Friday,
January 10, 2003 7:36 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Tactics ( Duty Redoubles )
PITBULLS:
A while back we had
an article discussing “duty doubles” . This is where partner should double the
opponents bid to warn partner that there is duplication of value thereby “shutting
her up” in forcing pass theory. In forcing auctions ,
this is common practice. In fact the
whole concept of forcing passes is
based on that principle . A double says that I do not
have much interest in bidding more so let’s just
take our plus . In competitive auctions , a pass
says the same thing.
What is not so well known is the “duty redouble” . It came up tonight where
Vince Nowlan held ♠J ♥Q9xx
♦Kxx ♣QJxxx . His partner opened 1♠ , RHO overcalled 2♥ , Vince passed
around to opener who doubled . Vince chose 3♣ rather than 2NT , which set my partner up . Opener bid 3♥ , Vince bid 3NT so my
partner doubled . Time for a “duty redouble” . Partner will pull on this auction 9 times out of 10 if you do not . You must redouble
to prevent that from happening. Happily passing is not an option . Vince redoubled & they made their 3 NT
redoubled.
My
partner & I had an auction where the Vinnies did
not make a “duty redouble” so it cost them dearly. When you have a two suited fit with partner ,
do not give partner a chance to go wrong.
The Vinnies got to an ice cold 6♦ which was doubled.
The partner of the diamond bidder had ♦A109x
of
diamonds. He should make a duty redouble to indicate to partner that a bad
trump break in diamonds can be handled. Partner fell from grace & passed. Vince
Nowlan ran to 6♠ , this slam had no play so went two down doubled.
A Tormentee had ♠AKxx ♥xx ♦AKJxxxx ♣void , opened 1♦ with partner
responding a heart. She rebid 2♠ , partner leapt
to 4♠ which wast doubled . It
looks like the double is being made on club & heart cards. If so , partner has spades which is good news & maybe the
diamond queen. This is a duty redouble .
You can never go down more than one
with this monster so let’s go for the gusto. At the table ,
a disaster occurred when the opener ran to 5♦ which got doubled so
now partner got confused & interpreted the 2♠ bid as a splinter.
Partner bid 5♥ which got doubled & went for a number when 4♠ XX is cold.
There
are negative inferences that
should be taken when partner fails to
redouble. The auction went
2♠-X-P-3NT
X-P-P-? My partner doubled the weak two &
passed the double. Partner does not especially like 3NTX or else he would have
made a duty redouble to tell me not to pull.
I deny hearts by jumping to 3NT so If he was really
weak he would start a scramble by
bidding 4♣. As usual scrambles start at the lowest ranking suit and says
just start escaping to a safer maybe undoubled
contract.
There
are times when a redouble is silly . In a CNTC match , I
held vul ♠x ♥KQxx ♦KQ10987x ♣x , partner opened 1♦ ! After an
entertaining competitive auction, we ended up in 5♦ X . Do you redouble ? This time a redouble is silly .
The opponents are not aware of your freak hand , so a
sacrifice in a major only goes for 300 . Peter Jones made 6 for plus 950 vul . A
redouble throws away 10 imps , if they get a 2nd
chance to realize their folly .
There
are psychological redoubles also . Sometimes you are not 100 % sure that your contract
will make but you know it can not possibly go down more than one . Redouble and test the character of the opponents . They might pull and you get a sure plus . Anyway do not
neglect the blue card in your bidding box , it can come in handy . Real Pitbulls redouble …