Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:15 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Systemic ( 4-4-4-1)
PITBULLS:
4-4-4-1
hands have plagued standard bidding ever since Bridge was invented
. They are just difficult to bid in any system
. Some players
still advocate Roman 2♦ or mini
Roman for these hands . The huge 4-4-4-1 hands are usually
handled around Edmonton by opening 2♣ & jumping in your stiff after 2♦ . This is not a good
way to handle these hands but nobody could suggest anything better
. My partners & I include these hands in our ACOL 2♦ opener treatment (17-21 HCP )
.
After decades of frustration with 4-4-4-1 hands , I have decided to treat these hands as “semi-balanced”. I also treat the difficult 5-4-3-1 hands as semi balanced. As far as patterns go , they play more like the balanced distributions as opposed to the more offensive patterns. The defensive capabilities with 4-4-4-1’s are similar to balanced hands. My game plan now is to treat all 4-4-4-1 hands as a NT like hand when I have a stiff honour.
This
hand was the subject of discussion on what is the “best lie” on how to
bid it. ♠J ♥AKxx ♦AKQx ♣K1098
. One Tormentee opened 1♦ & I responded 1♠. She made the “reverse lie” to
2♥. This lie I do not like as the reverse must show
the first suit as longer. Gives partner the wrong impression that
you have a two suited hand. The good point about this lie is
that you do not bury the heart suit. Another Tormentee
opened 1♦ & rebid 2NT. This is a better
lie in my opinion but a bit of an underbid. Another player bid it
the Goren way by opening one diamond & rebidding 3♣. This gives partner the
impression that you have a two suiter
& not a 3 suiter hiding ♥AKxx . My lie was opening the hand 2NT initially
. Everybody would open the following hand 2NT with ♠xx ♥AKxx ♦AKQx ♣KJ9 as you have a
balanced 20 HCP. Lets analyze the doubleton spade as
opposed to a stiff honour. If partner has spades is a
doubleton small any better or worse than a stiff honour ? With a stiff honour , NT
is my lie.
Nancy
Cook has come up with an idea which has merit
to handle these 3 suited hand types without
a stiff honour. For players who have the multi 3♣
SJS understanding , simply use the relay
to describe these 3 suiters. Nancy advocates opening
1♦ & after partner bids the major that she
does not have , she make a SJS into clubs.
Responders takes the relay to 3♦ so she simply
bids the other major to show the 4-4-4-1 pattern !! If she has a diamond hand too
strong to rebid 3♦ ,
she bids 3NT after the 3♦ relay. The fact that responder
must puppet to 3♦ ,
allows opener to show all
3 suits . J Even a hand like ♠AKxx ♥x ♦AJxx
♣AKxx should be opened 1♦ . Responder bids a heart so you multi SJS to
3♣ instead of bidding spades at the one or two level. Partner
relays to 3♦ so now you bid 3♠ so
your 3 suiter is now described along with the HCP
range. Excellent !
Tom
Gandolfo held
this hand on Thurs nite playing with your truly . ♠K ♥AJxx
♦A10xx ♣Q10xx
. Tom opened 1♦
, I bid 1♠ what is your rebid ? We advocate rebidding 1NT with these
hands. This makes a lot of sense to me because partner can hold a great number
of 5-4 in the major ‘s hands with invitational values
. Since 2♥ is 4th suit forcing by
responder if opener rebids 2♣ , rebidding 1NT allows
you to find the heart fit. If you do not rebid 1NT ,
you will be missing many 4-4 heart fits & some good heart
games.
Stan Cabay has a system over 2♣ to show the 4-4-4-1 huge hands without jumping around . He just uses a relay to show these hands .
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2♣ |
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2♦ |
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2♥ |
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2♠ |
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* |
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Stan
has the understanding that any suit bid now shows the 4-4-4-1 hand ( he actually bids the suit below the singleton ) . This is
a much better way to show these hands as it frees up the jump
for a more useful bid . Attached to this e-mail is Stans notes on this topic .
The
17-21 HCP 4-4-4-1 hands are a problem in standard bidding. 4-4-4-1’s are
pretty close to a balanced hand , so a good lie is to bid NT with this
distribution as a rebid. If I have a stiff honour , a 2NT rebid or 2NT
opener is automatic for me. If partner responds in my stiff ,
I have no qualms to bid NT . Describing 3 suits is very difficult , remember.
Using the 3♣ SJS & relay helps with these hands if you do not have a
stiff honour. Opening 1NT with a stiff honour with these difficult hands quite often
is a good out.
Pitbull Pat gave me this hand ♠void ♥AKx ♦A ♣AKQJ10xxxx & asked is there any way to find out about
the heart queen ? Yes
, there is playing strong 2♣ . Now that you have freed the jump away
from showing 4-4-4-1 hands as some Edmonton players suggest, the jumpt can be defined to show the one suited
monster that says to partner “this is the suit we are playing in - so
bid your controls up the line “ . 1st round control is bid
directly & one or more Kings is shown by bidding NT .
If partner has no controls
, she must just raise the agreed suit . If the 2♣
bidder now bids a suit , it asks for partners holding
in that suit . Simple up the line steps by responder shows the holding in that suit . 1St step xxx 2nd step the queen 3rd
step shows 2Nd round control
and next step shows 1st round ( i.e. 0 , 3rd , 2nd
, 1st )
With Pats hand, the auction could go as follows :
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2♣ |
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2♦ |
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4♣ |
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5♣ |
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5♥ |
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5NT |
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7♣ |
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4♣
says we are playing clubs as the trump suit . 5♣ says
“sorry I have no controls” . 5♥
says I no not care, tell me about your hearts . 5NT says I have the queen & 7♣ says we are
making that contract.
Here
is another hand . ♠AKQJxxxx
♥AKQ ♦xx ♣void . Partner shows a stiff
diamond when asked !
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2♣ |
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2♦ |
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3♠ |
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4♠ |
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5♦ |
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5NT |
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6♠ |
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Kantar
advocates suit asking bids in KCB when you are still interested
in a grand after you have found all the controls .
Obviously suit asking bids are useful with 2♣ openers. Anyway
, the 2♣ structure is a weakness in standard bidding . Established
partnerships usually find a way to improve it.