Monday, April-13-09

Hand Evaluation – Partnership ( Believing the Opponents )

PITBULLS:

      Partners of players who go to extremes to compete like the so called " modern bidders" have to accept the fact that partnership discipline "takes a hit" . The technique they use is "believe the opponents" before their own partner. The reason is obvious as partner is just in their competing sometimes without due attention to vulnerability , suit quality or the hand they have announced during the bidding . You mislead partner for the sole reason to make things difficult for the opponents or to win partials. There must be a tradeoff . Partnership discipline is the element of the game that must suffer.

        For decades I have played against these "solo artists" as I call them . These are players who take partner out of the picture by rarely having what they announced on the bidding. The only recourse for their partners is to believe the opponent's as they are more likely to have their bid. In my rubber bridge days,  I used to have fun against these known "solo artists"  when they were playing as partners . They do not trust each other of course , so when something does not sound right on an auction they automatically assume its each other. In poker , there is a term called "tight players" . These are very disciplined players were will not enter the fray without the goods. I had a reputation for being a disciplined player in rubber bridge so I would make an off colour bid playing against them . I swear they went wrong over 90 % of the time against me as they believed me rather than their own partner ! Great fun & lucrative also.

        Modern bidders who like to bid to stir things up sacrifice discipline . They are doing so at a cost to their partnership. Partner has to be wary & leeway conscious & must believe the opponents when things do not add up . This is the price of playing that style. This of course is a horrible strategy in a partnership game like Bridge. Trusting partner is paramount in every aspect of bidding & defense. This trust is how you make your decision's in competitive auctions. Take that away , you are just guessing by believing the opponents & play single handedly.

Here is my laws for competing . When the opponents are very likely to have their bids , it’s not so important for your side to have yours. The converse is also true. When the opponents are not likely to have their bids , discipline for your side is paramount . This is essentially “playing the vulnerability”.

1. Terrorist vul ( you vul they are not ) - Discipline required for your side in competing

2. Terrorist vul ( you nv then vul ) - Modern bidding permitted even encouraged for competing

3. Both vul – You can take something off your discipline fast ball ( partners +660 takes the sting out of your -800 )

4. Both nv – The Meckwell “sewer vul “ They treat it as a terrorist vul also but my opinion is -400 is not much to play with so I remain disciplined .

       You are playing against players who are not above using tactics nv vrs vul ( almost all good players ) . They will open non openers nv vrs vul & respond without a response. How do you counteract this "terrorism" ? The anti-dote is actually quite easy . You play a disciplined brand of Bridge on the other vulnerabilities where you have your bids so partner can trust you rather than them . They open 1♣ nv , you pass with a decent hand 10 HCP & they bid 1♦. Partner vul bids 1♠ as a non passed hand. There is too much bidding going on here so what do you do ?  For the solo artists , partner must have a hand like ♠AJ9xx ♥Kx ♦J10xx ♣Qx because he has bid with that many losers vul vrs not between two unlimited hands before. Therefore , you play partner for an 8 loser hand again & bid accordingly. You miss a vul game because this time partner had a "real" vulnerable overcall . The converse is also true when partner "bid his hand again" to inform you that he has a real overcall this time rather than an 8 loser hand. Captaincy dictates that partner is captain of the auction once you have overcalled as she “knows” what you have. Partner has nothing opposite the overcall & no fit so with captaincy violated , the opponents wield the red card & -800 . You brag to your team mates that this is the price you pay for competing for partials.  

        The opponents conned you from your vul game because you trusted them rather than your own partner when she had the goods. This has happened more times than I can count in my 40 years of Bridge at a decent level.  The solution is simple , use these tactics yourself on the terrorist vulnerabilty & stay disciplined on the other three vulnerabilities. You may miss an opportunity to gain a partial swing but who cares in the long run . This is not matchpoints  but IMPS where opening leads , games , slams & sets should have priority over competing for partials. We are not saying do not compete for partials but do it sensibly rather than making atrocious overbids we see all the time in today’s game. IMPS vrs matchpoints are like apples & oranges.  Bridge ( IMPS ) is a partnership game not built for solo artists or "modern bidders ".  Keep Bridge simple by being constructive & only giving partner a headache on the terrorist vulnerability. 3/4 less aspirins are now required for poor partner.