2007-10-10 02:10
Hand Evaluation - Openers ( Inviting Philosophy )
PITBULLS:
Not inviting is such a single handed final
action. When you fail to invite , this normally ends the auction. What is your philosophy with respect to inviting ? Like all else in Bridge ,
this depends on your opening bid
& overcalling style.
If your openers are real i.e. have quick tricks
& a reason to open , your invites will be lighter. If your overcalls are very sound , it
follows that responder will even make pushy invites.
If you play the “modern” style of garbage openers & overcalls, your invites
will be very heavy.
Responders’ invites must give partner leeway & in effect are saying “are you lying
this time partner ? “ . An invitational bid is a check back bid playing the modern garbage style , so opener needs an excuse not to carry on. Culbertson wrote in his book
that partner should always invite when a perfect
minimum by opener or overcaller will result in game. This , of course , assumes non perfect maximums will also make
game on sheer power. This is way Bridge was played up
to the Bergen “modern garbage era”
starting in the 1990’s.
An opening bid is a 3 range structure , minimum ,
intermediate or strong. An invitation by responder
is catering to the intermediate
range of opening bids. Playing the modern
garbage openers style as Kokish calls them , adds a 4th range
. These are the hands that do not meet the requirement for the opening bid but
are opened anyway. These garbage openers I
define as “semi-psyches” as they have too many HCP’s to be classified as a
blatant psyche but they are not opening bids.
The modernists must provide for this 4th range
so they make very heavy invites. The fallacy of this approach is obvious .
If your invites by responder are that heavy , you are
going to miss many games when partner does hold
the intermediate hand & responder
does not invite. Responder simply
cannot cater to 4 ranges of opening
bids. Modern garbage
openers do not make any constructive sense
theoretically in a Standard system. We do not have the forcing ♣ range to
protect us from ourselves. Garbage
openers are simply a destructive tactic that fowls up your own
invitational sequences or makes the opponents
guess when entering our auction.
These openers theoretically allow you to compete better (
fallacy ? ) with
the tradeoff of catching partner unaware of your true intention . In other words , introduce ambiguity & guessing in the mix for everybody at the table.
My style ( except on the terrorist
vulnerability) is to make pushy
invitational bids.
Partner should not go on if
she just has what she has already announced .
The invite is a question do you have anything extra
( very good 1st range or 2nd range hands ) & not just
do you have what you already announced.
I , as responder,
leap to game quite often as
an invite J. When you have
a modern garbage opener , we are going for a needless minus on many many invitational sequences.
This hand was bantered around in the
Bridge World. The vote was split 50-50 between modern garbage bidders &
sound bidders. ♠KQJx
♥10x ♦xxxx
♣KQx Partner opens 1♥ , you respond 1♠.
Partner bids 2♥ so do you invite ? Does it depend on the vulnerability ? IMPS vrs Matchpoints or just a reflection of your inviting philosophy ? Playing with Ray or the modern equivalent this
is a clear cut pass. Playing with my partners , I take the push to 3♥ as I not good
enough to know that 2♥ is exactly
the limit of this hand. If partner has the perfect minimum ♠Axx
♥AJ98xx ♦x
♣Axx we make 5♥. If partner has the perfect maximum , ♠Axx ♥ AQ98xx ♦x
♣Axx we could make 6♥ ! I will risk
losing an exact 2♥ partial to find out. In
the Bridge World , 50% of the known modern bidders were too scared of their
own opening bid style to even test the
waters. You reap what you sow .
Maurice plays the modern garbage style of openers & invites holding this
hand recently. ♠xxxx ♥AKJ ♦K10xx
♣xx Susan opened 1♥ & Maurice responded 1NT . Susan bid 2♥ & Maurice
invited to 3♥ . Susan carried
on to 4 as she did not have a reason to pass 3♥. As I do not play the modern garbage style , I bid 4♥ directly with Maurice’s hand. My feeling that game should be there when partner has what she announced for an opening bid.
She does not need an intermediate hand
( 2nd range ) to make game with this particular hand.
If Susan has a non opener , she must play the
hand better or hope for a defensive mistake. I
will not invite or change my invitational
style catering to the fact that she may not have an
opening bid ( 4th range ) . Susan made a two finesse slam
holding just a decent opening bid on this
particular auction. I shudder to think
of a hand that she is supposed to pass 3♥ opposite this
dummy.
The advantage of the total psyche vrs the garbage semi-psyche is that the total
psyche can pass responders forcing bids
thereby exposing the psyche. The semi-psyche garbage must soldier on
until the psyche is exposed when you reach 6NT down one
& the dummy is exposed. You do not have an “undo” to expose this 4th
range of hand during the auction. Responder cannot think or judge
properly within the traditional 3 range system
of standard openers : minimum with quick tricks
, intermediate with quick tricks or maximum with quick tricks. This 4th
range of minimum without quick tricks
is impossible to describe as it is a semi-psyche designed to make the opponents guess. Unfortunately this time ,
we caught partner in the net. Is the Bergen
style of garbage opening bids worth the wear & tear on partner
? No , not unless you are a “solo artist”. You deem these results as a “cost of doing
business” single handedly your way.
Sorry partner , I was trying to make the opponents
guess but you got in the
way . Sorry that I deem you unimportant in
the decision making process , partner. It is so much fun
to fool the lady with blue hair.
People who have bought
into the modern garbage opening style always say
( the methods out there provide sufficient knowledge for the
partnerships to stay REASONABLE with modern garbage openers ) . However , they
never say what these methods are or how
you can determine when partner is lying
with a modern garbage opener. How are partners supposed to determine that
opener has a flat 12 HCP with 1 ½ quick tricks
this time ? The late Tom Gandolfo came up with the best idea
for this determination in my opinion. Tom & Klimo
came back with +460 & Peter Jones psyched 1NT vul vrs
not , went for -1400
playing with me. Tom suggested that 2♣
by me should never be Stayman nor
a 2/1 . It should just be a simple question
. Did you psyche this time partner ? Tom
suggested the responses go as follows : 2♦ says yes I did & I
expect to go for -500 , 2♥ says
-800 & 2♠ says -1100 and above. 2NT says I have my values on this
occasion J This utter garbage
thinking is taking Bridge in a forward direction ??????