Wednesday, March 22, 2006 4:59 AM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Going For the Throat )

PITBULLS:

Bridge players are not necessarily very good gamblers. They often take very bad risks by entering the auction or Meckwell style opening bids. When they are in an auction where they obviously do not belong , do not rescue them. The penalty scale in Bridge rewards sets more than games & even slams. Look for opportunities to “wield the axe” . The only time you should just bid your game is vulnerable vrs nv opponents. This should be your default way of thinking Bridge.

Everybody vul , LHO opens 1♣ , partner overcalls 1♠ , RHP makes a negative double & you hold ♠Kxx ♥AKJ9 ♦1098xx ♣x so what do you bid ? You have a good limit raise in spades. If you Q bid , you rescue them so make a Rosenkranz XX & clarify later. In this hand they end up in 2♣X for +500 against your spade partial. Yes , they had a modern opener this time with little or no quick tricks & queens & jacks. However, a XX describes your limit raise hand best as you have 2 ½ quick tricks which are good on defense. If you Q bid later , partner has an appreciation of your hand type.

Describe your defensive hand or soft hand with a Dbl rather than a Q bid. ♠QJ98 ♥xx ♦AJx ♣QJxx . partner overcalls 2♦ to 1♥ opener & RHO bids 2♥. A dbl describes your 4-4-3-2 defensive hand better than a Q bid. You keep the bidding lower & if they get frisky in hearts, partner has some inkling of the type of hand you hold so will not do something silly like bidding 5♦ expecting an offensive type of hand for your Q bid.

I was playing with a Tormentee who opened one of a minor , I responded 1♥ & LHO doubled. I had a flat 11 HCP , heard the Tormentee quickly bid 2NT with her flat 19 HCP. It never even occurred to her that this was an opportunity . She had a 2NT bid so she bid it. My response could have been anything so if the opponents were lucky to avoid a disaster , we can still bid our game anyway. Why not have the best of both worlds by redoubling or passing especially in a non fit auction ?

Mentally I tried to calculate what a contract their way would have been set when we hold 30 HCP’s with no established fit our way. For example , if we make 5NT for 660 , they may get two tricks in a two level contract . That is 1400 nv but say they are lucky & manage to get 4 tricks that is –800. The opponents took a risk by coming into a live auction but were rescued by the opponents . This happens time and time again. A redouble showing your 19 HCP’s would have put partner in the picture. This is one of the reasons I do not like support redoubles. I prefer a “support 1NT” bid instead. Bidding with a fit & redoubling/pass without a fit makes more sense.

When you own the auction , penalty doubles apply. D.S.I.P. competitive double theory was designed so that we do not “rescue” opponents by bidding again with good hands in competitive auctions. With good hands in competitive auctions , we double to ask permission to bid again. Why ? because we do not want to rescue bad bidding opponents. If partner has a trump stack in their suit , she will convert so we work on the penalty double scale rather than take our partial or game. If partner wants to compete again , she will re-open with a double so the conversion may occur the other direction.

Even prior to D.S.I.P. theory , Tom devised a method of not letting opponents who bid in the “sandwich position” from escaping with bad bids. A double by the opener shows a good hand so responder can convert for penalty. If opener passes , responder re-opens with a double & contracts can get converted. We have them coming and going. This concept laid the groundwork for D.S.I.P. theory. Doubling with good defensive hands measured in quick tricks gives the partnership more options so is far more flexible. Bidding again , in theory , should show a weak offensive hand as you are removing one of the partnerships options.

In my mind anyway , it is silly to have any artificial or T/O meaning attached to a double of a bid of 1NT , a response of 1NT , a rebid of 1NT or a balance of 1NT other than “cards” . This double is signal that the doubling may commence when they run. Do not forget the pass or redouble gives partner a chance to double for penalty. I was playing against a player who should know better who made a suction bid vul vrs nv with ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦x ♣KQJxxx after partner opened 1NT. On this vulnerability , the partnership bends over backwards to make a penalty double. The result on this board was +460 for the field & +1400 for us as they played it in 3♣X. Far too many times these bids get rewarded by confusing bad opponents or why would anybody possibly advocate this type of style vul vrs not ?

Playing against good players they will look for opportunities to convert bad weak 2’s for penalties vul vrs not or weak 3’s when they can. Do not rescue bad bidders !! Why ? because they do disturb your auctions so they can screw them up on occasion. The deterrent against these types of players is making them pay for their bad risk taking. If you let them escape all the time , they will feel invincible & wander into your auctions all the time. The penalty double scale was invented to prevent that “style” but not if you just keep bidding yourself to rescue them. Double first & ask questions later.