Very important article
Sunday, February 11, 2007
12:29 PM
Hand Evaluation - Quick Tricks
PITBULLS:
Ely
Culbertson had it right when Bridge was in its infancy. He said that an opening
bid should have around 2 1/2 quick tricks. This standard ,
he said could be a benchmark for judging defensive capabilities of openers
& general trick taking potential for competing , games & slams. In my opinion , quick tricks should be more than just a
requirement for an opening bid. You should evaluate your hand re quick tricks
for penalty doubles , forcing pass theory , T/O
doubles , overcalling & balancing also. Learn to act on the quick tricks , you are dealt. All HCP’s are not created
equal. Learn to hone in
on your quick tricks for your Bridge decisions & not the “soft values” of
your hand. Point’s Schmoints as Bergen is fond of
saying for opening bids. Do not be a slave to counting up your HCP’s like beads
on an abacus. Learn to evaluate your hand by looking at your quick trick
combinations A, KQ , AQ , AK & Kx
. Advise partner of the quality
of your HCP’s through your choice
of bids not just how many HCP’s.
13 HCP’s was chosen by
Goren as a standard for opening bids because the odds favoured two or more
quick tricks being present with that many HCP’s. When your HCP’s are not
aligned correctly in quick trick combinations , it is
a “game time” decision whether even to open. 14 HCP’s is a must opener
regardless of quick tricks as it is mathematically impossible not to have a
quick trick & 99% of the time you will have at least two. Culbertson said
game should be bid when your side had a combined 5
quick tricks. Goren translated
that realization into HCP’s . 13 HCP’s
with 2 ½ quick tricks opposite 13 HCP with 2 ½ quick tricks made game more
often than not . Goren was in effect saying the same 5
quick trick message as Culbertson , but in a different
way expressed in HCP’s. Milton Work invented the HCP scheme & gave quick
tricks the highest rating of 4 & 3 for Aces & Kings. These prime cards allowed
the timing & control to make game. When you are in game with the opponents
holding these cards , they have the timing &
control & your game usually fails. Learn to appreciate “quick trick “ combinations as queens grow up & take on their full
value. AQx in a NT contract takes two tricks
66 % of the time. When partner has the king ,
dummy has the king & fails to take 2 tricks only when declarer has the King
behind you. KQx is one certain trick & will be two when partner or
the dummy has the Ace. Kx is a certain trick with
partner or dummy holding the Ace.The
"potential" of your hand increases holding HCP' in these card
combinations & your hand is more useful to the point of becoming an opening bid.
Let’s take
the decision whether to balance.
If you balance with “soft values” , you introduce the
danger of balancing them into game. They bid again but this time they leap to
game. Indignant that they were in a partial , partner
doubles & that adds insult to injury as they make it. The culprit is that
the balancer did not have defensive tricks ( quick
tricks ) for her balance. Soft values are just that ,
soft for defense.
The
opponents are vulnerable & so are you. They open a mini 2♦ bid which shows an opener with a 4-4-4-1 with an
unspecified singleton or void. Responder bids 2♥
non forcing so around to you. You hold ♠QJx ♥Jx ♦Axx ♣QJ10xx so do you balance
? This hand is mostly soft values with only one defensive trick. Keep
the same total of HCP’s ,
but change the values to defensive tricks so it is an automatic balance. Change
the spades to the Ace & the clubs to a king and you still have the same 11
HCP & same hand pattern ♠Axx ♥xx
♦Axx ♣Kxxxx but with defensive as well as
offensive potential ( transferable values as Kokish calls quick tricks ) . This is now a double. The
first hand I would just pass as I lacked the defense
to balance. A pass
shows the lack of quick tricks to take action.
Balancing
doubles should show quick tricks also as they get converted by partner expecting defense for the double.
Lack of quick tricks will be a disappointment for partner & a 2nd chance
for the opponents . We use quick tricks as a measuring
stick for openers
, T/O
doubles ,
balancing doubles
& overcalls.
I am a great believer that a double
announces defense or else you
would have chosen to overcall or bid a suit. My decision whether to overcall or
make a T/O double is based on quick tricks mainly. If I have quick tricks, I double rather than overcall. Why
? because it allows the option of converting
for penalty or double the opponents for penalty later in the auction. I
am informing partner of the nature
of my HCP’s. If I have more distributional & softer values , I overcall which of course takes the penalty
conversion element out of the equation. Advise partner
of the quality of your HCP’s via the defensive orientated double.
By the way , on the hand that you balanced with a double with the
soft values . They leap to game & make 6 !! Your
one defensive trick prevents a grand slam from being made their way. Think in
quick tricks when you make a T/O double rather
than HCP’s . Being a slave to HCP’s is more than just opening bids. When
evaluating your hand , think quick tricks not just
HCP’s. All HCP’s are not created equal.
Responding
to overcalls & your choice
of bids should be based on defense
measured in quick tricks. ♠KJ10xx
♥QJxx ♦Qx ♣Qx
with everybody vul your LHO opens 1♣
, your partner overcalls 1♥. They double to
your right so what is your choice of bids & why ?
The redouble is your last
choice as with your unsupported queens & soft values you
have only ½ a defensive
trick. They may be cold for slam for all you know. Next in line
is a Q bid showing limit raise or better. Is this hand a limit raise ? I think not as you have all soft values. You
have too many HCP’s for a 4♥ pre-empt so I would
settle for a 3♥ bid. In your system this shows 4♥ with simple raise values. Your partner competes to 4♥ , so they bid 5♣ which gets
passed out . You win 13 IMPS as your partners got to 6♣ for +1370.
Competitive
double theory ( D.S.I.P. ) was based on quick tricks
for making decisions rather than HCP’s . This “quick trick” thinking should be
more than just for D.S.I.P. theory. If you have defense , choose to double
or redouble as opposed to Q bidding or bidding a suit. You do not rescue
opponents that way & you give partner many
more options. Think quick tricks & controls
for all your Bridge decisions. Quick tricks vrs soft values is a simple but effective hand
evaluation skill.
Vulnerability & quick tricks of course , affects your forcing pass strategy. With both
opponents vul , you open 1♠ with ♠Kxxxx ♥Axx
♦void ♣AKJxx
, partner bids 2♠. Your vul RHO bids 3♦ so you show your playing strength with 4♣. They
subsequently bid 5♦ so what do you do ? Partner has heard you bid 4♣ & has heard the
bidding. Your forcing pass decision on this vulnerability is very clear. As
Eric Kokish says , your quick tricks are transferable values
which are good on either defense or offense. Count
your quick tricks & you have them beat for 500 in your own hand ! You pass 5♦ saying
that you would like to bid 5♠ very badly & simultaneously showing partner
your diamond shortness & defensive quick tricks. Partner hears all this but
doubles 5♦ anyway. Now what do you do ? You have an excellent playing hand with a lot of defense ( 3 ½ quick tricks ). They
are vulnerable so with diamond wastage & with only 15 HCP opposite a 2♠ bid
you have no guarantee of making 5♠. The pass & pull part of forcing pass
theory is a slam try. You do not want to be near slam after partner just has a
2♠ bid with diamond duplication of value. You pass , 5♦X has 5 quick
losers , a 4-nothing beak to worry about & 3 spades to ruff
with only 3 trump on the board . Partner will
probably rectify that at her first opportunity . They go for 1100 to 1400 , 5♠ goes two down vul. Play
the vulnerability , acknowledge your quick
tricks along with forcing pass theory. A good player holding this hand
rescued the opponents & bid 5♠ going two down for a phenomenal swing. I
can only hazard a guess that she is not trained herself to notice quick tricks in
her hand !! Quick trick myopia I believe is the
diagnosis :) Failure to count
or notice quick tricks may be hazardous to your partner’s
Bridge health !!
My advice to
improve your hand evaluation skills is look at your HCP’s through “quick trick” coloured glasses.
You will see the game
differently & your Bridge judgment will improve. Hand
evaluation skills are far superior to just bidding for the sake of bidding so
as to make the opponent’s guess. The late Mike Chomyn
tongue in cheek used to say “I’d rather be lucky than good”. Luck evens out in
the long run , so being good wins the race. As a nice side effect , partner does not become the 3rd opponent that way.
:(