Sunday, December 01, 2002 8:12 PM
Hand Evaluation – Q Bids ( Taking Control )
PITBULLS:
The theme today is
taking control of a hand . Taking control is a bridge hand
evaluation skill . This hand is from Calgary and
involves one of the Pitbulls (
since only one of you went to Calgary it is easy to figure out who ) .
She held ♠AKQJxx ♥Axx ♦x ♣KJx , opened 1♠ vul . She heard LHO
overcall 2♦ and partner ( Tom Gandolfo ) bid
3♣ . This Pitbull decided to splinter to 4♦ which describes her
hand to partner but allows him/her to take control of the hand which he dutiful
did and leaped to 6♣ . You hesitate a while with
your monster hand but you do not want to bid 7 off an ace so you pass . Partners hand is ♠xxx ♥void ♦Axx ♣AQ10xxxx and you have 15 top tricks in 7NT ! The problem here is the wrong
person took control of the hand ! You
do not need to tell partner you have a singleton diamond as you know you
have the solid spade suit , the Ace of hearts , the
club fit . Therefore taking control with Blackwood is in order
. You find out partner has 2 Aces and the Q of trump and 5, 6, or 7 clubs . You can count 13 tricks in NT and you claim before
the opponents lead .
To play serious 3NT ,
you have to decide who is going to take control of the hand by biddng the 3NT Q bid as a serious slam try . As a general rule , the stronger hand takes control but that is not cast
in stone . The decision will be ultimately be made by who needs the
information the most . For example you open 1♠ with
♠QJ10xxx ♥void ♦Ax ♣AQJ10x and partner bids 2NT Jacoby . You would
like to know about partners K of clubs , trumps and
controls so lets not tell her about our heart void
right away & take control of the hand. Bid the serious 3NT Q bid & force
these bids from her. Partner bids 4♣ so we have found the club K ! You can now bid exclusion Blackwood in hearts finding she
has 2 aces outside the heart suit which must be the AK of trumps
! You bid 7 spades and dummy is ♠AKxx ♥xxx ♦QJ10 ♣Kx so you have your 13 tricks . Exclusion Blackwood has taken the necessity
out of showing voids in Jacoby 2NT and splinters . You
can keep the secret from partner whemn she has some
key cards outside the suit , you can always exclusion
Blackwood to find out the Aces . Jumping to show voids should be very very rare with this new weopen .
Another auction . You
hold ♠AKxxx ♥x ♦KJ10x ♣KQx , you open a spade &
partner bids 2NT . Your hand is not suited to take control , so you inform partner of your
singleton heart . Partner takes control by bidding 3NT so you Q bid your club king . Partner bids 4♦ and you bid 5♦ & partner now bids the grand slam force . You comply by bidding 7 spades and partners hand is ♠QJ10x ♥Axxx ♦AQx ♣Ax . The hand with no duplication of value in
hearts took control .
Therefore you
reached your lay down 7 spades .
With the serious 3NT Q bidding inference when
neither side bids 3NT ,
bells should start ringing and you should stop in game in most instances .
You open 1♥ with ♠xx ♥AQxxx ♦KJx ♣Axx , partner bids 2NT . You
bid 3♥ waiting
, partner bids 3♠ . You comply with 4♣ , partner
bids 4♦ . Now bells start to ring . Neither side
was strong enough to bid serious 3NT so there is no slam so you sign off in 4♥ . Both sides were Q
bidding in case the other had a hand strong enough to bid a serious 3NT but it
did not happen but you are still under game . Stay there ...
In 4th suit forcing auctions
sometimes the only way to get to the desired contract is taking control after
being a “good listener”
first . Do not take control too early but try to glean as
much information as you can . Sometimes your hand is
just plain unbidable so do not even try . Just lie low and then take control
. Take this hand
♠xx ♥Axx ♦KJx ♣AKQJ10 1♣ by you ,
partner bids a diamond so you temporize by bidding a heart . Partner bids 2♠ which you play as 4th
suit forcing . Resist the urge to do something
spectacular with this hand as partner has forced to game !
You bid a quiet 3♣ , partner bids 3♦ . Partner has a game
forcing hand with at least 5♦ do you need more to take control of the hand ?
You bid 4♦ , partner bids 4♠ . 4NT by you is Blackwood . You ask for Aces followed by the Q of
trump which partner shows along with the K of spades .
5D + 5C +2S +1H and leads to 7NT .
Bidding Blackwood
or Q bidding is
the most obvious way to “take control” . There are times not to take control also . I was playing
with a Pitbull who held a nice 7-4 in the blacks . She opened 1♣ , LHO
doubled . I bid 1♥ so the Pitbull bid 1♠ . I continued with 1NT
and she showed her nice 7-4 with a 3♣ bid . I heard
that but I bid 3NT . The Pitbull perservered by bidding
4♣ Blackwood . This is the wrong time to take control . When you have
adequately described your hand to partner but she shows no sign of life taking control is redundant. I
passed this Blackwood making exactly 4♣ . Quoting
the Bard “to take control or not to take control – that is the question”