Wednesday, February 07, 2007 5:02 PM
Hand Evaluation – Balancing ( patterns )
PITBULLS:
Balancing
is still another area in Bridge where you apply patterns. This is very true after the
opponents open a weak 2 or a weak 3 bid.
You apply a pattern with their suit
& your holding to take an educated guess how many
cards partner holds in that suit.
The auction goes 2♥ pass pass so around to you in the balancing spot. ♠Axxx ♥Qxx ♦Kxxx ♣Ax
you are vul & they are not
so do you bid ? Apply patterns to
get your answer . Hearts are 6-3-2-2 or 6-3-3-1 with partner either
holding one heart or two hearts.
She has shortness in hearts but took no action. Therefore ,
it is best to fold your tent and pass. You are not protecting partners heart trap , you
do not have enough to force partner
to bid possibly at the 3 level vul.
OK
they open 3♦ , around to you in the
balancing chair vul
vrs not. You have 14 HCP’s ♠KQx ♥QJx ♦xxx ♣KQJx so do you balance ? Apply the diamond pattern , you have 7-3-2-1 . So
partner has a stiff or doubleton diamond & did not bid. Partner cannot be
long in diamonds so she did not trap.
Therefore , you are bidding your own hand in the
balancing chair vul. The odds are in favour of most of the HCP’s being to the right of you. You
cards are not tenaces where you can take advantage of
that ( finesses working ) . You have the dreaded 4-3-3-3 distribution with 3-3 in the
majors. This is an easy pass.
Bidding loses you 10 IMPS as you go for a # against their –110 in diamonds
which was the contract at the other table.
I was
playing with Peter Jones at a CNTC with Klimo &
Gandolfo at the other table. I opened 3♥ , the opponents had a
good hand in the balancing but they had 3♥. They bid anyway so
went for 1100. Klimo held the same hand & just
went quietly with a pass. Klimo said he held too many
hearts ( 3 ) to bid. Good advice for balancing.
Balancing
after a strong NT , takes hand evaluation techniques.
Bridge is played in a clockwise direction
so your sides HCP’s are either in front of the strong NT or behind the strong NT. If you have a
balanced 17 HCP , it is silly to bid in the balancing
spot. You have approx 34 HCP accounted for so partner will never leave in your
double anyway. Good players just pass & hope they can beat it. Your cards
are all on side for declarer so
you will be end played often.
It is
a good gamble to double if you have HCP’s in the 10-12 HCP range with a 5 card
suit. This gamble works if partner has 10+ HCP sitting behind the strong NT. It
is a gamble of course as dummy may have up to 8 HCP’s. I like to gamble with a
double & 10 HCP but only when I have a suit
to get out with if partner scrambles to 2♣. Tom
& I play the double shows a 5 card or longer minor so we can convert on
that basis. BJ & I play the double shows 10-13 HCP’s with any 5 card suit.
I think doubling just with a flat 10 is too much of a gamble.
You
have ♠Q ♥10xxx ♦AKQxx ♣AKx equal nv
& they open 2♥ which gets passed around to you. You apply a pattern in hearts so you know
partner is too weak for a T/O
double. Do you just fold your tent & go quietly as the diamond suit will
get outbid anyway ? With this hand ,
I would bid because I have a source of
tricks for NT. Doug Hawrelak came
up with a nifty bid with this hand. A 3♦ bid does not
describe the source of tricks you have nor the 18 HCP .
You may have 7 tricks for a 3NT contract. A 3♥ Q bid in the
balancing spot is an either/or bid.
It should be interpreted initially as a Western Q bid or failing that a Goren demand
two bid. Despite not having the perfect hand for the bid ( a
6th ♦ would be nice ) Doug bid 3♥ anyway. Partner did
not have a heart stopper so the 30 HCP rule kicked in & Doug reached 5♦ for +400 J