Saturday,
December 13, 2003 4:30 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Tactics ( 5-4-3-1 Hands )
PITBULLS:
Bridge bidding sometimes amounts to
choosing the “best lie”. A 5-4-3-1 hand pattern is a difficult hand to bid so
many experts choose NT
as the best lie. A 5-4-3-1 hand is “semi-balanced” , in my opinion , so there are many situations where NT should be bid even with your stiff. ♠AKx
♥J ♦AKxx ♣AK10xx You open 2♣ & get a 2♦ response by partner
. 3♣ is supposed to show a one suited hand or at least a two suiter. This hand
should be described by a 2NT rebid . It’s the best lie you can make with the difficult semi-balanced distribution. This
handling of 5-4-3-1 hands is just a hand evaluation skill in my opinion.
You hold ♠x ♥AQxxx ♦Kxxx ♣AKQ , open one heart in which partner responds 1 spade . Do you rebid 2♦ , 3♦ or what ? Bidding 2♦ does not describe 18
HCP . Bidding 3♦ does but does not
adequately describe this hand . Partner can not bid 3NT as you have the club cards so you
might go by your best spot. Again
this is a semi-balanced trouble hand, so I feel the best bid is 2NT .
You
open 1♠ with ♠AQxxx ♥x ♦AKxx ♣KJx , partner responds 2♥ . A jump to 3NT
after a 2/1 with your understandings specifically shows a hand in the strong NT range . You could bid 3♦ , if partner bids 3NT
you are poorly placed. Should you bid 4NT or 4♣ as a slam try ? Why not bid 3NT initially as the best lie with your
semi-balanced hand to right side
the 3NT with your club holding ? Partner with her 12 HCP passes so you are not
past 3NT your best spot. Alternatively , partner could
have been stuck, bid 3NT with 16 HCP’s herself so you could have played a 33
HCP 3NT . The initial leap to 3NT gets the HCP’s
out of the way at the expense of the distribution. Good strategy for
quantitative non fit auctions.
You
hold ♠x ♥KQJ ♦Jxxx ♣AQxxx , open 1♣ with
partner responding a spade . Bidding 2♣ is kind of lame with this hand . Partner has ♠Axxxx ♥Axxxx ♦xx ♣x and passes 2♣ . Why not rebid
1NT so you find your heart contract ? From
2♣ with a result of -200 to +140 in hearts is a lot of IMPS. You hold ♠AKx
♥J10xx
♦K ♣AJxxx , again you have an
indescribable semi-balanced hand . Let’s get the lie over with early & open
1NT .
Bidding
2♥ after a spade opener
brings problems for opener to show a secondary minor. Since 2♥ is a game force
unless the suit is rebid , most experts play a minor
bid at the 3 level to show extra.
If so , you have to make contortions & not bid your
minor with an intermediate or weak hand . This brings in the ugly practice of rebidding bad 5 card majors. It also does
not “show where you live”
so good 3NT contracts are missed & bad major games reached. ♠Axxxx ♥x ♦AKJ10 ♣xxx after partner bids 2♥ rebidding 2♠
with this
hand is ugly ( 3♦ shows extra). However , you have no choice to lie with this hand as you
lack a club stopper. You bid 3♦ & hope partner
can take a joke. Change the hand to ♠Axxxx ♥x ♦Kxxx ♣AKx & 2NT is more descriptive of this hand then 3♦. 5-4-3-1
is semi-balanced
When you do not have a fit & either partner jumps to 3NT , 4♣ or 4♦ should not be KCB . This should be a natural suit slam try that you suppressed originally to show your point
count. Slams in NT can be bid quantitatively you do not need Ace asking every time you
bid a slam. When one hand shows 17 HCP & you have 17 HCP
, just bid your 6NT !!
We
are not recommending bidding NT with stiffs as a matter of course. With
5-4-3-1 & no suitable alternative , I feel that
bidding NT is the best “out”. Bidding NT’s with stiffs as a matter of course is
a very bad habit which undermines
the partnership. However , rules are made to be broken.
Strong 5-4-3-1 (18-20 ) hands with 3 card support after partners major response , should always be
bid with the 3♣ SJS no matter what your secondary
minor . ♠AJ10 ♥AKxxx ♦AKxx ♣x
. You open 1♥ & partner bids 1♠
you should bid 3♣ & not
3♦. Partner takes the
relay to 3♦ so you now bid 3♠. This shows the rock hand
with 3 card major support. Bid all your
strong 5-4-3-1 hand with 3 card support for partners
major this way & all 5-4-3-1 with a stiff in partners major
with a 2NT rebid. This has the
nice side effect of making your diamond SJS as virtually
showing a 5 card diamond suit !!
Do
not let a 5 card major stop you from showing your strong 5-4-3-1 hand with a NT
bid. A Tormentee held ♠AKxxx
♥Axx ♦K ♣AQJx 21 HCP’s which are hard to describe by
opening at the one level. The best lie of opening 2NT gets the auction off to a good
start as you have described your HCP range & “semi-balanced” distribution
with one bid. If the ♦K were something else , I would choose a different lie. Now that partner
knows your range he has an easy time placing the contract in 7♦ as he held an 8 card
suit with an outside ♥K. A 5 card spade suit is only part of your hand. Describe your entire hand first rather than worrying
about a part of your hand i.e. a 5 card suit. Puppet Stayman
will find the 5 card major so what are you worrying about ?
The forcing NT also creates problems with 5-4-3-1 hands in the 17+ to 19 HCP range. ♠AKJxx ♥KQ10 ♦AJ10x ♣x this hand is not a quiet 2♦ bid after a forcing 1NT nor is it a 3♦ strong jump shift. It is a 2NT rebid. Keeping the bidding at the 2 level has its advantages. Partner has a relay to show a weak hand & if she bids naturally over 2NT we may get somewhere. 2NT with 18-19 is virtually a game force anyway with our methods. With a 5-4-3-1 18+ HCP with a 4 card heart suit , we bid 3♣ as a relay & bid 3♥ after responders 3♦ , as an exception to the “balanced” 5-4-3-1 hands.