Saturday,
April 19, 2003 12:35 AM
Hand Evaluation -
Partnership ( Rubber Bridge )
PITBULLS:
I come from a rubber
Bridge background so I know of what I speak . Rubber
bridge is a breeding ground for getting “bad partners” .
If you assume that your partner in rubber Bridge knows what she/he is doing , you will be paying
out money after the day is over . Out of survival interests
, you commit every partnership sin
imaginable . You “master mind” by making decisions unilaterally instead of
giving partner their “partnership rights” . Slam
bidding is done by a jump to 4NT , if
YOU feel slam might be in the cards. You do not make delicate slam tries with
lots of Q bidding because you do
not trust partner anyway . You try to re-enforce this
by platitudes like 4NT is always Blackwood ,
so that no confusion results with this strategy . You do not bid Grands unless you have 19 tricks as you are making money
with your idiot partner in your cold six .
Penalty doubles are trump oriented in Rubber Bridge . You re-enforce this by uttering another platitude
“never pull my penalty doubles” . This of course is nonsense as D.S.I.P. applies to a lot of
penalty doubles. However , if you know that partner is
going to fumble the ball with bad judgment
anyway in penalty double situations , of course you do not gave partner a
chance.
Conventions
are kept to a basic minimum in rubber Bridge for two reasons
. One is that it is too confusing to remember what everybody plays but
the main reason ( in my mind anyway ) is that partners
will misuse & forget the conventions
. Keep it very simple with
partners whom you do not trust their judgment in bidding situations.
Pre-empting
in rubber bridge breaks a lot of rules of Bridge . The
very basic premises of pre-empting is once you have pre-empted
, partner is in charge so
to bid again is extremely stupid . Say the auction goes 1♥ by partner , you
have Axxxx of hearts with scattered values . You
pre-empt to 4♥ , the opponents bid 4♠ so around to you
again . Of course you can not bid again as partner
heard your 4♥ bid so chose to defend .
In rubber Bridge can you bid 5♥ ? I have seen it done
a thousand times . Pre-empts are so bad in rubber Bridge , partner will open 4♥/4♠ with outside Aces and voids . Remembering this “tactic” , causes players to
chase silly slams in case partner pre-empted with outside stuff so atrocious
slam tries result.
Also rubber bridge players play “variable” jumps to 4 of a major . One time they will have outside stuff , the next hand maybe they will not . Forcing passes do not exist in rubber bridge because you must be disciplined & trust your partner. You cannot afford to make forcing passes in rubber bridge , because partner has never heard of the concept . Forcing passes in Rubber Bridge are you double with a trump stack & pass if you do not , period. Since forcing passes with their rules do not exist , you can play variable jumps to game . If the opponents bid again , the crap shoot is on !!
The
play of the hand is also master minded . You may even
bid 1♠ on ♠Kxxx ♥x ♦AKxxx ♣Kxx so that you play the major rather than bidding 2♦ which shows your HCP
with your suit . You leap to game a lot especially 3NT, to keep partner
from doing something silly like playing the hand. Playing with weak partners in
rubber Bridge hurts your game with your established partner unless you are acutely aware of what you
are doing . You must be able to convert your style
playing with a strong partner.
Why
am I bring all this up ? Is it bash Rubber Bridge day ? No , my intent is that in an established partnership this type of
bidding is insulting . With your
partner in IMPS , all of the above is reversed.
You make joint decisions , 4NT is not always
Blackwood , you pull doubles when appropriate , you bid 2♦ instead of 1 spade
because partner plays as well as you do , you do not re pre-empt once you have bid 4♥ , you make forcing passes , you only jump around when
appropriate . You have a lot of conventions ,
treatments , understandings and you have self
discipline in bidding. Partner is not the 3rd opponent
but someone you can trust .
There are 3 types of Bridge : match points , rubber bridge and IMPS . You must
know how to adapt and adjust
your tactics to each type of game . You also must know
how to adjust playing with a strong established partner instead of a random rubber
bridge partner. I have seen IMPS played
like match points which is very wrong . IMPS played
like rubber Bridge is also very bad.
Do not get me wrong . I like rubber Bridge but it is a different game from
IMPS as is , of course , Match Points. IMPS is the
highest form of Bridge & is recognized as such in World Championships
. It is for the best part , the true test of skill in Bridge so
the form of Bridge good players enjoy
the most .