Tuesday, January 09, 2007 2:18 AM

Hand Evaluation - Our System

PITBULLS:

Standard bidding was invented for the masses and trades simplicity for accuracy. The premises of Standard bidding “the more you have – the higher you bid” is very inaccurate using up useful bidding space. Jumping to game with strong hands is wrong in theory. In the late 50’s , Bridge experts realized this systemic shortcoming so forcing club systems were born. Forcing club systems kept the bidding as low as you can get in the game of Bridge & exchanged information well below game. Standard bidding can not compete with that concept. A system should be built on the foundation of sound hand evaluation concepts.

Forcing club systems of course have their down side. The artificiality is not good , the degree of memory work is daunting & it is prone to interference by adventurous opponents. If you want to stick to a standard system , you must make it more “forcing club like” . In our system , jumping to game with good hands is just not done. After a club opener & a major response , we will bid 2NT rather than leap to a 4 of a major game holding 4 of partners major ( balanced hands ). This prevents starting slam investigation starting at the 5 level after a jump to game. After a diamond opener & a major response, we have the multi 3♣ jump shift to prevent us from leaping to game. Leaping to game is based on distribution or it is a “picture” bid describing your hand as accurately as you can. The multi 3♣ SJS prevents jump rebids to game as being strong.

There are other places where you want to prevent the ugly practice of leaping to game with good hands. Fast arrival pre-empts the auction so keep these bids weak. When partner opens & makes a simple rebid , with you having a NT game going hand as responder, play 2NT as a new suit. Leaping to 3NT ends all auctions , which in a great many hands is the last thing you really want to do. There are alternative game contracts or slams which now must be investigated at the 4 level. Luckily there is a new concept out which allows 2NT as responder to be a new suit & a one round force. This is also called the “godfather 2NT” which is an invitation you can not refuse. This treatment is a fix to the ugly 4^th suit forcing & prevents leaping to 3NT. This treatment allows partner to pattern out below 3NT so takes advantage of natural bidding. This treatment should be standard among any partnership who play Bridge seriously. 2NT as invitational is just a wasted bid in IMPS.

The XYZ treatment is excellent for keeping the bidding low & allows natural bidding as slam tries. The advantage of a natural system over a club system is that it is natural. You can pattern out & show your suits immediately. Club systems of course have difficulty showing their distributions. Club systems have relays built in. Standard systems should also use relays to fix things. Showing strong 2 suiters via 2♣ should use relays to help the structure out. Relays are used to escape to partials & allows natural bidding to be strong.

The Gartaganis , Gordon & Piotr use a forcing club system & have binders full of notes. In order to compete with artificial club systems , you need to constantly improve standard bidding & harness the good things about that system. Exploit the strength by staying away from artificiality . We play a ACOL 2♦ which is quite helpful as we have taken it out of the “overloaded” 2♣ structure. Bid your distribution first ( balanced hands with NT rebids) help maintain the natural advantage over a forcing club system. Up the line bidding is terrible & is for beginners.

The forcing NT needs all the help it can get. The forcing NT prevents you from showing where you live with 10-12 HCP 2/1 bidding as in ACOL & Goren. You can recover from that with “fit showing jumps” by the NT responder. After partner makes a rebid , you show where you live with a fit so negate the fact that you bid 1NT in the first place. Also do not play 2/1 forcing to game if the suit is rebid. Bidding 1NT with those types of hands is just plain bad. Advantage , forcing club system. Allow yourself the freedom to bid 6 card suits rather than a silly 1NT forcing bid.

After a minor opener , playing a direct 2NT jump as a invitational or better with 11+ to 15 HCP’s is a better treatment Why ? The bid prevents the silly jump to 3NT to make a game force. After 2NT , you can pattern out & investigate alternative games & slams below game. 2NT as just invitational is for matchpoints , as are leaps to 3NT.

Over the years , we have been doing a lot of work on our system. Our goal is to use what we familiar with to compete with forcing club systems. Try to fix the 2/1 holes & level the playing field. I believe it can be done. It just needs effort & creativity on our part. Forcing club systems are worthy opponents. This is one reason for 2500 e-mails over 8 years & partially explains the wear & tear on my partners J .