Tuesday, February 21, 2006 4:51 PM

Discipline & Decision Making

PITBULLS:

Lack of Bridge discipline rears its ugly head in many facets of the game of Bridge . You make single handed decisions and keep partner out of the decision making process. Bridge is a partnership game . This means that you make Bridge bids based on partnership decisions and respect your partner. Here are three examples of a lack of Bridge discipline and single handed bidding that were quite expensive in a sectional team game.

You hold Qxx void AQ1098xxx AQ and open the hand 1♦. Partner bids a spade which actually improves a spectacular offensive hand with an 8 card diamond suit. Counting points the way Goren would you have 3 for the void and one for the doubleton & 14 HCPs so the hand values to 18 pts Goren count. I add extra for the diamond length so it’s a huge playing hand. A disciplined player would try her best to describe this hand to partner. A singlehanded player would bid 2♦ and she has future plans for this auction and to hell with partner. Rebidding 8 cards suits at the two level is abysmal bidding. If partner held KJxx xxx Kx xxxx of course she would pass 2♦ and 6♦ is missed. It turns out that 7♦ is cold in this hand and the partnership missed their 8-2 diamond fit and played it in a spade game going down one. Responder ( partner) never had a clue what the opening bidder held and was essentially left out of this auction.

Lack of discipline shows up in the area of converting penalty doubles. When you convert partners re-opening or T/O double for penalty partner expects you to hold a defensive hand with duplication of value in their suit. In fact partner may be balancing with as little as 10 HCP in case you are trapping with duplication of value in their suit. If you pass doubles with unsuitable offensive hands you are making an undisciplined single handed decision for the partnership. Partner has no more say in the decision making process as your conversion was a single handed final action. You better have the correct hand type as partners re-opening double is the great unknown as to distribution and strength. You never give partner a 2^nd chance to describe her hand when you convert.

Anyway , the player in question held x A10xx Qxx Axxxx and heard the auction go 2♥-P-P-X P-? So what do you bid ? This is simple as Lebensohl assists you in describing your hand. You bid 3♣ as you have an offensive hand and no duplication of value in hearts opposite partners probable singleton. You could single handedly put severe spade duplication of value in partners hand and pass hoping to get a plus. However , that is a single handed undisciplined gamble with too much riding on your decision alone. Indeed this player passed and the result was –470 as that made. 7♣ is on a finesse your way and the opponents got to 6♣ at the other table . You lose 16 IMPS and the match as partner held Axx x AQ109x KQJ10 who on hearing a Lebensohl 3♣ will force this hand to slam. Cards should be on side in front of the pre-empter in case a finesse is needed. No duplication of value in hearts announced will not hurt the bidding either.

Of course , the supreme lack of discipline in Bridge is shown with their attitude about vul pre-empts . The same player who made the above bids opened a weak two vul vrs not with xx K10xxxx xx KQJ . This is a nice hand but lacks the suit requirement that disciplined players need to open a weak two vul vrs not. This player opened a weak two and the re-opening double got converted with QJ987 of trump and with the heart Ace on side he went for –500. At our table they passed this hand and the 3^rd hand opened 1♠ and they played in a club partial at the 3 level. BJ & I found the correct defense for a +100 set and was expecting to win IMPS on the board with our defensive accuracy. No such luck.

Discipline is a huge part of team Bridge. Solo artists who lack discipline are for club games and weak match point fields.