Tuesday, December 12, 2006 12:22 AM

Hand Evaluation – Partnership Awareness

PITBULLS:

Bridge is a partnership game. Realizing you have a partner is a bidding or hand evaluation skill that needs to be developed. What partner did or did not do during an auction speaks volumes. Partner on a nv vrs vul scenario did not support your overcall. Partner did not compete in an auction when she had the opportunity to support your major suit. Partner “sold out” at a low level contract instead of competing in your suit. Partner did not discard in a suit to warn you not to lead that suit. Partner has heard you bid twice vulnerable or double twice but took no action. You have Q bid twice & partner has signed off twice. Why did the “dog not bark “ says Sherlock Holmes . Tune into the partnership negative inference. Partner is on your side for a common objective of getting the best Bridge result.

An auction that comes up time & time again & is normally bungled is 1 of a major followed by a 2 level overcall. You re-open with a balancing double & partner retreats to 2 of a major. This is the weakest sequence in expert Bridge. Partner knows that you will have this problem , so will bend over backwards to support your major when they overcall. A pass shows a penalty trap or nothing & pulling a double to your major suit is a very negative response. Do not bid partner’s hand for her by inviting to 3 of your major unless it is a rock. Partner will have nothing more to say 99 times out of a hundred.

Bidding your hand again with the same values you have shown partner is not partnership Bridge. Single handed shots are not partnership Bridge. Not inviting partner to the party to make joint decisions is definitely anti partnership Bridge. The entire field of Bridge terrorism with bad opening bids & pre-empts does nothing for partnership trust , confidence & respect. Tune into information given to you by having a partner in the game of Bridge. Being disciplined yourself brings partner into the picture.

You have a great deal of information from what partner did not do . I was mentoring one night , my partner opened 2♠ with ♠A10xxxx ♥Jxx ♦Kxx ♣x . The auction went pass pass & 2NT balance which was passed out. What is your opening lead ? What did partner not do ? She did not support spades nor compete in spades after the 2NT but yet she is marked with HCP’s as they are resting in a partial. The opponents did not make a T/O double which they would with the other major. A heart lead stands out by a mile. My partner led 4^th best from longest & strongest as he did not “listen” to the bidding especially partners passing. From two down vul to making with two overtricks because partners silence was not interpreted properly. Quite often when partner does not support you , it broadcasts the opening lead. You overcall a spade , partner had a chance to support you but did not so maybe she has a singleton. If you are looking at the bulk of the HCP’s with a trump control , why not give it a shot ? The lack of bidding may provide a direction for the defense.

A pass is a valid bid in Bridge. Quite often in a competitive auction when you bid again you are just “rescuing” the opponents from a bad spot. This is one of the main reasons we came up with D.S.I.P. competitive double theory. If you want to bid again or even bid your hand again , you can only do it with a competitive double & defensive values. You are asking partner’s permission to bid again as she may be stacked in their suit or otherwise have a very unsuitable hand. This double brings both partners into the decision making process to compete. Otherwise , it’s just bad luck that you bid 3♠ when partner had KQ109 of their heart suit & they were vulnerable. You bid in front of me with a nice defensive hand. I would have converted for penalty after any competitive double.

Bidding again in a competitive auction should never show a nice defensive hand as you may be rescuing the opponents. Bidding again should show a distributional hand where you are not interested in defending even to the point of pulling partners penalty double. When partner passes in a competitive auction , there is a message loud & clear. She wants you to do the same unless you have a good hand with defensive values. If you do not own the auction , trump stack penalty doubles should be extinct. Competitive doubles are far more useful.

A Tormentee held this hand tonight on equal vulnerability . ♠KQxxx ♥Q ♦AQxx ♣Jxx & opened 1♠ which was doubled. I passed & RHO bid 2♣ . Is there any point in bidding 2♦ a suit that LHO could hold ? What if you held 13-16 HCP & 5-5 would you not bid 2♦ in the same situation ? How is partner supposed to read that you would bid 2♦ on this hand one time & 2♦ with a nice 5-5 the next time opposite a passing partner at the one level ? Bridge is a partnership game . In order not to confuse partner , you must be disciplined & bid your hand properly. You could go for a horrible set in 2♦X for what purpose as you not describing your hand to partner .

Anyways the Tormentee bid 2♦ they bid 3♣ so I jumped to 4♦ to show my preemptive hand. They bid 4♥ so now what ? The Tormentee now bid 5♦ & went for –500 as she said she was sacrificing over 4♥. I held 5♥’s on this auction & they cannot make anything. You did not have a 2♦ bid in the 1^st place so why compound it at the 5 level with equal vulnerability ? If you thought you had a 2♦ bid , are you not all in as they say in poker ? Do not forget that you have a partner that expected a real 2♦ rebid. Decisions do not need to be made by one partner only.