Saturday, January 06, 2007 11:15 PM

Hand Evaluation - Fast Arrival ( Jumps to Game )

PITBULLS:

One of the worst hand evaluation or bidding habits coming out of the Goren era is jumping to game to show HCP strength. This way of showing strength is just plain wrong as it violates the principle of “fast arrival”. You do not “eat up” bidding space to show HCP strength by jumping to game. This horrible practice drove players to forcing club systems. By bidding like this , you are in effect pre-empting your own partner ! “Fast arrival” to game is a hand evaluation concept to show weakness or a lack of interest which contradicts some of Goren’s standard HCP totaling ideas.

Here is an auction by two New York experts Neil Silverman & Alvin Roth a couple of decades ago . I find it mind boggling. ♠Ax ♥Kx ♦AKxx ♣AQJxx opposite ♠x ♥A10xx ♦Q10987x ♣Kx as you can see they make 7NT or 7 of a minor. The auction went 1♣-P-1♦-P 3NT-P-P-P . Jumping to 3NT to show a huge hand is idiotic. In today’s game , it is a “picture bid” to show a gambling 3NT bid with an outside card with no fit for partners first suit. I would open the hand an off shape 2NT , thru re-stayman find our 6-4 diamond fit & get to 7♦. Not very tough , when you choose not to pre-empt partner by jumping to game.

When you open one of a major , partner responds at the one level, a leap to game in your major suit should not be a strong hand. The bid shows a hand that you could not open a 4 level pre-empt because you had an outside card. Jumping to game with huge hands just pre-empts partner. The multi- 3♣ jump shift was invented to prevent this horrible practice. The 3♣ understanding is not quite as good as a forcing club, but at least it is at the lower end of the 3 level to leave room. A tormentee held this hand against me. ♠x ♥AKQ109xx ♦Q109x ♣K so how do you bid it ? This hand is too strong to open a pre-empt of 4♥ as you have too much on the outside. You open 1♥ , partner responds one spade. This is a classic 4♥ rebid saying partner I have a 4♥ pre-empt but I am too strong as I have some outside cards. A 3♥ rebid shows a 6 card heart suit with an invitational hand with 16-18 HCP’s counting distribution. The 4 heart rebid describes your 7^th heart for you & your distribution. Partner has ♠AKxxx ♥x ♦AKxxx ♣xx so now knows that you must have a club control or you would have opened 4♥. After KCB , you settle in 6♥ making 7 when they fail to cash their Ace.

Change the hand a little bit . ♠x ♥AKQ10xxx ♦Q109x ♣A , in my opinion this hand is too strong to rebid 4♥. I would rebid 3♣ which demands partner to bid 3♦. I now bid 4♥ so partner pictures a huge 4♥ rebid hand. Partner now takes control & drives the hand to a grand slam.

“Fast arrival” to game after a 2/1 or a forcing to game bid shows weakness , usually no controls & no slam interest. It is the proverbial “death response” after partner forces to game. The “fast arrival to game” concept should apply even if partner has not forced to game , in my opinion. There are some Goren contradictions to “fast arrival” that you should purge from your system . 1♠/♥-P-1NT & a leap to game in your major or 3NT. Both these bids pre-empt responder. Bid 3♣ with the huge major hand , 2NT with the balanced 18-19 HCP rather than leaping to game. The Goren practice of 1 of a suit opened , response of a major & a leap to 4 of a major with a balanced hand. Do not do it ! Bid 2NT with a balanced hand or 3♣ if you are all controls. Leaping to 4 of a major can now be distributional. 1 of a minor & partner responds 1NT. Do not leap to 3NT to “show” 18-19 HCP’s . Bid 2NT with those hands as the bid is essentially idle anyway. 3NT can now be a “picture bid “ with a long minor.

Avoid leaping to 3NT as responder in 4^th suit forcing auctions at the two level. Avoid leaping to 3NT in any auction unless it is a picture bid. The “godfather 2NT” bid by responder preserves fast arrival of 3NT to mean a picture bid. So if you are pre-empting partner , at least you are doing it for a reason. Present day standard bidding was invented by Goren in the 1940’s to introduce his new HCP concept & keep bidding simple for the masses. He based his entire system on totaling HCP’s !! This is only one of many hand evaluation indicators. ! Some of his ideas have not passed the test of time & drove people to forcing club systems. When you do not like forcing club systems , you must tweak some of Goren’s ideas that do not make sense. Leaping to game to show strength makes no bidding sense. Do not use up bidding room all the way to game in order to show strength ! Maybe we do not need to convert to a forcing 1♣ system after all to bid properly !!