Monday, August 28, 2006 5:03 AM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( 5 Card Suits )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            In my opinion , it is very poor bidding to bid 5 card major suits after a two club opener or to ever rebid 5 card majors in any auction. The idea of bidding is to paint of picture of your distribution & suit length to partner. These two horrible practices do not do that. Some people who play 2/1 say they rebid their 5 card major suit when they are “stuck for a bid” . Nonsense ! There is always a different bid you can come up with in a 2/1 auction rather than rebid a 5 card major suit. We only rebid a 5 card major when we feel due to its strength,  it evaluates to a 6 card suit.

 

            ♠AKxxx ♥x ♦Kxxx ♣QJx    and you open 1♠ with partner bidding 2♥. There are two bids you can come up with rather than rebidding your 5 card suit. 2NT or 3♦ are both better bids in my way of thinking. With the soft nature of my clubs , I would bid 2NT. 3♦ is a lie as that shows a better hand to go to the 3 level but it is a better lie than rebidding a 5 card major. ♠xx ♥AQxxx ♦xx ♣AKxx  is another hand where people feel they are stuck for a bid. 1♥-P-2♦-P ?    They feel that they are not strong enough to bid 3♣ so they distort their hand with a 2♥ rebid.  Again nonsense , pick a better lie as at least you are describing your distribution to partner. You have two suits , hearts & clubs so tell partner that you have them by bidding 3♣. Say I owe you some HCP’s later.

 

            Rebidding a 5 card major is not a little lie it is very , very deceptive for the partnership. The 6^th card in a suit is a very important element in bidding that gets partner raising to game on a doubleton or sometimes a stiff honour. Do not do it !  A much better lie in my opinion is to consider 5-4-3-1 hands as “semi-balanced” so bid NT when partner covers your stiff. I will make every other bidding lie in the book , bidding NT without a stopper in a suit , bid NT with a stiff in partners suit anything but rebid a 5 card major.

 

            Now for my 2^nd gripe. Bidding a 5 card major after you have opened 2♣. Partner will not get a true picture of your hand when you practice this ugly habit. Here is a hand from a Bermuda Bowl trial where only one pair out of 4 got to the correct contract. ♠AKxxx ♥AQx ♦AQ10x ♣A   they all opened 2♣ , partner bid either 2♦ waiting or a control showing bid. 3 bidders “described “ their hand by bidding 2♠. This bid does not describe your “semi-balanced” 23 HCP’s very well. Partner visualizes a strong spade hand so at 3 tables they could not get that thought out of their mind. Two tables played 6♠ down two vul , one table played 5♠ down 1 when they asked about the solidarity of the spade suit.

 

            At one table they rebid 2NT & partner raised to 6NT with ♠10x ♥Kxx ♦Jxxx ♣KQJx so were plus +1440. These players were not beginners. Soloway-Goldman , Berkowicz ( club system) , Stansby-Martel all got to a spade contract because of the inane practice of bidding a 5 card suit after opening 2♣. They simply could not recover from their initial bid.

 

            Susan Culham had this hand in the Beijing Olympiad . ♠AKQxx ♥Axx ♦K ♣AKxx . The 5-4-3-1 hand after opening 2♣ is almost impossible to bid properly. Given the range of 2♣ opener hands , does this hand resemble the balanced 23 HCP hands or the single suited major suits hand that partner envisions with a 2♠ rebid ? Choose a bid that describes your entire hand not just one 5 card suit. With tough to describe hands , chose the most practical bid that partner would like to hear. A 2NT rebid simplifies the auction & Kiz places the contract in 6♣ with her 5-5 in the minors & all is well. A 2♠ rebid does not describe this hand properly so disasters are waiting to happen. 5 card majors & 2♣ openers are not a good mix. A 2♠ rebid is not wrong with this hand  but it is more ambiguous than 2NT.