Wednesday, November 01, 2006 1:16 PM

Hand Evaluation – Doubles ( Action Doubles II )

PITBULLS:

Another day , another action double. The most common action doubles was invented by a British expert Jeremy Flint decades ago. The double was associated with a pre-empter who wanted to violate captaincy & bid again. Normally a no no but when you want to do it , a double at least attempts to bring partner into the picture. Playing with Susan Culham in a local game , two D.S.I.P. ( action doubles) came up . I held ♠K ♥AQJ109xxx ♦KQx ♣x , the vul opponents opened 1♠ so I tried a nv 4♥ . LHO bid 4♠ so around to me again. This is a “St Albert” 5♥ bid. You have extra & the 8 card suit is so pretty. There is another way to bid your hand again logically in modern bidding. Make an action double ! Let partner in on your desire to bid 5♥. Much better than “single handed “ trump stack doubles by a pre-mpter no less. 5♥X was –300 , 4♠X gets you +200 .

A few hands later Susan held this hand ♠AQJ10xxx ♥void ♦Kxx ♣Axx , a strong NT to her left & RHO transferred to hearts by bidding 2♦. Susan bid 2♠ , LHO bid 3♥ so they carried on to 4♥. Susan wants to bid 4♠ very badly but it is single handed. You have transferable values for defense as well as offense as Eric Kokish calls them. You have 3 quick tricks & the playing strength of your hand has been enhanced by them bidding game in your void. You double saying bid 4♠ partner please , unless you have a good reason not to. The double is bidding 4♠ but taking out insurance at the same time !! The opponents were way out of line so I passed with ♥KQ109 of hearts & the queen of diamonds. One down in 4♠ doubled but 3 down doubled in 4♥ for –500.

A horrible Bridge fault is bidding your hand again. When you pre-empt , partner has heard you so the auction should die. What if you still want to bid again with an exceptional hand for your initial pre-mpt ? An action double is the only way logically permissible to bid your pre-empt again. Tonight I held ♠xx ♥KQJ109x ♦10xxx ♣x , my partner opened 1♣ so I bid 2♥. LHO bid 2♠ so around to me again. I felt like rebidding my pre-empt , so I doubled. My partner converted so +800 as we beat it 3 tricks !

Bridge is a partnership game. The sooner you get rid of single handed trump stack doubles from your repertoire in competition , the better player you will become. If the word D.S.I.P. doubles offends you , call them competitive doubles or action doubles. Leave trump stack doubles for ¼ cent rubber Bridge players or matchpoint hounds.