2008-06-09 07:54

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( The House's Money )

PITBULLS:

Another way of thinking the game of Bridge is realizing when you are playing on the “House’s money” . This is a gambling expression meaning that you are not losing your money but theirs. You are not vulnerable & they are & it goes pass , pass & in 3^rd seat you have ♠xxx ♥x ♦J1098xx ♣xxx . The average passed hand is about 7 HCP , so the opponents are probably in the slam range. Given this likely scenario , you have +1430 of the “house’s money” to play with. I can not think of one expert who would not try some sort of psyche or tactical bid with this hand . Desperation time & you have nothing to lose as your side is heading for a huge minus score anyway. 1NT would probably be the most common opening bid with most experts followed by 1, 2 or 3♦.

Removing bidding space is a time honoured tactic with pre-emption. Partner opens 2♥ nv & they overcall 2♠ vul with you holding ♠Ax ♥Qxxxx ♦xxxx ♣xx . With your heart length , you have virtually destroyed partner’s heart HCP’s for defense. The idea now is to use the “house’s money” & bid 5♥. Why 5♥ ? This bid uses up bidding room & more specifically KCB. Pre-empting past 4NT is crucial in these types of auctions.

Everybody knows about the “law of total tricks” . This is appreciating partners trump length & bidding accordingly. If you have 9 trump in the combined hands you bid to the 3 level . If you have 10 trump between the two hands , you bid at the 4 level etc. Sometimes you have a blind spot when fixated on your own hand. Partner is a passed hand & LHO opens 1♦ . You have ♠Qxx ♥x ♦Kxxxx ♣J109x so you pass. LHO bids 1♥ but partner backs in with a double showing spades & clubs. Your RHO promptly XX’s so what is your bid ? The XX in this context shows heart support with a good hand as RHO is an old fashioned player. The odds are that partner has 4♠ & 5♣ as with 5-4 in the blacks the other way , she may have just overcalled 1♠. Partner might even hold 5-5 in the blacks !! For those undisciplined players with a “HCP complex” & must double to show 10 HCP’s as a passed hand , do not do it ! A double as a passed hand shows both unbid suits. Anyway , your 4 card club fit & meager values looks like they are in the game range. You have the “house’s money” to play with ( game bonus ) so you rob them of bidding room by leaping to 3♣. Like in the law of total tricks , you are indicating that your side has a probable 9 cards in clubs so let’s go to the 3 level. They bid 3♦ & buy the contract in 3NT.

When partner makes an informative bid like a T/O dbl , you bid both hands as far as trump is concerned not just your own hand. By bidding 3♣ , you are not informing anybody that you have 5 or 6 clubs as you are just removing bidding space from the opponents. If I had a 6 card ♣ suit , I probably would have bid 4♣ which is another tactic. You deliberately go past 3NT but with the law of total tricks ( 10 or 11 ) trump identified for your side , you can not get hurt too badly. Your stiff ♥ & partners probable stiff ♦ makes your hand ideal for such a tactic. Thinking in patterns during the bidding helps you realize what is going on around the table & your bidding will improve immensely. 4♣X needs both the ♠K & ♣Q on side to make on this particular hand. However , with the two suited red fit , it is highly unlikely we will be playing it there.