should be no room for ambiguous penalty doubles in high level or low level competitive
auctions. D.S.I.P. to the rescue. Everybody should
be convinced by now .