Sunday, November 23, 2003 2:51 PM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( The Art of Rescuing )

PITBULLS:

There is a time to believe the opponents . When they convert a takeout double for penalty , you are generally in trouble . An established partnership has some understandings to help them out in these situations. The first rule is give a chance for the opponents to rescue you first. Responder has no obligation to find a better spot as bad spots are rescued by the opponents most of the time . A pass by responder does not mean we are in a safe resting place.

O.K. the tools of the trade in these bad situations are the S.O.S. redouble & the 1NT bid . If you open 1 of a major or a minor , the S.O.S. redouble should show tolerance for the unbid major or the majors. The 1NT rebid should show a flat hand with tolerance for the minors.

Paul Erikson had a difficult hand in the recent IMP tournament in Edmonton. He held ♠KQxxx ♥xx ♦KJ ♣K1098 & opened 1♠ vul vrs not . Takeout double to his left , the contract gets converted for penalty so around to him . Passing 1♠ doubled is not an option with this hand . The opponents have told you this will be a disaster so its best to scramble. Bidding 2♣ does not seem to be a good idea either. A 5-4-2-2 is a flat hand & the KJ of diamonds tips the scale in favour of a 1NT bid . The 1NT card hits the table & I held ♠J ♥Q10xxx ♦Q109xx ♣xx & bail out to 2♦ . The takeout doubler has Axx of diamonds & the other hand xxx so neither of them feel they can double . The escape is complete & the disaster averted. 2♦x is not a bad spot & may get out for 1 down . The opponents chose to bid & play a 2NT partial making .

There are DONT rescue sequences over 1NT but established partnerships need to discuss rescue sequences over all possible occurrences not just 1NT . There always seems to be a place to wiggle out , when you know what you are doing. Vish had this hand playing with me in an IMPS tournament in Red Deer.

♠8x ♥AJxx ♦xx ♣QJ10xx .

The auction went P-P-P-1♦

1♠-P-P-X

P-P-?

The opponents have told you that the spades are breaking very badly. Why not believe them ? This hand is a classic S.O.S. redouble in an overcall situation . You have excellent holdings in the unbid suits . Also you have an inference that partner did not open a weak 2♠ so a 6 card spade suit is very unlikely. It turned out I had KQ10x of hearts so the opponents cannot double 2♥ . Worse still for them , they realize they do not have a heart stopper for 3NT & miss their game !!

The tool of choice for being rescued from 1NTX ( either directly or an overcall ) is a version of DONT called “touching/non touching’ . This is similar to DONT in that a bid shows two suits. A direct bid shows touching suits , a XX shows one suit & forces partner to bid 2♣ so you can describe your one suiter. A pass demands a XX so you can pass or if you bid non touching suits are now shown.