Saturday, April 08, 2006 2:25 PM

Hand Evaluation – HCP ( Slavery )

PITBULLS:

Rules are made to be broken . This a strange statement coming from me who feels that discipline is of paramount importance in the game of Bridge. What I mean is do not be a slave to the HCP system . Hand evaluation is far more important than HCP’s . This is true from the opening bid on. The quality of your HCP’s ( quick tricks ) are far more important than the total. Promote or demote Bridge hands (HCPs) so as not to be a slave to the HCP system. “Walter the Walrus counted up his points & bid” as this Victor Mollo’s character feels that HCP’s are the be all & end all. Sometimes hand evaluation skills & HCP’s are not a good mix. In the history of the game of Bridge , hand evaluation & judgment preceded HCP’s by decades. Do not get overly “hung up” with HCP’s. Do not open garbage without quick tricks just because they total 11 or 12 HCP’s or even 13 in some cases. Beginners & reliance on HCP’s are a natural mix. Time to take the next step to understand the finer points of Bridge. Get out of beginner mode !

A local pro has a system of weak two’s all based on HCP’s. One bid shows 8-10 HCP another one shows a different HCP range with a 5 card suit etc. This is utter silliness in my opinion. Who cares about HCP’s as the sole way to judge hands ? What about the distro , the quick tricks , the spot cards , quality of suit , where HCPs are located relative to the opponents bidding etc. . For 43 years of playing Bridge , I hardly noticed HCP’s. I check for quick tricks first , suit quality , distro , my partners Bud Lite intake : ) and finally I notice my HCP total. This is why terrorism is such a bad joke to me. They count up their HCP’s & desecrate opening bids by ignoring quick tricks. Do not use an opening bid as a tactic as there are other ways to con the opponents. Terrorists are just showing their Bridge ignorance both with the style they have chosen & their addiction to HCP’s. If you are not used to noting quick tricks in your hand , try it ! You will have a brand new perspective on the game of Bridge. In my opinion , for the better J .

2/1’s are the same way of thinking to not glorify HCP’s . A Tormentee held ♠Qx ♥KQJ109x ♦Q109xx ♣void & heard me open 1♠. This hand has “only 10 HCP” so she responded 1NT . We got into trouble after that as her two suiter was impossible to describe after the initial forcing 1NT. Hand evaluation shows that you have heart spots that are unbiddable . You have a 6-5 distribution which is a huge hand evaluation asset , you have a void & a partial fit in partner’s suit. This is a 2/1 bid no matter what system you play.

You hold ♠xx ♥Q1098xx ♦Axx ♣Ax & hear partner open 1♠ . Bidding theorists know that a forcing NT buries 6 card heart suits after a spade opener so it is virtually impossible to recover after that. This is a time to “break the rules” & bid a 2/1 in hearts. How badly are you “distorting “ your hand by bidding a 2/1 ? You have a hand that most people would open the bidding 1♥ ( quick tricks ) so the real distortion comes from bidding 1NT with this hand. With my partners , we not allowed to bid a forcing 1NT with 6 card heart suits. We bid 2♥/3♥ non forcing to game or a weak jump shift to 3♥ immediately. The forcing NT structure after 1♠ & 6 card heart suits are a very bad mix.

You hold ♠xx ♥x ♦xxx ♣AKJ109xx , partner opens 1♠ . Contrary to the forcing 1NT zealots this a 2♣ bid in any system . A forcing 1NT buries good suits so you rarely recover. Promote this hand to a 2/1 so you have a chance to give partner some idea of your hand. I do not have enough to force to game (HCP’s ) they lament. Yes , you do not , but it is the lesser of the two evils. Bidding 1NT with this hand is a gross distortion. Use hand evaluation to break the rules. My partners play 2♣/3♣ non forcing to game so we can avoid the forcing 1NT with these hands.

2/1 in competition are either forcing to game or 10 + HCP according to Goren. Nonsense ! Use hand evaluation instead. Partner opens 1♠ , they overcall 2♣ . You have ♠xx ♥AKJxxx ♦xxx ♣xx so bid 2♥. You have a non forcing 3♥ bid at your disposal so do not hide your nice suit. You have 10 HCP ♠Ax ♥J10xxx ♦KQx ♣xxx , same auction. I prefer a negative double rather than a 2♥ bid as you are stuck for a rebid if you bid 2♥. Who cares if you have 10 HCP in competition. Hand evaluation stipulates that a good suit is more important to show & you can always show the total of your HCP’s later by other means.

Describing quality of suits is a hand evaluation skill. With 2/1 auctions we play jumps to show solid or semi-solid suits. Do not be a slave to solid suits with these bids. Being too strict will mean this excellent bid will almost never come up ! You do not need a solid suit per se. KCB has come a long way over the years so you can find out if you are missing a queen , king or Ace in your trump suit. A semi-solid suit is defined via KCB. If you can make your suit solid via KCB , it is a semi-solid suit. KQJ1098x , AKJ109xx AQJ1098x are semi-solid suits as you are looking at the spot cards. Let KCB do the rest.

Susan Culham gave me a hand that follows the same theme. Do not be a slave to conventional treatments ! ♠QJxx ♥xxx ♦AKx ♣Q9x , partner opens 1♥ with you responding 1♠. Partner bids 2♣ so now what ? Susan says use hand evaluation & leap to 3NT ( I play 2NT as a new suit ) rather than use 4^th suit forcing. You are describing a minimum hand with a 4-3-3-3 with soft values for NT . Perfect ! I agree with Susan that 4^th suit forcing is a real distortion with this hand as partner has a right to expect a better hand by going that route . She might later push the auction to an uncomfortable level. Hand evaluation skills vrs HCP’s is no contest. Do not go to tournaments without it !!