Sunday, June 11, 2006 1:07 AM

Hand Evaluation - Dbls ( The Redouble )

PITBULLS:

Despite what Bergen & Cohen preach , the purpose of bidding is not to play every hand. The bridge scoring system rewards sets more than playing the hand. When your side has a non fit with the balance of power the goal is to have the opponents play the hand doubled . The XX of a T/O double was invented to show 10 + HCP’s & generally no fit with partner. The purpose of the bid is to alert partner that the opponents are in trouble so do not bid in front of me to rescue the opponents. In fact , when you do bid in front of partner, it means that you would have pulled any penalty double due to distribution.

A Tormentee shocked me tonight as she did not appear to understand the purpose of a redouble. Equal vul (nv ) the auction went 1♦-X-XX-P 2NT . What does 2NT mean as there is no such bid !! You cannot have a balanced 18-19 HCP’s because the opponents are going to be slaughtered & you are just rescuing them. Even when you can make slam 990 for example , the set should be in the 1100-1400 range. On the hand that she bid 2NT , the opponents can be held to one or two tricks in any doubled contract they wish to play. When they wiggle out to a good spot , you still have time to bid your slam or game. The best of both worlds. This is why an opening bid requires defense as well as offensive potential. If bridge was just straight bidding until you played a contract , your opening bids could reflect that philosophy. A punitive XX would not be necessary in Bridge as playing the hand is the only goal.

Do not forget that the redouble negates D.S.I.P. competitive double theory. The XX says we own the auction so start doubling for penalty. This is a direct redouble after a T/O dbl or a redouble after they balance. Also D.S.I.P. theory is modified when they balance. We play the over/under rule. When the doubler is behind the suit , it is penalty. Whan the doubler is in front of the suit , it means D.S.I.P. competitive . The redouble of course changes all that as a double in front or behind the suit is penalty.

I have been going over old Bridge Worlds on write ups by Edgar Kaplan of Spingolds , Vanderbilts and Bermuda bowls. I have been paying attention to Rodwell/Meckstroth who because of their forcing club , open anything regardless of quick tricks. I have noticed that in competitive auctions they give each other maximum leeway so rarely double the opponents for penalty when they do not open 1♣. This is because they do not trust each other’s openers.

Here is an auction where Rodwell opens 1♠ ( 2^Nd seat equal nv ) on ♠QJxxx ♥Kxxx ♦Axx ♣K , Meckstroth bids 2♠ on ♠xxx ♥QJ ♦KJ10x ♣QJxx . This goes around to the balancer who doubles. Meckstroth does not even redouble as responder due to their opening bid style ! The opponents bid 3♣ so around to Meckstroth . He puts the green card on the table. The opponents go down 3 for +150 but they can make 3♠ for a nothing board right ? Wrong , their partners were doubled in 3♣ at the other table so went for –500 so lose 12 IMPS.

This “style” of opening bids is one adopted by the followers of Bergens writings ( garbage openers ) . What it does is put extreme pressure on the partnership because the opening bid does not mean what it has since Bridge was invented. The opening bid promised defense not just offense. This is why I am saying that your opening bids defines your Bridge style. I call it “terrorism” because your partner has no idea what your hand is after you opened. Just watch the contortions that Alex Fowlie goes threw to interpret a Willard “opener” or Ray Graces partner etc. This erodes partnership trust & confidence so has an adverse effect on partnership decision making. This is very obvious.

Playing D.S.I.P. competitive double theory , you must xx to turn it off when opponents balance. When you pass followed by a double , partner will interpret the double as D.S.I.P. competitive as you are in front of the suit & you failed to XX. You would not double the only spot you can beat anyway. The XX negates D.S.I.P. theory.

To say I am against this opening bid “style” of ignoring defensive requirements is the biggest understatement of a lifetime. Garbage openers changes partnership Bridge to a guessing game. Do you really want these people as teammates ? I certainly do not. You hold ♠AKQ109x ♥xx ♦Jx ♣Jxx vul & 3 players whose combined Bridge experience was 100 years also held the same hand. All 3 of them came up with a different opening bid. In fact , Pitbull Pat in the CWTC finals came up with a 4^th bid with a similar hand. Nv vrs vul she knows that these hand types are very weak defensively , so she opened 4♠ !! She was doubled , went for 300 but Kiz made a vul 6♦ at the other table ! I opened 3♠ with this hand as I thought the strength of my spades equated to a 7 card suit ( equivalent to KQJ10xxx ) . Vince Nowlan opened this hand 2♠ with my partner BJ Trelford agreeing that that was the correct bid. A 3^rd person opened this hand 1♠ vul vrs not despite the lack of defensive tricks. A singleton spade wipes out your entire hand for defensive purposes so the opponents will undoubtedly make their doubled contract if that happened. Partner is put in a bad position because she has no idea that you “opened” a hand with no cards outside your suit with such an extreme lack of defense. Partner will not get a “picture” of your hand so pulling penalty doubles vul vrs not at the 4 level could be expensive. Nv vrs vul ( terrorist vul ) a different story as I would open 1♠.

You can get away with such “openers” if you tell partner she is not allowed to make a penalty double or make a competitive decision or bid a game/ slam or a punitive XX . Partner cannot double based on the controls ( quick tricks ) you are advertising by opening a bid at the one level. Quite a price to pay ( silencing partner ) though so some people label you as a Bridge terrorist . Others say you just lack the discipline to describe your opening bids properly to partner. Still others say you do not know enough to realize what constitutes an opening bid.