2007-12-01 11:59
Hand Evaluation -
Understanding Your System
PITBULLS:
Hand
evaluation & Bridge judgment drive the Bridge logic behind your bidding system.
It is important that your bidding
system reflects these hand evaluation concepts . Conventions should assist you by identifying hand evaluation concepts .
Bridge bidding is based on Bridge logic. There is always a why
? factor for a bid. You either like a
convention or not depending how it helps you
evaluate a hand. As my partner says “ your
system must make sense” so understand your system. Quite often partner asks you why you made a bid or did not i.e. the reason or logic behind
your bid. This bidding logic usually is linked to hand
evaluation concepts. Why are we playing this ? Standard bidding was devised for the masses
& chooses simplicity over accuracy. Some
bids are designed for matchpoints rather than IMPS as
they are two different games. Remember that. Here are examples of our system , which is based
primarily on hand evaluation concepts.
Duplication of value – Our system is
embedded with singleton asking
bids & exclusion KCB . Systemic bids once you
have found a fit usually have a bid to ask
for a singleton. We play direct splinters over majors & minors.
We do not open xxx in a minor or bad minors in 3rd & 4th seat.
We open where we live. This
practice enables us to use hand evaluation to assess duplication of value between the two hands.
Fits - We play fit showing jumps as a passed hand. We announce out fits early to simplify auctions & allow
Q bidding. We play fit showing bids after a forcing 1NT .
We play Kokish game tries to determine how hands
“fit”. We find our 4-4 major fits from responders side in 1♦-2♣ auctions
& inverted minors. We use puppet techniques with Wolff relays & XYZ to find our 4-4 major fits. We use super accepts with transfers & Rebensohl to show the extent
of our fit.
Bridge is a game of suits – We take invitational 6 card suits out of the forcing 1NT structure so a 2/1 suit rebid
after a major opening is not forcing to game.
Weak jump shifts are used in competition
instead of splinters to show 6 or 7 card suits .
Identifying suit length has a priority in the system. We define jump bids to show suits rather than just HCP strength. A
jump bid in a forcing auction shows
a solid or semi-solid suit rather than HCP’s. We use relays to escape to long suits. We show the “good
suit” aspect of hands by “recovering the
strong jump shift.”. KCB sequences have suit asking
bids built in. We open the bidding at the 4 level to show 8 card or longer suits. Weak 2’s & 3’s are
disciplined as to suit except on
the terrorist vul.
Quick Tricks – Our openers advertise defensive strength measured in quick tricks. Our T/O & balancing
doubles also have quick trick considerations. D.S.I.P. double theory is based
on quick tricks to make a double.
We show soft values as opposed to controls by bidding
NT or overcalling. We promote hands
based on quick tricks & demote
soft values. Our
penalty double judgment is based on quick tricks. In other words , we think in quick tricks rather than HCP’s when we make a
double. The 4-3-2-1 scale is inaccurate.
Aces & Kings are worth more than the scale indicates & queens &
jacks less. Do not just count your
points for an opening bid or other Bridge
decisions , evaluate your HCP’s.
Law of total tricks – We have jump raises in the majors & jump raises in the minors to show
the 4th & 5th trump respectively. Jacoby
2NT shows 4 or more trump & inverted minors usually show 5 or more. The
more trump we have , the higher we leap. Hands are promoted due to the appreciation
of trump length. Jumps to game are
pre-emptive showing trump length. We do not make ambiguous raises with one time
holding 3 trump &
another time 5 trump.
Equal level conversion – Our T/O dbls show 2
or more suits with controls never a one suited hand. An overcall
is basically a single suited hand
worth leading. Finding our major suit fit has priority over showing all 3 unbid suits
for our T/O doubles ( non shape ) . Finding major suit
fits first & strength later or by jumping. Do not hide other
suits with mere overcalls when you have controls. Re-opening
& balancing doubles show defense
rather than shape.
Distribution - All balanced
hands are shown via a NT bid.
With a good balanced opening hand in the 17+-19 HCP range ,
we rebid 2NT 1st & support partners
major response later. Distribution or
lack thereof has priority in choosing
a bid. Jumps to game are based on
suits rather than HCP’s. A multi-purpose 3♣ SJS handles the
hands with HCP’s. We play many toys
that show distribution. We have many bids after our NT openers to show our hand pattern. Show
partner your hand
pattern thru bidding & jump
with distribution rather than
HCP’s.
HCP’s - We divided our bidding structure’s forcing bids into “limit raise or better”
. Our Jacoby 2NT , our 2NT responses directly or in
competition, inverted minors & Q bids are all
limit raise or better. We evaluate controls
with the Italian style of Q bidding.
We evaluate hands via the location of our HCP’s. Huge hands are not opened at the one level. We open 2♣
& have relays & control sequences to find our fit & level.
Natural Bidding - Patterning out shows extra. Bidding 3 suits means
shortness in the 4th suit. We use relays to
preserve natural bidding as stronger of the two auctions. We use XYZ to
use natural bidding as opposed to 4th suit forcing. Artificial 4th suit forcing auctions are avoided.
“New suit” 2NT is used as a natural bid
rather than artificial 4th suit
forcing for balanced hands. Do not play ( avoid
) a convention that prevents you from
bidding naturally.
Fast arrival – Fast arrival is the death response for slam auctions or a picture bid. In 2/1 auctions with a major fit , we use serious 3NT theory. 3NT is a serious slam try
& Q bids are shown as a courtesy opposite unlimited hands. Last train slam
tries to keep Q bidding under game. Slam tries below game so 5 level avoided. 2/1 understandings have 2NT as
“either/or” & a leap to 3NT to show the 1NT HCP range. Slow is strong &
fast is not.
Playing the vulnerability – Our bidding
changes depending on the vulnerability & table position. We remain disciplined on 3 out of the 4
vulnerabilities. We respect vulnerability. We do not trap vul vrs
nv & invent a bid. With the terrorist vulnerability , we bid like “modern bidders”.
Useful space principle - We preserve bidding room by using minor suit KCB or Kickback. We use transfers after T/O dbls
of our major
to preserve bidding space & identify our fit & suits. We use Rubensohl to keep the bidding low & get out two suiters & one suiters
described economically. We use relays after 2♣ to get our two suits
identified before reaching 3NT.
Arriving to game slowly usually means extra.
Competition – We divide Bridge
hands into those we or they own
& those in which we are just competing.
If we do not own the auction , dbls
are competitive ( D.S.I.P. ) . If we own the auction ,
forcing pass theory kicks in. Trump stack penalty
doubles are made via conversion not directly in competition.
Right Siding – We bid NT to right
side contracts or respond NT to do the same. We use transfers to right side
contracts as well as Rubensohl. We avoid forcing NT
with suits , so NT is right sided. Bypass suits to
right side the NT with soft values.
Opening leads – We are disciplined
with our overcalls , lead directing doubles , opening
bids in 3rd & 4th seat to ensure
good opening leads. Blind opening
leads are avoided & leads are always determined by the bidding.
Lead directing doubles negate the
obvious or natural lead.
Discipline – Design your system
to bid constructively for the benefit of the partnership. Do not design a
system based on destroying the opponents’ auctions.
In
conclusion , you will remember & play your
system better when you know
why you are playing it. Conversely , do
not play a convention by rote
rules , if you do not understand the why
behind it. You will not use the convention properly anyway.