Friday, December 15, 2006 1:14 AM

Hand Evaluation - Opponents Trump Suit

PITBULLS:

Playing competitive doubles , your holding in the opponents trump suit “tells a story” . D.S.I.P. theory revolves around not bidding when you have a trump stack in their suit . This “non bid” of course prevents useless wasted values showing up in the board or rescuing them from bad spots. Your holding in their trump suit should guide you in your competitive bidding. Partner should & will double with a good defensive hand with shortness in their suit.

You have a glaring negative inference when you know from the opponents bidding that partner is short in their suit. Tonight I held , ♠AJxx ♥K109xx ♦J ♣xxx , the auction went 1♦ in 3^rd seat vul vrs not & RHO bid 1♠. This was passed to BJ Trelford who balanced with a double. They competed to 2♠ so I bid 3♥ . The opener competed to 3♠ & passed around to me. I do a quick pattern check in their trump suit so its 5-4-3-1. A red flag should now be raised. Partner has a stiff spade but did not make a D.S.I.P. double !! This describes his balance as minimum without the requisite number of defensive tricks for a D.S.I.P. double. Partner prefers to defend for a reason.

On all vulnerabilities, I have a clear cut pass. Partner has done his dirty work by pushing them from the one level to the 3 level so a double by me is just “punishing the balancer” . Using their trump as a guide , its time to fold our tent. D.S.I.P. doubles were invented to double with shortness in their trump suit as insurance against partner holding their trump. Penalty doubles in these sort of auctions should be non existent. You are just punishing partner for balancing.

Balancing auctions & D.S.I.P. still mix as there is a competitive element so nobody really owns the auction. D.S.I.P. theory was designed around the duplication of value in their trump suit. Therefore , examine your holding in their trump suit. This pattern will quite often guide you to the best competitive action. In this case , the green card.