Monday, September 19, 2005 9:53 PM
Hand Evaluation - Doubles ( Partnership )
PITBULLS:
The examples of single handed bad bidding in Bridge are endless. These are the bids that exclude partner from the decision making process usually by misrepresentation . Not playing the vulnerability properly with respect to opening bids , overcalls or competitive bidding is very single handed. Garbage opening bids are very single handed is that you are hampering partner’s decision making capabilities. Overbidding , underbidding , failing to invite , bad opening bids , unthinking opening leads , overcalls , variable nonsensical pre-empts are just a few examples. Playing the Bergen style necessitates single handed , non partnership style of bidding. Masterminding is another Bridge term to describe a single handed style that excludes partner from the decision making. Single-handed bidding is weak Bridge not realizing how effective partnership Bridge can be. Single handed bidding conveys no message to partner & is quite often a meaningless noise without any thought or purpose. Single-handed bidding can also be a religion. When you have bought into the Bergen doctrine , single handed bidding comes with the territory.
Rebidding your hand showing what you have already announced & violating captaincy
are very annoying examples of
single handed bidding. The opponents opened 1♦ followed by a 4-3-3-3 1NT overcall on 16 HCP & ♦xxx . Partner transferred to
♠'s with opener crawling in 3♦. You bid 3♠ & partner says we own the auction by bidding
4♠. Opener bids 5♦ on a forcing pass auction. The entire world knows that you have a
1NT overcall & the entire world knows that 5♦ is not making. You pass
to give information to partner that you hold no
duplication of value in diamonds. You get to clarify your NT overcall to partner thanks
to the opponents ! You do not have to double 5♦ on 3 small & bid your 1NT overcall all over again but poorly. The 30 HCP in the deck rule kicks
in so partner originally fearing duplication now re-evaluates her hand. People
get pushed into slams all the time
& here is another example. Partner bids 6♠ & you claim.
The double is the most versatile partnership bid in Bridge
. Why ? because you bring partner into the picture & describe
your hand at the same time. Single handed
players just bid usually
leaving partner out of the equation & usually misrepresent their hands . You have ♠x ♥KQx ♦AQxx ♣KJxxx & decide to open the prepared bid of 1♦. LHO overcalls 1♠ which partner doubles & RHO
pre-empting to 3♠. What kind of opener
do you hold ? You hold a defensive hand pattern with quick
tricks rather than an offensive
hand type made for bidding a suit. . A Moysean
♥ game might play best with
your stiff spade. You have a stiff in the opponents suit so your 15 HCP have
grown to about an effective 18 HCP ( 30 HCP in the
deck rule ) . What bid in Bridge describes a defensive
hand type ,
extra values & 3 places to play the hand ? A double is
very obvious . With your quick tricks ( 3 ) , 3♠X
converted by partner with her ♠KQx could be the
best spot. Single handed players just bid 4♣ unaware that is an atrocious bid due to the fact that you made a prepared bid & partner might leap to 5♦. You now may be on a Moysean
5♦ contract doubled with the wrong hand taking the tap. Single handed
players are not even aware that
they have a partner ! They feel they are under no obligation to describe their hand to partner or anticipate partner's problems. Bridge is a bidders game so just bid a suit ,
right Mr. Bergen ? 4♥ is easy on this hand as partner had a 5th heart for her negative
double which is often a strong possibility on these auctions.
It is public knowledge that we
loathe Bergen like pre-empts. These are single
handed pre-empts that can get
partner. Your urge to get the opponents puts partner in the back
seat in the scheme of things & removes her from the picture. Single handed
bidding is defined as having an subconscious or conscious
distain for partner in a partnership game.
The vul opponent opens 1♣ & you are NV
with ♠xx ♥Ax ♦QJ10xxxx
♣Kx . Every single handed
player would "pre-empt 3♦" with this hand. They are unaware or do not care that they
are setting partner up for
failure. Holding 11/2 defensive tricks ( 2 on this
auction ) outside of your trump
suit is dangerous as partner
is surely going to make a pseudo sacrifice.
The opponents double 3♦ and as expected partner takes advantage of
the vulnerability & bids 5♦. This is in the 500-800 range & when the 5♦
bidder has some soft cards that might be tricks
, 4 of a major will fail. The dreaded
pseudo sacrifice The Bergen philosophy contradicts Bridge is a partnership game & is very
single handed. Some partnerships tolerate "there are no bad single handed bids , there are just bids that do not work". Terrible
way to play a partnership game in my opinion. Bergen & I are at the opposite ends of the bidding spectrum. Single handed bidding is still bad bidding in my books as it always has
been since Bridge was invented.
The all time worst singlehanded bid
I have ever experienced is the following hand . ♠void ♥xxxx ♦xxxxx ♣A109x . Partner vul opens 1♣ & RHO makes a T/O double. With your ♠ void & only 4 HCP total
& located in partner's suit at that ,
you can easily
anticipate that the opponents will be in 4♠ before partner gets a chance to bid again . What
is a bid that may help partner out ?
Your spade void is good when
clubs are trump so of course you bid 2♣. My partner "showed where he
lived" by bidding 1♥. This is a meaningless noise which serves no purpose
other than maybe mislead partner. Single handed bidders never anticipate partner's problems as they are fixated only on their own hand or trying to con the opponents.
They bid want they want oblivious that they have a partner. I had 7♣'s with a
stiff ♥A with a good hand so with
my shortness in partner's suit , I was happy to defend
4♠ which made +620. Unfortunately with our 7-4 ♣ fit & a
void in the opponents suit , no duplication of value
in ♥'s, we had a good
chance at +1370 ( it makes ) . We were never in the auction beyond the one level. Mind boggling.
Single
handed bidding is an attitude
. Its associated with a lack of
discipline in a partnership game .
You want to control things single handedly or you have been brain washed that this way of bidding ( Bergen ? ) is a viable
way of playing Bridge. Some do not even realize
how single handed their Bridge
game has become. They see it all the time from their partner or opponents
so think it is normal through osmosis. Yes it is normal
with a partner that can tolerate
such stuff ( martyrs
I believe they are called ) . Experts feel
insulted though as leaving them or any
partner out of the decision making process in Bridge can not be a good idea. Ray Grace said it best " I hate discipline in Bridge" . Yes Ray , that describes solo
artists exactly. Casino anybody ?
Another example of
bad single-handed bidding is the trump stack penalty double in competitive auctions. This bid is quite
often very single handed as the doubler has no idea
when partners opening bid , overcall or balance is minimum or maximum or if it is a defensive/offensive hand. The doubler
is giving information to the opponents to allow them to run to another suit/NT or how to play the hand.
The trump stack doubler is playing with fire as the contract making gets rewarded quite nicely
in the IMP scale. Quite often the doubler puts a lot
of stress on partner to run , possibly getting into
trouble herself as duplication of value in their suit is useless offensively.
The penalty double is quite often pre-mature as if the doubler
just passes, partner
would have doubled anyway to show
a good defensive hand . The contract gets converted
for penalty so all ends well for your side.
This “style” of converting for penalty by partner
re-opening with a double was made popular by negative doubles. What
this treatment does is allow the partnership to
make a decision within the
penalty double structure. Partner will not re-open with a double holding a hand not suitable for leaving in the double.
This removes the gambling/single handedness
from a penalty double as partner
has had her say
also.
Bridge is based on probabilities. You are not positive that you are setting a hand
when you make a penalty double. However , the odds
shift into your favour when partner has her say in the decision making
process . She doubles to show defense so you
convert with the trump stack. There is no such thing as pulling penalty doubles as trump stack
doubles do not exist. D.S.I.P. competitive doubles can be
thought of conceptually as a transfer bid.
You transfer the decision to partner who armed with more information
, makes a joint decision for the partnership to convert for penalty.
We define competitive
auctions as those auctions where neither side owns the hand. Forcing pass
theory applies in non competitive
auctions. By preventing trump stack
doubles in competitive auctions , a nice side effect
emerges. You can redefine the double
to something more useful. As Bridge is played in a clockwise direction
, would it not be nice to have the double mean that I have an offensive hand but with defense so I am requesting permission to compete again ? You are taking out insurance with your decision to
compete. Duplication of value in
their suit is a killer in competitive auctions. Like splinter auctions ,
partner will nix the request with
a trump stack in their suit so the partnership gets amply rewarded by
converting the double. This action prevents partner from rescuing the opponents from impending
disaster by bidding in
front of your penalty double. When partner wants to compete
again, she
re-opens with a double so again the contract can be converted. In a bad situation , there is no escape for them. A good name for
these doubles are “check back” doubles as
you are checking back with partner
to make a joint decision. We have
named them D.S.I.P. competitive doubles as
partner has input to the “intelligent” penalty double decision. Good riddance to single handed penalty doubles in
competition. They are a dinosaur whose
end has come.