Tuesday, July-08-08

Hand Evaluation – Stoppers vrs Patterns

PITBULLS:

          I believe very strongly in bidding hand patterns. Tell partner which hand pattern you have & then enlighten her as to your HCP's. Showing stoppers contradicts this philosophy. When you open 1NT you are telling partner that you have a balanced hand pattern within a certain HCP range. You are not informing partner that you have stoppers in every suit. When you rebid 1NT you are showing a balanced hand with 12-14 HCP . You do not promise stoppers in both unbid suits , that is ludicrous. When partner makes a 2/1 or an inverted minor , you first obligation should be to show a balanced hand as opposed to a distributional one. In fact , you can bid your stoppers later in the auction as long as you are under 3NT.

    1♦-P-2♦-P

    2NT-P-3♥-P

    3♠-P-5♦                neither partner has a club stopper.

        Get the NT in first to describe your balanced hand & HCP range & lets worry about the stoppers later. If you do not bid NT , partner has the right to expect distribution with extra values in all auctions. Showing stoppers just adds ambiguity to an auction & “muddys the waters”.

       A Tormentee & I had an auction tonight that emphasizes the stoppers philosophy. ♠Jx ♥AKJ ♦Q1098x ♣Qxx 1♦-P-2♦-P  ?               I advocate bidding 2NT to show a weak NT type of hand. I feel bidding stoppers first is sick bidding as it adds ambiguity as to HCP range & distribution. What if you had a good hand with diamonds & hearts , bid the same way as you would with a flat 13 HCP ? Do not be in such a hurry to show your stoppers . Distribution & HCP range should have priority in the correct order. The Tormentee bid her stopper so I though she had distribution & extra HCP’s . I made a slam try & we got to the wrong game.

       We all play Q bids & many systemic bids as limit raise or better. Our first obligation in these hands should be the death response to prevent ambiguity. 1♦-1♠-2♠-P . The 2♠ bid is limit raise or better. Should opener start bidding stoppers now ? This is silly as the 2♠ bidder can have 9 HCP or 20 HCP . Tell the Q bidder that you are minimum first with a death response &  if partner makes a forcing noise , you can now bid stoppers. All in good time. Stoppers should follow the same rule for Q bids. You bid your stoppers up the line. Failure to bid a lower ranking stopper should mean you do not have one.

        Mike Lawrence in his 2/1 teachings says do not bid 2NT without both unbid suits stopped after partners 2/1. He says rebid your 5 card major suit instead . Quite often in Bridge you must pick the best lie. This style is not the best lie in my opinion as showing a 6 card major is very valuable. If you have a balanced hand within a tightly defined HCP range,  bid NT. We will worry about stoppers later as long as we are under 3NT. With the philosophy of game before slam , partners should assume we are bidding stoppers later in the auction & not Q bidding for slam. If we subsequently bypass 3NT , yes we were Q bidding originally for slam. Stoppers are over rated. The suit could split 4-4 & 3NT is the correct spot . They must find the lead on a "blind" auction & may not want to lead away from a vulnerable holding. Their suit might block . Also bidding stoppers allows for lead directing doubles & generally helps the opponents with their opening lead.

A natural bidding system has an advantage over artificial systems in that you are bidding your suits & distribution naturally. Bidding stoppers detracts from natural bidding. You do not have the nice inferences from patterning out.

1♦-P-2♦-P

2♥-P-2♠-P

3♣-P-?                     Without the silly bidding stoppers mentality , opener has shown a stiff spade & a good hand. Responder with ♠Axxx knows that the hand fits well & drives the auction to slam. What if opener was just bidding stoppers ? She could be a 4-3-3-3 13 HCP hand. Bidding stoppers simply screws up your natural bidding. I feel bidding should be defined as showing your hand pattern & HCP's to partner. To show stoppers , you are lying about your distribution & HCP's. Let the power of the lead inhibiting NT work for you. A blind opening lead gives you 3NT more often than not , so why show your stoppers & broadcast your weakness ?

Kokish & Nagy with their 1♦-P-2♣-P structure were smart enough to not allow opener to bid stoppers. Opener must show the balanced hand with a NT bid. Responder can initiate the search for a major fit or stoppers. If responder feels she has a hand unsuitable for NT due to distribution or HCP’s , she will bid naturally & now you can find out if you have the stoppers to warrant a 3NT contract. 1♦-P-2♣-P

2NT-P-3♥-P

? oops we do not have a spade stopper as partner is probably 6-4 or 5-4 in those two suits . Responder, by bidding that way may be pin pointing spade shortage.