Thursday, April 20, 2006 3:39 AM

Hand Evaluation - Suits

PITBULLS:

One of the best Bridge theory icons ever is Benito Garozzo . One of his most often quoted remarks is that “Bridge is a game of suits” . What he means by that is for the purpose of hand evaluation suit length & quality of suit is way up there on the priority scale. HCP’s & other means of evaluating a hand are way down in the scheme of things when you have been dealt a long suit. Bidding should evolve around describing your suits to partner rather than just your HCP’s to partner. Suit length & suit quality are very important for proper hand evaluation.

A 2/1 in competition should show either a good suit or a forcing to game hand. Goren tried to “box in” bidding to show HCP’s hence his 10 HCP criteria for a 2/1 in competition. You hold ♠Kxx ♥Jx ♦KQx ♣Jxxxxx & partner vul in 3^rd seat against nv opens 1♥ . The nv opponent overcalls 1♠ so what do you bid ? Bidding 2♣ because you have 10 HCP is silly. A 1NT bid or a double describes your scattered 10 HCP’s better than bidding a suit. Change your hand to ♠xxx ♥Jx ♦xx ♣AKJ10xx & you bid 2♣. Your LHO jams by bidding 4♠ & opener holds ♠void ♥AKQxxx ♦AJ10x ♣Qxx so with proper 2/1 suit discipline you should reach a grand slam in clubs. Knowing partner has a suit rather than a scattered 10 HCP’s is so much more valuable in bidding . Thinking “in suits” rather than in HCP’s makes for way more accurate Bridge decisions. Good bidding starts with partnership discipline in showing where you live with your suit free bids.

You hold ♠xxx ♥xx ♦xx ♣QJ1098x , the auction goes 1♥-1NT-? Bid 3♣ & not the horrible alternatives of 2♣ or pass. You rob them of bidding room by getting the hand up to the 3 level & you do not mislead partner. Why , because if you had a good hand with clubs you would have doubled 1NT . One of the most horrible byproducts of Goren bidding is a 2/1 in competition shows 10 + HCP . Nonsense ! HCP’s can be shown , by bidding some number of NT or making a negative double. Doubles are associated with HCP’s. Bidding a 2/1 should show a suit & forget about the HCP”s unless you have a game force. If you have a long suit with very little HCP’s jump to 3 as pre-emptive & cross splinters in competition off your card L . Get your suit into the auction as quickly as possible. Rebidding your suit is the “death response” so partner will give you lots of leeway.

I also think Goren had it wrong when he invented jump bids in a suit to show a good hand with HCP’s. With opening bids & overcalls , we prefer jumps to show good suits rather than a huge hand.

1♦-1♠-P-1NT

2♦-3♠ . This should not show a powerful hand as you have a double available & a Q bid available over their 2♦ bid. What it should show is a hand with a good suit. My partners & I play an artificial jump shift to 3♣ in many many auctions. This bid demands a relay to 3♦ so all types of good hands are shown within this structure. A nice side effect of this treatment is it allows a jump rebid in your suit to show a good suit rather than a powerful invitational hand in HCPs. ♠AKQxxx ♦xxx ♦Axx ♣x is a 3♠ rebid after opening 1♠ despite the 13 HCP’s . Add more HCP’s , it becomes a 3♣ jump shift so partner knows that you have the extra HCP’s when you pull the 3♦ relay to 3♠.

Any systemic bids that detract from showing partner your suits is silly. In order to have inverted minors forcing to game , some partnerships play 1♣-2♦ & 1♦-P-3♣ as showing a limit raise in the minor. This is horrible bidding. Systems should be developed around hand evaluation concepts not against them. You can simply include limit raises in your inverted minor structure as limit raise or better. One of the worst auctions I have seen in a long time occurred tonight. Partner opens 1♦ so you have ♠Axx ♥xx ♦xx ♣KQ1098x so due to your horrible bidding structure that forces you to hide good suits , you bid 1♠. This bid really describes this hand beautifully L. The rest of the auction is not worth repeating but you are cold for 5♣ or 3NT but you are defending 3♠X . Declarer could have made this contract for a double game swing. If you bid 3♣ over 1♦ which shows a Goren 2♣/3♣ bid , you get to either game quite easily. 1♣-P-2♦ can be better defined in a number of ways. Showing a good diamond suit with one bid is a popular choice. Having the bid artificial is a waste of time unless the bid shows suits ( both majors ? ) .

♠xxx ♥xxx ♦Axxxxx ♣x , the vul opponents open 1♥ & you have this hand nv. Partner doubles & RHO bids 1NT so how do you evaluate this hand ? Partner has an opening bid with some diamond support. Back this up & say you opened a weak 2♦ hitting partner with an opening bid with diamond support . Would you not expect to make quite a few diamonds ? A 6 card suit is gold when you know partner has a fit . Again you have the inference that if you had HCP’s , you would have doubled 1NT. I would choose a jump to 3♦ to put pressure on the opponents & put partner in the picture. This bid gets them out of a NT contract which might be a good spot for them. Bidding 2♦ does not show the 6^th diamond & pass is an impossible Bridge bid. Yes , you only have 4 HCP but it is an Ace located in your 6 card suit. This hand is better in playing value than many flat hand with 8-10 HCP’s ! Do not be a slave to the HCP system . Hand evaluation to show suit length – never leave home without it !!