Friday, April 15, 2005 5:06 AM

Semi-Balanced Hands

PITBULLS:

There is one pattern in Bridge that comes up quite often and is difficult to bid with strong hands. This is the 5-4-3-1 distribution which I call “semi-balanced” . When you have a big hand with a 5-4-3-1 you have the option of opening very strong at the one level or open 2♣ and make a “little lie” . A tormentee and his partner had this hand tonight and chose an inferior option in my opinion. AKxx K AKxxx AQx 23 HCP and rich in controls . Opening at the one level is extremely dangerous as partner needs next to nothing to guarantee game. Qxxxx xxxxx xx x has a chance for a slam opposite that hand !!

The stiff honour in hearts makes this a semi-balanced NT rebid. Open 2♣ and when partner bids 2♦ , make the best lie of a 2NT rebid. You describe your 23 HCP and right side the NT with your club honours. This is a neat bidding hand after you take that position. After a Stayman auction , if you bid the other major you are making a slam try in the agreed major. Partner had Qxxx A10xx xxx xx and bids Stayman. Partner bids 3♠ and you can make one mild slam try by bidding 4♥. Partner is off to the races and 6♠ makes.

At the table , the tormentee’s partner took a huge chance and opened 1♦. The tormentee bid 1♥ and the opener rebid 2♠. The tormentee made a rare underbid ( for him ) and applied the principle of fast arrival and bid 4♠ . You do not pre-empt partner when he has a huge hand by leaping to game. You are needlessly destroying bidding room opposite partners strong hand . Therefore you should not have any useful cards for a slam . I would have bid 3♠ as a slight overbid and then backtrack from there on in. Anyway after partner showed no slam interest maybe with a hand like Jxxx QJxx xxx Kx , the big hand now overbid to 4NT . He found an unexpected Ace with Blackwood and got to a fairly good slam which makes. If he found the hand that partner should have had for a 4♠ bid , the 5 level is in danger !!

Anyway , tough hand to bid . here is how the field bid it tonight. Guess who the only pair in slam were J and guess who it was against !

22> 0 0 0 0 -6 -2 0 0 6 0 0 11 -11 0 2 0 470
 -480* -460* 480 460 230 400 -460* -480* -230* 460 -480* 980 -980* 480 -400* 480