Wednesday, November 01, 2006 1:16 PM


Hand Evaluation – Pre-empts ( Action Doubles )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Another day , another action double. Playing with Susan Culham in a local game & two D.S.I.P. ( action doubles) came up . I held K AQJ109xxx KQxx , the vul opponents opened 1 so I tried a nv 4 . LHO bid 4 so around to me again. This is a “St Albert” 5 bid. You have extra & the 8 card suit is so pretty. There is another way to bid your hand again logically  in modern bidding. Make an action double ! Let partner in on your desire to bid 5. Much better than “single handed “ trump stack doubles. 5X was –300 , 4X gets you +200 .

 

            A few hands later Susan held this hand AQJ10xxx void KxxAxx , a strong NT to her left & RHO transferred to hearts by bidding 2. Susan bid 2 , LHO bid 3 so they carried on to 4. Susan wants to bid 4 very badly but it is single handed. You have transferable values for defense as well as offense as Eric Kokish calls them. You have 3 quick tricks & the playing strength of your hand has been enhanced by them bidding game in your void. You double saying bid 4 partner  please unless you have a good reason not to. The opponents were way out of line so I passed with KQ109 of hearts & the queen of diamonds. One down in 4♠ doubled but 3 down doubled in 4 for –500.

 

            A horrible Bridge fault is bidding your hand again. When you pre-empt , partner has heard you so the auction should die. What if you still want to bid again ? An action double is the only way permissible to bid your pre-empt again. Tonight I held ♠xx KQJ109x 10xxx ♣x , partner opened 1♣ so I bid 2♥. LHO bid 2 so around to me again. I felt like rebidding my pre-empt , so I doubled. Partner converted so +800 as we beat it 3 tricks !

 

            Bridge is a partnership game. The sooner you get rid of single handed trump stack doubles from your repertoire , the better player you will become. If the word D.S.I.P. doubles offends you , call them competitive doubles or action doubles. Leave trump stack doubles for ¼ cent rubber Bridge players or matchpoint hounds.