Tuesday, April 03, 2007 2:06 AM

Hand Evaluation – Forcing pass ( Strong Hands)

PITBULLS:

Do not forget that when partner makes a forcing to game bid , forcing pass theory is automatically turned on. You have responded & partner has made a reverse , a strong jump shift , 2NT or a Q bid all of which are forcing to game. If the opponents now jam you , you do not have to act if you do not want to . Forcing pass theory is in effect as these people are intruders so are not competing for the auction.

You have ♠Axx ♥K ♦AKxxxx ♣Jxx , partner opens 1♣ & you respond 1♦. They interfere with 1♥ & partner makes a strong jump shift to 2♠. They now bid 4♥ so it’s your bid . You can bid KCB ( spades implied ) , leap directly to 6♣ or even bid 5NT which says partner pick a slam of which diamonds are one of the options. However , you do not have to bid as forcing pass theory has kicked in. The pass gives partner one more chance to describe her hand. She may bid 4NT to show diamond tolerance or bid clubs to show a 7-5 or similar or double to show a lot of HCP’s with a less distributional hand. You side owns this auction !! A pass does not get in the way of partner describing her hand when it is forcing !!

An initial action by you is taking your best guess but a pass is far superior as you are eliciting even more information from partner. This sequence might be the only way you reach a grand slam . You are protected with forcing pass theory from partner passing the hand out with your huge hand. This is an impossible insecurity. I have seen strong 2♣ openers not making a forcing pass because they are afraid partner will pass. This is so irrational that it defies description. Bridge is a partnership game so trust partner that she will bid or double the opponents as per forcing pass obligations.

A forcing pass in Bridge is a luxury, so take advantage of it when you can. Bridge is a partnership game so the more information you can obtain from fact finding , the better the final decision will be. A pass is a depending on context bid in Bridge also. It’s meaning changes when you own the auction. Negative inferences can be drawn when you do not pass.

You will be surprised how effective a pass is to gather information. Pass is a true partnership bid to invite her to the party. Alas , the green card is not used enough for that purpose as they prefer to guess the situation themselves. Not a good idea.