Thursday, September 14, 2006 4:14 AM

Hand Evaluation – Partnership ( Bidding Your Hand )

PITBULLS:

One of the basics of partnership Bridge is that it is a partnership. This means that each side shares the work load. You have an obligation to describe your own hand but you do not have to bid partner’s hand for her. There is an assumption that partner is competent enough to bid her own hand.

A Tormentee held this hand ♠QJ1098xx ♥x ♦xx ♣xxx vul vrs nv with a 1♥ bid to her right. She felt that pre-empting vul vrs not was an act of terrorism. Most Bridge experts would agree with that judgment . She chose to pass , LHO bid 2♥ & to her surprise partner & RHO both passed !! When the opponents sell out at the two level , it is assumed that they hold ½ the deck . You are blessed with a full 3 HCP so partner may have as much as 17 HCP . Why did partner not bid ? The answer to that should be obvious as you are looking at 7 spades.

The Tormentee balanced 2♠ to a resounding double by LHO . Partner bid 2NT which the Tormentee correctly alerted as “scrambling” . Partner thinks you ran into a trump stack & balanced with something like ♠Kxxxx ♥x ♦Q109xx ♣xx . He has the inference that you did not overcall or pre-empt initially. However , RHO rescues you by bidding 3♥ so you are off the hook right ? Wrong , do not forget you balanced vul vrs nv so partner has a great many HCP. Partner doubles so around to you again. The first thing you must do is correct partners impression of your hand. There is no trump stack on this auction , as your spade suit is 5 sure tricks so is totally useless for defense or for any other suit other than spades.

You bid 3♠ so again the double card surfaces. Partner gets the message this time & passes. The final result is +730 or +930 depending on the defense as partners hand is ♠xx ♥AJx ♦AJ109 ♣AKxx . Dora Lee’s partner played the hand in 4♠ for +620. This auction is a basic Bridge decision based on the cards you were dealt. Single suited hands play terribly in other suits as this Tormentee found out who bid 4♣ so was doubled for –800 . Hand evaluation is the first priority rather than trying to guess what partner has. Paint a picture of your own hand & do not try to guess what partner has. Bridge bidding in a partnership game just works better that way. Describe your own hand & do not try to bid partner’s hand.

Another Tormentee held this hand ♠KJx ♥AKxxxx ♦void ♣Jxxx with partner being a passed hand. His RHO opened 2♦ so he overcalled 2♥ & LHO bid 3♦ which passed hand partner doubles. Leaving the double in of course is not an option so what do you bid ? Partner’s double may be “just cards” or the perfect responsive double with the black suits. Why guess partner’s hand though , when you first duty is to clarify your own overcall ? Partner does not know you have a minimum 12 HCP overcall with a nice 6 card suit headed by the AK. Why not inform her of that fact ? A rebid of your suit says just that with one bid. Do not bid partner’s hand for her by assuming that she has the black suits. If she does have the black suits , she will bid 3♠ so you have found your club or spade fit. If you bid 4♣ originally you are overstating your values by going to the 4 level & just guessing partner’s hand. What if you did hold a good hand with a secondary club suit ? Bid the hand the same way as you would 12 HCP with a ♣Jxxx suit ? You have introduced ambiguity by trying to bid partner’s hand for her. Describe & bid your own hand.