Thursday, March 17, 2005 2:58 AM

Offensive Vrs Defensive Hands

PITBULLS:

Bridge is a bidders game. This means that use the green card only when you have defensive hands. What do I mean by defensive hands ? Patterns again provides your answer. 4-4-3-2 , 4-3-3-3 , 4-4-4-1 , 5-3-2-2 or 5-4-2-2 are defensive hands by virtue of their distribution . If you have these flatish type hands , the odds are increased that the other hands will be defensive in nature also. These hands should normally be passed unless you have the HCP’s to justify bidding. Offensive hands are 5-5-2-1 distributions and all hands with a 6 card suit or more . Get into the auction with offensive hands ! Lots of HCP’s are really not necessary when you have the distribution to fall back on.

Playing with a tormentee tonight we got some bad results by passing with offensive hands . You pass with xx AJxxx Q9xxx Q and the auction goes 1♠ by LHO and 1NT to your right. This is an offensive hand so lets crawl into the auction. With two suits below the spade suit you would like to keep the auction below 2♠ so you double. If partner bids 2♣ you have an easy pull to 2♦ and partner knows that you have a red two suiter. 5-5’s are meant for bidding and you have the added advantage of partner knowing that you are a passed hand. Anyway you pass and they bid 2NT and all pass. They make +120 and you get a zero as most tables got pushed to a spade contract which only makes 110 and down one at the 3 level.

You pass in 1^st seat and the auction goes 2♠ and the opponents bid 2NT and you hold void Qxxx AJx K1098xx . This definitely falls in the class of offensive hands. A void in the opponents suit is gold. I would double 2NT as I have the liberty of being a passed hand and I have some defense. You pass and they exchange information unimpeded and they get +420 for almost a zero for you. Open up the slip and there is a 5♣X making our way. Offensive hands are made for bidding .

Same tormentee and you hear the auction go 1♦ to your right and you have Jxx QJ10874 x Axx . This falls into the class of offensive hands . You have a 6 card suit and a stiff in the opponents suit. This is a 2♥ bid in any game at any vulnerability. You paid your card fees so you have a right to bid . A pass tells partner you have a defensive hand or no reason to enter the auction. A pass is a bid that communicates information to partner that you do not have an offensive hand.

Let the vulnerability and the Bridge scoring method to allow some risk taking . Do not forget when the opponents make +650 you have 3 down not vul to play with . Vul I opened 4♥ against a tormentee who was in the balancing seat with AQx xxx AKxxxx x . She passed and I made +650 . The problem was that game in spades or diamonds makes her way ! This again is an easy double . If partner bids 4♠ you live with it . If partner bids 5♣ you convert to 5♦. Since you are in the balancing seat , this bid just means that you do not have clubs. It is not a huge hand. Partner will give you leeway to bid with offensive hands in these situations.

Penalty doubles with offensive hands do not work. This gives partner a wrong picture of your hand and when they run to another spot , he starts to wield the axe. In a competitive auction partner doubled 3♣ with xx x AKQJxx Q10xx and when they ran to 3♠ I doubled . this unfortunately was cold because partners points were all in one suit and a 6-4 pattern is not a defensive hand.

Partners judge opening leads , balancing , penalty doubles or overcalling but what partner did or did not do . Passing with offensive hands throws a partnership off. When defending , partner is going to infer that you can not hold a 5-5 or a 6 card suit or else you would have bid. This is going to cause partner to make wrong defensive decisions or opening lead decisions or balancing decisions. Passing too often puts strain on the partnership to find right opening leads . Passing also gives a “free ride” for the opponents to find the right spot. Pass with defensive hands and bid with offensive hands. Let patterns and distribution be your guide.