Wednesday, December 07, 2005 11:54 AM

Hand Evaluation – Partnership ( Ambiguity )

 

PITBULLS:

 

Ambiguity in a language causes confusion. Bridge bidding is a language so I would go so far as saying that ambiguity should be considered a hand evaluation concept. If you have a choice of an ambiguous bid or a natural bid , go for the natural bid. The system that we play is that natural bidding is always stronger than ambiguous bidding. If we use science like an ambiguous relay it means that we want to broadcast a weak hand , invitational hand or want to escape altogether. Relays , good–bad 2NT & Lebensohl all fall into that category so are consistent. These bids are unambiguously weak .

 

You also introduce ambiguity when you do not bid NT to describe a balanced hand. The horrible practice of bidding a 4 card major instead of showing your balanced hand is one of them. Bidding a bad suit instead of showing your balanced hand with a NT bid also introduces unnecessary ambiguity. An experienced player opened 1♣ on ♠10xxx ♥AKx ♦Ax ♣10xxx & his partner responded 1♥. A rebid of 1♠ conjures up the picture of a club spade distributional hand with your values in those two suits. A 1NT bid shows a balanced 4-4-3-2 with a minimum & HCP’s elsewhere. Which bid is less ambiguous ? He chose to bid 1♠ so partner had no idea what his hand entailed. A Tormentee held ♠AQ10 ♥Jx ♦AJx ♣xxxxx & heard her partner open 1♦. A 2NT bid in their system shows a balanced hand in the invitational range. This hand is not a 2♣ bid as you are not showing where you live with a distributional hand & values in clubs . You hold a flat 12 HCP with no HCP’s in clubs. Partner may devalue her hand because she has a stiff club fearing duplication of value !!  You describe your balanced hand 5-3-3-2 with a 2NT bid & right side the NT with your spade holding. A 2♣ bid cannot show this particular balanced 12 HCP because you have an unambiguous 2NT bid available to show that hand. Do not introduce ambiguity into an auction needlessly.

 

            The unassuming Q bid is an ambiguous bid. When you use a Q bid , you run the risk of confusing partner. Only use these Q bids when you are “backed into a corner” and do not have a natural bid available. ♠KQ10xx ♥Kxxx ♦xx ♣AQ , the auction goes

 

1♦-p-1♠-2♣ 

2♦-P-?-              We have an understanding that 2NT is a one round force  (  godfather ) but what if you do not have that understanding ? There are two natural bids available , a leap to 3NT which is an underbid & might miss your best spot of 6♥ or a simple 2♥ which is a one round force. After a 2♣ rebid , 2♥ is not forcing by virtue of a 2♦ bid being available . After a 2♦ rebid , a 2♥ bid is a one round force. The worst alternative is a 3♣ Q bid. 99% of the time partner will interpret the bid as a Western Q bid or a strong diamond fit. Ambiguity reigns supreme & a disaster could occur.

 

            A negative double is an ambiguous bid designed for auctions that you do not have a natural bid available. 1♣-1♠-?    ♠xx ♥AQxx ♦AKxxx ♣xx   this is not a negative double as you have the strength & distribution to bid naturally. You bid 2♦ and then reverse into hearts. This describes your distribution and strength nicely. If you make an ambiguous negative double initially ,  you may have to make an ambiguous Q bid later to describe your strength . You have now confused the auction.

 

            A negative double should not replace a natural bid. Partner opens a minor and you get a 1♥ overcall. The negative double to show 4♠ is a horrible invention in my opinion. The heart suit pre-empts the other minor not the boss suit spades. Bid 1♠ if you have 4 or more  spades and the negative double should show the other minor with no natural bid available.

 

            You have this rock , ♠x ♥x ♦AQ109x ♣AKQJxx with partner opening 1♥. They bid 3♠ so what do you bid ? You have a very strong hand so bid as naturally & slowly as you can so you do not pre-empt the auction from a grand slam. Do not bid some artificial esoteric bid of 5NT or something similar as you lose the possibility of a grand slam.

 

            4^th suit forcing was a horrible invention in that it is not natural. It was invented so that jumps could be invitational rather than forcing like in Goren’s days. Fine but sometimes the fix causes more problems than the original problem. 4^th suit forcing is ambiguous. You do not know if it is a suit , stoppers , two small. A lot of ugly things happen after that. NT contracts are wrong sided , ambiguous Q bids come into play & natural bidding (  a strength of standard bidding)  gets thrown out the window.

 

            Two understandings that we play are designed to fix part of the ambiguity with the 4^th suit forcing problem. The godfather 2NT bid by responder is a “new suit” & a one round force. This means we do not need a 4^th suit forcing for many hands as 2NT does the job very nicely. An artificial 4^th suit backs partner into a corner so ugly things like rebidding 4 card suits or bidding NT without stoppers occur. Fits are not found as partner is not sure if the 4ths suit is “real”.   Another understanding is that we do not need 4^th suit forcing if the auction remains at the one level for three rounds. We play the same 2-way NMF that we play after a 1NT rebid ( XYZ ) . This negates the need for some artificial jump to 2♠ as a 4^th suit forcing bid. What a horrible bid that is.  1♣-P-1♦-P  1♥-P-2♠-P  4^th suit forcing ?

 

            In competitive auctions “show where you live” rather than making an ambiguous Q bid. You have ♠xx ♥Axx ♦AKJ10x ♣xxx , partner opens 1♥ . They overcall one spade so you have a Q bid available which shows a limit raise or better in hearts but is ambiguous as to the contents of your hand. You run the risk of confusion if LHO makes it hard on you by pre-empting to 3♠ or 4♠. Bid 2♦ so partner is now better placed if the auction takes off. They jump to 4♠ and with a singleton or void in diamonds your two hands do not fit very well so they play the contract doubled. On the flip side , if partner has a diamond fit,  she destroys your hand defensively. How would she know if you concealed your hand via an ambiguous Q bid when you had a good natural bid available ?

 

            Ambiguity can show up in other places by just wrong/bad bidding. If you make a bid in a certain situation without self discipline & values for the bid , you are creating ambiguity. In other words , when the next time you do have the values for the bid , how is partner supposed to know the difference ?  Sometimes Tormentees pass in competitive auctions with 10 HCP & sometimes they do not. They have made the pass ambiguous . Be consistent or you introduce ambiguity in every auction. A horrible auction occurred recently because a Tormentee introduced ambiguity by making a wrong bid in the first instance.

 

The auction went 1♦ & Doug Hawrelak doubled. You have ♠Qx ♥Axx ♦xx ♣AKJ10x so what do you bid after a T/O double ? Reason this way . A 2♣ bid can show zero HCP’s as partner forced you to bid with a double. A 3♣ jump bid was invented to show the T/O doubler that you do not have zero to 8  HCP but an invitational hand 9-12 HCP. A Q bid shows hands 13 HCP  & above as with partners 13 HCP for the double you are in the game range of 26 HCP. The Tormentee with 14 HCP & a nice suit bid 3♣ , the same bid she would have made with 9 HCP ( too strong to bid 2♣) . Bridge bidding is a language . How is partner supposed to read that one time you may have 9 HCP & the next time 14 HCP with the same bid. Of course , you have made an ambiguous bid. You bid 2♦ & Doug bids 2♠ equal level conversion. You bid 3♣ to show the nature of your Q bid , Doug bids 3NT which you pass & make your +630. You end up in 5♣ for –200 when you make the wrong bid initially ( 3♣ ) . Ambiguity is the scourge of any language . You can not assign a different meaning to the same sequence as Bridge disasters will happen. Use self discipline to be consistent from hand to hand so partner can interpret your bidding properly.

 

Ambiguity is the enemy of the Bridge bidding language. Avoid ambiguity almost at all costs ! A Tormentee had a balanced 15 HCP . She did not want to open 1NT a clear unambiguous bid which shows a balanced 15 HCP because her HCP’s were mostly concentrated in two suits. This is dangerous as it is difficult to make up for lost time & describe the balanced 15 you could have described with one bid initially. She opened 1♠ , partner as a passed hand bid 2♥ so she now made an ambiguous 2NT bid , the same bid she would have made with a good 13 HCP. Partner was “all in” with his 11 HCP so he passed & a 26 HCP vul game was missed. A leap to 3NT was in order as you knew your side had 25-26 HCP when partner went to the two level ! She never made the correction to describe her hand.

 

One of the most ambiguous bids in Bridge is not supporting partner when you have a chance. Not supporting partner is instant ambiguity because she will also take the inference , partner does not fit my suit. ♠K1098 ♥xxx ♦AJ10xx ♣x & with everybody vul your LHO opens 1♠. Partner overcalls 2♥ vul so now what ? Without the spade opener , you have a limit raise or better in support of partners bid suit. Devaluating the spade king , most experts would just opt for a 3♥ raise. What is the most ambiguous bid you can make ? 3♦ does not show where you live as partners stiff diamond would be an asset not a detriment with this diamond holding. 3♦ is absolutely forcing to you are overstating your values & may paint partner into a corner. Since the partnership is already at the 3 level, partner with the ♦K to obviously fit your long diamond suit tries to right side 3NT by Q bidding 3♠. Partner dutifully bids 3NT which gets a silly double. A double calls for a heart lead would should  be a disaster as you are holding ♥xxxx & a stiff ♠ & the ♦Q on side.  4♥X has a shot but you sit for 3NT & watch the opponents cash 5 ♣ tricks & the ♥A. You hid your hand & trump support from partner thereby leaving partner in the dark.

 

            The advantages of standard bidding over an artificial club system , is that it is natural. You show where you live , you “pattern out” to show your distribution and strength. If you can throw out as many artificial ambiguous bids as you can in order to keep your system “natural’ , you will be far more accurate bidders. Exploit the strength of your natural system by preserving bids to mean suits & strength. Artificiality means ambiguity which makes bidding & communicating very difficult.