The beginning of
D.S.I.P.
Friday, August 09, 2002 3:30 PM
Hand Evaluation - Forcing Pass (
D.S.I.P. is born )
PITBULLS:
Tactical bidding by the opponents bring
in the element of judgment with penalty doubles . O.K. I
am going to get up on my soap box here because I feel very strongly
about this . In rubber bridge quite a few ( all ? ) of your partners lack
judgment in penalty double situations. For them a platitude like " you never pull my penalty doubles" will earn you
money in the long run i.e. you do not have to trust them to use
judgment that they do not have . For a good partnership to have this
understanding that "you never pull penalty doubles" is down right insulting . Sometimes partner wants penalty
doubles to be pulled even using forcing pass theory. These type
of doubles are called Do
Something
Intelligent
Partner
so require partner to be at the table as well as using good judgment . You must listen to the opponent’s bidding
as well as partner’s bidding. These doubles normally occur when you are just
competing but can also occur in forcing pass
situations. Rote rules or platitudes
just do not cut it when you are playing with your regular partner at expert levels.
The penalty double is an ambiguous bid in Bridge .
Ambiguity , like in a language , needs clarification from the context it
was used to define its meaning. In Bridge this means that the auction
sometimes determines the meaning of the penalty double. In other words , thought is required rather than blindly
adhering to rote rules or platitudes.
An example
hand was a hand that I had with my ex partner on pulling penalty doubles . Mr. Jones had ♠KQ ♥void ♦AKxxx ♣10987xx , opened 1♦. LHO bid 2♦ so I
doubled showing one or both the majors with a good hand .
This double turned on forcing passes saying we owned this auction.
RHO bid 4♥ so with the forcing
pass element on & "being at the
table" that I could not possibly
have hearts , I doubled so that partner could do something.
A double in a forcing pass auction does not simply mean I have a
trump stack in their suit when the auction clearly dictates that
I should not have. The double just means from my perspective this
is the best way for our side to get a plus. I do not have diamonds or hearts ( unless opponents are suicidal ) so I must have spades
& clubs . Therefore , it is an easy pull to 5♣
with Peters hand . 5♣ makes but 4♥
doubled makes the other direction . This is not a tough
hand .
Gordon Campbell
summed it up best with a touch of humour when I gave
him the hand for his opinion ..
"Accordingly, he must Dble with many
hands (with even more extras than the initial Dble
showed) which are not necessarily penalty-oriented but are of the
"we-have-lots-of-stuff-but-I-don't-have-a-clear-action" type of
double.
My coined terminology is the DSIP Double. (Do Something Intelligent
Partner)
And yes, Partner should not play like Rueful Rabbit - and muse on the
existence of there being 16 Hearts in the deal, while he gurgles on his ginger bikky.
He does have to be at the table.
He should listen to the Opponents, as well as Partner.
I get very worried when they are too confident. "
My partner
tonight showed good judgment on a forcing pass auction. He held ♠Axxx ♥xx ♦AKxxxx ♣x , vul against not opened 1♦. The opponents bid 2NT for hearts & clubs.
I doubled which turned on forcing passes. However ,
the opponents leapt to 4♥ telling everybody
at the table they owned the
heart suit. The bid came around to me who doubled. Partner did not
just blindly pass because partner made a penalty double in a forcing
pass auction. Partner realized from the context of the
bidding that I could not possibly have a trump stack double , even in a forcing pass auction . I must be
asking him to do something intelligent. Partner bid 4♠ which told
me he had some distribution with 5 or 6 diamonds. He would have just passed
with all flat hands & lead a trump. I leapt to 6♦
so partner made +1370. When the opponents sound too confident … ( See Gordon Campbells comment
above )
O.K. I held a hand last night with Tom against the Bartons that I think the D.S.I.P. rule applies with
penalty doubles .
I held ♠Ax
♥xx ♦AK
♣KJ1098xx with everybody vul . I opened 1♣ , Tom bid
a spade with my RHO bidding 2♣ alerted to be a two suiter
in hearts & diamonds with shortness in clubs . I felt like leaping to 4♣
but I did not want to go past 3NT so I bid 3♣ .
LHO bid 3♦ so around to me again . O.K. one last desperate attempt at 3NT so I bid 3♥ which LHO doubled but Tom bid 4♣ . RHO bid 4♦ with lots of confidence knowing they owned the
diamond suit. I wanted to bid 5♣ very badly but why take such a
single handed action ? I have 4♦ booked in my own hand & I am short in his
spade suit ,
so why not put partner in the picture with a D.S.I.P. competitive double ? When
they own their trump suit from the
context of the auction , a double is D.S.I.P (
co-operative ) .
If partner holds ♠Jxxxx ♥x
♦xxx ♣Axxx
4♦ makes and 5♣ makes
If partner holds ♠KQxx ♥Jxx ♦xx ♣xxxx
4♦ goes for 500 and 5♣ goes for 500
If partner holds ♠Jxxx ♥Jxx ♦xx ♣Axxx
4♦ makes and 5♣ goes 1 down
Partner must use her judgment depending on
the club & his spade holding on these type of auctions. Platitudes like not pulling
partners penalty doubles do not apply here . Partner wants you to pull with
the appropriate hand !! Partner expects your HCP’s to be located
in spades as you bid them. If they are not , it is a danger sign that the opponents cards are
working well for them.
Frustrations with penalty doubles in competition for many , many
years lead me to believe that trump stack
doubles should become extinct. These penalty doubles are single
handed anyway so do not really
involve partnership Bridge. Telling an expert
partner not to pull “MY” penalty doubles is insulting. There has to
be a better way L.