Sunday,
October 17, 2004 9:42 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Forcing Passes ( Cues )
PITBULLS:
Playing forcing pass
theory you must look for the cues
that turn on forcing passes . These cues trigger or turn
on forcing pass theory.
Forcing passes with their implications are a huge part of Bridge for expert partnerships. It is a way of
making joint decisions
in high level competitive auctions instead of one partner just taking a guess. Honing in on the nuances of auctions that switch on
forcing passes for your side is a must.
Cue #1 is vulnerability with a vul game bid by your side. An opponent vul opened a Flannery 2♦ with ♠xxxx ♥AKxxx ♦AKx x , my nv partner overcalled 3♣. They leaped to 4♥ so I bid 5♣ . What should the Flannery bidder do ? Partner bid a vul game so it’s your
hand. If you own the auction , forcing pass
theory applies .
The opponents bidding your stiff makes your hand better so you want to
encourage partner to bid 5♥ . A pass is forcing
& conveys the message “ partner I prefer you to bid 5♥ “ A double says the 5 level belongs to the opponents
partner . A 5♥ bid within a systemic auction is just not allowed ( violates captaincy ) as partner knows your hand already.
With this hand partner declines the invitation with her minimum so 5♣X
goes for 500.
Maurice
had ♠Qxxx ♥Qx ♦AKJ10xx ♣x against Peter Jones and
partner . The auction went 1♣-P-1♥-2♦ by Maurice vul vrs not , I Q
bid 2♥. This Q bid ( strength showing ) means that it is our hand so forcing passes apply even after overcalls ( Cue
#2 ) . Peter Jones bid 4♣, his
partner bids 4♥ & I contract for a vul
5♦ game
. Peter Jones bids 5♥ so what should
Maurice do ? He should double at the speed of light
saying he has a dog so let’s just take our plus. We got our +500 so on to the
next hand. A forcing pass by Maurice shows an invite to 6♦ with a heart
control.
Another
Maurice auction . He held ♠AQxx ♥A ♦J109x ♣KJ10x , RHO opened 1♥ so he doubled vul vrs not . The auction went 2♥ , 4♠
vul by me around to the
2♥
bidder who
now decided to bid 5♥ . I passed &
around to Maurice. Forcing passes apply after the T/O double with partner
bidding a vul game against not so what should Maurice do ? I said I
wanted to bid 5♠ with my pass
. Maurice accordingly bids 5♠ & they need to
find a ruff to beat 6♠ as I held ♠Kxxxx ♥xxx ♦KQxxx ♣void . 5♥ doubled only goes
for +300.
Do not forget forcing
pass theory in these kind of auctions also.
4♦-P-P-X
P-4♥-P-P
5♦-X The opponents were willing to play in a partial & we bid a vul game so
it’s our hand with forcing pass theory
applying. I doubled saying I wanted no part of 5♥ . If I passed , it shows a willingness to bid 5♥ . With my partner’s hand , we should be
close to making 6♥. I would pass with ♠Qxx
♥KQxxxx ♦xx ♣xx saying I would like
to bid 5♥.
Partner actually held ♠AKxx ♥Axx ♦x ♣AKxxx , 1430 would be lay down . I doubled with my hand ♠xxx ♥QJxxx ♦xxx ♣xx warning that 5♥ is not the spot.
Cue
#3 is where passes are forcing
from one side only
. This situation is where one partner has indicated a huge hand by opening 2♣ or making a
takeout double & bidding game single handedly vul
or other strong action. A takeout double or even an overcall with a subsequent Q bid
also can turn on “one way” forcing
passes. The big hands pass is forcing on the
little hand but not vice versa ( captaincy ) .
The pass by the hand who never
“attended the party “ is not forcing on the big hand
due to captaincy. The pass has the old fashioned meaning that “I am broke”. The
double by the little hand directly
means I am not entirely broke.
The auction went 1 ♦-X-1♥-P
2♥-4♠-5♥-? I doubled & jumped to game vulnerable against not vul so they
bid 5♥. Tom had ♠xx ♥xxx ♦xxxx A9xx so he doubled to tell me that he can contribute something to this auction. The
double helped me so I took the vul push
, got doubled & made an overtrick.
What if Tom held ♠xx ♥xxx ♦xxxx ♣xxxx ?
He would pass 5♥ so I would act
accordingly that he is probably broke over there. Why the difference in forcing
pass theory ? This is due to the fact that partner has
never been involved in the bidding.
What if our auction went a
little differently ?.
Same auction but instead of LHO bidding 5♥ , RHO bids 5♥ . Now the huge hand
makes a forcing pass to partner . The little hand must do something. With Toms first
hand ♠xx ♥xxx ♦xxxx ♣A9xx , the Ace would tip the scale in favour of a 5♠
bid . With
the 2nd hand ♠xx ♥xxx ♦xxxx ♣xxxx he must double ! Partner doubled & contracted for
10 tricks vul & passed a 5 level decision around
to you. You cannot shirk
your responsibility
These hands came up recently &
there was a common thread among all of the hands. Not once
was the forcing pass element
picked up at the table so wrong decisions were made on all the above hands.
These examples mean that the cues that
turn on forcing passes are just being missed.
The players are not tuned into the “ownership”
hand evaluation concept. Bridge players should read
auctions like golfers read greens.
People who usually play with
weak partners have trouble with forcing pass theory.
They miss out on the joint
decisions that forcing pass theory brings to the partnership
because they are used to making the decisions for the partnership. Ignoring
forcing pass theory , means that you must make the
decision for the partnership single handedly
, so very bad results usually follow. With
important decisions , both hands should contribute to the
final result. Strong auctions by
your side i.e. 2/1 , game forcing strong jump shifts ,
Q bids , penalty doubles , 2/1 in
competition or as a passed hand with game reached , all turn on forcing passes.