Thursday, September 28, 2006 1:19 AM
Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( NT Interference )
PITBULLS:
The
entire Bridge population likes to interfere with your strong NT auction. Here are our thoughts on how to deal
with their interference.
Throw away Lebensohl in favour
of Rubensohl ( transfers ).
You have the dual advantage of super accepts
& knowing the transfer suit immediately
in case RHO interferes further. Rubensohl is far , far superior to
Lebensohl & allows extra bidding room where Lebensohl just adds ambiguous auctions. Transfers have a life of their own in the game of Bridge.
When
the opponents interfere with your auctions , do not rescue them .
They are taking a risk coming into your auction so punish them when applicable & use them as stepping
stones otherwise. Here is a hand where the player both rescued the opponents
& did not use the opponents to her advantage. ♠QJ10xx ♥1087x ♦x ♣KQx & partner
opens 1NT . They overcall 2♣ alerted as showing
clubs with a higher ranking suit . Looking at your
hand the higher ranking suit looks like diamonds but you are not sure. One
thing you do know is that you
have 8 HCP’s and with the KQ of clubs well
located behind the club bidder. This hand is obviously enough for a
penalty double or a game try.
Everybody
passes your double except for the bidder who rescues himself to 2♦ so now what ? The opponents bidding your stiff
has upgraded your hand.
The club location has upgraded your hand. You can now bid 3♠ or 3♦ to force to game in
a major. 4♠ makes on the hand so
thank you opponents for helping us get there. Bidding 2♠ immediately just rescues them & unilaterally keeps you out of game. How
does partner know you have 8 HCP , a stiff in their suit, a good
spade suit & well located clubs with a 2♠ bid ??. Their 2nd
suit might even be hearts or spades for all you know so they are really in trouble. Do not
make a hasty initial decision to bid as quite often that is fatal because you
lack information.
Another
hand came up showing how not to handle
interference. You hold ♠Q10xx ♥xxx ♦Qxxx ♣Jx , partner opens 1NT so
they bid 2♦ for the majors. The opponents partner bids 3♣
& they bid 3♠ so do you make a
trump stack double ? Not
on your life. The auction is not over so you never double the only contract that you can beat. You
double signals to partner that you have
values & opens the door for her to double. They run to 4♣
so partner with 3 defensive tricks
doubles. This added to your no defensive
tricks means –510. With your 5 HCP , was
your side ever going to make anything
? They are not stealing from you. With your 5 HCP , you do not even have the balance of power . Bridge is a partnership
game so partner has a right to play you for a better hand since
you doubled them into game at the 3 level. Trump stuck doubles with no other cards are
for ¼ cent rubber Bridge games.
How
what does the pass mean of their
interference & then a subsequent
double ?
This double is not for penalty.
This double just shows
cards & partner is expected to do something hopefully
something intelligent. A penalty double is shown by doubling their artificiality
initially.
This initial double shows the balance of power & one or more of their suits. One exception is if their
double or 2♣ is artificial. You just ignore the double so a double of 2♣
is Stayman.
You
can have understanding re “invisible Q bids”. What this term means is that you
bid the suit in which they
are advertising artificially. Say they overcall 2♥ which shows spades.
You bid 2♠ before they do which
shows the other suits & for T/O. A double of 2♥ would show spades
thereby warning partner to let me at them. Remember – do not rescue them by
bidding when you have values !! They are taking a risk by entering a NT auction.