Friday, August 09, 2002
3:30 PM
Forcing Pass - D.S.I.P.
PITBULLS:
Tactical bidding by the opponents bring in the element of judgment with penalty doubles . O.K. I am going to get up on my soap box here because I feel very strongly about this . In rubber bridge quite a few ( all ? ) of your partners lack judgment in penalty double situations. For them a platitude like " you never pull my penalty doubles" will earn you money in the long run i.e. you do not have to trust them to use judgment that they do not have . For a good partnership to have this understanding that "you never pull penalty doubles" is down right insulting . Sometimes partner wants penalty doubles to be pulled . These type of doubles are called Do Something Intelligent Partner and require partner to be at the table as well as using good judgment . These doubles occur when you are just competing but can also occur in forcing pass situations. Rote rules or platitudes just do not cut it when you are playing with your regular partner at expert levels. The penalty double is an ambiguous bid in Bridge . Ambiguity like in a language needs clarification from the context it was used to define its meaning. In Bridge this means that the auction sometimes determines the meaning of the penalty double. In other words , thought is required rather then blindly adhering to rote rules.
An example hand was a hand that I had with my ex partner on pulling penalty doubles . Mr. Jones had ♠KQ ♥void ♦AKxxx ♣10987xx and opened 1♦ and LHO bid 2♦ and I doubled showing one or both the majors and a good hand . This double turned on forcing passes. RHO bid 4♥ and with the forcing pass element on and "being at the table" that I could not have hearts , I doubled so that partner could do something. A double in a forcing pass auction does not simply mean I have a trump stack in their suit when the auction clearly dictates that I should not have. The double just means from my perspective this is the best way for our side to get a plus. I do not have diamonds or hearts ( unless opponents are suicidal ) so I must have spades and clubs so it is an easy pull to 5♣ with Peters hand . 5♣ makes and 4♥ doubled makes the other direction . This is not a tough hand . Gordon Campbell summed it up best with a touch of humour when I gave him the hand for his opinion ..
"Accordingly, he must Dble with
many hands (with even more extras than the initial Dble showed) which are not
necessarily penalty-oriented but are of the
"we-have-lots-of-stuff-but-I-don't-have-a-clear-action" type of
double.
My coined terminology is the DSIP
Double. (Do Something Intelligent Partner)
And yes, Partner should not play
like Rueful Rabbit - and muse on the existence of there being 16 Hearts in the
deal, while he gurgles on his ginger bikky.
He does have to be at the table.
He should listen to the Opponents,
as well as Partner.
I get very worried when they are too
confident. "
Another hand that involves the frustration when
partner is not at the table and leaves in penalty doubles when they should be
pulled .
BJ Trelford tonight
showed good judgment on a forcing pass auction. He held ♠Axxx ♥xx ♦AKxxxx ♣x and vul against not opened 1♦. The opponents bid 2NT for hearts & clubs. I
doubled which turned on forcing passes. However the opponents leapt to 4♥ telling everybody at the table they owned the heart
suit. The bid came around to me who doubled. BJ realized that I could not
possibly have a trump stack double so I am asking him to do something
intelligent. BJ bid 4♠ which told me he hand some distribution with 5 or 6
diamonds. He would have just passed with all flat hands & lead a trump. I
leapt to 6♦ and BJ made +1370. When the
opponents sound too confident … ( See Gordon Campbells comment above )
O.K. I held a hand last
night with Tom against the Bartons that I think the D.S.I.P. rule applies
with penalty doubles apply .
I held ♠Ax ♥xx ♦AK ♣KJ1098xx
with everybody vul . I opened 1♣ and Tom bid a spade and RHO bid 2♣ alerted to
be a two suiter in hearts and diamonds with shortness in clubs . I felt like
leaping to 4♣ but I did not want to go past 3NT so I bid 3♣ . LHO bid 3♦ and around to me again . O.K. one last desperate
attempt at 3NT so I bid 3♥ which LHO doubled and
Tom bid 4♣ . RHO bid 4♦ with
lots of confidence knowing they owned the diamond suit. I wanted to bid
5♣ very badly but why take such a single handed action ? I have 4♦ booked in my own hand & I am short in his
spade suit so why not put partner in the picture with a D.S.I.P.
double ?
If partner holds ♠Jxxxx ♥x ♦xxx ♣Axxx
4♦ makes and 5♣ makes
If partner holds ♠KQxx ♥Jxx ♦xx ♣xxxx
4♦ goes for 500 and 5♣ goes for 500
If partner holds ♠Jxxx ♥Jxx ♦xx ♣Axxx
4♦ makes and 5♣ goes 1 down
Partner must use her judgment depending on the club
& his spade holding on these type of auctions. Platitudes like not
pulling partners penalty doubles do not apply here . Partner wants you to pull
with the appropriate hand !! partner expects your HCP’s to be located in spades
as you bid them. If they are not , it is a danger sign.
Frustrations with penalty
doubles in competition lead me to believe that trump stack doubles should become
extinct. These penalty doubles are single handed anyway
and do not involve partnership Bridge. Telling an expert partner not to
pull “MY” penalty doubles is insulting. There has to be a better way L.