2007-10-10 02:10

Hand Evaluation - Inviting Philosophy ( Openers )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Not inviting is such a single handed final action. When you fail to invite , this normally ends the auction. What is your philosophy with respect to inviting ? Like all else in Bridge , this depends on your opening bid & overcalling style. If your openers are real i.e. have quick tricks & a reason to open , your invites will be lighter. If your overcalls are sound , it follows that you will make pushy invites.

 

            If you play the “modern” style of openers & overcalls,  your invites will be very heavy. Your invites give partner leeway & in effect are saying “are you lying this time partner ? “ . An invitational bid is a check back bid playing the modern style & opener needs an excuse not  to carry on. Culbertson wrote in his book that partner should always invite if a perfect minimum by opener or overcaller will result in game. This , of course , assumes non perfect maximums will also make game on sheer power. This is way Bridge was played up to the Bergen “modern era”.

 

An opening bid is a 3 range structure , minimum , intermediate or strong. An invitation by responder is catering to the intermediate range of opening bids. Playing the modern garbage openers style , adds a 4th range . These are the hands that do not meet the requirement for the opening bid but are opened anyway. These I define as “semi-psyches” as they have too many HCP’s to be classified as a psyche but they are not opening bids. The modernists must provide for this 4th range so they make very heavy invites. The fallacy of this approach is obvious . If your invites by responder are that heavy , you are going to miss many games when partner does hold the intermediate hand. Responder simply cannot cater to 4 ranges of opening bids.  Modern openers do not make any sense theoretically.  They are simply a tactic that fowls up invitational sequences or makes the opponents guess.

 

My style ( except on the terrorist vulnerability) is to make pushy invitational  bids. Partner should not go on if she just has what she has already announced . The invite is a question do you have anything extra ( very good 1st range or  2nd range ) & not just do you have what you already announced. I , as responder,  leap to game quite often as an invite J.

 

            This hand was bantered around in the Bridge World. The vote was split 50-50 between modern bidders & sound bidders. ♠KQJx ♥10x ♦xxxx ♣KQx   Partner opens 1♥ , you respond 1♠. Partner bids 2♥ so do you invite ? Does it depend on the vulnerability ? IMPS vrs Matchpoints or just a reflection of your inviting philosophy ? Playing with Ray or the equivalent this is a clear cut pass. Playing with my partners , I take the push to 3♥ as I not good enough to know that 2♥ is exactly the limit of this hand. If partner has the perfect minimum ♠Axx ♥AJ98xx ♦x ♣Axx we make 5♥. If partner has the perfect maximum , ♠Axx ♥ AQ98xx ♦x ♣Axx  we could make 6♥ ! I will risk losing a 2♥ partial to find out. In the Bridge World , 50% of the known modern bidders were too scared of their own opening bid style to even test the waters. You reap what you sow .

 

            Maurice plays the modern style of openers & invites holding this hand recently. ♠xxxx ♥AKJ ♦K10xx ♣xx  Susan opened 1♥ & Maurice responded 1NT . Susan bid 2♥ & Maurice invited to 3♥ . Susan carried on to 4 as she did not have a reason to pass 3♥.  As I do not play the modern style , I bid 4♥ directly with Maurice’s hand. My feeling that game should be there when partner has what she announced for an opening bid. She does not need an intermediate hand ( 2nd range )  to make game with this hand.  If Susan has a non opener , she must play the hand better or hope for a defensive mistake. I will not invite catering to the fact that she may not have an opening bid ( 4th range ) .  Susan made a two finesse slam holding just a decent opening bid on this particular auction. I shudder to think of a hand that she is supposed to pass 3♥ opposite this dummy.

 

           

            The advantage of the total psyche vrs the semi-psyche is that the total psyche can pass responders forcing bids thereby exposing the psyche. The semi-psyche must soldier on until the psyche is exposed when you reach 6NT down one & the dummy is exposed. You do not have an “undo” to expose this 4th range of hand during the auction. Responder cannot think or judge properly with the 3 range system of standard openers : minimum with quick tricks , intermediate with quick tricks or maximum with quick tricks. This 4th range of minimum without quick tricks is impossible to describe as it is a semi-psyche designed to make the opponents guess. Unfortunately this time , we caught partner in the net. Is the Bergen style of opening bids worth the wear & tear on partner ? No , not unless you are a “solo artist”.  You deem these results as a “cost of doing business” your way. Sorry partner , I was trying to make the opponents guess .