Wednesday,
October 01, 2003 12:20 AM
Hand
Evaluation - Tactics ( Splinters in
Competition )
PITBULLS:
Going against a long standing Edmonton tradition , we
do not like splinters in competition. The first reason is frequency .
Splinters need 4 card support or more with limit raise values
. These hands show up a lot less frequently than playing the bid as a natural weak jump shift . The 2Nd reason is concealment
in competition . Why help the opponents out with their
opening leads , their sacrificing &
defense by describing your singleton ? The third
reason is that you always have a Q
bid of the opponents suit
as a way of immediately describing your fit
with partner. With slam tries , you can always make a belated splinter or Q bid the singleton as a control later in
the auction. The 4th reason is that Bridge is a game of suits ( like Garozzo says ) not a
game of singletons. Preserving a jump as a weak
suit describes your hand in one
bid so can get you to slams ,
alternative games & sacrifices
with ease. The bid also complements your system in that it further defines your
2/1 in competition as stronger of these kind
of one suite hands. Describing your hand pattern to partner in a crowded auction , now there is a thought.
Weak hands with a long suit ,
can easily get shut out by the
opponents bidding. Some hands like ♠void
♥109x
♦xxx ♣KQJxxxx , partner opens 1♥ & they overcall
1♠ . Is it not nice to bid 3♣ as a descriptive bid
to put partner in the picture ? You can almost predict LHO will bid 4♠ looking at your
void. If you pass or bid 2♥ partner will have no
idea what to do over 4♠. If they bid 4♠ , you can single
handedly back in 5♣ but you are shooting dice. Partner has ♠AKx ♥AQxxx ♦Q10x ♣x so just loves your 5♣ -500 pseudo sacrifice.
After
a minor opening with a competitive auction it is silly to
play splinters. You
have a Q bid to describe those hands with a minor fit .
More often ,
you have a weak jump shift hand you would like to describe in one bid .
Playing this treatment helps in interpreting
2/1 bids in competition as it eliminates a class
of hands. A weak jump shift in
competition is a negative free bid
so has many competitive advantages. You remove these hand types from your
negative double structure.
♠x ♥KQJ10xx ♦xxx ♣xxx 1♦-1♠-3♥
Describes your hand in one
fell swoop & is pre-emptive
♠x ♥xx ♦KJ1098xx ♣Q10x 1♥-1♠-3♦
Describes a weak diamond pre-empt . Now a 2/1 in diamonds must be more healthy .
♠xxx ♥AKxx ♦x ♣Jxxxx 1♥-1♠-2♠
Why bid 3♦
as a splinter to help them with their competitive decision , opening lead &
defense ? You are chasing a rare slam with a “magical fit”
is the only plus for a splinter but you throw away the natural diamond WJS. Revealment vrs concealment
in competitive auctions so put pressure on their defense with a pre-empt.
Splinters not in competition
are a good idea after
a major opening only. You do not have the luxury of Q bidding the opponents suit so the splinter
describes your hand very nicely for close games & slam tries. My partners “mask” their splinters after a major
opener. A 3♣ jump is any minor splinter
& 3♦ is the other
major splinter. The reason for this treatment is concealment. We will only allow the
opponents in on the location of the splinter , if we
have slam aspirations.
In competition , the rules change.
Having a Weak Jump Shift helps define your
2/1 structure in competition so
allows you to get in there with your suit
for pre-emptive or descriptive purposes.
Negative free bids are hard to play against. Finding a secondary fit fast , “showing where you live” helps for sacrificing purposes . This information
also leaves you better placed to
make decisions in competitive
auctions.
For those who want to know if partner has a splinter in competition they
can use modified Mathe asking bids. When partner Q
bids an immediate NT bid asks for a singleton. Simple as you do not want to
play your major fit in NT anyway. Kokish game tries can be used in competition so a
singleton is shown by those methods . Why show a splinter if partner is not interested in slam ? Partner has tools to ask
for a singleton if he has ideas of bigger & better things...
1♥-1♠-2♠-P
2NT
If partner is slamish , she can bid 2NT which is defined to ask for a singleton after a Q bid. Therefore , NT gets your
splinter into the auction anyway.
Mathe used spades to ask for a
singleton if hearts
were trump so NT asks if spades
were trump . The “serious
3NT” allows you to show your singleton as a control . So there are many
ways to show a singleton belatedly. What is the hurry ?
1♠-2♥-3♥-P
3NT
I
have slam aspirations , do you have a singleton or other control so we can investigate
duplication of value ?
A jump Q bid
is still a splinter whether a
minor or major has been opened . 1♥-1♠-3♠-P is obviously a game forcing heart hand with
a stiff spade .
Splinters or
weak jump shifts as a passed hand are not a good idea. Fit showing jumps are far more useful &
the structure allows you to ask for the singleton by using NT . You can modify
Drury or 2NT to ask for the splinter with the appropriate hands.
Splinters over a takeout
double are O.K. This is because the opponents
have shown the unbid
suits by doubling so jumping in
that suit as natural is not a good idea. This
splinter can setup a useful defense as a lead director
if they but the contract.
There is a case for “playing
the vulnerability “ with splinters. If you are nv vrs vul do not
play splinters in competition. Getting your suit in will result in a nice
sacrifice against their vul
game. What about the other vulnerabilities ?
You must now weigh the advantages of a splinter vrs
a suit showing bid. If you are vul vrs
not maybe a splinter might
be best as you are never taking a sacrifice on this
vulnerability. However , finding your fit immediately
has a decided tactical advantage on equal vulnerability to get to your best
game quickly. I still prefer the suit showing bid over a singleton showing bid..
To summarize , more and more bidding tools have ways of asking partner for a singleton . Why announce to the table that you have a
singleton if it may be more helpful to the opponents
? Fit showing jumps have minimum NT to ask for
singletons , Drury can be modified to ask for a singleton , Mathe
asking bids ask for a singleton so preserve the immediate jump to show a
natural weak jump shift. A singleton is
just a control so can be bid
later playing the Italian style of Q bidding. Partnerships now have a piece of the negative free bid pie without actually
playing them.