Friday, July 14, 2006 5:55 AM

Hand Evaluation  - Refinement ( Forcing pass )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            One of the worst bidding faults in Bridge is “bidding your hand again”. You have announced your hand to partner , she has heard you , but you bid the same hand over again anyways. D.S.I.P. & forcing pass theory allows you to bid your hand again legitimately. You make a T/O double , an opening bid , or an overcall but a competitive auction ensues. You compete by making a D.S.I.P. double. This is in effect a refinement of your previous bid. You show defense with a good hand rather than just what was expected with your previous action. If you just bid again , you are competing so you are probably showing the same values that you have shown already.

 

            Forcing pass theory also allows you to refine your previous bid. Tonight I held AJ109 K1098 J ♣ KQ98 , vul vrs nv opened 1♣ . They overcalled 1 , partner made a negative double & they showed a limit raise by Q bidding 2♣. I liked my singleton in their suit , so I Q bid 2& partner jumped to 4 vulnerable. They now decided to sacrifice in 5 against our vul game. So what is your forcing pass decision ?

 

            Forcing pass theory has given you a chance to refine your previous Q bid. Do you have a minimum Q bid , an average Q bid or a rock Q bid ? If you had ♠AJ109 AK109 J ♣KQ98 , you have a 6 bid. Partner jumped to game opposite your invite , you have a gorgeous hand. Alternately you could pass & pull in an effort to get to 7. OK say you have an intermediate Q bid . ♠AJ109 KQ98 J ♣KQ98 so after a 5 bid I would make a forcing pass to “refine” my previous Q bid. I passed with the original hand rather than making a double. I should double 5 saying that I am minimum for my previous Q bid action. partner would pass so we collect our +500. With my pass , partner took the push , misguessed the trump queen & went down one for a 12 IMP loss.

 

            Checking the scores , we would  have lost 4 IMPS anyway if I had made the correct bid of a double. Much better than a 12 IMP loss though . L