Thursday, September 28, 2006 2:15 AM

Hand Evaluation - Counting HCP'S ( Bidding )

PITBULLS:

            With years of experience in the game of Bridge , counting HCP’s becomes a routine skill. More advanced counting of HCP’s is during the hand as declarer or on defense. This is called being a “human odometer” as you keep track of HCP’s as they are being played. This skill can also become routine with practice . This skill is assumed if you are a Bridge expert.

            The last domain for the counting of HCP’s is during the bidding . This is called quantitative bidding. You add partners announced bids to yours & make partial , game & slam decisions. Balancing is also done by adding expected HCP’s that the opponents have shown & weighing the risks of entering the auction.

            Counting HCP’s is a way of a check back for leaving in penalty doubles of your 3NT doubled. A bid I like which was invented by Meckwell apparently is the XX expressing doubt. Your partner makes a bid that shows a particular HCP range & lands in 3NT. You are not sure if the contract will make or not. A pass says partner lets play it in 3NT. A XX says “I have doubt” whether 3NT can make but I do have some values or I would be running. If you have extra , lets play it here. A solid partnership understanding for handling 3NTX contracts..

            Counting HCP’s can assist you in making a decision whether to leave in your doubled 3NT contract.  Perry opened 1♥ with ♠xx ♥KQJxx ♦KJx ♣K10x  ,  they overcalled 2♣. I bid 2♦ & Perry bid 2NT as would every Bridge player on the planet. I carried on to 3NT & this was passed around to the overcaller who doubled. I did not pull 3NT but I passed saying lets play this contract. Should Perry believe the doubler & pull ? No , a simple count of HCP’s makes passing clear cut. Partner has no HCP’s in clubs or he probably would have XX’d showing club values. Partner has shown 13-14 HCP’s on the bidding so where are they , looking at your hand ? The Ace of hearts & AQ of diamonds is not enough as that is only 10 HCP’s so not consistent with the bidding. Partner must have spade cards also . The doubler is gambling on a club lead , getting in with the spade Ace & running his clubs. You have a surprise for him as you can count 11 tricks before he leads ! You XX so they are in serious trouble as they are vul vrs not. An unmitigated disaster for them as you took the time to count partners HCP’s.

            Counting HCP’s during the bidding comes up frequently in slam bidding. If partner makes a quantitative bid showing X number of HCP’s , you just do arithmetic & leap to the correct level. Counting HCP’s are made easier if partner makes a splinter bid as you can discount HCP’s in that suit. A tormentee held this hand ♠AQJxx ♥A ♦AQxx ♣KQx & partner opened 1♠ . She bid 2NT & partner showed a stiff ♥ . This auction is now over.  Partner has an opening bid with no HCP’s in hearts so where are they ? ♠K , ♦KJ  & ♣AJ is only 12 HCP so where is the opening bid ? You say skip bid 7♠ & partner should be able to claim as your hand is completely filled in. A splinter gives you a clue to count partners HCP’s during the auction. There are 40 HCP’s in the deck.

            Here is a hand where counting HCP’s when partner is a passed hand is the key to success. In 3^rd seat vul my partner opened 1♣ & Osama overcalled 1♦ . As a passed hand , I bid 2♠ with ♠J10876x ♥x ♦Q9x ♣QJx  . Partner has ♠void ♥AQJx ♦AJxx ♣AKxxx so bells should start ringing. Why didn’t partner open a weak 2♠ in first seat ? The obvious answer is that her spade suit was not good enough but when partner opens the bidding , you can take the chance with a weak jump shift. OK , if partner does not have HCP’s in spades where are they ? If not in diamonds given the overcall , not in spades so they must be in clubs & hearts . Happiness , you may have 9 top tricks in NT , so you leap to 3NT which is cold for +600. Partner missed the weak 2♠ inference & thought my HCP’s were in spades which does not make any sense. He passed 2♠ & I went down 2 vul on a cross ruff when 3NT was lay down.

            Doubling NT contracts & leaving in the double or their XX is simply counting HCP’s during the auction. Some dreadful Bridge decisions were made recently because the players simply did not bother to count the HCP’s during the auction. This blunder resulted in very expensive wrong decisions as 1NTXX making vul is –760 . Counting HCP’s during the bidding meant the HCP’s were evenly divided 20-20 so risking a XX game contract was silly. Too close to call for that sort of gambling.