Thursday, September 21, 2006
4:07 AM
Hand Evaluation – HCPs ( Transferable Values )
PITBULLS:
Looking at Bridge
from the top down, you can classify all biddable Bridge hands
into two hand types. These hand types are offensive hands or defensive
hands. Bridge hands are characterized by the Bridge basics or hand
patterns & type of HCPs.
There are defensive hand patterns & there are offensive hand
patterns. The defensive hand patterns are the balanced ones. These hands
do not play well but are excellent on defense. The hand patterns are
4-4-3-2 , 4-3-3-3 , 4-4-4-1 , 5-3-3-2 , 5-4-2-2 and
5-4-3-1 are the worst for offense. Hands with 6 card suits or more , 5-5 and 5-4-4-0
patterns are built for offense.
HCP’s are also taken into consideration to classify hand types. The scale for HCP’s takes into account the relative importance of Aces as opposed
to King or queens & jacks. However the total
is not enough. You must determine if HCP’s
are in quick trick combinations
& therefore transferable. You can transform 10 ,
11 ,12 or 13 HCP hands from garbage to opening bids by re-arranging the same HCP’s
into quick trick combination.. ♠Axxxx ♥Qxxx ♦Qx ♣Kx is a garbage non opener but arrange your same hand
into quick tricks , you have an
opening bid ( 2 ½ quick tricks ) ♠AQxxx ♥KQxx ♦xx ♣xx ! You
can describe quick tricks ( transferable values ) to partner by your choice
of bids. A double or
an opening bid does
the job nicely.
The decision whether to make a T/O double , overcall , Q bid
or use a systemic toy is usually based on whether we have a defensive
hand or offensive hand. If you have a defensive hand type , you choose a double or NT bid.
If you have an offensive hand , you bid or Q bid .
Bridge is a simple game. A double
is defined as a HCP hand evaluation concept meaning that you have defense
usually measured in transferable quick
tricks. If you do not have defense ( quick
tricks ) , choose a different bid ! Partner is allowed to convert
your double based on the fact that you have shown defense !! Let partner
know whether you have a defensive or offensive hand via showing the
quality of your HCP’s. Tom Gandolfo
had ♠x ♥KQx ♦Kxxx ♣AJ10xx , everybody vul he
heard the auction go 1♠-P-2♠-? So what is your choice of bids
? You do not have a classic
T/O double as you do not have the 4th heart. However, your hand is defensive
orientated ( 3 quick tricks ) so
you double rather than overcall or make a systemic bid like 2NT. Why commit this hand to 3 of a minor vul
when partner could hold spades for a penalty
conversion or 5 or 6 hearts for a heart contract ?
Let the nature of your HCP’s choose the best lie for you.
In all competitive auctions or
forcing pass auctions where you “own
the hand” , it is ultimately going to come down
to a basic decision. Do we double them or bid again
? The answer invariably comes down to judging whether your hand is defense
or offensive orientated using the above criteria. A tormentee held this hand tonight ♠AQxx ♥QJxxx ♦Ax ♣AQ , opened 1♥ vul
vrs vul. I bid 1NT , they overcalled 2♦ vul
. You bid 2♠ to show your reverse , partner bids 3♥ & they
now bid 4♦. Is your hand built for offense or
defense ? You have the 5-4-2-2 flat
pattern so that is defensive in nature. Your HCP’s are
concentrated in your two doubleton’s rather than in your long suits so that
shows defense as opposed to offense . The nature of your cards are controls
( 4 quick tricks ) which are transferable
to defense so what do you do ?
Bidding 4♥ is not an option as partner may even be raising on 2 hearts with lots of HCP’s on her own. You have
already described your hand by reversing so there is captaincy involved.
Partner knows more about your hand than you do of his. So it’s up
to you to assist partner in making
the right decision. Your choices come down to a forcing pass
which means I have a preference to play this hand or a double saying
my hand is more suited to defending . You double 4♦ , lead the diamond Ace
& the board comes down with 5-5 in the majors ( whew ! ) . You beat 4♦ for 1100 . The Tormentee
bid 4♥ unilaterally effectively bidding
her hand again but incorrectly. You are bidding
again & removing partner from the decision so you must be something
like ♠AKJx ♥KQJ10xx ♦x ♣Ax that partner does not expect. They doubled 4♥ , I XX’d with my 9 HCP & Ax of
trump so that went for -1600. Hand evaluation via patterns & HCPs makes a difference
of 2700 points !
A recent disaster by a Tormentee
should have been avoided by thinking defensive vrs
offensive hand types. A 4-4-4-1 is a defensive hand type so
partners will bend over backwards to double with that hand. This allows
partner the opportunity to convert for penalty or bid 3NT. Recently
the auction went 3♣-4♣-P-? so what does the 4♣ bid mean ? It must be an offensive
hand type as there was no double. The bid is most likely a two suiter in
the majors but it could be any very strong two suiter.
The Tormentee thought the bid was for T/O which means
partner was making a poor
choice of bids , so a 2400 swing resulted.
Down 1400 in 6♦X , when 6♥ was a claim their way.
In the balancing or re-opening spot ,
you inform partner whether you have a defensive or offensive hand, One
of the worst ambiguities coming from the Goren era of Bridge is jumping to show HCP
strength. This is backwards
as it uses valuable bidding space & reduces your options. Jumping
should show strength thru distribution & not HCP’s. Inform partner of your defensive hand & quick tricks through a double
& not jumping. ♠AQ10x ♥KJx ♦x ♣ AKQxx , you open 1♣ & they overcall 1♦ so back to you. You of course double rather than jump to 2♠ to show your strength ( 19 HCP & 4 quick tricks ). This double describes your
hand type & defense so partner has more options including passing 1♦. My partner bid 2♠
with this hand effectively misdescribing his hand
& removing one of my options to convert for penalty. Partner
visualizes a distributional 2 suiter when 2♠ is
the call.
You have ♠x ♥K1098 ♦K1098xx ♣xx & LHO opens 1♠ , partner passes & LHO bids 1NT. You pass & opener bids 2♠
so around to you again. You want to balance but with what ?
You cannot double as that shows defense & you have a very offensive type of
playing hand ( 1 quick trick ) . You bid 2NT & partner bids 3♣ so you
equal level convert to 3♦. All pass & you make 3♦ for 110. 2♠ makes the opposite direction but if you double showing
defense , partner
converts for –470 which is what happened after the 1 quick trick double. Partner gives you leeway with toys & suit bids but not doubles. Quick tricks
are associated with doubles. Basic Bridge thinking.
The vulnerability
, nature of your controls ( quick tricks ) as well as defensive or offensive determines
whether you bid a toy ( offense ) or a double showing defense. Nv vrs nv
a good player held ♠xx ♥AKQxx ♦Axxx ♣xx . The auction went 1♣-P-4♠-? . It is usually a good idea to get into these types of auctions , so do
you bid 4NT or double for the red suits ? You have defense
measured in controls ( 3 quick tricks )
, a 5-4-2-2 , so the double is far more flexible especially on this
vulnerability. You double , partner holds ♠xx
♥Jx ♦Qxxx ♣Q109xx so partner exercises his option of passing. Why
not bid 5♦ ? It is equal
vulnerability & partner promises defense by her choice of bids.
Partner’s action ( choice of bids ) assists your decision as partner
brought you into the decision making
process by making a flexible double describing your HCP type ( transferable ) . When partner
bids 4NT describing a different hand type ( HCPs ) , I
would bid 5♦ Partner cashes 3♥ & 1♦ & 4♠X goes one down. 5♦X goes for 1100 which
was quite an expensive pseudo. Partner actually bid 4NT initially unaware
of her quick tricks so I had no option
but go for an 1100 pseudo L . Not counting or being aware of your quick tricks result in bad judgment decisions time after time
starting from the opening bid on.
When your side owns
the auction, allow partner in on the decision making process by describing
your hand as either offensive or defensive. The
opponents interfering in your auction gives you lucrative options so let
forcing pass theory guide you to the
best result. Bridge is a partnership game . You only
have to bid your hand once so partner can become part of the decision
making process via captaincy. Use the quality of your HCP’s ( quick tricks )
& your hand pattern to make that determination for partner.