Saturday, June 23, 2007 9:38 PM

Hand Evaluation – First Principles ( Patterns )

PITBULLS:

There are 4 players at the table in the game of Bridge. In the long run so that probabilities & actualities tend to meet , you can have some fun with numbers. In the long run , your side with play the hand 50 % of the time. You specifically will be playing the hand 1/4 of the time ( unless you are Tom Gandolfo ) who tends to play more hands that he should. You will be on defense 50 % of the time so on opening lead 1/4 of the time.

OK , the opening leader has responsibilities. You must ask questions about their bidding in order to translate their bidding into a hand pattern before you lead. This is not an option. This is as compulsory in the game of Bridge as learning how to finesse. Experience & guessing only brings you so far with your opening leads. In order to become a good opening leader , rote rules are thrown in the garbage & the hand patterns translated from the bidding dictates your opening lead. If the auction goes 1NT-P-3NT you still have to review the bidding & ask yourself why they did not bid Stayman.

1♠-P-2♠-P

4♠ you have a very limited hand pattern in which to start but it is a good idea to think the 5 series of hand patterns ( 5 card majors ) as that’s all you have to work with at the moment. 5-3-3-2 , 5-4-3-1 , 5-4-2-2 . 5-5-2-1 is a good start.

¼ of the time you are dummy. On the 4^th hand , God rested . This is nap time to recharge your batteries . Do not play the hand as dummy. That is your partner’s job. You will be informed of any declarer errors at the bar later. You do not need to know now. Be a good dummy & nap. Susan will be very appreciative.

½ of the time in Bridge you will be defending. This is the other partnership element of the game of Bridge. You have a responsibility to the partnership to translate bidding into patterns. When somebody shows out of a suit , apply a pattern as an automatic reflex. This translation process will assist you in counting declarers tricks which is an important defensive responsibility. Do not just allow partner to do this for the partnership , as you must be on the same wavelength as partner. Signals only go so far & they should not override cold hard facts derived from hand patterns. This is not a pro-client relationship where only one side does the thinking. Both sides have the responsibilities to count HCP’s as they are played & relate this to the bidding. Do not just leave this responsibility to partner. Share the workload & responsibility. Patterns , counting tricks & HCP’s are the first principles of defense & the game of Bridge for that matter.

¼ of the time you are declarer. You like this part of the job so you translate information into patterns as a matter of course. This is a double standard !! Do the same thing as defender. You should be playing the hand as defender also. Good defenders know as much if not more about the hand & line of play than declarer does !! Visualization skills stem from hand patterns so you can count declarers tricks & defend double dummy. You know how the suit is going to break but declarer may not yet. You know if the finesse is going to work before declarer does , so act accordingly.

You are bidding 100 % of the time so despite what anybody says here is where matches are won & lost. There is no reason you can not translate bidding into hand patterns during the auction also. You are also allowed to count HCP’s during the auction to assist you in making a bidding decision. As we said previously , hand patterns & HCP’s define the game of Bridge. Everything else are just add ons.