Monday, September 08, 2003 3:41 AM

Forcing Passes Revisited

PITBULLS:

There are three types of forcing passes all with the same condition that you own the hand . Owning the hand means you are in a game forcing auction , bid a vul game or have doubled for penalty or redoubled to show strength. Also owning the hand means you have shown a limit raise or better type of hand with emphasis on the better. A straight limit raise or bidding a non vul game in a major does not turn on forcing passes.

Type I forcing passes are the most common . You and partner have a fit and have bid game or about to bid game . The forcing pass rules in these situations are 1) double shows the worse hand with possible losers in the opponents suit. 2) pass shows a willingness to play the hand 3) bidding says I think we should play this hand 4)A Q bid as a slam try 5) pass and pull the double is a grand slam try or a request to Q bid further.

Type II forcing passes occur when your side does not have a fit or it is unknown if you do have a fit. A penalty double or redouble has switched on the forcing passes. An example auction would be 1♣-P-1♦-DBL-XX-1♠-? . There are rules for this auction also . 1) The pass means I am getting out of the way for you to double and am happy to defend .2) Doubling by yourself is self evident . 3) Bidding in front of the impending double means that you are weak and distributional and would have pulled the double anyway. 4) Passing and pulling the double is never done from a position of weakness or you would have bid already so it is a slam try. These bids are normally done on fit and vulnerability conditions with game/slam on your mind.

Type III forcing passes are a special case of penalty doubles and bring D.S.I.P. doubles into play . These are auctions where your side has the balance of power but the opponents have a big trump fit and essentially begging you to double them . These are auctions where they have jumped to game in a major after an opening bid or and overcall or have found a huge fit via Michaels or Unusual 2NT . In these auctions we have to make the assumption that trump stack doubles do not exist. If they do exist you are forced to pass and hope partner doubles. Example auction 1♦-2♦-Dbl-4♥ . In this auction your double switches on forcing passes as you said you were willing to play 2 of a major doubled for a huge set. The opponents have heard you and still jumped to 4♥ . Trump stack doubles can not exist in these auctions. The immediate double should show a flat defensive hand with 2 or more trump and just trying to get a plus . A pass is a willingness to defend 4♥ as you do not have any outstanding distribution. An immediate bid is a distributional hand , A pass and pull of the double is again a slam try.

What is a double or bid by the other hand if you pass ? The double is Do Something Intelligent Partner as I can not have trumps on this auction. A bid is a distributional hand not willing to give you the option of passing a double. On this auction we can not have a fit or we would not have doubled the Michaels bid going in.

There is only one exception to forcing passes in penalty double situations. This is where partner has made a takeout or balancing double and you have converted for penalty. This does not switch on forcing passes. 1♦-DBl-1♠-DBl AK10xx xx xx Jxxx If the opponents run , forcing passes do not apply . This so that you can expose psyches at a low level without having a forcing to game hand. The double means you have taken my bid away and 1♠ X will not make.

Forcing passes apply through the 2 level if partner has doubled 1NT for penalty and the opponents are running. If their bidding is natural, the first double is always shortness over weak NT’s and a pass shows their suit. This gives you the maximum flexibility to double them from either hand. If their bidding is artificial , the double shows that suit ( trump stack double ).