Tuesday, July-08-08
Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Stoppers vrs Patterns )
PITBULLS:
I believe very strongly in bidding hand patterns. Tell partner which hand pattern you have followed by enlightening her as to your HCP's. We feel all balanced hands should be shown by a NT bid , not too many exceptions. Showing stoppers immediately in 2/1 & game forcing auctions by opener 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 & let’s 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 ? We all play 5 card majors so our minors are suspect. Bidding a 2nd suit by opener gives legitimacy to our minor so should not just be a stopper bid. 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 thought she had distribution & extra HCP’s . I made a slam try & we got to the wrong game. You open 1♣ on ♠AKxx ♥xxx ♦KJx ♣QJx & partner bids 2♣. Bidding 2♠ to show a “stopper” with this hand is criminal. You have a balanced NT hand so do “legitimize” your club suit by bidding spades. You opened 1♣ because you play 5 card majors !! You have a balanced 4-3-3-3 NT hand.
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. Rebidding 5 card suits are a distortion in today’s game. If you have a balanced or semi-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 early 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. NT contracts & opening leads are the thing. Do not be too precise & help the opponents . Mike Lawrence does , Kokish does not. I with the Kokish camp after 40+ years of playing this game..
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 with legitimate diamonds.
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 initially. 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
responder is probably 6-4 or 5-4 in those two suits .
Responder, by
bidding that way may be pin pointing spade shortage.
I think the Kokish philosophy should apply to all 2/1 & inverted minor bidding. Show your balanced hand first & responder will start the search for major fits & stoppers. All in good time. The concept of “ right siding” the NT should only come into play when the opponents enter the auction. In my mind , showing the flat hand originally is right siding the NT . There are exceptions though. Here is a well bid hand by Stan Cabay that shows the flat hand rule can be broken. ♠AJ9x ♥xx ♦A109 ♣K109x , Stan opened 1♣ & Lisa bid 2♣ which is a game force with their methods. Stan has a balanced hand so should be bid 2NT ? Other hand evaluation concepts come into play. Stan is “all controls” with a legitimate club suit. There is a danger of no heart stopper for NT so bidding 2♠ cannot hurt. If Lisa has a club slam aspiration, they are off to a good start with Stan’s controls. Lisa now bid the 2NT so they right sided the NT as Lisa held ♥Kx which was protected from the opening lead.