Monday, March 19, 2007 2:37 AM
 
Hand Evaluation - Approach Forcing

PITBULLS:

            Modern bidding is an “approach forcing” system. What does this mean ? This means that whenever responder bids a new suit ,  it is forcing.  Before “approach forcing’ became in vogue , you had to jump to force. Strong jump shifts by responder , strong jump preferences & jumps after 2/1 bidding were needed to force & show a good hand before approach forcing came into vogue.

            The modern style means jumps or  fast arrival to game means something altogether different from strength. In a 2/1 auction since it is forcing to game , a jump in a suit does not show strength but suit quality. I like to generalize & play all jumps in a suit to show good suit quality rather than strength. Jumps to a new suit in a 2/1 auction are splinters. Jumps to 3NT show specifically hands that evaluate to a strong NT. Fast arrival to game in a Q bidding auction or otherwise says I have nothing extra but more importantly , I lack a control to Q bid.

            Sometimes it is best to go back to the “old ways” where jumps were needed to force thereby showing your slam intentions immediately. This modern notion is recovering the useful forms of the strong jump shift & jump preference. The useful jump shifts by responder is where you show a good suit or a fit rather than just a lot of HCP’s.  Jump rebids by responder show a slam going hand with a good suit. In order to play this , you need to beef up your weak jump shifts so that a simple rebid of your suit is invitational. Fit showing jump shifts as a passed hand are becoming standard bidding.

            Playing a structure like XYZ allows you to play strong jump shifts & jump preferences by responder. Why ? Because all game forcing hands are shown by a 2♦ bid & all invitational hands with a 2♣ bid. This leaves the jump shifts & jump preferences to be picture bids with distribution that show your slam hand immediately rather than approach forcing. Approach forcing has its advantages but showing your intentions are not one of them as you can make a forcing bid with any strength or suit quality & length. This means by necessity , you are captain of the auction so it is hard to enlist partner’s help in the auction. 4^th suit forcing is very much “approach forcing “.

            Here is a good auction that shows fast arrival in action.

 ♠AKxxx ♥xx ♦AKQxx ♣x opposite     ♠x ♥Qx ♦J10xx ♣AKQJxx    

1♠-P-2♣-P

 2♦-P-3♦-P

 3♠-P-5♦-P              fast arrival to show no heart control. Partner denies a heart control by bypassing hearts to show the spade control first ( rank of suits ) .

            Ranks of suits enter into the equation of approach forcing. When you bid as responder you anticipate partner’s problems by taking the ranks of suits into consideration. You also choose bids depending on the context of the auction. If you fit partners hand , you make a more positive bid . If you so not , you make more of a “death response”. As responder when you approach game , you bid your suits in the correct order to conserve bidding room. Here is a very poorly bid hand recently from the Beijing Olympiad where responder violated the rank order of suits.  ♠x  ♥Kx ♦AJ9xx ♣1098xx partner opens 2♣ & you bid 2♠ in accordance with your methods to show controls. Opener now bids 3♠ so the cheapest & most practical bid  you can make is 3NT. This may right side the 3NT & also leaves room for partner to describe her hand. In addition , you are giving a death response with a stiff in partner’s suit as you have already shown your controls anyway. The 2^nd best bid by responder after 3♠ by partner is 4♣ as again you are bidding your lower ranking suit first to preserve bidding room & anticipating partner’s problems. 4♦ may pre-empt partner from showing her club suit ! The absolute worst bid you can make is 4♦ . Since you bypassed  both 3NT & 4♣ to bid a higher ranking suit , you give the impression that you have a single suited hand. Do not bid a two suited hand the same as you would a one suited hand in all facets of Bridge bidding !! Help partner out as you have not found a fit yet. 7♣ makes with a 2-2 break & they never found their club fit L. The 4♦ bid completely pre-empted partner as well as misdescribed responder’s hand.