Monday, May 21, 2007 5:08 PM

Hand Evaluation – Bridge Judgment ( HCP’s)

PITBULLS:

Bridge teachers say that Bridge Judgment can not be taught. Judgment comes from the “school of hard knocks” . Experience with its cruel ways , teaches you Bridge judgment. OK , I buy into this somewhat but I feel “hand evaluation skills “ can be taught. Bridge judgment is assisted by hand evaluation skills. In other words , you can not have good Bridge judgment without these hand evaluation skills learned first .

Here are some examples to support this assertion. You hold ♠xx ♥xx ♦xx ♣AKQJ10xx , nv partner vrs vul opponents opens 1♠. Your bid ? This is a 2♣ bid in any system. Bidding a forcing NT is ludicrous for many reasons. You are wrong siding the NT , you can not recover from a forcing NT & describe your 7 tricks adequately to partner . The hand evaluation concept of a “source of tricks” overpowers HCP’s. The last reason is that the hand evaluates to 13 HCP Goren count with two quick tricks & 3 doubletons. Say partner has ♠AJxxx ♥Axxx ♦Kx ♣xx so a normal auction would be

1♠-P-2♣-P

2♥-P-3♣-P

3NT

Anyway I will force you to bid 1NT so they overcall 2♥ . Partner astounds you by bidding 3♣. Partner must have 5 clubs & most likely 6 spades for coming in at the 3 level with such a poor suit. The opponents now bid hearts , reach 4♥ so you bid 5♣. They take the push to 5♥ so now what ? Visualizing partners hand with 11 good HCP , you are cold for a grand slam in clubs. ♠AKxxxx ♥void ♦Ax ♣109876 . That is the ideal hand so 6♣ could make or go for –100. You can not pass 5♥ as that is absurd. If they now bid 6♥ , you have two options . In matchpoints , I would try an undouble so if partner has two defensive tricks we pick up +200 . In IMPS , I do not even make the bid , I just bid 7♣ re the IMPS policy of “taking out insurance” . The 7♣ bid is probably beating their heart partial.

You are vul , you have ♠xxxx ♥Jxx ♦AKx ♣xxx , they open 1♣ to your right. It goes pass around to partner who doubles so you bid a spade. Partner now bids 2♥ so now what ? You have already limited your hand with a 1♠ response, so you now Q bid to show your heart support & force this hand to game somewhere. Hand evaluation via patterns indicate you have a 4-3-3-3 which is a horrible hand for a 10 trick contract. Why unilaterally take partner out of the decision by leaping to 4♥ ? Partner bids 3NT with his flat 17 HCP after your Q bid & 9 tricks make exactly . 4♥ goes one down for a 12 IMP loss.

Judgment along with hand evaluation skills is the decision making process of Bridge. Knowing when you own the hand for a forcing pass. Knowing that your hand is defensive orientated rather than offensive orientated for a penalty conversion. Knowing when to make a lead directing double & when not to. Judgment is based on Bridge experience but is greatly assisted by hand evaluations skills.  Get away from the HCP mentality as your sole source of hand evaluation techniques. HCP’s are only the tip of the iceberg for hand evaluation. Do not be a slave to the HCP system or your own system for that matter. Rely on hand evaluation indicators of quick tricks , hand patterns , soft values , duplication of value & suit quality.

All decision making is assisted by “fact finding” . You make a decision on all the available information not just some of it. Detectives , doctors , lawyers build a case before they make a diagnosis or argue a case or make an arrest. A Bridge player does not make a decision until he considers all the clues available. Hand evaluation skills result in those clues being available. Expert players know that HCP’s are just the “training wheels” of Bridge bidding until hand evaluation skills are developed & take over. Life long “B” players think HCP’s are the “be all & end all” of Bridge bidding. Your choice ….