Monday, May 21, 2007 2:44 AM
Hand Evaluation – HCPS ( Playing the Vulnerability )
PITBULLS:
Playing the vulnerability should be a clear Bridge strategy. You make different
bids depending
on the vulnerability. It’s not
quite that simple. Quick tricks must enter in your Bridge decision
also. Actually by your choice of bids ,
you can advise partner of the nature of the HCP’s
you hold not just the total. Quick tricks
virtually determine your playing the vulnerability
tactic . Count your quick tricks in making your Bridge
decisions like the early great of bridge did. Totalling
HCP’s are only a guide. Bridge is a trick taking game.
Pre-empts & quick tricks do not mix. Partners assumes little or no defense when you
pre-empt. You are a disciplined pre-empter on 3 of the 4 vulnerabilities. Not so on the terrorist vulnerability.
You hold ♠xxx ♥Qxx ♦KJ109xx
♣x , you are on the terrorist vulnerability with very little defense
measured in quick tricks. You do not have a weak 2♦ available, so you pre-empt 3♦ . Tell partner & the opponents you had a heart mixed in with your diamonds J
. You are nv vrs vul , in
addition, partner is a passed hand.
RHO opens 1♠, you have ♠x ♥KJ98xx ♦A10xx ♣xx . On the terrorist vulnerability , partner will
give you enough leeway so you can overcall
2♥. You do this to setup nv
sacrifices against vul opponents or otherwise make a nuisance of yourself in
their auction. You have 1
½ quick tricks , so a 2♥ overcall is preferred to a pre-empt as partner
will be able to make a better decision later. Meager values for this overcall but some transferable values.
The person who held this hand bid 3♥ because partner
was a passed hand. Wrong !
She set partner up for failure who later made a pseudo
sacrifice.
You hold ♠KQx ♥KQJ109 ♦AQx ♣Kx , you are on the terrorist vulnerability. Your RHO surprises you by
opening a vul 2♥ against a nv opponent. On the 3 other vulnerabilities , you double & leap to 3NT. You do not want to talked out of your game & partner should not have the strength to balance. On this vulnerability
, who cares if partner does not have enough to balance ! A game your way
is only 400 anyway & they are
heading for 4 or 5 down vul !! If partner does
have enough to balance with a double , you are looking
at +1400 to +1700. You have nothing to lose by passing on this one
vulnerability & a lot to gain.
You are all quick tricks
with a horrible trump stack for
them.
You hold ♠KQJx ♥J10x ♦Q1098 ♣AQ , they are vul & you
are not. Partner opens 1♣ , they overcall 1♦. On the other 3
vulnerabilities , passing is silly as 1♦X is not going
to compensate for your very probable game.
Playing negative doubles , partner will bend over backwards to re-open
with a double if she has the quick tricks to
do so. Partner has ♠xxxx ♥AKx ♦Ax
♣Jxxx so with 3
defensive tricks & diamond shortness will always protect your pass with a re-opening double with
that much defense measured in quick tricks.
When they are vul with you not , go for the home run
of +800 as that will double your game value. Do
not look at your HCP’s for
re-opening doubles, but pay more attention
to your quick tricks.
You announce quick tricks to your partner
by the choice of bid you made ( a double )
Penalty
doubles follow the same reasoning ,
of course . Penalty doubles & quick tricks are a natural mix .
Vulnerability & quick
tricks will determine
if you leave in partners penalty double
but more care is needed. You open 1♣ with ♠x ♥KQJx ♦Axx ♣Axxxx , they make a T/O double. Partner makes a punitive xx most likely not
showing a fit for your clubs. They bid a spade so with your full
opening bid & 3
quick tricks you pass the bid around to partner. Partner doubles
1♠ so what do you do ? You have more than partner can
reasonably expect on the auction ( 3 quick tricks) & partner is not asking if you have
spades so you leave it in on 3 vulnerabilities. On the one vulnerability of vul vrs nv
opponents , you can consider pulling the double to 1NT. Why 1NT ? You are making the most constructive bid towards game &
describing your defense. Do not pull to 2♣
as partner will think you have a distributional
playing hand without the defense ( quick tricks ) you actually hold. You are not wrong siding the NT bid as the spades are with the T/O doubler & not RHO. You must be careful though as partner knows you are vul
& they are not & she still doubled 1♠. One level sets can be
telephone #’s quite often.
Vulnerability & quick tricks of course ,
affects your forcing pass strategy.
Forcing pass decisions & quick tricks
are a good mix . With both opponents vul , you
open 1♠ with ♠Kxxxx
♥Axx ♦void
♣AKJxx , partner bids 2♠. Your vul RHO bids 3♦ so you show
your playing strength with 4♣. They subsequently bid 5♦ so what do you do ? Partner has heard you bid 4♣ & has heard the bidding. Your forcing pass decision on this vulnerability is very clear. You pass
5♦ saying that you would like to bid 5♠ very badly & simultaneously showing
partner your diamond shortness & defensive quick tricks. Partner hears all this but
doubles 5♦ anyway. Now what do you do ? You have an
excellent playing hand with a lot of defense
( 3 ½ quick tricks ).
They are vulnerable so with diamond wastage & with only 15 HCP opposite a 2♠ bid you have no guarantee of making 5♠. The pass & pull part of forcing pass theory is a slam try. You do
not want to be near slam after partner just has a 2♠ bid with diamond duplication of
value. You pass , 5♦X has 5 quick losers
, a 4-nothing beak to worry about & 3 spades to ruff with only 3 trump on
the board . Partner
will probably rectify that at her first opportunity . They go for
1100 to 1400 , 5♠ goes two down vul. Play the vulnerability , acknowledge
your quick tricks along with
forcing pass theory.
Quick
tricks are a huge part of hand
evaluation in every facet of
the game of Bridge. Make it a habit to
notice them.
Think quick tricks
for proper hand evaluation for opening
bids & almost every other aspect of Bridge bidding. Points – Scmoints. The early
Bridge greats never heard of HCPS so they had
to use hand evaluation skills . Thinking
in tricks rather than totaling HCP’s works very well in Bridge.
Bridge is a trick taking game not a HCP totaling game. Learn their skills along with the more modern notion of HCP’s. Do
not substitute totaling HCP’s for hand
evaluation skills. Both are compatible with each other.
The auction goes 2♠-P-4♠
with everyone vul . You hold ♠A ♥AQxxxx ♦AKJ ♣KQx . You are not only
HCP total rich but the nature of your HCP’s are in quick tricks.
The opponents have announced they have 5 sure spade tricks wrapped
up. They need 5 more tricks to make their contract .
When they have nothing more than they announced , they
are going for 1400 & you have a slam. To bid or double with this hand
starts with counting your defensive tricks. Do not
just total your HCP’s in these types of auctions. You have 5 ½ defensive
tricks in your own hand which means when partner has nothing they
are going for 800 which is more than your ♥ game. When you
bid 5♥ . partner will never read for such a huge
defensive hand & will never bid 6 anyway. Worst case scenario is
that you go down in 5♥ when you had +800 given to you ! All good defensive hands start with a
double so you collect your +800.