Saturday, April 07, 2007 6:16 AM
Hand Evaluation - Q
bids ( Showing Extra )
PITBULLS:
The
opponents are not on your side . Their job is to make
life difficult for you by pre-empting or otherwise making life difficult for you.
One of the tools of the trade to combat this harassment is the Q bid to show extra. They are jamming you &
taking room from you to prevent you from showing extra values for slam
purposes. The Q bid to show extra is a way of using their bid suit to fight
back by announcing that you have game or
slam aspirations.
A tormentee
& her partner lost 13 IMPS ( could have been more
) for poor hand evaluation & not utilizing the Q bid
properly. The auction went 3♦-P-4♦-? & the tormentee has ♠AKJ ♥AJ1098 ♦x ♣AQ10x so doubled. Partner
bid 4♠ so back around to her. There has been a pre-empt to
her left with a nv nuisance raise to her right. Under pressure
on these types of auctions , partner could play partner for as little as 14 HCP for her initial double. She has an Ace more than partner can reasonably expect on
this auction & she has the magical stiff in their suit. Goren count she has 20 HCP’s ,
rich in controls & the correct stiff. The 30 HCP rule is in effect as they should
hold the 10 HCP in diamonds. In
pre-emptive auctions, the rule of thumb is to play
partner for 7 HCP until we hear differently. This means we have
a minimum of 25 HCP out of 30 so the 5 level should be safe for a 5♦ Q bid. This Q bid just says I have extra
with at least 2nd round control in diamonds. Also for hand
evaluation purposes ,
the pre-empter is behind the big hand
so any finesses should be onside.
Partner
has ♠Q1098x ♥KQx ♦Ax ♣Jxx so over 5♦ has 12 HCP more than
he has shown & 1st round control in diamonds. He should now make
a grand slam try by Q bidding to show extra from his side.
Since a 6♦ bid is obviously inviting 7 what should the doubler do ? She could bid 6♥ which should say
there is still a flaw yet that you must take care of before bidding 7 or bid the
grand directly. I like my hand so I would bid a positional make. The 3♦ bidder is to my left
so any finesse that is needed in a worse case scenario should
be on side. I would accept partners
invite & bid 7 as did many in the field below.
This
pair only reached game
but the 12 HCP hand said he would not know what to do after the 5♦ Q bid & said he
would probably sign off in 5♠. This means he would
have bid this 12 HCP monster the
same way he would have bid zero
HCP ! How is this partnership communication
? How did he interpret the 5♦ bid
? How much did he think he showed already by bidding a forced 4♠ in response to a double ?
29> -13 13 -13 -1 13 0 0 13 0 1 -13 0 0 0 -13 13
-2210 2210*-2210 1430* 2210* 1460*-1460 -710 -1460 -1430 710* 1460* 1460*-1460 710* 2210
You must learn how to
handle intruders
into your auction. Use them as stepping
stones for hand evaluation
, positional makes , lack of duplication of value & Q bidding their suit to show extra. This
hand has 13 tricks without a finesse. 5 spades , 5 hearts , 2 Aces & a diamond ruff. If partner
miscounts his tricks , the club king is on side as it
should be. In a strong field,
this pair would have probably lost
20 or more IMPS instead of just
–13 IMPS.