2007-12-21 06:18
Hand Evaluation – HCPS
( Counting )
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
when you are a Bridge expert.
We play Bridge as a cerebral hobby. Keeping
our gray matter exercised helps us
as we age. “If you do not use it , you
lose it “ medical people advise us. Being lazy & not counting
HCP’s as they unfold
is unacceptable if you want to
play good Bridge.
I was born with the worst memory
known to humans & I can do it.
That being said , anybody else can. Your level of
Bridge goes up a notch when you
have this excellent habit ingrained for defense
& declarer play at the Bridge table.
Defense in Bridge requires a plan.
There are two ways to obtain this plan. One way as we all know is
translating bidding ,
leads etc into hand patterns or HCP’s.
The other is being a human HCP odometer. You
have an idea of their HCP’s from the bidding
so you turn on your brain’s memory cells to “record”
for the defensive session. It is
simple as telling yourself to
do it. Here is Tom Gandolfo in action to show how
simple obtaining a defensive plan can be.
Tom held ♠Kx
♥AJx ♦xxxx ♣Qxxx & heard the auction get passed around to 4th chair to a
1♠ opening . They bid 1NT & 4th
chair rebid 2♠. An invitational 3♠ ensued & this was passed. Tom decided to lead 4th best
club,, the
board hit with ♠109x ♥Qxx ♦K1098
♣KJx . Declarer put in the jack , partner the deuce & declarer small. You have recorded your first
piece of information that declarer as the club
Ace. 4 HCP’s accumulated thus far in our human odometer. Declarer now leads a trump & inserts the
♠Q as you win your king. Now what ? It should be all over as your odometer places the ♠AQJ
in declarers hand. Declarer should be virtually “all
in” as far as HCP’s are concerned to be consistent
with the bidding. Partner should
have the rest of the HCP’s that you do not have. Partner’s low club could mean
four of them so declarer might get a pitch on the club. You switch to a red
suit & cash your 4 red tricks
for down one & +5 IMPS. If you did not count HCP’s , you may return a club
for –140.
The next hand was Tom
again against Susan . Susan opened 1♠ vul & NV Tom decided not to
overcall 1NT with a 14 HCP
hand that evaluated to 15 HCP’s. ♠KJx ♥Jxx ♦Kx ♣AQ987 . Maurice
responded 1NT & Susan rebid 2♠ which ended the auction. 3NT Tom’s way , does make but due to the vulnerability it does not
matter as you may set a vul 2♠ enough to compensate for your nv game !!
♠x ♥Qxx ♦Jxxx ♣KJ10xx ( board ) . I hate leading blind so I would have led the ♣A
but Tom guessed to try the ♦K . Susan won &
led the diamond 10 which Kiz won with the queen. The HCP recorder being
activated means that Susan has shown up with the ♦A. Kiz returned the club 3 which is an obvious singleton so
you win your ace & give Kiz a ruff.
Kiz returns a diamond so you ruff as Susan pitches a
heart. No return looks attractive but you know Susan is 6-3-2-2 by now, so you switch to a heart. Susan tries
the heart queen , Kiz covers
with the King & Susan wins with the Ace. Susan leads a spade & you win
with your jack. Your HCP recorder tells you that Susan has a 10 HCP opener so
you cash your heart & lead a club which Kiz ruffs
with her trump Ace. Your side took 1♥ , 1♦, 1♣ & 5 trump
for 3 down vul so you virtually got your nv 3NT back for +300 !!
Defense is just relegated to just a series of guesses , if
you do not apply patterns &
count HCP’s the two basics of expert defense. When you have
played Bridge a long time , you can make educated
guesses but they are still guesses nevertheless.
Applying patterns & counting HCP’s turn guesses into certainties
& elevates your game a notch. Develop this habit !!