Tuesday, January 30, 2007 5:58 PM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Moyseans )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Sometimes 4-3 major suit fits or “Moyseans” can be a very nice contract. Usually these contracts are worth 10 IMPS when 3NT will fail because  of no stoppers in a side suit. Moysens play well when the short trump hand ( 3) takes the tap  when you have strong trump. I would go so far as “promoting” a strong 4 card suit to a 5 card suit to offer an alternative contract. Take this hand for example. ♠KQJ10 ♥K10xxx ♦Kx ♣xx  , partner opens 1NT .

 

            You bid Stayman , whatever partner does , you have a way of describing these 5-4 Smolen hands. I do not bid Stayman on this particular 5-4. I am promoting my spade suit to a 5 card suit treating this hand as a 5-5 in the majors. I bid 2♥ as a transfer to spades & bid hearts describing my hand as a 5-5 in the majors. Partner has ♠A98 ♥Ax ♦AJxxx ♣Qxx &  4♠ makes while 3NT loses the first 5 club tricks.

 

            Quite often the decision to play a Moysean comes with your choice of opening bids or  your first response. Partner opens 1♦ , you have ♠AKQ9 ♥Qxxxx ♦x ♣Jxx  promoting your strong spade suit to a 5 carder might lead you to an excellent Moysean. Accordingly you respond 1♠ & partner has ♠J10x ♥Kx ♦AJ1098x ♣Ax  so 4♠ is an excellent contract.

 

            Moyseans are sometimes played after probing for NT , you find out you do not have a suit stopped for NT. If you bid your majors naturally like BJ & I do , sometimes you can bail out to a decent Moysean so maybe salvage a game.  We have a rule that when responder bids a major , it is a suit so can be a resting place later in an auction. Do not forget that Bridge is a game of suits. Look at the quality of your major suit so if it can stand the demands of a Moysean , go for it !

 

            Tom Gandolfo had a good hand in Regina for a possible Moysean. ♠xx ♥KQx ♦Qxx ♣AJ10xx . Tom opened 1♣ & Kiz responded 1♥. Tom has a suit orientated hand with ruffing value & good trump. This is an ideal hand for a 2♥ bid for many reasons. By bidding 1NT , partner will pass with many flat hands with ♥J10xxx or ♥Axxxx of hearts where hearts is a far superior partial or game. With your spade holding , you could lose a double partial swing. If they balance 2♠ , partner is poorly placed to compete in hearts. Over 2♠ it could be folly to single handedly bid 3♥ if partner responded 1♥ on xxxx & has spades but not enough HCP’s to double.

 

            Speaking of  balancing , some people have the wrong impression that you are bidding your own hand. On the contrary , you are bidding the table in other words,  the information that the opponents have passed the hand out at the one level. With the hand above , the auction went

 

 1♣-P-1♥-P

 1NT-P-P-?     & I held ♠AK10x ♥xx ♦J109x ♣xxx . If the opponents have 20 HCP , this gives partner 12 HCP’s with no bid over 1♣ . There is a spade suit missing,  so if partner has ♠QJx or 4th of spades , we could make +140 in spades. As it turns out RHO was setting a trap for the balancer as she passed 11 HCP .  Even with her 11 HCP , if partner had a 4th spade ,  I am cold for +110  in spades. ♠QJxx ♥xxx ♦Axxx ♣xx  . 4♠ ,3♦ & a club ruff. If I had a 5th spade , I have an automatic balance despite my 8 HCP. Location , location & location for balancing. Since Bridge is played in a clockwise direction , I would tend to balance with less HCP’s not more because partners HCP’s are over the opening bidders. Balancing in the sandwich position should actually deny HCP’s. At this table  after some thought , I decided not to balance 2♠ as the opponents were of high caliber & would not hesitate to double. Against weak opponents in matchpoints , I would bid 2♠ in a heart beat as we may have a two suited fit & partner could not bid over 1♣.

 

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