Wednesday,
February 07, 2007 5:02 PM
Hand Evaluation – Balancing ( patterns )
PITBULLS:
Balancing is still
another area in Bridge where you apply patterns. This is very true after the
opponents open a weak 2 or a weak 3 bid.
You apply a pattern with their suit
& your holding to take an educated guess how many
cards partner holds in that suit.
The auction goes 2♥ pass pass so around to you in the balancing
spot. ♠Axxx ♥Qxx ♦Kxxx ♣Ax you are vul & they are not so do you bid ? Apply patterns to get your answer . Hearts are 6-3-2-2
or 6-3-3-1 with partner either holding one heart or two hearts. She has shortness in hearts but
took no action. Therefore , it is best to fold your tent and pass. You are not protecting partners heart trap , you do not have enough to force partner to bid possibly at the 3 level vul.
OK they open 3♦ , around to you
in the balancing chair vul
vrs not. You have 14 HCP’s ♠KQx ♥QJx ♦xxx ♣KQJx so do you balance ? Apply the diamond pattern ,
you have 7-3-2-1 . So partner has a stiff or doubleton diamond & did not
bid. Partner cannot be long in diamonds so she did not trap. Therefore , you are bidding
your own hand
in the balancing chair vul. The odds are in favour of most of the HCP’s being to the right of you. You
cards are not tenaces where you can take advantage of
that ( finesses working ) . You have the dreaded 4-3-3-3 distribution with 3-3 in the
majors. This is an easy pass.
Bidding loses you 10 IMPS as you go for a # against their –110 in diamonds
which was the contract at the other table.
I was playing with Peter Jones at a
CNTC with Klimo & Gandolfo at the other table. I
opened 3♥ , the opponents
had a good hand in the balancing but they had 3♥. They bid
anyway so went for 1100. Klimo held the same hand
& just went quietly with a pass. Klimo said he
held too many hearts ( 3
) to bid. Good advice for balancing.
Balancing after a strong NT , takes hand evaluation techniques. Bridge is played in a
clockwise direction so your sides
HCP’s are either in front of the strong NT or
behind the strong NT. If you have a balanced 17 HCP ,
it is silly to bid in the balancing spot. You
have approx 34 HCP accounted for so partner will never leave in your double
anyway. Good players just pass & hope they can beat it. Your cards are all
on side for declarer so you will
be end played often.
It is a good gamble to double if you
have HCP’s in the 10-12 HCP range with a 5 card suit.
This gamble works if partner has 10+ HCP sitting behind the strong NT. It is a
gamble of course as dummy may have up to 8 HCP’s. I like to gamble with a
double & 10 HCP but only when I have a suit
to get out with if partner scrambles to 2♣. Tom & I play the double
shows a 5 card or
longer minor so we can convert on that basis. My other partners & I play
the double shows 10-13 HCP’s with any 5 card suit. I think doubling just with a
flat 10 is too much of a gamble.
You have ♠Q ♥10xxx
♦AKQ10x ♣AKx equal nv & they open 2♥ which gets
passed around to you. You apply a pattern
in hearts so you know partner is too weak
for a T/O double. Do you just fold your tent & go quietly as the diamond
suit will get outbid anyway ? With this hand , I would bid because I have a source of tricks
for NT. Doug Hawrelak
came up with a nifty bid with this hand. A 3♦ bid does not
describe the source of tricks you have nor the 18 HCP .
You may have 7 tricks for a 3NT contract. A
3♥ Q bid in the balancing spot is an either/or
bid. It should be interpreted initially as a Western Q bid or failing that a Goren demand
two bid. Despite not having the perfect hand for the bid ( a
6th ♦ would be nice ) Doug bid 3♥ anyway. Partner
did not have a heart stopper so the 30 HCP rule
kicked in & Doug reached 5♦ for +400 J