Thursday, September 29, 2005 5:56 AM

Forcing Passes - Vulnerability

PITBULLS:

I like the understanding that all vul games bid non pre-emptively against non vul opponents turn on forcing passes. This includes partner making a high level double and forcing partner into a vul game. Why should this be a forcing pass situation since partner could have absolutely nothing or a weak hand ? Never , because with nothing vul against non vul, I think the high level double should be passed. 1♥-P-4♥-X xxxx xxx xxx xxx up to xxxx Qxx Kxx QJx should be passed. –590 for 4♥X making may be the least of evils in these auctions. If partner contracts for a game vul even under pressure of partners double, forcing passes are turned on .

The Lebensohl convention that we all play over high level doubles greatly assist in forcing pass situations. If we have a distributional nothing and we want to run, we trot out 4NT Lebensohl. 1♠-P-4♠-X 4NT x xxx KJxxxx xxx . If we had a chance to use Lebensohl and did not , forcing passes are automatically turned on at any vulnerability.

Even pre-empts ( a weak two or three) turn on forcing passes vul against not if our game was bid. Other vulnerabilities partner had to make a forcing noise first before forcing passes are turned on. This is one time when the pre-empter is allowed to bid again. Partner is not bidding a vul game against nv opponents as a sacrifice. His pass and your pass are both forcing. BJ Trelford in Atlanta opened 2♥ vul against nv. I leapt to 4♥ vul and they interfered with a 5♣ bid. This hit BJ’s void and he had slam interests so he decided that the pass and pull part of forcing pass theory would describe his hand best. I bid 5♥ which made and Tom Gandolfo bought the hand in 5♣X at the other table and made the contract on bad defense.

Try this hand out . xxxx void AJx AKxxxx 1♥-P-4♥-X 4♠-5♥-P-? The opponents are nv and you are vulnerable. You forced partner vul into 4♠ with your double so do you bid again ? Yes , as partner’s pass is forcing . She has AKxxx xxx 10xx xx and on a lucky day a grand in spades makes. Vul games turn on forcing passes against nv opponents. On equal vulnerability forcing passes would not be turned on when you forced partner to game. She would have to make a decision for the partnership. Of course , if you voluntarily bid game ( not forced) , forcing passes are turned on with any vulnerability.

Following the principle of this article , if partner pulls a penalty double of a nv opponent to a vul game , forcing passes are turned on. xx xx AKJ10x AKQx 1♦-1♥-1♠-4♥ x-P-4♠-P P-5♥-P-P ? Partner is not pulling a double vul vrs nv from a position of weakness. She expects to make 4♠ so forcing passes apply. The decision in my mind anyway is between bidding 5♠ & 6♠ . Say if responder made a penalty double in this auction , and the opener pulls the double to 4♠ and they subsequently bid again. Forcing passes are turned on.

The opponents bidding nv vrs vul in itself turns on forcing passes. If we are vul and they pre-empt non vul , partner bids and they bid game in the sandwich position , forcing passes are turned on. Why , the simple fact that we must be given protection against vul vrs nv tactics. If we double and they make the contract , we hand them their 4 IMPS and on to the next hand. In the vast majority of other hands, forcing pass theory assists out side. In Reno , BJ Trelford opened 1♥ vul with a bad hand , they pre-empted 3♣ and I bid 3♥. My LHO “re-pre-empted” to 5♣ so BJ doubles as his pass would be forcing. We beat the contract for +300 and we would be one down in 5♥ for a 10 IMP swing.