Tuesday, April 26, 2005 5:53 PM

Hand Evaluation – Systemic ( 5 Card Majors )

PITBULLS:

Playing a 5 card major system has obvious advantages. Finding your 5-3 major fit fast & getting to major suit games rather than NT are the good things. However , coming with the territory there are obvious shortcomings. Benito Garazzo writes that the worst “fall out” from 5 card majors is the necessity to open 3 card minors . This creates an element of uncertainty in getting to minor slams & games , competing & directing leads. With a bad 3 card minor , I revert to Charles Goren , open my 4 card major anyway playing 5 card majors. In 3^rd & 4^th seat , it is automatic to open a 4 card major unless my minor can stand an opening lead.

The fact that I opened a minor as opposed to a major changes my lead directing double theory. When I open a minor it can mean anything from QJx to AKQJxx , consequently I use a lead directing double to guarantee the lead of the minor when the opponents are in NT. If I open a major , I expect that suit to be led anyway so a double negates that lead. Partner should lead dummy’s 1^st bid suit or his own suit instead after I double. With a minor opening though , I demand my suit be led with a lead directing double.

One of the hangovers from 4 card majors days is making a simple raise with 4 trump. I feel making a simple raise with 4 of her major should be avoided at all costs. Directly & in competition , I do not play a jump raise of partners major as pre-emptive. The jump raise can be put to a much better use as showing simple raise values with 4 trump. Think about it . When you play 5 card majors you hold 9 or more cards in partners suit. The opponents will not let you play at the two level owning half the deck with shortness in your suit. Use the law of total tricks & raise the auction to the 3 level right away. It keeps out the vultures & describes your 4^th trump to partner which is valuable information for further bidding.

My partners & I include limit raise hands in our Jacoby 2NT structure. This frees the jump raise for something else that the partnership decides. I prefer the direct jump raise to mean a simple raise with 4 trump. If you are in a pre-empting mood , jump to game. Who knows you might even make it ! Knowing that partner has only 3 trump for all simple raises assists greatly in game or slam tries , competitive auctions , penalty doubles and alternative game contracts like 3NT. You just need some bid to identify a simple raise with 4 trump. The jump raise does the job nicely.

My partners & I do not play Bergen as such . We mask our splinters though. We use 3♦ as a splinter in the other major & 3♣ as a splinter in a minor. This seems to work better for us. Part of the power of playing 5 card majors is to use the law of total tricks and get the auction up to the 3 level when you know you have 9 or more trump. Appreciate your length in trump & bid accordingly. Do not make a simple raise with 3 card support or 4 card support or even 5 card support. Horrible ambiguous bidding.

Your major structure is an important part of your system. 5 card major theory can be improved with good partnership understandings. Discuss with partner.