Sunday, April-12-09
Hand Evaluation – The Art of Competing
PITBULLS:
Competing for partials
aggressively in Bridge is a good
tactic. Double partial swings hurt & going for a small loss
against their partial is a small gain or a push. Competing also impedes them
from transferring information back & forth so that is a good thing. Meckwell says they compete vigourously
for the simple Bridge reason that declaring a contract is easier than defending. That is a self evident truth so this points
to competing aggressively . Competing is an art , not a
science so even when you make a bad bid they may make even a worse one. Humanics enter the picture often as does poker tactics. Aggressive bidders make
things difficult for the opponents & do not give them “free rides” to their
contracts.
Competing can be overdone
though. When you over-compete other things must give way .
Exposing yourself to sets , bidding non lead directing
suits
& gambling that you have a fit with partner rather than LHO or RHO ( 2-1
odds against ) . You also are broadcasting information to the enemy on your
hand pattern & HCP's so they can play their contract better. They will also
evaluate their hand better based on a singleton in your suit or expected
location of honours based on your helpful bidding. Competing like everything else
in Bridge is a hand
evaluation skill. Anybody can bray like a jackass . "Walter
the Walrus " counted up his HCP's & bid says
Victor Mollo . There is way more to competing
than counting up your HCP's and bidding.
You must be able to
recognize a misfit
auction for starters. A misfit auction for them generally means
a misfit auction for your side. This means your partners could be -200 in their
contract & you -200 in your contract for a horrible swing. Add a red card
to either auction & you have a full scale disaster as if -10 IMPS were not bad
enough just for competing
for a partial. Identifying hands where a fit is possible or
probable is the key to competing. Using all your hand evaluation skills like
location of HCP's in your suits rather than their suits ,
your quick tricks & your offensive hand patterns . These thoughts all enter
your mind guiding your decision to compete. Use your table presence & all the information that the opponents have
given you.
You are vul vrs nv
opponents & you hold ♠AJ9xx
♥Kx ♦J10xx ♣Qx
so as Walter the Walrus says you have 11 HCP's. The auction goes 1♣ pass by
partner & they bid 1♦. It is standard to
give them 1/2 the deck when they have opened & responded so partner may have a maximum
9 HCP for you when both opponents are minimum. Let’s assume that partner
has a spade fit
for you ( no guarantee ) so you should not go for a
number. Also assume both opponents are minimum for
their bids. Let’s use Ron Klingers LTC scheme to
count your losers which is only applicable when you have a fit or an assumed fit.
You have 8 losers in your hand with
an assumed fit & normal 3-2 breaks. This means that you must find partner
with a spade fit & a hand as good as yours ( 8
losers) just to make a 2 level contract. That is hardly possible as partner has
< 10 HCP on the bidding which means your side has too many losers even to
compete at the two level. By bidding you are risking a
bad set , giving them information , possibly getting
partner off to the worse lead . All this , when with
the best case
scenario of them minimum & finding partner with a good dummy , you cannot
make anything !
Now switch the
vulnerability to nv vrs vul. I would now bid 1♠
not to compete in the true sense of the word but to make a nuisance of myself.
Partner will give you leeway on this terrorist vulnerability & not punish
you. They may make the wrong competitive decision or even game decision. Vul vrs not or equal vulnerability , partner will think you have what you
announced ( better than an 8
loser hand ) . This is the "Art of Competing' not just bidding
for the sake of bidding. Ilya Kuzkin
has shown me places on BBO where you can review atrocious mindless bidding that
is truly random & meaningless Bridge bidding. In my day ,
people did not compete
enough. In today's game , people
simply just bid too much ( Cohen / Bergen influence ? ) . They do not know the art of competing. That takes hand evaluation skills rather than just totalling your HCP's &
braying.