Saturday,
January 06, 2007 11:15 PM
Hand Evaluation - Fast Arrival Philosophy
PITBULLS:
One
of the worst hand evaluation or bidding habits coming out of the
Goren era is jumping to game to show HCP strength. This
way of showing strength is just plain wrong as it violates the principle
of “fast arrival”. You do not “eat up” bidding space to show
HCP strength by jumping to game. This horrible practice drove players
to forcing club systems. By bidding like this ,
you are in effect pre-empting your own partner ! “Fast
arrival” to
game is a hand evaluation concept to show weakness or a lack of interest
which contradicts some of Goren’s standard ideas. I base my entire
bidding philosophy on fast arrival equates to distribution or weakness.
Here
is an auction by two New York experts Neil Silverman & Alvin Roth a couple
of decades ago . I find it mind boggling.
♠Ax ♥Kx ♦AKxx ♣AQJxx opposite ♠x ♥A10xx
♦Q10987x ♣Kx as you can see they
make 7NT or 7 of a minor. The auction went 1♣-P-1♦-P 3NT-P-P-P . Jumping
to 3NT to show a huge hand is idiotic. In today’s game , it is a “picture bid” to show a gambling
3NT bid with an outside card with no fit for partners first suit. I
would open the hand an off shape 2NT , thru re-stayman
find our 6-4 diamond fit & get to 7♦. Not
very tough , when you choose not to pre-empt
partner by jumping to game.
When
you open one of a major ,
partner responds at the one level, a leap to game in your suit
should not be a strong hand. The bid shows a hand that you could not
open a 4 level pre-empt because you
had an outside card. Jumping to game with huge hands just pre-empts
partner. The multi- 3♣ jump shift was invented to prevent this horrible
practice. 3♣ is not quite as good as a forcing club, but at
least it is at the lower end of the 3 level to leave room. A tormentee held
this hand against me. ♠x ♥AKQ109xx ♦Q109x ♣K so how do you
bid it ? This hand is too strong to open a pre-empt of
4♥ as you have too much on the outside. You open
1♥ , partner responds
one spade. This is a classic 4♥ rebid saying
partner I have a 4♥ pre-empt but I am too strong
as I have some outside cards. A 3♥ rebid shows a
6 card heart suit with an invitational hand with 16-18 HCP’s counting
distribution. The 4 heart rebid describes your 7th heart for
you & your distribution. Partner has ♠AKxxx
♥x ♦AKxxx ♣xx so now knows that you must have a club
control or you would have opened 4♥. After KCB , you settle in 6♥ making
7 when they fail to cash their Ace.
Change
the hand a little bit . ♠x ♥AKQ10xxx
♦Q109x ♣A ,
in my opinion this hand is too strong to rebid 4♥.
I would rebid 3♣ which demands partner to bid 3♦.
I now bid 4♥ so partner pictures a huge 4♥ rebid hand. Partner now takes control & drives
the hand to a grand slam.
“Fast
arrival” to game after a 2/1 or a forcing to game bid shows weakness ,
usually no controls & no slam interest. It is the proverbial “death
response” after partner forces to game. The “fast arrival to game” concept
should apply even if partner has not forced to game , in my
opinion. There are some Goren contradictions to “fast arrival” that you should purge
from your system . 1♠/♥-P-1NT & a leap to
game in your major or 3NT. Both these bids pre-empt
responder. Bid 3♣ with the huge
major hand , 2NT with the balanced 18-19 HCP rather
than leaping to game. The Goren practice
of 1 of a suit opened , response of a major & a leap to 4 of a
major with a balanced hand. Do not do it ! Bid
2NT with a balanced hand or 3♣ if you are all controls.
Leaping to 4 of a major can now be distributional. 1 of a minor
& partner responds 1NT. Do not leap to 3NT to
“show” 18-19 HCP’s . Bid 2NT with those hands as the
bid is essentially idle anyway. 3NT can now be a “picture bid “ with a long minor.
Avoid
leaping to 3NT as responder in 4th suit forcing auctions at
the two level. Avoid leaping to 3NT in any
auction unless it is a picture bid. The “godfather 2NT”
bid by responder preserves fast arrival of 3NT to mean a picture
bid. So if you are pre-empting partner , at
least you are doing it for a reason. Present day standard bidding
was invented by Goren in the 1940’s to introduce his new HCP concept
& keep bidding simple for the masses. Some of his ideas have not
passed the test of time & drove people to forcing club
systems. If you do not like forcing club systems
, you must tweak some of Goren’s ideas that do not make sense.
Leaping to game to show strength makes no bidding sense. Do not use up bidding room all
the way to game in order to show strength !
Maybe we do not need to convert to a forcing 1♣ system after all
to bid properly !!