Thursday, September 21, 2006 4:07 AM
Hand Evaluation – HCPS (
Defensive Hands )
PITBULLS:
Looking
at Bridge from the top down, you
can classify all biddable Bridge hands into two hand types.
These hand types are offensive hands or
defensive hands. Bridge hands are characterized by their hand patterns & type of HCPs. There are defensive hand patterns & there are offensive hand patterns. The defensive
hand patterns are the balanced ones.
These hands do not play well but are excellent
on defense. The hand patterns are 4-4-3-2 ,
4-3-3-3 , 4-4-4-1 , 5-3-3-2 , 5-4-2-2 and 5-4-3-1 are the worst for offense.
Hands with 6 card suits or more , 5-5 and 5-4-4-0 patterns are built for offense. HCP’s are
also taken into consideration. How many do you have ?
Where are they located ? Are your HCP’s located In
your short suits or long suits & are they controls rather than queens and jacks ?
Does your hand contain HCP’s in defensive quick trick combinations ?
HCP’s
of course are an integral part of the game of Bridge. Differentiating between
the type of HCP’s contained in an opening bid is a must have skill. The HCP
counters seem to lack this skill & seem to be oblivious
about the importance of identifying defensive hands. Quick
trick myopia is a serious Bridge disease that must be corrected.
Kiz Fung held this hand ♠xx ♥109 ♦AQxxx ♣AKxx & opened 1♦ vul vrs
vul. I doubled & Susan redoubled . Perry bid 1♥ so what should Kiz do ? Her hand is all defense with 3 ½ defensive
tricks so she describes her defense with a pass so as not to get in the way of
a penalty double. Bidding 2♣ is patently stupid
as it deceives partner into thinking that she
has an offensive hand instead of the defensive hand
that she held. A XX is punitive so the first thought in these forcing auctions
should be to punish the opponents but more importantly describe the nature of
your opening bid. Kiz , of course, made
the correct bid of pass in this auction so she described the nature of her
opening bid & quick defensive tricks to
Susan.
The
decision whether to make a T/O double , overcall , Q bid or use a systemic
toy is usually based on whether we have a defensive hand or offensive hand. If you have a defensive hand , you choose a double. If you have an offensive hand , you bid or Q bid .
Bridge is a simple game. A double
is defined
as a hand evaluation concept meaning that you
have defense usually measured in
quick tricks. If you do not have defense , choose a different bid ! Partner is allowed to convert
your double based on the fact that you have shown defense !! Let partner know
whether you have a defensive or offensive hand. Tom Gandolfo had ♠x ♥KQx ♦Kxxx ♣AJ10xx , everybody vul he heard the auction go 1♠-P-2♠-? So what is your
choice of bids ? You do not have a classic T/O double
as you do not have the 4th heart. However, your hand is defensive orientated so you double rather than overcall or make a
systemic bid like 2NT. Why commit this hand to 3 of a minor vul
when partner could hold spades for a penalty conversion or 5 or 6 hearts for a
heart contract ?
In
all competitive auctions or forcing pass auctions where you “own the hand” , it
is ultimately going to come down
to a basic decision.
Do we double them or bid again ? The answer invariably
comes down to judging whether your hand is defense
or offensive orientated using the above
criteria. A tormentee held this hand
tonight ♠AQxx ♥QJxxx ♦Ax ♣AQ , opened 1♥ vul
vrs vul. I bid 1NT , they overcalled 2♦ vul
. You bid 2♠ to show your reverse , partner bids 3♥ & they now bid 4♦. Is your hand built
for offense or defense ? You have the 5-4-2-2 flat pattern so that
is defensive in nature. Your HCP’s are concentrated in your two doubleton’s
rather than in your long suits so that shows defense as opposed to offense . The nature of your
cards are controls
which are transferable to defense
so what do you do ?
Bidding
4♥ is not an option as partner may even be raising on 2 hearts with lots of HCP’s on her own. You have
already described your hand by reversing so there is captaincy involved.
Partner knows more about your
hand than you do of his. So it’s up to you to assist partner in
making the right decision. Your
choices come down to a forcing
pass which means I have a preference to play this hand or a double saying my
hand is more suited to defending . You double 4♦ , lead the diamond Ace
& the board comes down with 5-5 in the majors ( whew ! ) . You beat 4♦ for 1100 . The Tormentee bid 4♥ unilaterally effectively
bidding her hand again
but incorrectly.
You are bidding again & removing partner
from the decision so you must be something like ♠AKJx ♥KQJ10xx ♦x ♣Ax that partner does not expect. They
doubled 4♥ , I XX’d with my 9 HCP &
Ax of trump so that went for -1600. Hand evaluation makes a difference of
2700 points !
A
recent disaster by a Tormentee should have been
avoided by thinking defensive vrs offensive hand
types. A 4-4-4-1 is a defensive hand
type so partners will bend over backwards to double
with that hand. This allows partner the opportunity to convert for penalty or
bid 3NT. Recently the auction went 3♣-4♣-P-? so what does the 4♣
bid mean ? It must be an offensive hand
type as there was no double. The
bid is most likely a two suiter in the majors but it
could be any very strong two suiter. The Tormentee thought the
bid was for T/O which means partner was making a poor choice of bids ,
so a 2400 swing resulted. Down 1400 in 6♦X , when 6♥ was a claim their
way.
In
the balancing or re-opening spot , you inform partner
whether you have a defensive or
offensive hand, One of the worst ambiguities coming from the Goren era of
Bridge is jumping to
show strength. This is backwards as it uses valuable bidding
space & reduces your options. Jumping should show strength thru distribution &
not HCP’s. Inform partner of your defensive hand through a double & not jumping. ♠AQ10x ♥KJx ♦x ♣ AKQxx , you open 1♣
& they overcall 1♦ so back to you. You
of course double rather than jump to 2♠ to show your strength. This
double describes your hand type & defense so partner has more options
including passing 1♦. You have ♠x
♥K1098
♦K1098xx
♣xx & LHO opens 1♠ , partner passes &
LHO bids 1NT. You pass & opener bids 2♠ so around to you again. You
want to balance but with what ? You cannot double as
that shows defense & you have a very offensive type of playing hand. You
bid 2NT & partner bids 3♣ so you equal level convert to 3♦. All pass & you
make 3♦
for 110. 2♠
makes the opposite direction but if you double showing defense
, partner converts for –470.
The vulnerability , nature of your controls as well as defensive
or offensive determines whether you bid a toy ( offense ) or a double defense. Nv vrs nv
a good player held ♠xx ♥AKQxx ♦Axxx ♣xx . The auction went 1♣-P-4♠-? . It is usually a good idea to get into these types of
auctions so do you bid 4NT or
double for the red suits ? You have defense measured in controls , a 5-4-2-2 , so the
double is far more flexible
especially on this vulnerability. You double , partner
holds ♠xx ♥Jx ♦Qxxx ♣Q109xx so partner exercises
his option of passing. Why not bid 5♦ ? It is equal
vulnerability & partner promises defense by her choice of bids.
Partner’s action
assists your decision
as partner brought you into the decision making process by making a flexible double.. Partner cashes 3♥ & 1♦ & 4♠X goes
one down. 5♦X goes for 1100 which is quite an expensive pseudo.
When
your side owns the auction, allow partner in on the decision making process by describing your hand
as either offensive or defensive.
The opponents interfering in your auction gives you lucrative options so let forcing pass theory guide
you to the best result. Bridge is a partnership game . You only have to bid your hand once so partner can become part
of the decision making process via captaincy.