Tuesday, August 22, 2006 6:51 PM

D.S.I.P. - Thrump

PITBULLS:

Every expert player knows the advantage of modifying your negative doubles at the 3 level to include hands where you just have “cards” or a long suit and you double to allow partner to bid 3NT with a stopper in their suit. This added bonus prevents the opponents pre-empting you out of your 9 trick game to 4 or 5 of a minor. The bid is simple as all partner has to do is bid 3NT with a stopper and bid naturally without one. Who cares about a 4-4 major fit , if 9 tricks are available in 3NT. We include “Thrump” 3NT doubles as part of our D.S.I.P. theory for all 3 level negative doubles..

What is less known is that we have extended this “Thrump” idea to all competitive auctions at the 3 level. Kiz Fung had a hand in competition in a recent Calcutta where this understanding would have worked like a charm. Ray Grace opened a weak 2♠ and Kiz overcalled 3♦ with ♠Ax ♥x ♦AKQJxx ♣J109x . Bertrand bid 3♥ which is forcing one round and Ray Grace retreats to 3♠. Now here is where the stupidity of a penalty double rears its ugly head. Why make a single handed penalty double of 3♠ which may be still in a live auction ? Why are you overcalling with such a stack in spades where you can single handedly beat 3♠ two tricks or more ? Nonsense ! The penalty double is a wasted bid in a competitive potentially still live auction or any competitive auction for that matter.

Enter the D.S.I.P. double at the 3 level. With a minor implied , the goal is to get to 3NT after a competitive double. The double stands out as Kiz has a source of tricks for NT and the unbid suit clubs in case I have extreme length in that suit. It turns out I have ♠Kxx ♥K1098x ♦x ♣xxxx and I bid 3NT. This probably gets doubled for +550 which happened at more than one table. Optionally if I convert the double , we get +300 instead of the 100 we did get when 3♠ was passed out.

Being a student of D.S.I.P. theory or not , there is strong evidence time after time that a penalty double in any competitive auction is a wasted silly bid L.