Saturday, September 09, 2006 4:52 PM

Stepping Stones II

PITBULLS:

Bridge is not played in a vacuum. There are opponents & partner that are broadcasting information on an ongoing basis. Experts apply patterns during the auction in order to get an accurate reading of partners hand. Forcing pass theory assumes this basic skill. Deciding whether you want to pass information to partner to bid again in a forcing auction means that you have “read” the situation.

A local pair had this hand vul vrs not. ♠xx ♥J108x ♦AK ♣Q10xxx . The nv opponents opened 1♦ and partner overcalled 1♠ vul. You bid 1NT and the opponents interfere with 2♣. Partner bids 2♥ and RHO comes alive with 4♦. Since RHO did not bid 3♦ ( weak with 5 ) or 2♦ ( 4 with values ) previously this is an obvious attempt to make a nv vrs vul sacrifice showing 4 diamonds. You bid 4♥ vul as with partners vulnerable bidding this must be pretty easy.

This gets passed around to your RHO opponent who decides to sacrifice nv by bidding 5♣ giving a choice of contracts to partner in case he is 4-5 in the minors. What is your forcing pass action ? The opponents have announced a void in clubs in partner’s hand for you. Partner might be 6-5 in the majors as he should have only two diamonds on this auction 5-4-2-2 ( diamonds) . There is no chance that the opponents are going to play in 5♣X as they have a 6-4 or a 5-4 diamond fit established. The opponents have turned your hand into gold so you should inform partner of this fact by passing. 5♦X goes for +500 and you have a chance for a grand slam in hearts on the cards. Only one hook is onside though so you make +1430 which only one pair reached.

The double in forcing pass theory is to discourage partner from bidding. This is the last thing you want to do when partner has a known club void. Your double might induce partner to double 5♦ which is also not what you want. Anticipating that the opponents are bidding 5♦ is the key to this hand. Use the opponents as a stepping stone by either bidding 5♥ directly or a forcing pass. Partner decided to treat ♠AQ109xx ♥AKxxx ♦xx ♣ void as an intermediate hand rather than a strong Michaels. He has a 3♥ bid after your 1NT to announce his distribution and strength in light of not making a strong Michaels. The opponents bidding his void , almost promotes his hand to a 4♥ bid. His underbid not withstanding, you still have a forcing pass after a 5♣ bid. Use the opponents as a stepping stone as they have upgraded you hand for you. What if partner had a void in diamonds instead of clubs which you know about. Now what is you hand worth to partner ?