Tuesday, June 15, 2004 1:25
PM
Hand Evaluation – Tactics (
Lead Directors )
PITBULLS:
When you are playing with a partner very much weaker then you are , there is a well known master minding technique to do
everything possible to help her off to a good
opening lead. You put in a lead directing bid or
double every chance you get. 3rd seat is
built for opening leads. Always assume that the auction is about to
go 1NT-P-3NT when you do pass in 3rd seat. Open a 4 card major
rather than a bad minor to get partner off to a
lead. Do anything to help her out.
O.K. you are now playing with your expert partner. There is no reason not to help her with her
leads also. Just in one night in a local club game, I had three hands
which re-enforces this practice. My partner opened 4♥ nv , the vul opponents doubled , I held ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦xxx
♣AKJx . I passed , LHO bid 4♠ so around to you . You decide that you are going to sacrifice to 5♥. You may as
well bid 5♣ along the way. They bid 5♠ , the board is
void in hearts so if partner tries to cash the heart Ace they make 7 spades.
Partner led a club & we cashed 3 club tricks for one down
!!
I passed this hand ♠10xx ♥xx ♦KQJ109
♣xxx , partner opened 1♠ in 3rd seat
& your RHO overcalled 2♣ . A minor overcall
at the two level is another danger signal. Always
assume the auction is going to go 2NT-P-3NT . Do not
bid 2♠ with this hand but use the fact that you are a passed hand to your
advantage so bid 2 or 3♦. They are less likely to bid 3NT when you introduce another suit for a lead.
The vul
opponents opened 1♥ , my partner overcalled a spade
, my RHO now bid 1NT. You hold ♠J10xx ♥xx ♦xxx
♣KQ109 . OK if you had any values you would double 1NT so this understanding gives
you a certain amount of freedom. Your systemic bid is 3♠ pre-emptive but what if the auction went 4♥ to your left
and partner is on lead. A much better bid in my opinion is 2♣ which will
help partner with her lead. The bad part is that you lose the pre-emptive value
of the 3♠ bid. You may get a chance to do this later anyway. If they get to 4♥ , a club lead is
the only lead to beat the 4♥ contract ! Partner said he would never find a club lead
if I jumped to 3♠. Defensive bidding involves assuming the worst & getting partner off
to the best lead. Lead directing bids also helps partner in bidding situations
as you are “showing where you live”.
Opening leads is one area where partner does not mind being “master minded” .
I held a hand with my regular Thursday night partner the other day. I held ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦AKxx ♣xxx , LHO opened 1♣ and partner overcalled a spade with RHO making a
negative double. Negative doubles by the opponents give a great opportunity for
lead directing bids. Why are you bidding their suits anyway if not for a lead? I bid 2♦ , we competed up
to 3♠ & the final contract was 4♣ by them . A diamond lead , you get plus 200 & a trump lead brought –130 .
This is an 8 IMP swing which is not trivial.
Over their negative doubles use the re-double as a lead
directing bid. A simple raise then can have a meaning of a warning that a lead
in our suit might give them an
undeserved trick when they buy the final contract. If partner overcalls &
they make a 2/1 ,
a double is lead directing. Doubling a forcing bid makes no sense otherwise ( I do not play snapdragon ). Doubling forcing bids like Jacoby 2NT, Q bidding of our implied suits should all have lead directing implications. Be lead conscious in all auctions.