Sunday, December 03, 2006 6:57 AM

Forcing passes - Bidding Game

PITBULLS:

Bidding game in itself does not turn on forcing passes. In order to do so , the partnership must have done something earlier like making a strength showing bid with a double or a Q bid to show that they “own the auction” . The vulnerability also enters the picture which we will discuss later.

You can own the auction from the opening bid side or the overcalling ( T/O double ) side as long as you leave partner a clue by making a strength showing bid . Leaping to game by itself never turns on forcing passes even vul vrs not. Bidding game vul ( not leaping ) against non vul opponents does turn on forcing passes. This is why you should not be a kangaroo and leap to game with good hands. Q bid , double or otherwise make a strength showing bid first . Why are you in such a hurry when you own the auction ? Think of it as “fast arrival” . Fast arrival by leaping to game does not turn on forcing passes.

The most frequent competitive battle in the game of Bridge is the spade suit vrs the heart suit. Quite frequently one side or the other reaches game and you must know how to sort out forcing passes. BJ Trelford and I had an auction when D.S.I.P. double theory works at the lower level to setup a forcing pass at the game level. We had the heart suit and they had the spade suit with equal vulnerability. They opened 1♠ and BJ overcalled 2♥ and my RHO bid 2♠. I bid 3♥ which is just competitive as I had a double at my disposal. They bid 3♠ so if BJ bids 4♥ does that turn on forcing passes ? BJ did not leap to game as the rank of the spade suit prevented that. On equal vulnerability 4♥ does not turn on forcing passes. This is because BJ had a 3 level D.S.I.P. double at his disposal to indicate a good hand and a desire to bid 4♥.

After BJ has doubled earlier and both sides reach game , we own the auction and forcing pass theory kicks in. Think about it. BJ has the right just to bid 4♥ without bringing all the ramifications of forcing pass theory into the fray. He does not want partner doubling with a minimum to say partner do not bid again or any of the other forcing pass nuances. Who says we own the auction in these spades vrs hearts battles if BJ can not double or Q bid earlier to show strength ?

Same match and BJ had another tough hand to bid with regard to forcing pass theory. The auction again was NV vrs NV partner opens 1♠ and they make a T/O double with BJ holding ♠Q109xx ♥10xxx ♦Axxx ♣void . What a tough hand to describe !! If you pre-empt to 4♠ this of course does not turn on forcing passes and you do have an outside Ace & a void. Splintering with only 6 HCP’s does not seem right either. BJ at the table decided rules are made to be broken , so he pre-empted 4♠. This is the same bid I would have made. Due to the rank of the spade suit you are forcing the auction to the 5 level where old fashioned Bridge applies. You double them if you think you can set them , pass if you can not and bid if you feel you can make your contract. Pre-empting with an outside Ace and a void usually wrecks havoc with forcing passes but there are tactical considerations in Bridge. When they did bid 5♣ , BJ just passed saying that he could not beat 5♣ so this was enough for me ( green light ) to bid 5♠ which went for a mere 100 doubled. Sometimes hands fall between the cracks.