Monday, February 21, 2005 10:09 PM

Hand Evaluation – Partnership ( Single Handed Bidding )

PITBULLS:

In my mind anyway , the worst Bridge crime is single handed bidding. This means making a decision from one side of the table only and not seeking input from partner. Sometimes this solo effort is blatant , sometimes it is subtle but nevertheless it almost always leads to disaster. You usually prefer to guess rather than choosing a bid which gets partners input.

Here is a hand that is blatant single handedness by a good player against Kiz & Susan . Our hero opened 1NT and Kiz bid 2♣ which in their system shows a single suited hand. RHO bids 2♦ so you have ♠Kx ♥Q98xx ♦AJx ♣AJx therefore you assume Kiz is showing a single suited spade suit. So you single handedly decide to show partner that you have 5 hearts . Wrong ! Kiz has AKJ10xx of hearts for her bid and you get doubled for a 10 IMP loss. Interestingly enough they also played in hearts at our table at the 4 level in hearts the other way ( down 5 ) .

Here is a more subtle form of single handed bidding by yours truly which also squandered an opportunity for a 12 IMP pickup. ♠AKJ10xx ♥xx ♦xx ♣AKJ in 3^rd seat everybody vul you open 1♠ and LHO overcalls 2♥ with partner bidding 3♥ and RHO doubling. You assume you have two quick heart losers so you leap to 4♠. Wrong ! Why make the decision from one side of the table only ? Pass and see what partner does ! He holds ♠xxx ♥void ♦AKxxx ♣1098xx and redoubles . +1430 in spades is now very simple to attain.

Your are down in a match so you needed a blitz to win the Swiss teams . Everybody vul , you hold ♠Ax ♥Ax ♦xx ♣AKQJ10xx , the auction goes P-P-2♥-? This auction is partially a balancing auction as the table has given you some information. The weak 2♥ bidder shows 5-10 HCP on average so give him the median HCP of 7. You have 18 so you have 25 HCP accounted for. There are 15 HCPs left between the two passed hands. What if partner has 10 of the outstanding HCP’s ? You can construct many 10 HCP hands where 12 tricks or even a 13 trick contract would be lay down. Just AQJ ( 7 HCP’s ) of diamonds or KQ of spades & king of diamonds ( 8 HCP ) would make 6NT a 50% contract. It is best to “right side” this hand to protect partner’s diamond holding or hearts from a direct heart lead. You have a conventional toy of a Q bid which asks partner to bid 3NT with a stopper in their suit. So you bid 3♥ and hear partner bid 3NT . Now what ? Do you singlehandedly bid 6NT because you need the blitz ? No , let partner have his say in this decision. Bid 4NT since partner knows the state of the match just as well as you do. He will bid 6NT when you have hit him with the 10 HCP you want. You must hold 9 or 10 tricks to invite so your bid is descriptive.

The worst type of singlehanded bidding is guessing rather than using a Q bid or a systemic double to seek partners input. Guessing is repugnant to a good partnership as one partner is intentionally left out of the auction in favour of a mere guess. My partner held ♠98xx ♥Axxx ♦xxx ♣Jx & his LHO opened 1♦ which I doubled. Partners RHO bid 3♣ alerted as natural which was passed around to me . I double again so partner decided to bid game. A 4♣ or 3♦ Q bid stands out to say pick a major. Partner thought a guess was a better bid so he leapt to 4♥ . This went one down on a Moysean when 4♠ on the 4-4 fit was cold.

Same partner in a different match ♠void ♥KQxx ♦Q10xx ♣xxxxx . RHO opened 1♠ so I doubled with ♠xx ♥J10 ♦AKJx ♣AKQJ10 & they bid 3♠. You have 3 suits so you can make a systemic responsive double to ask partner to help you pick a suit. No , you want to guess for the partnership so you guess to bid 4♥ entirely from your side of the table. The 4-2 fit went down three & 6 of either minor is of course cold. A 4♥ bid should show a single suited hand as you did not wait for a re-opening double or double yourself to show 3 places to play the hand. I thought partner had a 6 or 7 card heart suit so I passed.

Bridge is a partnership game where you communicate by bidding to make a mutual decision - so never forget that !!