Monday, January 31, 2005 12:47 AM

Hand Evaluation – Partnership ( Lucking out )

PITBULLS:

One of the very basics of Bridge bidding is that it involves a partnership. Once you have described your hand adequately to partner , she is “captain of the ship” . The two most obvious situations are a strong NT opener & a pre-emptive bid. You have described your hand within a tightly defined range to partner. Once you have done so , partner calls the shots. This is the so called captaincy rule.

What is less obvious to some Bridge players is all bidding follows the same principle. Once you have described your hand to partner you are “all in” so partner is captain of the ship. Partner has heard you and she decides to pass . You have a beautiful hand which you have already described by bidding twice previously. Bidding again is insulting partners judgment.

“Lucking out” is a term to describe single handed bidding that does not involve partner’s input. You gamble & singlehanded place the contract & luck out when partner comes up with the correct cards to make the contract. You never invited partner to join the party & yet the only reason you are making the contract is due to her holding. Not good Bridge , in fact very bad Bridge.

I was playing with a Tormentee & this auction actually occurred. The opponents were vul , we were not. 1NT opened by the opponents

1NT- P -2♦*-2NT * transfer

Dbl- 3♦-P–P

Dbl -P-4♥- 5♦

Dbl -P-5♥-6♦

Dbl -P-P -P

What is wrong with this entire auction ? Partner bid 2NT which shows the minors ,OK fine. The 2NT bidder bid 5♦ showing that he had the minors again . After 5♥ he described his hand the 3^rd time that he has the minors. The 2NT hand had nothing more than he described initially , so partner was captain of the ship. I could have held 100 honours in hearts . I did not , but I did hold this contract to –800 for a zero.

Same Tormentee who held ♠AJxxx ♥x ♦K ♣Kxxxxx was vul against not but decided to open 1♠ . I doubled , his partner bid 2♦ with my partner bidding 2♥. The Tormentee now took a chance by crawling in 3♣ vul. I had a huge hand but short in clubs so I leapt to 4♥. Passed around to the Tormentee who had already described his two suiter to his partner at the 3 level vul so she is captain of the ship. Vulnerable , it would be sheer suicide to bid 5♣ . Out comes a 5♣ bid which gets doubled . Dummy comes down with ♠x ♥Qxxx ♦QJ10xxxx ♣x so the Tormentee loses 3 spade tricks , 1 heart , 1 diamond and 4 clubs for down 7 , –2000 against our +450 . That what should have happened . The board hit with ♠x ♥xx ♦Q109xxx ♣AJxx so 5♣ x made for +750 with KQx of spades coming down after two trump leads . Opposite a vul 3♣ bid , this hand has a clear cut 5♣ bid but failed to do so. So the tormentee bid the AJxx of trump & stiff spade for her !! This is another form of lucking out. Single handedly bidding partners hand for her.

I was playing with an experienced player who should have known better. The auction goes 1NT and I doubled for penalty. This double shows two types of hands generally. A hand , equivalent in HCP’s to the NT opener or a single suited hand too strong to overcall. This auction actually occurred.

1NT-X-P-2♥

P - 2♠-P-3♥

P - 3♠-P-4♣

P - 4♠-X-P

O.K. who is captain of the ship in this auction ? In other words , who knows more about partner’s hand ? I doubled 1NT , heard partner pull it to 2♥. Partner did not scramble to 2♣ which he would without a suit of his own. I heard that he has a long heart suit but still bid 2♠ . I can not have the balanced NT hand or I would have passed 2♥. Partner now bids 3♥ but I bid 3♠ again. Now I know that he has long hearts but hates spades. I should be captain of the ship now so I place the contract in 3♠ which should end the auction. Unbelievably partner bids 4♣ with ♠void ♥QJ10xxx ♦x ♣Jxxxx so I go for –300 in 4♠ doubled with 16 HCP & a 7 card spade suit ! 3♠ down 1 was an average but –300 was of course a well deserved zero.

Bidding is a language which you pass information for the partnership to make a decision. Once you have done so your obligation is over so partner assumes responsibility. Otherwise Bridge would be just a crap shoot & bidding would not be necessary. In rubber bridge the gambling is more than just having money involved. The partnership element of the game takes a beating so you shoot to what you think you can make without partner contributing much to the auction. Single handed bidding is the real gambling element in rubber Bridge. In other forms of Bridge , partnership bidding should remove a great deal of the gambling.

A Tormentee “lucked out” recently when she bid a 2♣ opener to 7NT with ♠AJxx ♥AK ♦AKQJx ♣Qx . She opened 2♣ & partner showed 3 controls & then bid 4♣ during the auction. The Tormentee gambled that the 3 controls were in his club suit so 13 tricks were available in 7NT. This gamble worked as that was indeed the case. However , what if partner held the ♠K instead of the ♣K ? The bidding would have gone the same way & 7NT would have no play. The Tormentee forgot to invite partner to the partner with a 5NT Grand Slam Force in clubs. Partner has 2 of the top 3 club honours so would have bid 7♣. Converting to 7NT & the hand was “bid” rather than a straight gamble & lucking out.

There is a bid that allows partner to “bid her hand again” after making a descriptive bid. You can circumvent the rule of captaincy with only one bid , a double . These bids are called “action doubles” . They usually come from a partner who is normally not expected to bid again. Two tormentees were playing together and in 3^rd seat one of them decided to make a “tactical bid” of 4♥ with ♠x ♥AKQJxxx ♦Ax ♣K10x . Since partner is a passed hand , you can get away with these type of bids as slam is more remote. You may cause the opponents to make a competitive error by bringing them into the auction at a dangerously high level. This is exactly what happened. A 4♠ overcall but partner had spades but nothing else so he cannot double. He expects a 4♥ pre-empt over there so now what ? You can not bid 5♥ as that it totally single handed as partner has already heard you open 4♥. However, you can double saying you want to bid 5♥ but you have outside cards. This allows the decision to be made from the correct side of the table. Partner passes so +500 instead of going down two doubled in 5♥. Bridge is a partnership game J