Friday, November 03, 2006 7:37 AM
Hand
Evaluation - Taking your plus ( Gambling )
PITBULLS:
Taking
your plus is a hand
evaluation basic. Bridge is a game based on probabilities. Bridge players who gamble their plus ( IMPS ) in order to gain a better plus are
gambling. If you do gamble , make sure the odds are
very much in your favour not just a guess
or a
wild stab in the dark. In matchpoints, the story is
different as you have to guess the amount of the set against your possible vul game. In IMPS , just take
your plus !! This is still another difference between the game of IMPS
& match points. Just like rubber Bridge , take
your sure money & run. Taking your plus should guide your decision
making in Bridge. Gambling for the optimum result is just that , a gamble.
Play for the best result possible , not the best possible result.
The
opponents pre-empt at the 4 level in a major , partner
doubles for T/O so you have two options bid or pass. You normally bid at
lower levels unless you have their trump & convert for
penalty. There is an exception though which involves levels.
Since you are at the rarefied 4 level , partner needs a good hand to
double . Especially if they are nv & you are vul , you
should pass with bad flat hands where you cannot make anything. Partner
rates to have the contract beat in her own hand . If you
have a flat collection of queens , you are not going
to make an 11 trick game for two reasons. One is that you need about 29 HCP’s
combined to make an 11 trick game & 2nd the HCP’s rate to be over partner’s
HCP’s. You should pass & just take your plus. If you do not get a
plus because the cards are really sitting right for them ,
their nv game making doubled will score
less than the vulnerable number you are going to incur by bidding.
The
only vulnerability , I pull a double with a weak flat
hand is if they are vul & we
are not. Otherwise I sit & ride out partners double. If I
have a distributional nothing , I will
bid 4NT which is Lebensohl as most experts
play this sequence. Actually if you do bid vul , you have turned
on forcing passes , if they bid again. You do not bid from a position of
weakness at the 4 level ,
like you would at the one , two or 3
level. Do not make the same decisions at the 5 level as you would at lower levels . Lean towards taking your
plus.
The
great unknown should guide you whether you should just take your plus.
If you are certain you have a great chance for a slam as opposed
to a converting for a penalty , go for it. If
there is doubt , just take your plus
especially in IMPS. Tonight we had an auction where there was some doubt
whether my auction showed 4 spades or not. When in doubt , just take
your plus. Why gamble & turn a plus into a minus in IMPS ? Leave guessing to the opponents.
My
partner had ♠Kxxx ♥Kx ♦xxxx
♣xxx , we
were vul against not vul.
They opened 1♥ which was raised to 2♥. I doubled & they bid 3♥
pre-emptively. You still do not have enough to crawl
in at the 3 level
vulnerable so you pass. Partner now re-opens with 3NT & you pass.
They bid 4♥ , partner
doubles so around to you. The 3NT bid should be based on playability
, probably a 6 card minor with about 20 HCP’s. Does
partner have spades ? Probably not
as he would have chosen a double rather than a 3NT bid to re-open.
However, you
are not sure so you do not take the chance & just take
your plus. You pass & lead a small spade ,
the board hits with ♠Q10xxxx ♥xxx ♦Qxx ♣x . Partner wins
the jack & returns the queen of trump. Declarer flies with the heart Ace
& leads the queen of clubs. Partner wins the king , returns a trump which
you win & return a club. Declarer ruffs on the board and leads a diamond to
her king which wins. Declarers hand was ♠x ♥Axxxxx ♦Kxx
♣QJx . A 10 HCP
opener opposite a 4 HCP response. You have 6 HCP’s so partner indeed
have her 20 HCP as advertised. They take 5 heart tricks ,
1 club ruff & one diamond for –500 , where the field average was
–200 or –300 the other direction for a failed game.
Bidding
misunderstandings are a great place to default to just taking
your plus. Tonight a 28 IMP swing occurred because my partner did not take
the default. I opened 1♣ , he responded 1♥ with ♠xxx ♥AQ10xx ♦xxxx ♣x so I jumped to
4♠. I have never played with this partner before so he went into a long tank
trying to interpret the bid. 1st clue , if
the bid was something esoteric, I would not
have tried it with a new partnership. 2nd clue the
opponents have been silent throughout the auction with many spades , if my bid was a splinter at the 4
level. If you are not sure
, just take the bid at its face value & pass.
My partner thought I was forcing him to the 5 level with a splinter , so he bid 5♥. I
had a strong hand with 11 black cards so I reached 6♠X for –13 IMPS. At the
other table , they got to the wrong spot for –200 so
we were about to win 14 IMPS for +620 in spades. This essentially was the
match.
You
hold ♠xxx ♥KQJ ♦xxxx ♣xxx & in 3rd seat nv your opponent opens 1♥ . Partner vul vrs not bids 3♥ & your RHO bids 4♥ . The
opponents have fixed you as you should have a good shot at 3NT so do you take
your plus or try for the magical 4NT ? I think
this is an IMPS vrs matchpoints
decision. In IMPS , I just take my sure money
& double. The ♥KQJ are the most useless
cards for partner’s hand if he tries 5 of his minor
& 4NT is no certainty to
make. There is also another consideration. Will partner interpret 4NT to play
& not an invitation to bid his suit ? Why did you
not double 4♥ , if
you feel you can make 10 tricks
at NT ? 4NT should be to play but this is not the hand
for it. ♠Axx ♥QJx ♦xxxx ♣xxx is a more suitable hand.
Partner probably should have read your 4NT as natural but did not , so trying
to be too precise in IMPS led to a disaster. 4♥X goes for –500 & 6♣ thru the misunderstanding goes for
–800. In effect you were gambling +630 against –500 or a 3 IMP gain for a
possible minus in 4NT or a possible disaster if partner misreads your
intentions. Take your plus & leave gambling for matchpoint hounds.
.