Tuesday, April 26, 2005 10:44 PM

D.S.I.P. Pre-emptive Auctions

PITBULLS:

The opponents pre-empt to make life difficult for you . They cramp the bidding and make you guess. If you guess wrong it can be expensive. D.S.I.P. doubles are a good counter measure for pre-emptive maneuvers by the opponents. First of all throw penalty doubles out , when one partner raises the pre-emptier. Penalty doubles just do not exist. If you have their suit , pass and wait for the re-opening double . A double says I have cards and no clear cut action. Tom Gandolfo had a hand tonight that shows D.S.I.P. theory in action at the 4 level.

3♣-3♥-4♣-? ♠ K10x ♥ 9xx ♦109xx ♣ AJ10 You have defensive values but no clear cut action . Why guess at a 4♥ contract ? You double which gives partner the maximum number of options. I held Qxx AQJ10x KJxxx void so over the double I bid 4♦ . Tom is at the 4 level anyway so he bids 4♥ which gets resoundly doubled. I know I can not stand the heart tap because Tom can not have 4 trump on this auction. I bail to 5♦ and a disaster is averted as they may not even double that contract ! If partner does not make a D.S.I.P.double and guesses the 4♥ is the spot , I would never pull 4♥X . It goes for a telephone number on this particular hand and 5♦ is down one ! Not bad against –130 in clubs !

When the auction has prevented you from describing your hand & raising partner , D.S.I.P. doubles just show cards and no clear cut choice of bids. Bidding in these auctions are quite often just straight gambling by guessing. D.S.I.P. doubles help alleviate the guess and even allows partner to pass with a non offensive hand and wastage in their suit. As long as the criteria for D.S.I.P. doubles are there , a double will assist partner. We do not own the hand or partner has no idea that we own the hand , D.S.I.P. theory applies. The last statement is important . If you had 16 HCPs in the above auction , how does partner know it ? Without a great fit double anyway and then Q bid . This reserves the direct Q bid for fits only in these pre-emptive auctions.

Forcing pass auctions only apply if it is obvious to the partnership that they own the auction. If one partner is in the dark , D.S.I.P. double theory is the default. Trump stack doubles have no place in competitive bidding.