Tuesday, April 05, 2005 7:16 PM

Hand Evaluation - Suit Quality ( promotion )

PITBULLS:

Bridge bidding is not sophisticated enough to bid suit quality right down to the spot cards. Bridge bidding describes lengths of suits but not the finer details. Sometimes you need hand evaluation skills to promote suits & even suit lengths. A good 4 card suit AKQx or KQJ10 can be promoted to a 5 card suit . A good 5 card suit is quite often “promoted” to 6 card status especially when it is a major so you can reach tight major suit games. Here is a well bid hand by Perry who did just that . ♠AK1098 ♥Kx ♦KJx ♣KJx Perry opens 1♠ & I bid 1NT which Perry bid 2NT ( virtually a game force in our system ) but I chose to bail to 3♣ to show where I live & announce a weak hand. We play 2♣/3♣ as non forcing to game to show the better club hands so I thought we needed a club fit to make 3NT. Perry’s hand went up when I bid 3♣ , so what is the most constructive bid you can make towards game ? Perry promotes his good 5 card suit to a 6 card suit by bidding 3♠ due to the club fit. I held ♠Jx ♥xx ♦xxxx ♣AQ109x so I have an easy 4♠ bid which makes +650 with a heart lead. On these particular auctions , there are only 3 permissible bids after partner announces a weak hand : pass , 3NT or promoting your major. The 4^th bid of 3♦ probably shows an off shape 2NT bid like ♠AQxxx ♥Kx ♦AKJx ♣Jx . Some people play 3♣ as the Wolffe relay which of course is a different matter.

Suit quality cannot be described via HCP’s. It is with these hands where single handed bidding is permissible via hand evaluation. You take control & insist on your suit. Two hands came up in the CNTC zone finals that illustrate this point.

You hold ♠AJ1098x ♥J ♦KJx ♣Kxx , partner vul opens 1♥ . You respond a spade , partner bids 2♦ . You make a 4^th suit forcing bid , partner rebids diamonds. Now what ? If partner has a few Aces you should insist on your spade suit ! Due to the spot cards, you can hold your losers to two opposite a void or singleton. 4♠ is cold on this hand with one table in 3NT & the other table in 5♦ ! The suit is a one loser suit with many card combinations. A 4-2 break with a doubleton honour onside. The KQ of spades onside with a number of distributions will lead to success . 3NT was a lucky make needing a 4-4 club break & finding the diamond queen . 5♦ is even worse needing a 3-3 spade break to make the hand. The play in 5♦ is interesting as you need to be committed to a line of play .

A	J	K	K
J		J	x
10		x	x
9
8
x

Club lead so establishing the spade suit should be your goal. You preserve your club entry by taking the trick in your hand. You play a spade to the ace & a spade back ruffing. This is a dicey contract so you need some help with the spades. Assume them 3-3 so all you need is a 3-2 diamond break ! The diamond finesse is a mirage. You do not need it. You play Ace of diamonds , diamond to the King with everybody following but no queen appearing. You ruff a spade & they are indeed 3-3 and now established. You now claim as you go back to the club King , start running your spades & announce you can have the diamond queen & the heart Ace whenever you want it. If they do not ruff in , you have a trump for the club and the 11^th trick.

x	Q	A	A
	10	10	x
	9	x
	x	x
	x	x

Tom Gandolfo held this hand ♠xx ♥KQ1098x ♦x ♣KQJx & opened 1♥ . I responded a spade and Tom bid 2♥ . I bid 3♦ so what do you bid with Tom’s hand ? 3NT is certainly a possibility as you definitely have clubs stopped ! This is a hand where you cannot show your heart spot cards to partner. Tom bid 3♥ saying the suit is probably no more than a two loser suit & I bid 4 with my singleton jack . Tom made +650 with 3NT failing at the other table. Insist on a suit where partner has no idea of the quality of your spot cards !!