Thursday, June 29, 2006 1:50 AM
Hand Evaluation – 4-4 fits
PITBULLS:
Another
aspect of hand evaluation in Bridge is to know when the possibility of bad trumps
might exist for your 4-4
major fits. Finding a 4-4 major fit is not nirvana when 3NT is a
far superior contract or a minor slam is much
safer. 4-4 fits bring in trump dependence on 3-2 breaks so limits
your options. Knowing when and how to offer a choice of contracts is the key. Sometimes this just starts
with the bidding decision going in. You hold ♠K10x ♥Axxx ♦Kxx ♣AQx , partner opens 1♦ with RHO bidding 2♠ so what do you bid ?
At one table they made a negative double so as not to lose the heart suit. At
the other table they leapt to 3NT which normally shows 13-14 HCP with spades
doubly stopped. Instead ,she bid 3NT because it
described her balanced hand with more HCP’s to compensate for her lack of a
2nd stopper. Her heart spots were so terrible so she did not want to
encourage a 4-4 major fit in a distributional auction where 4-1 breaks are more
common.
Partner
held ♠A ♥J98x ♦AQJ10xxx ♣K , bid 4♥ after the negative double at one table so they ended up in 5♥ after finding out
they were missing the KQ of trump. At the other table ,
they bid 4♦ over 3NT which is a slam try. You do not pull 3NT
from a position of weakness. Having 4♦ as a slam try forces
a Q bidding auction or Kickback & 4NT should be to play. Anyway
, after KCB , the opener knows that partner has the heart & club Ace
and the diamond king. She now asks for specific kings and finds out about the
spade King. She can now count 12 tricks in NT & as it turns out there were 13 tricks in NT.
You
hold ♠Kx ♥Jxxx ♦AQJ109x ♣x , partner opens 1♣
with you responding 1♦. Partner bids 1♥ so do you leap to 4♥ ? Your diamonds are a
nice source of tricks for NT so I would bid 4th suit forcing to
force to game. It turns out partner bids NT
so you choose 3NT instead of the heart contract . Nice
decision as partner holds ♠Axx ♥Qxxx ♦x ♣AK10xx and at the other
table declarer could not handle the 4-1 trump break in 4♥ with such bad trumps.
The more HCP’s you hold , the more contract options you have. When your side
is near slam , you have the luxury of not just relying on one suit.
You can choose a NT contract. When my partner opens 1NT but I am near the slam
range but not quite , I do not even bother with Stayman. Why ? I am not going to
slam anyway so I have the luxury of not having to depend on one suit. When partner finds out the 4-4 suit
breaks badly , there are usually enough resources to
make 3NT anyway. Not
bidding Stayman is a safety play
against bad trump breaks.
Quite
often when you have found a 4-4 major fit and there is some doubt about the
quality of your trump fit , give partner a choice of slams after KCB. Bidding 6 of
your minor is not a demand to
play in that suit but offers partner a choice by showing doubt about the trump
quality of your major. Partner will make her decision based on her help for
your minor & the quality of her trump.
When you have found your 4-4 major fit , consider NT
when you have a wealth of HCP’s.
Here
is a well bid hand from a Spingold. ♠AJxx ♥K ♦Qx ♣AKQxxx , they opened 1♣
. Partner responded 1♥ with ♠Kxxx ♥A109x ♦KJ10 ♣Jx , the opener jumped to
2♠. Responder bid 3♠ so opener carried
onto 4♠. Partner forced to game but never made a slam try
over 3♠. Why ? Best guess is that she is worried about the
quality of her spades.
You have 12 HCP opposite a game forcing hand.
If partners HCP’s are not in spades , they are
elsewhere (probably a good club suit ) . You bid 4NT ,
place the contract in 6NT resulting in +1440. They went down in 6♠ at the other table.