Friday, February 20, 2004 5:03 AM

Hand Evaluation - The Blueprint

PITBULLS:

An engineer uses a blueprint to plan & implement building projects. Without this document , nothing could be done without just guessing . Experienced workers could just guess where things go based on feel & past experiences but it would be just plain dumb luck that a project gets completed. Projects need planning & a working planning document.

Bridge projects like defense , declarer play & even bidding are the same way . You need a blueprint for defense & for declarer play. How do you obtain this blueprint ? The opponents & partner have already given it to you by their bidding or partner has given it to you through his opening lead or signal . You MUST translate this information into a hand pattern. This hand pattern guides you through your defense & becomes your blueprint. Here are some hands that the lack of forming a blueprint led to the demise of the defense. Translating bidding into patterns to form a blueprint is a must have Bridge skill. You must develop this translation skill.

♠Jxx ♥AKJx ♦x ♣QJ109x (dummy) , you have ♠K1098 ♥10xx ♦K10x ♣Axx . Weak NT , 3NT & all pass & partner leads the ♥ deuce. Declarer plays small , your 10 brings the ♥Queen . Declarer leads a club , partner plays the 8 & you win your Ace . Now what ? Not much information to form a blueprint here with the exception of the 2 of hearts lead. Plug that into a pattern and you get 4-4-3-2 . So declarer has only 2 hearts !! If you come back a heart , you kill the dummy as there is no entry to the clubs ! Down it goes. Another hand.

♠ Jx ♥ Axxxx ♦Jxxx ♣xx (dummy) ♠10xx ♥QJx ♦AKQxx ♣10x

A Pitbull opens a diamond , partner responds a heart . This gets doubled so you make a support XX . This gets passed around to the doubler who bids 2♣ which gets doubled by partner. You lead the Diamond King , partner plays the nine. Now what ? Partner does not hold 3♦ as he would not double 2♣ with a two suited fit. So the blueprint for declarers hand is 4-1-3-5 . You are not going to lose your diamonds anywhere so there is no reason to set up the jack will the heart Ace is still in dummy. Switching to a ♠ is obviously suicidal as declarer might get 2 ♠ ruffs with the doubleton club. So you switch to your club 10 & beat the contract as partner gets two spade tricks , a club trick along with your 3 diamond tricks. The blueprint of translating the bidding into a hand pattern kept you on the right track instead of guessing.

Against a Pitbull tonight , I opened 1♥ , partner responded a ♠ . I rebid 1NT & Maurice made an invitational 3♥ bid . I accepted the invitation & bid 3♠. Maurice bid 3NT so that ended the auction. Knowing that this is a tight game , partner comes out with a passive heart lead . The dummy hits with

♠ Qxxx ♥10xx ♦ AKxx ♣ xx You hold ♠Axx ♥Jx ♦Qxxx ♣Q109x & play the heart jack .

Declarer wins the heart with the queen , leads a spade to the queen and your Ace. Now what ? Blueprint forming time . Declarer has 3-5-?-? distribution from the bidding. The spades are breaking 3-3 for him so he is getting home with 5 hearts , 2 spades and 2 diamonds. Possibly his spades are ready to go so he has 10 tricks. Time for desperate measures so you switch to a high club which kills declarers king & you get 4 club tricks. The Pitbull continued the passive defense by returning her heart so I was +600.

Good players who do not defend via blueprints operate in a “fog of uncertainty” & will make mistakes more often than not. In Beijing , the auction goes 1♥ by LHO & partner bids 2♠ which was doubled so you up the bidding to 3♠ followed by 4♦ which ended the auction. The dummy comes down with

♠xx ♥xx ♦Axxxxx ♣Axx

♠ K Q 4 3

♥ K 6 2
♦ 8 5
♣ K 4 3 2

Partner leads the ♠A so you translate the bidding in order to obtain a “blueprint” in your mind. This hand is very simple due to partner’s bid. The spades are 6-4-2-1 due to partner’s pre-empt so it follows that declarer must be 1-5-4-3 . Partner makes the switch to a club so knowing that declarer has 3 of them , you continue & beat the contract one. Inexplicably you attack declarer’s 5 card heart suit instead of continuing clubs so the club goes away on the established heart. This defense is just plain laziness in not counting out the hand to form a blueprint. Make translating bidding into a hand pattern a habit.

In order to think Bridge , you must be able to translate bidding , signals & leads into patterns . Leave the guessing to players who do not know how to read blueprints !!! Guessing is repugnant to experts so resort to reading your blueprint & play Bridge expertly.