Thursday, March 22, 2007 4:10 AM

Hand Evaluation - 3♣ SJS ( 5-4-2-2’s )

PITBULLS:

Strong 5-4-2-2’s with a four card major fit for partner are difficult hands to bid. For example , a heart opener with partner responding 1♠ hitting your 4 card suit. The multi purpose 3♣ SJS is really useful when partner opens 1♥ with a strong hand & you find your spade fit. This hand came up in the Bermuda Bowl & most pairs bungled the auction. ♠AJ10x ♥xx ♦Axxxx ♣xx opposite ♠KQxx ♥AKxxx ♦Kx ♣Ax . Most auctions went

1♥-P-1♠-P

4♠-P-P-P so they missed their +1430 .

Can we do better ? Normally when we use the 3♣ SJS & support partners major , you show a strong hand with only 3 trump. With a strong hand with 4 trump , you leap to 4 of the major after the 3♣ relay only if you are super rich in controls. If you have softer values, you rebid 2NT initially rather than rebidding 3♣ with any 5-4-2-2 & 4 trump. You let partner in on your balanced distribution , HCP range & soft values before you support her spades.

OK , with your ♠AJ10x ♥xx ♦Axxxx ♣xx you know partner has a huge 5-4-2-2 rich in controls. She broke your relay with a leap to 4♠ after making a 3♣ SJS. You now bid KCB so you get to your easy +1430 . Change the opener to ♠KQxx ♥AQxxx ♦Kx ♣KQ & partner would bid 2NT. You would relay to 3♣ & partner would break the relay by leaping to 4♠. Since partner showed less controls with the 2NT bid , you do not even try for slam & pass 4♠. This makes +620 on the nose with an unfavourable lie of the cards.

The multi purpose 3♣ saves useful bidding space. In this case , not very much but enough for opener to give partner information about her control rich hand , strength & 4^th trump. This was more than enough for the responder J.

Hand evaluation is bidding. Showing your HCP’s , soft values & balanced distribution is more important in my opinion that showing your 4^th trump immediately with very strong hands. We like bidding NT to show a class of balanced Bridge hands. Showing support for partner first , hides the soft values & distribution & even HCP’s. This is very anti standard American thinking , but it makes sense. At the lower level with less HCP’s , it makes more sense to show your fit first as there is the competitive element where the opponents may enter the auction a this level. With our side holding 26 HCP+ , we do not worry about the opponents. We show the fit later after giving responder a great deal of information first.