Sunday, November 23, 2003 2:51 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Tactics ( The Art of Rescuing )
PITBULLS:
There
is a time to believe the opponents . When they convert a
takeout double for penalty , you are generally in
trouble . An established partnership has some understandings to help them out
in these situations. The first rule is give a chance
for the opponents to
rescue you first. Responder has
no obligation to find a better spot as bad spots are rescued by the opponents
most of the time . A pass by responder does not mean
we are in a safe resting place.
O.K.
the tools of the trade in these bad situations are the S.O.S. redouble & the 1NT bid . If you open 1 of a major or a minor , the S.O.S.
redouble should show tolerance for the unbid major or the majors. The 1NT rebid should show a flat
hand with tolerance for the minors.
Paul
Erikson had a difficult hand in the recent IMP tournament in Edmonton. He held ♠KQxxx ♥xx ♦KJ ♣K1098 & opened 1♠ vul
vrs not . Takeout double to his left
, the contract gets converted for penalty so around to him . Passing 1♠ doubled is not an option with this hand
. The opponents have told you this will be a disaster so its best to scramble. Bidding 2♣
does not seem to be a good idea either. A 5-4-2-2 is a flat
hand & the KJ of diamonds tips the scale in favour
of a 1NT bid . The 1NT card hits the table & I held ♠J ♥Q10xxx ♦Q109xx ♣xx & bail out to 2♦ . The
takeout doubler has Axx of
diamonds & the other hand xxx so neither of them feel they can double . The escape is complete & the disaster averted.
2♦x is not a bad spot
& may get out for 1 down . The opponents chose to
bid & play a 2NT partial making .
There
are DONT rescue sequences over 1NT
but established partnerships need to discuss rescue sequences over all possible
occurrences not just 1NT . There always seems to be a place to wiggle out , when you know
what you are doing. Vish had this hand playing with
me in an IMPS tournament in Red Deer.
♠8x ♥AJxx ♦xx ♣QJ10xx .
The auction went P-P-P-1♦
1♠-P-P-X
P-P-?
The opponents have told you
that the spades are breaking very badly.
Why not believe them ? This hand is a classic S.O.S.
redouble in an overcall situation .
You have excellent holdings in the unbid suits . Also you have an inference that partner did not open
a weak 2♠ so a 6 card spade suit is very unlikely. It turned
out I had KQ10x of hearts so the opponents cannot double 2♥ . Worse still for them , they realize they do not have a heart stopper for 3NT
& miss their game !!
The tool of choice for being
rescued from 1NTX ( either directly or an overcall ) is a
version of DONT called “touching/non touching’ . This is similar to DONT in
that a bid shows two suits. A direct bid shows touching suits
, a XX shows one suit & forces partner to bid 2♣ so you can
describe your one suiter. A pass demands a XX so you
can pass or if you bid non touching suits are now shown.