Friday, December 23, 2005 6:47 AM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Major Suit Fits )

PITBULLS:

Eric Kokish advanced Bridge theory a great deal when he came up with the concept of allowing only one side ( responder) to find the major suit fit in certain auctions. After a 1♦-P-2♣ auction , Kokish only allows responder to seek out the 4-4 major suit fit. This works like a charm as it allows opener to bid NT with hands suitable for NT regardless of 4 card majors. This principle allows opener to bid her distribution initially , show diamond length or strong or weak club preference. Opener conceals her majors from the opening leaders when there is no need to bid them as responder does not have a major anyway. Since opener is not allowed to bid a major , artificial meanings can be assigned to major bids.

This Kokish principle of allowing only one partner to seek out major suit fits should be extended to inverted minors. With game forcing hands , 5 or more of partners minor, it is nonsense to distort your hand by bidding a 4 card major. You violate natural bidding so must resort to silly 4^th suit artificial auctions . You never catch up & describe your hand properly. No amount of convincing will ever get me to agree that 1♥ is the correct bid with ♠xx ♥AKxx ♦AKQxx ♣xx when partner opens 1♦ . Just apply the Kokish principle that only responder is allowed to find the major suit fit after inverted minors. This allows opener to bid NT to describe her distribution and hide her major suit holding from the opening leaders. If you subscribe to the idea of bidding stoppers rather than suits , only allow opener to bid that way. A major by responder is always natural

1♦-P-2♦-P

2NT-P-3♥-P

4♥-P-P-P

♠xx ♥KQx ♦Axxxx ♣KJx 1♦-P-2♦-P I would bid 2NT but if you are the stopper bidding type , you can bid 2♥ , responders bid of 2♠ is natural so you confidently get to your 3NT game.

I go a step further even allowing the direct 2NT invitational response after a minor opener to hide a 4 card major if the values are “soft” thus NT suitable. Partner opens 1♦ , you have ♠QJxx ♥KJx ♦xx ♣KQxx . I would bid 2NT as right siding the NT & showing your soft values in one fell swoop are a distinct advantage. Describing your HCP’s with one bid is also advantageous to the partnership.

With partner bidding 2NT with the above hand , opener with ♠AKxx ♥x ♦AJ10xx ♣Jxx is not strong enough to reverse to 3♠. He bids 3♣ as a waiting bid. Partner may bid 3♥ so you can bid 3♠ giving partner an option of contracts. Partner may even bid 3♠ so you found your 4-4 major suit fit.

Always responding a 4 card major is “match point” paranoia . This matchpoint practice distorts natural bidding & helps the opponents with their opening leads. Bridge bidding works best in the long run when you bid your hand pattern & the type of HCP’s you hold. You can always find your 4-4 major fits later in the auction. What is the hurry ?