Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:51 PM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Systemic Bids )

PITBULLS:

Most established partnerships have a variety of gadgets , treatments & understandings. Do not become a slave to your own system . Hand evaluation comes first . Partner opens 1♥ , you have ♠Kxx ♥Qx ♦A1098 ♣AKxx . This hand fits your systemic 3NT bid exactly as it shows a strong NT with 4-4 in the minors. However , it this particular hand suitable for that bid ? You have a doubleton honour in partner’s heart suit & you are all controls. You have no soft values or tenaces to protect to suggest a contract of 3NT.

With this particular hand , I do not want to “pre-empt” partner with a systemic 3NT bid. Lets keep the bidding low with a 2♣ bid. Partner has ♠Axx ♥AKxxxx ♦xx ♣Qx , rebids 2♥ . You bid 3♥ , partner bids 3♠ so you eventually arrive at your cold 6♥. Note what happens if you bid 3NT initially. Partner bids 4♥ to play or passes 3NT !!

Partner opens 1♦ , you hold ♠J10 ♥Axxx ♦KQJ10 ♣Axx which falls into your 2NT range 13-15 HCP. However , hand evaluation comes first. You are all controls & there is no valid reason for your hand to play the NT. I would make an inverted minor bid. A 1♥ response might make it difficult to catch up & show partner this diamond strength. Partner has ♠Ax ♥xx ♦Axxxx ♣KQJx with no reason not to just carry on to 3NT. 6♦ makes +1370 though.

A 2NT & 3NT bid although systemic, quite often pre-empts partner as the level is raised quite high initially. Apply your hand evaluation skills before you make these bids !! “Fast arrival” with systemic bids should discourage slam aspirations as responder has used hand evaluation first.

You play 5 card majors as that is your systemic understanding. ♠Axxx ♥AKQx ♦xxx ♣xx Opening a minor with this hand is pathetic bidding. The bid throws partner off for hand evaluation purposes & opening leads. She will discount her stiff in your minor as she fears duplication of value. Do not be a slave to your own system & bid 1♥ . You can promote this suit to 5 anyway & you are showing where you live.

Tom Gandolfo held this hand ♠A ♥AJx ♦A109x ♣AKQxx & opened 2♣ . I rebid 2♦ waiting showing 1 or more controls . He has the difficult to show 5-4-3-1hand which quite often is described with a 2NT rebid. This is not the time for that bid as you lack soft values. You are all controls so it is best to leave bidding room for reaching a minor slam. Tom bid 3♣ & I bid 3♦ which Tom followed up with a 4♦ bid. I Q bid 4♠ so Tom leapt to 5NT ! I bid 7♦ as requested & we had 15 top tricks. If Tom had rebid 2NT , we would have had a much tougher time reaching our grand slam.

Hand evaluation skills & experience equals Bridge judgment . Just because you have the club in your golf bag does not mean you must use it. Do not use your toy just for the sake of using your toy. Hand evaluation & taking care of partner are a higher priority. A bidding system is only as good as the hand evaluation theory on which it is based. Applying systems blindly just does not work. Hand evaluation & judgment must come first.