The beginning of D.S.I.P.
Friday,
August 09, 2002 3:30 PM
Hand
Evaluation - Forcing Pass ( D.S.I.P. is born )
PITBULLS:
Tactical bidding by the opponents bring in the element of judgment with penalty doubles . O.K. I am going to get up on my soap box here because I feel very strongly about this . In rubber bridge quite a few ( all ? ) of your partners lack judgment in penalty double situations. For them a platitude like " you never pull my penalty doubles" will earn you money in the long run i.e. you do not have to trust them to use judgment that they do not have . For a good partnership to have this understanding that "you never pull penalty doubles" is down right insulting . Sometimes partner wants penalty doubles to be pulled even using forcing pass theory. These type of doubles are called Do Something Intelligent Partner so require partner to be at the table as well as using good judgment . You must listen to the opponent’s bidding as well as partner’s bidding. These doubles normally occur when you are just competing but can also occur in forcing pass situations. Rote rules or platitudes just do not cut it when you are playing with your regular partner at expert levels. The penalty double is an ambiguous bid in Bridge . Ambiguity , like in a language , needs clarification from the context it was used to define its meaning. In Bridge this means that the auction sometimes determines the meaning of the penalty double. In other words , thought is required rather than blindly adhering to rote rules or platitudes.
An example hand was a hand that I had with my ex partner on pulling penalty doubles . Mr. Jones had ♠KQ ♥void ♦AKxxx ♣10987xx , opened 1♦. LHO bid 2♦ so I doubled showing one or both the majors with a good hand . This double turned on forcing passes saying we owned this auction. RHO bid 4♥ so with the forcing pass element on & "being at the table" that I could not possibly have hearts , I doubled so that partner could do something. A double in a forcing pass auction does not simply mean I have a trump stack in their suit when the auction clearly dictates that I should not have. The double just means from my perspective this is the best way for our side to get a plus. I do not have diamonds or hearts ( unless opponents are suicidal ) so I must have spades & clubs . Therefore , it is an easy pull to 5♣ with Peters hand . 5♣ makes but 4♥ doubled makes the other direction . This is not a tough hand . Gordon Campbell summed it up best with a touch of humour when I gave him the hand for his opinion ..
"Accordingly, he
must Dble with many hands (with even more extras than
the initial Dble showed) which are not necessarily
penalty-oriented but are of the "we-have-lots-of-stuff-but-I-don't-have-a-clear-action"
type of double.
My coined terminology
is the DSIP Double. (Do Something Intelligent Partner)
And yes, Partner
should not play like Rueful Rabbit - and muse on the existence of there being
16 Hearts in the deal, while he gurgles on his ginger bikky.
He does have to be at
the table.
He should listen to
the Opponents, as well as Partner.
I get very worried
when they are too confident. "
My partner tonight showed good
judgment on a forcing pass auction. He held ♠Axxx ♥xx
♦AKxxxx ♣x , vul against
not opened 1♦. The opponents bid 2NT for
hearts & clubs. I doubled which turned on forcing passes. However , the opponents leapt to 4♥
telling everybody at the table they owned the heart suit. The bid came around to me who doubled.
Partner did not just blindly pass because partner made a penalty double
in a forcing pass auction. Partner realized from the context of the
bidding that I could not possibly have a trump stack double , even in a forcing pass auction . I must be
asking him to do something intelligent. Partner bid 4♠ which told
me he had some distribution with 5 or 6 diamonds. He would have just passed
with all flat hands & lead a trump. I leapt to 6♦
so partner made +1370. When the opponents sound too confident … ( See Gordon Campbells comment
above )
O.K. I held a hand last night with Tom against the Bartons
that I think the D.S.I.P. competitive double rule applies with
penalty doubles .
I
held ♠Ax ♥xx ♦AK ♣KJ1098xx with everybody vul . I
opened 1♣ , Tom bid a spade with my RHO bidding
2♣ alerted to be a two suiter in hearts &
diamonds with shortness in clubs . I felt like leaping to 4♣ but I did
not want to go past 3NT so I bid 3♣ . LHO bid 3♦ so around to me again .
O.K. one last desperate attempt at 3NT so I bid 3♥
which LHO doubled but Tom bid 4♣ . RHO bid 4♦ with lots of
confidence knowing they owned the diamond suit. I wanted to bid 5♣
very badly but why take such a single handed action ?
I have 4♦ booked in my own hand
& I am short in his spade suit , so why not put partner in the picture with a
D.S.I.P. competitive double ? When they own their trump suit from the context of the auction
, a double is D.S.I.P ( co-operative ) .
When partner holds ♠Jxxxx ♥x
♦xxx ♣Axxx
4♦ makes and 5♣ makes
When partner holds ♠KQxx ♥Jxx ♦xx ♣xxxx
4♦ goes for 500 and 5♣ goes for 500
When partner holds ♠Jxxx ♥Jxx ♦xx ♣Axxx
4♦ makes and 5♣ goes 1 down
Partner must use her
judgment depending on the club & his spade holding on these type of
auctions. Platitudes like not pulling partners penalty doubles do not apply here . Partner
wants you to pull with the appropriate hand !! Partner expects
your HCP’s to be located
in spades as you bid them. If they are not ,
it is a danger sign that the opponents cards are working well for them.
Frustrations
with penalty doubles in
competition for many , many years lead me
to believe that trump stack doubles
should become extinct in competition. These penalty doubles are single
handed anyway so do not really
involve partnership Bridge. Telling an expert
partner not to pull “MY” penalty doubles is insulting. There has to
be a better way L.