Wednesday, March
02, 2005 11:58 PM
Hand Evaluation – Trump ( The Law )
PITBULLS:
A
re-opening double when playing negative doubles does not show any particular shape. It just shows a hand with
enough defense that you would have left in an old fashioned penalty double if partner doubled.
Dora made a match point bid ( go figure she was
playing Matchpoints ) , bid 2♠ vul
after a tormentee opened 1♣ with ♠x ♥AJx ♦xxx ♣AKQ10xx . Around to the opener
again so how do you evaluate this hand for defensive
purposes ?
You have controls rather than
queens & jacks so if partner has a penalty double of two spades
, he will not be disappointed with your hand so you double. Partner leads the Ace & King
of spades, switches to his singleton club . You play
the 3 top clubs & another , partner ruffs the 4th
one. Back comes a heart so you lead another club which uppercuts the 10 of
trump. +800 for your side but 3♣ goes one down ! Playing negative doubles , you bend over backwards to double. Partner is
aware that can hold these types of hands.
Another hand where hand evaluation
comes into play. The law of total tricks is based on the
combined number of trump both sides have . You hold ♠AJxx ♥x ♦Jxxxx ♣xxx
, LHO opens 1♥ , partner overcalls
2♦ & RHO bids 2♥ . You know they have
a big heart fit , you have a huge diamond fit. Time to elevate this
auction so you know they are going to bid 4♥ . With this many trump
get the auction
up in the stratosphere fast , thereby putting
pressure on them . I would bid 5♦ & see what they
are made of !! The tormentee
only bid 3♦ which gives the partnership no idea of the trump length & the
offensive potential of the hand. The more trump you have , the more you bid.
Susan held ♠Kxxx
♥Qxxxx ♦x ♦QJx & I opened 1♠
& they overcalled 2♦. You do not have many controls but you have a stiff in
their suit & you have a 4th trump. Bidding 2♠ hides the 4th trump from your
partner throughout the auction. There is no way in Bridge to show the 4th
trump unless systemically. A splinter shows
your 4th trump immediately so I would make this bid solely to
broadcast my 4th trump. The opponents bought this hand in 4♦ for –130 when ♠420 in
spades your way was the average result.
The
law of total tricks applies when you have 4 trump & partner has opened or overcalled
. Bid to the level that you trump
length allows you to do. Looking
at the number of trump you hold
in partners suit is a hand evaluation skill. A hand that has 4 trump with same HCP’s is better than a hand with 3 trump. This is hand evaluation. The entire Bergen system of majors is based on that
law. The only reason I like part of the Bergen system is that I know a simple
raise does not
hold 4 trump.
Here is a simplified version of the law of total tricks from the net ..
The Law of Total
Tricks is a fairly complex set of principles that experienced bridge players
use to decide how high to bid in competitive auctions. Two entire books are
devoted to "The Law" (To
Bid or Not to Bid
and Following the Law
by Larry Cohen), but there are some basic elements of the Law that players can
adopt.
Described here is
a simplified version of a guideline you can use to decide if you should pass
and let the opponents play in their contract, or if you should bid one level
higher in your suit. It operates on the principle that "trumps are (almost) everything" and
high-card strength is not critical. In its simplest form, the rule is:
On most deals (where each partnership has a combined total of about 17-23
high-card points): the number of tricks you can take on offense is equal to the
combined number of trumps you hold.
In practice, this
means that if you and partner have only an 8-card fit, you should usually stop
at the 2-level. If you have a 9-card fit, you can safely bid 3 of your suit if
the opponents try to force you one level higher. If you have 10 or 11 combined
trump compete even higher as the trump length degrades your hand defensively.