Friday, April 20, 2007 1:24 AM
 
Hand Evaluation – Partnership ( Describing Your Hand )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Bridge bidding is describing your hand pattern & HCP’s to partner so a joint decision can be made on the ultimate contract. You do not describe your hand to yourself as you are looking at it. You must find a way to paint a picture of your hand to partner. Bad bidders hide their hand from partner. A Tormentee held this hand ♠Jx ♥AQ10xx ♦Ax ♣QJ109 & equal nv her RHO opened 1♦. She overcalled 1♥ , a negative double to her left & a 1♠ bid to her right. It was matchpoints,   she did not feel like passing so she chose 2♥.  Anything wrong with that bid ? You are not describing your hand to partner. She pictures an offensive one suited hand. Instead you have a defensive hand with two suits. If you wish to compete again , a double clarifies your overcall as showing another suit ,  HCP’s & a defensive hand. You have already told partner that you have a 5 card heart suit so that is old news. 2♥ could be doubled or passed out & you may have a 6-4 club fit. Partner may be void in hearts with ♠KQJ10 & wants to convert 1♠X . The double sometimes is the most descriptive bid in your arsenal.

 

            All hands fall into two categories , balanced or distributional. They are further described by being defensive with quick tricks or distributional without quick tricks . They are even further described as having support for partner or not having support for partner. When you have a chance to describe a balanced hand with HCP’s in your  doubletons , do it with a NT bid. Do not paint a wrong picture of your hand with a jump shift in a suit. ♠AQ ♥Qxxxx ♦AJ ♣AQxx so you open 1♥ . Partner bids 1NT so you have an easy 2NT bid ( forcing ) or a 3NT bid if you do not have that understanding. A 5-4-2-2 is a balanced hand & you have 11 HCP in your doubletons. A 3♣ is the worst possible bid with this hand so that partner can get a wrong picture of your hand type.

 

            If you have trump support for partner , announce it as early as possible . Sometimes you do not get a 2nd chance. A Tormentee held this hand ♠Kxxxx ♥xxxx ♦Qx ♣xx  with partner opening 1♥ . The Tormentee bid 1♠ & partner bid 2♦ . The Tormentee now took preference to 2♥. Does this describe your 4 card heart fit with partner & your HCP range ? You only have values for one bid so a simple raise in hearts gets the auction off to the best start. You hold ♠Kxxxx ♥xx ♦xx ♣Qxxx & the auction goes the same way & you give preference by bidding 2♥ on your doubleton. How is partner expected to tell the difference between the two hand types with the same bidding sequence ? When you bid spades & subsequently support hearts , 99 % of the time you show partner a doubleton heart. This sequence begs the question “why did you just not support hearts initially ? “.

 

            When you play an either/or bid for example limit raise or better or a dual range NT bid , your first duty must be to describe your hand to partner. Tell her if you have the minimum first so as to warn her not to make slam tries that give information to the enemy. Also if you do not make the minimum bid , ( usually returning to the trump suit) she can infer that you do have extra.

 

            Say you open 1♣ on ♠Ax ♥AQxx ♦xxx ♣Qxxx , they overcall 1♦ . Partner bids 2♦ limit raise or better. What do you bid ? Your obligation opposite a limit raise or better hand , is to show whether you are minimum or not. You bid 3♣ to show that you have just your opening bid. If partner makes subsequent bids ,  you can bid your hearts but not before you have announced your minimum. Say you have ♠AK ♥AQxx ♦xx ♣Qxxxx so now you can bid 2♥ which forces the partnership to game & describes your range to partner.

 

            Another either/or bid is the 2NT bid after a 2/1 . 2NT is either a balanced minimum or a balanced hand in the 18-19 range. Partner opens 1♠ , you bid 2♥ with ♠x ♥AKQJx ♦Kx ♣xxxxx . Partner bid 2NT so you bid 3♣. Partner surprises you with a 4♣ bid so now what ? You have a stiff spade which spells possible duplication of value with partner being either a minimum or a very good hand. 13 HCP is not enough for a slam try with so little HCP’s in the club suit so you bid 4♥ as a choice of contracts. Partner knows that you at least 10 cards in two suits so partner must take the initiative,  if there is a club slam. Say partner held ♠J10xxx ♥xx ♦Ax ♣AKJx or the like. Knowing that partner is probably very short in spades, this hand would take a push to 5♣ so 6♣ needs a 2-2 break. Describe your hand & let partner help you with the decision making process. Bridge is a partnership game , so allow partner some input.

 

            Bridge hands are either useful defensively with quick tricks or good for offense with distribution. My partner held ♠void ♥AK1098x ♦xxx ♣AKxx vul , LHO opened 1♦ & partner overcalled 1♥ . His LHO doubled , pass & opener bid 1♠ . Now what is the best bid to describe this hand ? 3♥ is single handed & buries your club suit so that is out. What about 2♣ ? This bid does not describe your 4 quick tricks & strength of your hand. Once you have overcalled , use the 2nd round to describe the strength of your hand with a double. Partner thinks you lack defense & are just competing by bidding. ♠void ♥KQJ109x ♦xxx ♣KQJ10 or the like ? They now bid 2♠ which partner doubles for penalty so now you can bid 3♣ or leave in the double. Partner had ♠J10xxx  ♥xx ♦Axx ♣xxx & with proper defense 2♠X goes for –300 or you make a heart partial.

 

            A double in a competitive auction is a descriptive bid  not  just designed to punish the opponents.. As soon as you throw trump stack penalty doubles in the garbage in competition , the more hands you can describe properly. Here is an auction where the opponents tried to give two tormentees a +300 or +500 . ♠AKxxxx ♥Q10 ♦J ♣AKxx , a tormentee opened 1♠ & they overcalled 2♦. Her partner held ♠x ♥AJxxxx ♦Q98x ♣xx & bid 2♥. Using hand evaluation , this is a bad bid. You have a stiff in partners suit  which signals a misfit , points & length in their suit & a poor heart suit. In addition , you have a lack of HCP’s. If you have a 4♥ game , partner will need to bid again. Anyway , she bid 2♥ & they bid 3♦. The opener has 4 quick tricks & support for clubs & tolerance for hearts. The double is a flexible & descriptive bid to describe your hand measured in quick tricks. Partner converts for penalty so +300 off the top with a possibility of +500. The Tormenttee bid 4♣ which did not describe her hand. Partner envisions an offensive black two suiter but you have a nice defensive hand.

 

            Bridge bidding is describing your pattern , defensive strength & HCP’s to partner so a joint decision can be made. You do not have to bid both hands. This is the beauty of a partnership game. D.S.I.P. double theory is based on evaluating your HCP’s. Differentiating between quick tricks , soft values & unsupported honour cards ( not in quick trick combinations ) describes the defensive value of your hand.

 

            A good litmus test is pretend the opponents are asking your partner a question about your hand. On the basis of your bidding , is partner giving a correct answer to the opponents ? Two Tormentees had this auction recently 1♣ in 3rd seat , pass , 1♠ , pass 2♣ & all pass. Now for the questions . What does the 1♠ bidder hold ? Probably a distributional hand with spades. She did not bid 1 NT or 2NT as a passed hand to show your distribution & HCP’s in one bid. The hand was ♠Jxxx ♥Axx ♦AQxx ♣xx 11 HCP with 2 ½  quick tricks. I would have bid 2NT to show my balanced hand , 11 HCP  range  & to right side the NT with my diamond holding. You do not need to bid a spade as it is ambiguous as to suit quality , the balanced nature of your hand & your HCP range being a passed hand. Partner might have opened a spade in 3rd seat with 4 good spades which is what you will need for a 10 trick contract in spades. You are not describing your hand to partner. You are not showing where you live in the spade suit as a passed hand.  Now another question by the opponents . What does the 2♣ rebid show in 3rd seat ? A minimum & probably a lead director you answer. Wrong ! How about an 8 card suit headed by the AK & a 8-3 with almost 10 tricks in your own hand !  ♠x ♥KQJ ♦x ♣AK1098xxx. Could partner in a million years come close to answering the opponent’s question properly ??