Monday, July 07, 2003 4:48 PM

Hand Evaluation - Enforcer Doubles

PITBULLS:

Playing with a partner that plays the “Bridge cop” so is out to arrest all bad bidders from speeding is a bad experience. Usually this type of partner is very disciplined herself so wants to show the world that bad bidding should be punished . This type of partner has a “trump stack” mentality so you do not pull my penalty doubles ever. This philosophy is all right for weak rubber & weak match point games but that is all . It is a very bad way to play IMPS at a high level . Doubling with a truck stack in competition destroys the delicate balance of nature. Let partner double with the hand that is short in their suit. Negative doubles , without playing negative doubles at that level.

In IMPS & high level auctions of 4♠ & below, the default double should show shortness in that suit . It is the singleton that doubles so the other hand converts if there is a trump stack . All doubles of high level competitive auctions are D.S.I.P. doubles so pulling doubles should be a very common occurrence. At the 5 level , we revert to trump stack penalty doubles.

Lets take a common auction , a pre-empt in the sandwich position .

	pass
1♦		1♥
?	3♠

You hold ♠KQJ10 ♥xx ♦AKxx ♣xxx . 3 spades is definitely going down but do you double with your minimum hand ? No , this is a clear cut pass . If partner cannot re-open with a double with her obvious shortness in spades , we take our plus. Why , for a number of reasons . One , because the double is far more useful to define a different meaning to it in these situations. I like playing Thrump doubles in the sandwich position also . The double asks partner to bid 3NT with a spade stopper . The double shows I have a good hand but no suitable bid. If I had a good hand with a spade stopper , I would just bid 3NT myself . The 2^nd reason for passing is that they may have a better spot if partner is too weak to re-open. They will not rescue themselves until they are doubled so why double. You probably do not even have a partial your way !!

What if they pre-empt to the 4 level in the sandwich position ? Even if they are in game , the double can not be ambiguous . The double still means I wish to take offensive action. Partner will use his judgment so do something intelligent for the partnership.

In the re-opening position , doubles should always be takeout (D.S.I.P.) rather than enforcer doubles . Why , because partner is expected to do something intelligent which includes bidding .

	4♠
1♦		pass
?
	pass

You have ♠KQJ10 ♥xx ♦AKxx ♣xxx . This is a clear cut pass . Partner will never leave the double in unless trained to “never pull my doubles”. Say you have x AQxx AKxx AJxx which is a clear cut double. Partner with ♣KQxxxx will bid clubs so you might get to your +1370 instead of your +300 . If you have their suit , do not be an enforcer , just take your plus .

4NT is never Blackwood when the opponents pre-empt 4♥/♠ . Use 4NT as Lebensohl over doubles so you have some new inferences. Being an “enforcer” wrecks these delicate Lebensohl auctions . The last thing partner expects for your double is a stack of points in their suit . Penalty doubles are to be pulled or converted not just blindly left in when you do not own the auction.

Here is a typical bad “enforcer double” which thank goodness has become extinct playing D.S.I.P. doubles. ♠AKxxx ♥QJxx ♦Axx ♣x , you overcall 1♠ nv to a vul 1♥ opener . Responder bids 3♥ & they bid 4♥ so your bid ? Playing D.S.I.P. theory this is easy , you put the green card on the table & collect your +100. What if you do not play D.S.I.P. theory ? If you make an “enforcer double” , they can make +630 in NT & +600 in 5♣. Astute opponents playing you for a trump stack double will take advantage of this information. Lose 13 IMPS by trying to change +100 to +200. Also you have a partner who looking at the vulnerability might want to pull the double for a disaster.

I really dislike trump stack doubles. They work only in weak fields against weak players. Against good players they add the option of changing the contract or trump end plays. In matchpoints fine , go for the top board but in IMPS it is still another example of just “taking your plus”. IMPS vrs Matchpoints still again. Even good lead directing doubles can backfire . I held ♠AQ109xx ♥K10x ♦K9x ♣A & partner opened 1♦ . Val Tom overcalled 3♣ vul , partner & I subsequently bid 6♠ after KCB which showed we were missing an Ace . Val doubled 6♠ so now what ? Val pre-empted vul so probably has the ♣KQJ but not the missing Ace. She is certainly void in diamonds which means that the odds are that partner holds long diamonds. You have the diamond fillers so you might just have 6♠ , 5♦ & 1♣ in 6NT. You know 6♠ is going down with a diamond ruff so you bid 6NT & all pass. Harry leads a small club & the board hits with ♠KJx ♥QJ ♦AJ108x ♣Jxx so you win your ♣A and lead the ♦9 & let it ride. As expected Val discards a heart. You now run all 6 of your spade tricks to reach a 5 card end position. Harry must guard ♦Qxxx & the now singleton ♥A. You cash the ♦K & finesse again ending up on the board to lead a heart & Harry is forced to give you 6NT J .