Saturday, April 07, 2007 6:16 AM

Hand Evaluation - Q bids ( Showing Extra )

PITBULLS:

The opponents are not on your side . Their job is to make life difficult for you by pre-empting or otherwise making life difficult for you. One of the tools of the trade to combat this harassment is the Q bid to show extra. They are jamming you & taking room from you to prevent you from showing extra values for slam purposes. The Q bid to show extra is a way of using their bid suit to fight back by announcing that you have game or slam aspirations.

A tormentee & her partner lost 13 IMPS ( could have been more ) for poor hand evaluation & not utilizing the Q bid properly. The auction went 3♦-P-4♦-? & the tormentee has ♠AKJ ♥AJ1098 ♦x ♣AQ10x so doubled. Partner bid 4♠ so back around to her. There has been a pre-empt to her left with a nv nuisance raise to her right. Under pressure on these types of auctions , partner could play partner for as little as 14 HCP for her initial double. She has an Ace more than partner can reasonably expect on this auction & she has the magical stiff in their suit. Goren count she has 20 HCP’s , rich in controls & the correct stiff. The 30 HCP rule is in effect as they should hold the 10 HCP in diamonds. In pre-emptive auctions, the rule of thumb is to play partner for 7 HCP until we hear differently. This means we have a minimum of 25 HCP out of 30 so the 5 level should be safe for a 5♦ Q bid. This Q bid just says I have extra with at least 2^nd round control in diamonds. Also for hand evaluation purposes , the pre-empter is behind the big hand so any finesses should be onside.

Partner has ♠Q1098x ♥KQx ♦Ax ♣Jxx so over 5♦ has 12 HCP more than he has shown & 1^st round control in diamonds. He should now make a grand slam try by Q bidding to show extra from his side. Since a 6♦ bid is obviously inviting 7 what should the doubler do ? She could bid 6♥ which should say there is still a flaw yet that you must take care of before bidding 7 or bid the grand directly. I like my hand so I would bid a positional make. The 3♦ bidder is to my left so any finesse that is needed in a worse case scenario should be on side. I would accept partners invite & bid 7 as did many in the field below.

This pair only reached game but the 12 HCP hand said he would not know what to do after the 5♦ Q bid & said he would probably sign off in 5♠. This means he would have bid this 12 HCP monster the same way he would have bid zero HCP ! How is this partnership communication ? How did he interpret the 5♦ bid ? How much did he think he showed already by bidding a forced 4♠ in response to a double ?

29> -13 13 -13 -1 13 0 0 13 0 1 -13 0 0 0 -13  13
 -2210 2210*-2210 1430* 2210* 1460*-1460 -710 -1460 -1430 710* 1460* 1460*-1460 710* 2210
 

You must learn how to handle intruders into your auction. Use them as stepping stones for hand evaluation , positional makes , lack of duplication of value & Q bidding their suit to show extra. This hand has 13 tricks without a finesse. 5 spades , 5 hearts , 2 Aces & a diamond ruff. If partner miscounts his tricks , the club king is on side as it should be. In a strong field, this pair would have probably lost 20 or more IMPS instead of just –13 IMPS.