Wednesday, October 08, 2003 1:16 AM

Hand Evaluation - Italian Q bids

PITBULLS: 

Whether you have bought into the philosophy of the "serious 3NT" or not , Q bids are still an area to be discussed . Q bids are a hand evaluation or bidding skill. The serious 3NT philosophy is based on no fast arrival to game in a major when partner is unlimited , unless you have no controls outside. Instead , you Q bid even if you have nothing extra. There are 2 styles of Q bidding ,  one which is so called standard , the other one which the Italians (blue team ) made famous . The standard way of Q bidding of course is 1st round control first , followed by second round controls.

The Italians and Fred Gittleman in his articles on "serious 3NT"  play the Italian style of Q bidding . This means that a Q bid can be either a 2nd or 1st round control when initially bid . 2^nd round controls include singletons . Therefore , you do not know how many Aces you have so Blackwood is necessary for all slam auctions . We have brought this up before in "serious 3NT" discussions but I think it is worth repeating .


♠ x                 xxx
♥ AKQxxx     J10x
♦ xxx              AKQxx            1♥       2♦
♣ Axx             Kx 2♥ 3♥
3♠

Q bid  2nd round spade control first , then your club ace when convenient . This allows a margin of safety . Standard Q bidding auction below :



♠ xxx                xxx
♥ AKQxxx         J10x                1♥     2♣
♦ Ax                  KQ                2♥     3♥
♣ xx                  AKQJ10 4♦     5♣   

(oops we are down at the 5 level )   With the inference that partner does not have 2nd control in spades or she would have bid it "Italian style" keeps us out of the 5 level whether we play "serious 3NT" or not.

We think we should adopt the Italian style of Q bidding but be very careful & use Blackwood for slams. So it does not matter which control you Q bid anymore. Up the line Q bidding still applies though.

ex

♠ Kx                   Axx
♥ AKQxxx         J10x             1♥       2♣
♦ Axx                 Kx               2♥       3♥
♣ xx                   AKxxx 3♠      4♣
4♦  4♠             2nd round in spades bid before 1st round but who cares ? You have them both ..

The ability to Q bid singletons will make your splinters more disciplined ( possibly always have 4 trump ) . However , as I mentioned in a previous article , splinters are still a better way to find out duplication of value & stay out of messy contracts.

If you are past Blackwood , Q bids should be first round control ex

                  4♥
1♠                              4♠
5♣                                             Stupid to bid 2nd round control when we do not have Blackwood to

fall back on.

Common sense should still prevail .

Here is a hand where a player did not consider a singleton as a control along with her Aces so she violated the rank order of Q bidding. ♠Axx ♥Axx ♦x ♣QJxxxx . I opened 1♣ & her RHO overcalled 1♥. She bid 2♥ showing limit raise or better so I bid 2♠. They interfered with 3♥ so now what ? She can bid 3♠ or 4♦ both of which conserve bidding room. However , she choose to bid 4♥. I bid 4♠ to play as I was 6-5 & knew we did not have a diamond control. Partner bid 5♣ which was passed out & I claimed 6♣.

One of the important points about Italian cuebids is that when partner skips a suit, denying a control in that suit, you must sign off immediately if you don't have a control either.

You pick up:

♠ JTxx

♥ AKQx

♦ xx

♣ JTx

Partner opens 1♠. You make a limit raise of 3♠. Partner bids 4♦. What is your call?

Partner's 4♦ bid has denied a club control, so you must bid 4♠. A bid of 4♥ would promise that you hold a club control (indeed, whether it says you hold a heart control is a problem for a high-level partnership discussion!). Last Train bids says that 4♥ does not show a heart control but a club control. Do not forget that 4♦ denies both the Ace & King of clubs.

Partner held:

♠ AKQxxx

♥ x

♦ AKQ

♣ xxx

It would be great to stop in 4♠ wouldn't it?

Anyway , give Italian Q bids some thought ,  the Italian way of Q bidding makes more sense to me than the standard treatment . I will try to coerce Mr. Jones in playing them but he is still dragging his feet about the serious 3NT ( refuses to even discuss it ) . There are disadvantages to the "serious 3NT" as it is too accurate sometimes. When both sides of the partnership are Q bidding with minimum values while staying out of slam , you assist the opponents on their opening leads.

Klimo says "serious 3NT" has got him to some nice slams but has cost him match points on the opening leads !  Also the leap to game in a major ( a no no with serious 3NT ) makes the opponents lead a little bit more blind . So whether you adopt the "serious 3NT" is dependent on your "religious beliefs" about the game of Bridge to borrow a phrase from Klimo .