Monday, November 07, 2005 3:30 AM

Scrambling

PITBULLS:

The art of scrambling from doubled contracts seems to be a lost art. I have seen so many partners & team mates get slaughtered by staying in a doubled contract instead of scrambling to a better spot , I can not count them. If there ever was a time to believe the opponents , it is when they have converted for penalty especially at the one level. I was playing with a good Edmonton player against Curtis Stock and his partner. The auction went 1♠ by my partner T/O double and Curtis Stock passed converting for penalty. Partner had 12 HCP’s and a 5 card spade suit and quickly passed. I had a 6 card diamond suit with not enough HCP’s to respond and a stiff spade. When the smoke cleared we were –800 in 1♠X. 2♦X actually makes on this hand ! It is not the responsibility of responder to pre-rescue these auctions. Opener must scramble by bidding NT ( implies minors ) or a SOS redouble implies the other major(s) or simply by bidding clubs so partner gets the message.

The 1NT overcall or 1NT opening bid when doubled and nothing shows up in the dummy is a horrific place to play a hand. Playing against Susan Culham my partner opened 1♠ and Susan overcalled 1NT and I doubled. The board showed up with xxx xxxx xxx xxx and he shrugged his shoulders as accepting his fate and bad luck that he got doubled. Some people play DONT rescues but if you do not have a toy , scramble to 2♣ with these type of hands. Partner may have a 5 card suit or a 4 card suit with a hundred honours or somewhere better than 1NTX. You know that 1NTX is going to be a disaster and partner does not. From partners perspective, you may have a flat 6 HCP and your pass means you expect to make 1NTX. Susan did have a 5 card diamond suit and if partner starts a scramble to 2♣ they escape !! They got a zero for 1NTX .

My partners in the CNTC zone finals had a disaster at the one level. You hold xxxx Kxx xxx xxx and partner opens 1♦ and you pass . A balancing double by the opponents and they convert for penalty. If you play that a diamond opener may have 3 , you must run somewhere as partner is playing this in a 3-3 fit with a 6-1 or 7-0 diamond break ! Even if you play that a 1♦ opener must have 4 , you should scramble . Why ? because you have knowledge that the diamond suit is breaking horribly. You have a king so you have at least 16 HCP for your side so somewhere else might be cheaper. The other suits do not have to breaking as badly. The next higher suit starts the scramble in these sequences. You bid 1♥ and they double and its back to you. You now make an SOS redouble and partner bids 2♣ and that gets doubled. Partner had Qxx xx Kxxx AQJ9 which is not a very good opening bid but 2♣X plays better even at a higher level. The spade AK is to your right as is the club king and 10. The heart Ace is onside so they would be very lucky to beat you for 500 . In fact –300 is a strong possibility with a spade and a heart trick and 4 clubs for your side. 1♦X was a disaster for –800 with a horrible diamond stack. BJ & I were in 4♥ for +450 at the other table and -300 would be a nice pickup. –800 was not a nice pickup. Partner may have had 4♠ and you might have escaped completely !

I learned the art of scrambling playing rubber Bridge from the master Lee Barton. He psyched so often that you learned all the techniques of scrambling and trying to land on your feet when you played with him or against him. Scrambling is table feel in rubber Bridge as you infer from how happy they look or how quickly they double but the fact remains get out of the initial penalty conversion .That is usually the worst spot and you would be surprised how often the opponents rescue you J. PT Barnum said always give a sucker a chance to go wrong . This applies in Bridge as well. By scrambling , you give them maybe up to 3 more chances to go wrong . Go for it !

2♣ is just the start of a scramble and can be any number of clubs. If they double and you actually had clubs , you play it there. The S.O.S. redoubles goes hand in hand with the scrambling 2♣ bid. You XX and partner scrambles to another suit. I held ♠Axxx ♥KQJ10x ♦xx ♣xx and I passed originally. The auction went 1NT passed around to me again. I was playing with BJ and we have a systemic bid for the majors but if BJ has a decent hand , they may get punished in 1NT doubled . No such luck as BJ had a relative nothing so he lets me know by scrambling to 2♣. I convert to 2♥ and we avoid –180 or –280 with a decent heart partial. Playing the scrambling 2♣ , I had the option of trying for a set partner permitting.