Sunday, October 23, 2005 6:59 PM

Hand Evaluation – Lebensohl ( 4 level majors )

PITBULLS:

The fact that you play Lebensohl at the four level determines what type of action you take at these rarified high levels. Lebensohl is a nice “safety net” to encourage using a more flexible bid , the double in cramped quarters. My partner made a tactical bid recently which shows how handy these Lebensohl understandings are .I opened 3♠ nv vrs nv , partner upped the ante to 4♠ by making a pre-emptive re-raise.

The opponents in these pressure auctions were put in the usual pressure situations that pre-empts create , do you double or bid your suit ? The double is a far more flexible bid when you have defense , because the opponents at these high levels can just choose to defend. My RHO held ♠Axx ♥AK ♦AKJxxx ♣xx so what do you do after BJ’s tactical 4♠ bid ? Without Lebensohl understandings , you might really distort the strength of your hand with a 5♦ bid. Partner will never imagine your defensive strength when you make this bid . In addition , you may have rescued the opponents from disaster. Partner will think your 5♦ bid is made on distribution with really long diamonds. The 4♠ bid may have bid by partner to make 4♠. Ambiguity reigns supreme in these confusing auctions.

What if you had Lebensohl understandings though ? This is a win-win situation for a double. If partner bids her suit after your double , the bid shows values so you may reach a slam in NT or diamonds. If partner chooses to pass , the opponents will be appropriately punished with all your defensive strength. If partner has a weak hand with her own suit , she will bid 4NT to relay to 5♣ but you break the relay with a 5♦ bid . Now , you have at least given partner some idea about the strength of your hand.

Partner held a huge playing hand on this auction ♠xx ♥Q109xx ♦x ♣AKQ10x so it turns out cannot lose on this auction after a double by partner. If he chooses to pass 4♠X , the contract goes 5 down for –1100. If this hand bids a suit directly , the cards are friendly so 7NT makes without a finesse. A suggested auction would be to bid 5♠ after the double which usually shows two suiters in these types of auctions. The opponents have shown a possible 7-3 spade fit , so partners spade shortness is a good bet. Partner bids 6♦ , you convert to 6♥ which shows a two suiter in hearts & clubs. Partner converts to 6NT so plays it there with an overtrick. The worst result on the hand is what actually happened at the table. RHO bid 5♦ directly but went down one with a 5-1 diamond break !!

Tactical bidding makes life difficult for the opponents as that is its purpose. To help combat these pressure tactics at high levels , tools like Lebensohl are a must in my opinion. Do not leave home without Lebensohl understandings after the opponents major suit bids at the 4 level followed by a penalty or T/O double.