Wednesday, February 02, 2005 11:36 PM
Hand Evaluation - Table Presence
PITBULLS:
Table
presence or the science of Humanics
should not be relegated to experts. It is not unethical to use local knowledge
of the ability of the opponents
to guide your play , bidding and
defense. I was very surprised by a comment by Nancy that “reading the
opponents” was in Nancy’s words “all right for you but not me” . Nancy was in
3NT with 1098 of hearts opposite AJx against beginning players. Early in the
play Nancy led the heart 10 and
let it ride losing to the queen . They cleared their suit and Nancy cashed all
her tricks . On Nancy’s suit her left hand opponent casually without any apparent distress discarded
two hearts. Do you finesse ? Well it’s a problem against Gandolfo who would
sneakily sluff down to his stiff heart King and when your finesse lost you
would lose your heart Ace also . However against the pair we played against
there would be excruciating hesitations on the hearts if they had the heart King. Nancy should have
finessed and made 490. Why ?
because “table presence” dictated
it.
To
balance or not to balance that is the question. ♠Ax
♥Qx
♦Kxx
♣Q10xxxx . The auction goes
1♦-P-1♥-P Again you have a tough balance
against Maurice & Tom . You bid 3♣
1♠-P-2♠-P and get doubled for a
number against +140 their way. However my tormentee
P-?
partner was playing against Sue & Ruth . This is a clear cut balance. They will not double you even if you should be doubled. We got close to a zero as +130 in clubs
was being made our way and we beat two spades for +100.
♠x
♥AKQ109x ♦xx ♣1098x You hold this collection vul
against not. A weak two spades to
your right and you do not have enough for a vul 3♥ overcall and 4♠ nv to your left. Do you
balance ? Again this is a table presence bid. Against most
opponents it is too risky
as LHO could have a flat opening hand and the 5 level is very
high. However , at my table the 4♠ bidder was young Chris who
would re pre-empt
more often than not. Yes , Susan I
would have bid 5♥
against Lorna & Anita also . Also against Willard who would bid 2NT with
any kind of hand to get the NT in first J
When they originally opened two spades you are not sure they have the
spade suit so you do not know how to evaluate your
stiff spade. When the opponents tell you they have the spades locked
up it’s a 30 point deck. You have the 10 HCP in hearts so there are only 20
HCP’s in the minors unaccounted for . Its reasonable to assume that partner has
half of them
as there was no slam try or even investigation of slam to your left. Give LHO
and average of 12-14 HCP and opener and average of 6-8. This give partner 11
HCP in the minors .
♠xx ♥xxx ♦Kxxx ♣AJxx gives you a good chance at making +650.
Anything more in partner hand probably guarantees 5♥. What people fail to realize is this is a “balance” and not some silly platitude
that if you can not bid originally you can
not bid 5♥. What’s bidding originally
got to do with anything ? If you bid originally you mislead partner who will
bid a slam & redouble. You are just balancing using “table presence” as the opponents
have indicated with their auction
that 5♥
might be reasonably safe. Who the opponents are have to factored into the equation
also . Dangerous against Mr & Mrs club player as they may have a balanced 18 for their 4 spade bid ! Pick your spots using your local knowledge
of the opponents. Should partner double 4♠ with a flat ♠xx
♥xxx
♦Axx
♣AQJxx 11 HCP ? Probably not even with bigger
hands. You now make 6♥ on a hook and they still make +420 in 4 spades. This may even be the
rare vul sacrifice. In IMPS its even safe to go for –500 with +450 making their
way. I’m with Susan on this one. I
do not even feel this one is risky as 9 times out of 10 they bid 5 spades as insurance
anyway not vul vrs vul as they do not hold anything in hearts.