Wednesday, February 02, 2005 11:36 PM

Hand Evaluation - Table Presence

PITBULLS:

Table presence or the science of Humanics should not just be relegated to experts. It is not unethical to use local knowledge of the ability of the opponents to guide your play , bidding and defense. I was very surprised by a comment by Nancy that “reading the opponents” was in Nancy’s words “all right for you but not me” . Nancy was in 3NT with 1098 of hearts opposite AJx against beginning players. Early in the play Nancy led the heart 10 and let it ride losing to the queen . They cleared their suit so Nancy cashed all her tricks . On Nancy’s suit her right hand opponent casually without any apparent distress discarded two hearts. Do you finesse ? Well it’s a problem against Gandolfo who would sneakily sluff down to his stiff heart King so when your finesse lost , you would lose your heart Ace also . However , against the pair we played against there would be excruciating hesitations on the hearts if they had the heart King. Nancy should have finessed and made 490. Why ? because “table presence” dictated it.

To balance or not to balance that is the question. ♠Ax ♥Qx ♦Kxx ♣Q10xxxx . The auction goes

1♦-P-1♥-P Again you have a tough balance against Maurice & Tom . You bid 3♣ , get doubled for a number against +140 their way. However my tormentee

1♠-P-2♠-P partner was playing against Sue & Ruth . This is a clear cut balance. They will not double you even if you should be doubled. We got close to a

P-? zero as +130 in clubs was being made our way since we beat two spades for +100.

♠x ♥AKQ109x ♦xx ♣1098x You hold this collection vul against not. A weak two spades to your right and you do not have enough for a vul 3♥ overcall and 4♠ nv to your left. Do you balance ? Again this is a table presence bid. Against most opponents it is too risky as LHO could have a flat opening hand and the 5 level is very high. However , at my table the 4♠ bidder was young Chris who would re pre-empt more often than not. Yes , Susan I would have bid 5♥ against Lorna & Anita also . Also against Willard who would bid 2NT with any kind of hand to get the NT in first J

With the above hand , when they originally opened two spades you are not sure they have the entire spade suit , so you do not know how to evaluate your stiff spade. When the opponents tell you later , they have the spades locked up it’s a 30 point deck. You have the 10 HCP in hearts so there are only 20 HCP’s in the minors unaccounted for . It’s reasonable to assume that partner has half of them as there was no slam try or even investigation of slam to your left. Give LHO an average of 12-14 HCP , opener an average of 6-8. This give partner 11 HCP in the minors . ♠xx ♥xxx ♦Kxxx ♣AJxx gives you a good chance at making +650. Anything more in partner hand probably guarantees 5♥. What people fail to realize is this is a “balance” so not some silly platitude that if you cannot bid originally you cannot bid 5♥. What’s bidding originally got to do with anything ? If you bid originally , you mislead partner who will bid a slam & redouble. You are just balancing using “table presence” as the opponents have indicated with their auction that 5♥ might be reasonably safe. Who the opponents are have to factored into the equation also . Dangerous against Mr & Mrs club player as they may have a balanced 18 for their 4 spade bid ! Pick your spots using your local knowledge of the opponents. Should partner double 4♠ with a flat ♠xx ♥xxx ♦Axx ♣AQJxx 11 HCP ? Probably not even with bigger hands. You now make 6♥ on a hook but they still make +420 in 4 spades. This may even be the rare vul sacrifice. In IMPS, it’s even safe to go for –500 with +450 making their way. I’m with Susan on this one. I do not even feel this one is risky as 9 times out of 10 they bid 5 spades as insurance anyway not vul vrs vul as they do not hold anything in hearts.