Tuesday, July 26, 2005 11:38 AM

Hand Evaluation – DBLS ( Support Dbl's & XX's )

PITBULLS:

When you have bought into the “law of total tricks” emphasizing the importance of the 4^th trump for trick taking potential , support doubles and redoubles come with the territory. Support doubles were defined to assist in competitive auctions where the opponents double or bid in the sandwich position. Memory aid “Support - Sandwich”.

Support doubles rids us of the nasty habit of raising partner with 3 trump in competition. This action adds ambiguity so the decision to compete again is clouded by not knowing how many trump the partnership holds. Penalty double decisions are also confused by not knowing the combined trump the partnership holds. Game tries and slam tries are also thrown off by the doubt created by raising with three trump .

Support doubles & redoubles revolve around sandwich position bidding. When the opponent raises , doubles or overcalls in the sandwich position and partner doubles or redoubles , the bid shows 3 card support but not saying anything about the strength of the hand. Support doubles only apply at the two level . Whenf the bid in the sandwich position forces the partnership to the 3 level , the double is not a support double. Support doubles & redoubles only apply with raising majors .

Support doubles are a subset of D.S.I.P. competitive doubles. You do not double the opponents raising their suit in the sandwich position for penalty anyway. Partner is trained to re-open with a double with the appropriate hand. Penalties are extracted the negative double way by converting. Playing D.S.I.P. doubles , doubling the opponents overcall in the sandwich is not penalty anyway, so why not further define the double as showing 3 card support ?

Most people who do not like support doubles object to the XX showing 3 card support. However , do not forget the redouble can be unlimited strength but with 3 card support. A pass and subsequent D.S.I.P. double is conceptually the same as a punitive redouble anyway, so you really do not lose anything. Just treat the pass as a penalty double or punitive redouble until you find out differently. I actually find support redoubles assist me in penalty doubles. You do not want to double the opponents when partner has 3 card support for you. When partner redoubles showing 3 card support but partner doubles for penalty , you can calmly pass knowing that you have described your hand. With the good-bad 2NT to assist in clarifying sandwich position hands you should have no trouble sorting out penalty passes.

1♦-1♥-1♠-2♥ ? is an every day auction. When partner has a distributional diamond or club hand the good-bad 2NT comes into play. A good hand in the minors is shown by bidding at the 3 level . Partner did not make a support double showing 3 trump or raise with 4 trump. The only hands left are balanced hands or a possible penalty double of spades. You know how to re-open with a double so you lose nothing by playing support doubles. You gain a lot in competitive auctions. At the 3 level , thrump doubles , maximal or D.S.I.P, doubles come into play.

Remember , support doubles are unlimited as to HCP’s . You need to clarify big support doubles later in the auction with a Q bid , invite , double or jump to game. This is true for all variable range bids so should not pose a problem. The only thing different is you double first to show the 3 card support than bid normally from there on in.