Friday, June 20, 2003 2:32 AM

Hand Evaluation - Dbls ( One level )

PITBULLS:

Expert players who can defend should not have an aversion to defending one level contracts doubled . Sometimes these are the bloodiest penalties with game sometimes questionable your way. The redouble in Bridge most often signals no fit so says “let me at them” . Even if your philosophy is many negative or D.S.I.P. doubles at the one & two level , the redouble is certainly a special case where penalty doubles are the order of the day. One level doubles bring into play the very basic of Bridge concepts that Bridge is played in a clockwise direction. When the honour cards in a trump suit & outstanding HCP’s in general are sitting over the dummy , things can go very bad for the declarer with very little assets herself. The XX was invented as a signal that the opponents may be in serious trouble & usually announces a misfit your way.

Recently in an IMP game an unfortunate declarer went for -1400 in 1♠X & yes we can make 4♥ for 420 our way. This result was setup by not rescuing a 1♣ opening vul vrs nv by overcalling 1NT initially. A simple result of the “playing the vulnerability strategy”. An experienced Bridge player recommended that a player who opened 1♦ on ♠xx ♥xx ♦AQxxx ♣AKxx should bid in front of her partner who redoubled & I quote “because we do not like 1 level penalty doubles”. I am an old rubber bridge player. I equate that silly statement to mean “I do not like money” or IMPS or match points. Wrong , just plain wrong.

Andrew Speers brought up a hand where the concept of preparing for a one level double is highlighted.

x	x	A	x
x	x	K	x
		Q	x
		x	x
		x

Everybody vul , partner opens 1♣ in 4^th seat . You bid a diamond , your LHO backs in with a double . Partner redoubles which is punitive & promises no fit . Your RHO passes so it is your bid . Think of what is going on here. You have 9 HCP instead of 6 , they are all concentrated in diamonds where partner is short and expects your points to be . True your 4 clubs do not help the defensive cause but you are doubleton in both majors. This means that if partner is 4-4 in the majors the opponents are on a Moysean at best. Think of card location. Partners majors are located behind the majors in the doubler’s hand. This could kill honour cards and major suit finesses will all lose. Now think HCP . LHO is a passed hand so probably has 10 . Partner who redoubled can be 16-20 . This means you out gun them horribly in HCP so the worst case scenario for them is that your side has 29 HCP .

Peter Jones says he might double with the diamond hand , when RHO bids a major since he smells blood . I would pass so when partner doubles I would be more than happy to defend . This could be very ugly for the opponents as my HCP concentration is where partner expects them to be in my bid suit.. Just as an example , lets construct a possible hand for the doubler of one of a major.

K	K	J	Q
Q	J	10
x	x	9
x	x	x

A	A	x	A
J	Q		J
10	10		x
9	9		x

They end up in 1♥X so your trump lead is mandatory . Partner wins a small heart & leads a diamond . You win & lead another heart .Declarer tries the heart jack & the queen wins . Partner cashes the heart Ace ,the club Ace & leads the 4^th heart . Declarer wins the King. Declarer leads a diamond , you win & come back a spade. Declarer will be lucky to come out with 3 tricks . That is +1100 . 3NT might even go down your way ! We could vary the cards so the result could be -1700 to -500 . We gave the board 12 HCP & the redoubler only 16 HCP. It could be a lot worse.

O.K. back up and what does a bid of 2♦ mean after partner redoubles ? When you bid in front of an impending penalty double this means that you are weak & distributional so you would have pulled the double . When you pass first & pull the double, it is from a position of strength not weakness ( the same forcing pass criteria as high level contracts ). You probably have a monstrous club fit so you want to bid your grand or small slam in clubs . Say you had ♠xx ♥x ♦Axxxx ♣KQ109x which will lead you to +1370 in clubs . You pull the double to 3♣ so you are on your way.

Direct penalty doubles of a one level overcall , are shown by the pass. The rule for re-opening to protect partners pass is would I pull a standard penalty double ? In other words , I do not have the defense I promised for an opening bid or bizarre distribution where defending a one level contract would be inappropriate. When the answer to those questions is negative, you are making a poor gamble by passing. You are making a systemic blunder as you must re-open with a double unless you have a very good reason not to. Otherwise , you are just gambling & leaving partner out of the picture.

I notice a lot of people shunning low level doubles so I think it goes back to their “puppyhood” in Bridge development where one level doubled contracts did not yield good results. That was because you did not know how to defend !! You grow into 1 level penalty doubles as you mature in the game of Bridge.