Tuesday, May 03, 2005 9:12 PM

Hand Evaluation - Thinking Partnership Bridge ( Doubles )

PITBULLS:

D.S.I.P. competitive doubles require an absolutely new approach to thinking in competitive situations. In all Bridge bidding , only three scenarios can be applicable . You own the auction or you do not. If it is self evident that you own the auction , standard forcing pass theory takes precedence. If you are actively competing but you do not own the auction or are not sure if you do , D.S.I.P. competitive double theory takes over. The 3^rd case is when they own the auction or at the 5 level , old fashioned trump stack penalty doubles or action doubles can apply.

D.S.I.P. doubles are just the opposite of standard penalty double thinking. A standard double in a competitive auction says I have a trump stack so put on the breaks partner. In D.S.I.P. theory , the double is just the opposite . It says I have defense but want to take offensive action with no duplication of value in their suit. Why the switch from traditional thinking ?? This is due to the nature of the game of Bridge itself. Bridge by definition is played in a clockwise order. In many , many competitive auctions , partner with no duplication of value & defense “likes his hand” so competes one more time in your suit. Much to your dismay , this is the wrong action as you wanted to make a trump stack penalty double but did not get the chance. A single handed decision was made for the partnership rather than a joint one. Pseudo sacrifices at the game level or wrong partial swings at lower levels are very common. The culprit is duplication of value in their suit with standard penalty double thinking. There are many bids in Bridge which ferret out duplication of value . Splinters are the most popular method. D.S.I.P. doubles are the tool of choice for finding duplication of value in competitive bidding.

♠ QJ109xx ♥ AKQxx ♦ Ax ♣ void

This is a real hand from a Thurs nite quoted by Tom Gandolfo . The opponents opened

1♣-P-3♣-4♣

P-P-4♠-5♣ ? The opponents are bidding your void at the 5 level . You need next to nothing from partner to make 5♠ , in fact 6♠ is a possibility. Every undisciplined Bridge player in the world would bid 5♠ . They all would be wrong because when forcing pass theory applies you can afford to pass the decision to partner. The 5♣ bid does turn on forcing passes as they are obviously sacrificing. Your 4 level Q bid should have turned on forcing passes anyway as you are committing your side to game. The opponents actions alone though, can switch on forcing pass theory. Partners hand is ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦xx ♣AQJ98 !! . In forcing pass theory , when you have a huge hand with defense & want to bid 5♠ , you ask partners permission to bid 5♠ by passing. Forcing pass theory is beautiful partnership bidding . Both forcing pass theory & D.S.I.P. preserve captaincy in these auctions. I have what I described for my 4♣ bid ( maybe more ) ,so over to you partner. D.S.I.P. double theory borrows from the same idea by bringing partner into the decision making process.