Wednesday, December 06, 2006 4:05 AM

Hand Evaluation – Forcing Pass ( Breaking Rules )

PITBULLS:

Forcing pass theory is like all bidding in Bridge , it depends on the context of the auction. When we own the auction , after you make up your mind to pass , you must respect partner’s penalty double . If you have visions of bigger & better things, you now pull the double . This is the “pass & pull” part of forcing pass theory but it also depends on how the auction went previously. If during this auction , you have made a bid that denied strength , the pull of the double is just “righting the ship” & you just prefer not to defend. This is a very rare bid as it is a single handed decision which forcing pass theory was designed to prevent. It usually means you did not have your bid in the first place & you may be misleading partner.

Leslie opened 1♥ , Susan overcalled 1♠ & Tom made a negative double everybody nv. I cue bid 2♥ , Leslie competed to 3♣. Susan just competed to 3♠ so Tom bid 4♣. I now bid game which turns on forcing passes. The initial Q bid does not turn on forcing passes until game is reached but forcing passes are now in effect. I could have an unlimited hand & I put our side into game after showing strength at a lower level. Leslie bids 5♣ , which gets passed around to me so I double. Susan now pulls to 5♠. This can not be a slam try in light of this particular auction. She only competed to 3♠ previously so she cannot just now find the extra HCP’s in her hand that warrant a slam try ? Susan went down for –300 in 5♠’d double , but she showed good hand evaluation as 5♣X makes for –550.

Bids are defined by how the auction went but , as usual , rules are made to be broken. Forcing pass theory is based on disciplined Bridge. If one partner never had their bid in the first place , the theory falls apart. Susan took a risk by pulling the double but she was right. Cannot argue with success.