Monday, February 20, 2006 1:43 AM

Hand Evaluation – Kokish D.S.I.P. Doubles

PITBULLS:

The following is from notes that Eric Kokish sent me. Sound familiar ? Here is how he defines “D.S.I.P.” doubles. Doubles in non forcing pass auctions vrs doubles in forcing pass theory.

(1) If a PASS would be (according to your partnership's forcing pass rules) NONFORCING , then a DOUBLE would NOT be for PENALTY. Instead, a DOUBLE in this sort of NF situation would be an attempt to get your side BACK INTO THE BIDDING. Remember that if you PASS and the auction is agreed to be NONFORCING, the bidding could end when the hand BELONGS TO YOUR SIDE.

(2) What does such a DOUBLE (in a NF auction) show?

It shows "two-way" values: which means ...

"extra strength that will be useful on BOTH offense and DEFENSE - aces and kings - NOT

"slow" defensive values in the enemy suit(s), which would be good only for DEFENSE.

Remember that although your partner will often leave your "two-way" double alone and PASS for PENALTY, he IS allowed to remove it with special distribution (such as an extra trump or two for his bidding so far). So with KQ10 of their trumps and two aces, you can't afford to double without some risk that your partner will take it out when they are going down. The higher the level that you double in a NF auction, however, the more likely that your partner will NOT take it out, so you might well DOUBLE 5D with that sort of hand (trump tricks) but should

NOT DOUBLE 4H when partner is much more likely to take out to 4S (for example).

These "two way" doubles are also known as:

"transferable values" doubles, or

"one for the road" doubles, or

"competitive" doubles, or

"action" doubles

(3) If all of this seems too difficult for your partnership, then forget the whole thing and simply play all doubles (that you can't define as TAKEOUT) for PENALTY!

(4) If you like the idea of "two-way" doubles, this is how you go about approaching them:

(a) Decide whether your side is in a FORCING PASS situation.

(b) If the answer is YES, your DOUBLE is PENALTY and your pass invites an opinion from

partner. In most cases, you will respect his opinion and PASS if he then DOUBLES, but if

you remove his DOUBLE (at the five-level or higher),you are showing a STRONGER hand

than if you had made the same bid without passing (if there IS an agreed trump suit) or a

MORE FLEXIBLE hand than if you had made the same bid without passing (if there is NO

agreed trump suit).

(c) If you are NOT in a FORCING PASS situation, DOUBLE is "two-way"! - "transferable

values" style.

(d) Same as (c) applies in REOPENING position if NOT in a FORCING PASS situation.