Wednesday,
July 09, 2003 5:18 PM
Hand Evaluation – Passing ( Misfits
)
PITBULLS:
Expert players use
the green card when appropriate . Quoting an unknown Bridge player “anybody can
bray like a Jackass” . Passing is both
an art & a science as well as a hand evaluation
concept. Passing is a part of “playing the vulnerability” & buying into Garazzo’s
axiom of “do not enter a
fight that you cannot win”. How does the pass work in “playing the
vulnerability” ? If you are nv
vrs vul , you bid to disrupt
your auctions. With the 3 other vulnerabilities , you
revert to disciplined bidding. On these vulnerabilities , sometimes silence is golden. You are vul & partner passed. You have a pre-emptive 2♠ bid . Why bid it ? This is a fight you can not win , so all you are doing
is helping the opponents !! Do not tell them that there finesses are going to win as partner holds
outstanding cards. Do not tell
them their stiff spade should be
upgraded or that 6 of your 13 cards are spades so they can play the hand better. Your suit is not much
of a lead director anyway in many cases.
Sometimes I feel the silent opponents are tougher to play against than the terrorists. As declarer , I have no clues to locate cards or distribution so I must make the guesses. I prefer people braying when they should not , to help my declarer play. These terrorists also give you options of penalty doubles. They are trying so hard to disrupt your auction , they bid vul on bad suits opposite a passed hand partner. This is a recipe for disaster but they do it anyway. The “lemming principle” or “catch me if you can “ principle I believe it is called.
The
“art” side of passing is reading
opponents & “smelling” misfit auctions.
There are standard auctions that suggest a misfit ,
so you can stay out of those auctions. Astute players can read vibes that
indicate the hands are not fitting well
for the opponents so a pass would be a good bid to make .
Peter Jones makes more passes then any other Bridge player alive .
He is quite often right . I think this is a skill he
picked up from Texas Holdem where passing is a must . Self discipline & passing goes hand in
hand . You earn a lot of IMPS by passing when it is right !! Do not rescue bad bidders by bidding. A double
should be your main bid if you wish to compete again.
The science is (
you guessed it ) applying patterns
during the bidding. Translating
the opponents bidding into patterns allows you to bid again or discretely pass . Take this hand
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Strong NT to your right , LHO is a passed hand.
You decide to pass & await developments . LHO transfers to hearts
so RHO bids 2 hearts which is alerted as not liking hearts .
Do you now back in with a double or 2NT for the minors? Apply patterns so
you get your answer . The hearts are most likely 5-5-2-1
around the table with
partner holding 5 of them . Give her 3 or 4 spades with her 5
hearts so that means she is dangerously short in the minors
for you to bid . Put the green card on the table.
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1♦ to your left , RHO bids 1NT which you double. LHO bids 2♣ , partner passes
so RHO bids 3♦ . Do you double again ? Apply patterns
in order to “bid the table” . LHO is probably 5-5 in the minors so very
short in the majors. RHO bid 1NT going in & jumped in diamonds , therefore is also very
short in the majors . Partner is marked with no HCP’s on the auction but she
does hold length in the majors . Double again as you might have an excellent major suit spot.
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Not vul my partner Scott Brinsmead opened 3♠ , vul RHO overcalled 4♥ !! Has Christmas
come early ? Wait a minute ,
the 4♥ bidder has a partner
. What defense do you have for 7 of either minor ? I
passed quickly so LHO went into a tank . A pass card
eventually hit the table so we took our +300. LHO had a void in hearts with
nice minors . He definitely would bail to his makeable
minors , if I doubled.
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One spade by RHO , you pass if you have not bought
into equal level conversion . 2♠ by LHO , all pass & your bid . Apply the spade pattern , 5-4-3-1 so partner has
a singleton spade . This gives her 12 cards that might fit your hearts or diamonds . I would double & pull partners 3♣ to 3♦ if necessary . A pass is not right when
all your cards are working on offense.