Monday, June 26, 2006 12:37 PM

Hand Evaluation - Doubles ( Agreed Suit )

PITBULLS:

Kantar has understandings with KCB to identify the “agreed suit” when you pre-empt yourself or the opponents pre-empt you. KCB is said to be based on the last suit bid , if you have no room to set the suit. With D.S.I.P. theory, the opponents are of course competing so quite often pre-empts you from telling opener which of her suits in which you wish to compete when she has bid two suits.. Borrowing a page from Kantar , a D.S.I.P. competitive double can be based on partners last suit bid to resolve ambiguity. A Q bid is still ambiguous saying we are forced to game in one of partners’ suits. A competitive double becomes a preference double showing a fit with defense. A new concept made possible by competitive doubles.

♠Axxx ♥xx ♦AJ10xx ♣xx , partner opens 1♣ so you bid 1♦. They bid 2♥ , partner bids 2♠ with RHO interfering with 3♥. A D.S.I.P. double says I want to compete in spades ( invitational ) but I have defense. This means that a direct 3♠ bid is just a noise or you can play it forcing . Perry suggests playing the bid forcing which leaves a Q bid as unambiguous showing club support. Playing it forcing though means that you cannot compete directly in the 2^nd suit which is dangerous as you may get shut out. Doubles & Q bids are obviously forcing , so bidding should be a weak competitive action.

In cramped quarters , having a D.S.I.P. competitive double based on partners last suit makes sense. The old fashioned “free bid” to show extra is extinct as the dinosaur in today’s game. Everybody wants to bid just to compete so you cannot fight city hall. One of the purposes of a D.S.I.P. double is to describe the old fashioned free bid instead of just bidding to compete. When you wish to compete , you usually have a fit for partner or else , of course , you defend. Normally doubling with a fit is a Bridge no no as conversion is possible. When the opponents have bid & raised their suit with partner showing two suits , conversion is almost impossible. A competitive double showing a fit with defensive values makes a lot of sense.

When partner shows two suits & they have found a big fit , A D.S.I.P. double just to show cards makes less sense. Keying off one of partners’ suits, the double frees up biding room & is descriptive. With the rank of suits , the 2^nd suit is quite often a major so competing at the 4 level in partners minor already shows a decent hand. When everybody just bids as in today’s game , the D.S.I.P. competitive double has to be designed to counteract this tactic. Freeing the D.S.I.P. double from the restriction of an enforcer trump stack double is just the beginning. You need to know what to do with your new found freedom of having a double assist you in competing better. A preference double is just one idea. Research continues ….