Friday,
November 25, 2005 11:26 PM
Hand
Evaluation - T/O Doubles & Q Bids
PITBULLS:
There are some bids
in Bridge that imply a single suited hand. An opener with a jump
rebid or a simple rebid , an overcall , an
invitational jump after a T/O double & a pre-empt to name a few. A 6-4 is not a single suited hand. You open your 6
card suit , bid your 4 card suit followed by
rebidding your 6 card suit. Rebidding
your 6 card suit immediately gives partner the wrong impression .
She thinks you hold a single
suited hand
!
Avoid
making bids that show single suited hands
when you have two suits. This is
especially so after T/O doubles since you play equal level conversion you may
be missing a suit. The auction goes 1♠-X-P- ? , you hold ♠xx ♥K ♦AJxx ♣KJ987x
so what do
you bid ?
If you had one less diamond , you have a 3♣ bid
which shows an invitational one suiter in clubs. OK ,
you have two suits so what would a
Q bid mean ? A Q bid opposite a T/O double just means that you have two or more suits at the invitational level or a
strong hand ( includes 2 suiters
also) If you have only one suit with
your Q bid , it means that you are too strong to jump to game or invite. The Q bid does not solely imply the unbid major(s), it just means that you want to force
& you may have two suits with less than game
going values. Of course , these two suits could be the majors but not
necessarily . Two suiters invitational or forcing is the default understanding
though.
The Q
bid allows equal level conversion
from the Q bidders side. You Q bid 2♠ with your 6-4 in the
minors. Partner is not going to
bid her highest ranking suit (hearts) but her lowest
ranking suit. Partner held ♠Kx ♥AJ10x ♦KQ109x ♣10x so will bid 3♦. You have a nice
hand so either bid 4♦ or try for a 9 trick
game by making a western Q bid. If you make the wrong bid of 3♣ initially , partner will never
convert to 3♦ as you have shown a single suited
invitational hand by your
failure to Q bid . Bidding a new suit after a single suited hand has been shown
by jumping ,
should be a Q bid !! If I held ♠x ♥AJ10x
♦KQ10xx
♣AQx , I would bid 3♦ as a source of
tricks for a club contract/slam not
because I am running from the club suit.
If I am running from the club suit , I pass 3♣. Even playing equal level conversion
, you do not convert to a new suit when partner has shown she only has one long suit anyway.
That is a recipe for
disaster. If partner
equal level converts after an invitational jump , it
is forcing.
If
they open a minor ,
partner makes a T/O double you have an extra bid available due the rank of the major suits. A jump to 2♠/♥ shows an invitational hand. A jump to game means you
think you can make it but it is not a slam
try. What if you do have a slam
try in a major ?
Most people would trot out the ambiguous Q bid which gives the
wrong impression of your hand. Partner is going to assume two suits or more for your Q bid or a strong one suited minor. I like
playing a jump to 3♠/♥ as a slam try in that major rather than
pre-emptive. Leap to 4 with those pre-emptive hands .
This jump sets the suit immediately , so subsequent bids can be interpreted as Q
bids rather than trying to grope for a fit. The spade suit has special status due to its rank. Even after a
1♥ opener with a T/O
double you have 2♠ available for inviting , so why not play 3♠ as a slam try ? This means one less ambiguous Q bid to worry about.
♠AQxx ♥A10xx ♦xxx ♣xx & the auction goes 1♦-x-P-? This is a 2♦ Q bid which can show
two suits with invitational values. The T.O doubler
picks one of them so we will invite by raising the suit. A Q bid is not forcing
to game but the Q bidder must keep the bidding open until a suit is raised or rebid.
Default
understandings are very important in Bridge. A jump in a suit after a T/O
double shows a single suited
invitational hand so a Q bid
should default to mean two or more suits &
also could just be invitational . The Q bid can be a strong minor suited hand if clarified later. The
more times you adhere to this understanding , the
better off you will be.