Friday, December 01, 2006 1:05 AM

Hand Evaluation – Systemic ( Switching Captaincy)

 

PITBULLS:

            When you start an auction by immediately showing your hand,  it simplifies auctions. By opening 1NT or 2NT ,  you describe your distribution & HCP’s in one fell swoop. Partner has an advantage as he has a great deal of information immediately. The strong jump shift by responder was one of those bids. When you describe a slam try with a good suit in one bid  immediately, the auction is off to a great start. In the Goren days , everybody played strong jump shifts by responder as indeed it did simplify auctions. What the bid does is “change captaincy” to the opening who can accelerate or shut down slam aspirations.. When you have an unbiddable strong hand  , try to force partner to make the final decision by describing your hand to her . Captaincy in itself is a hand evaluation concept.

            Over the years , the strong jump shift by responder became extinct as it just took up too much bidding room. 4^th suit forcing replaced the bid. But 4^th suit forcing has many flaws. Partner does not really know your intentions early in the auction like the “good old days” with a strong jump shift. The 4^th suit forcing bid is just too ambiguous. Like all 4^th suit forcing auctions , you go into contortions to describe your hand or control the auction in some way . Even after tortuous sequences , partner still might not get the true picture especially of your suit quality. Captaincy resides in the responders domain which quite often is not a good thing.

            In recent years , experts wanted to make a compromise between old & new. They wanted to “recover the strong jump shift”  & in some instances , the strong jump preference. They looked for places where invitational bids were not really needed as you could play XYZ . Alternatively you have an inference that bidding & rebidding your suit as responder was invitational. This opened up a jump rebid by responder as showing a Goren style strong jump shift. With one bid , you show a slam try with a good suit & announce your intentions immediately.

            Here is my partner & myself in action tonight. I had ♠AKQJxx ♥Axxx ♦x ♣Ax  , partner opened 1♣ . I had a classic Goren strong jump shift. I have a good suit with slam aspirations but I must respond 1♠. Partner  rebid 2♣ , so I bid 3♠ showing the Goren strong jump shift hand. Partner had a mental picture of my hand immediately as I showed my suit & intentions early . Partner had ♠x ♥xxx ♦AKQ ♣ KQ1098x , can not bid 3NT so he bid 4♠. I bid KCB so partner showed one Ace. I bid 5NT confirming all the controls,  so partner made an excellent bid of 7♣. He is showing a source of tricks & a choice of contracts. I converted the hand to 7NT as a bidding “safety play” to protect against a bad club break or a bad spade break. When the spades broke badly , I still had 13 tricks in NT with the club suit.

            The key to this auction was avoiding 4^th suit forcing thereby putting partner into the picture immediately. This is a huge advantage of the strong jump shift that we are all missing with modern bidding. When you can recover some of the ideas from the Goren days or even earlier , you will be surprised how auctions become simplified. Opening strong 2’s like a strong 2♦ or an ACOL 2♦, is another example of returning to the Goren days. 2♦ shows your intentions & suit immediately.

                       Bridge is a partnership game & by showing your intentions early , partner gets in on the act. The “serious 3NT” Q bid was designed to show your serious slam intentions immediately. Here is a nice auction using this tool. Rodwell held ♠KQJxxx ♥AJ10 ♦Axx x  & opened 1♠ . Meckstroth bid 2♥ with ♠Ax ♥KQ98x ♦xxxx ♣AQ  , Rodwell bid 3♥. Meckstroth Q bid 3NT saying he had serious slam intentions so Rodwell took control of the auction via KCB & drove the hand to 7♥. Since one partner let his intentions known early , the other hand could easily take control. Vive la difference between these & the cumbersome 4^th suit forcing auctions !  I dislike 4^th suit forcing as it is an ambiguous mess quite often.  

            Switching captaincy sometimes makes an unbiddable hand to a biddable one. You hold ♠AKJxxx ♥Ax ♦Axxxx ♣void  & you hear partner open 1♥. You respond 1♠ , partner rebids 2♣. You bid 2♦ & partner bids 3♦ so now what ? This is the classic case of duplication of value. When partners HCP’s are in diamonds instead of clubs , you will have a diamond slam. How do you find out ? The solution is to switch captaincy to partner. You show your slam intentions & let partner decide. You bid 3♠ followed by 3NT by partner, you now  bid 4♦ showing your two suiter & by pulling 3NT to 4 of a minor , a slam try. Partner now evaluates her hand on how her HCP’s fit your two suits. Partner held ♠x ♥KQxxx ♦Jxx ♣AKxx  only 1 HCP in your two suits , so signs off in 5♦ which makes. Give partner more in diamonds & she bids the slam. Bridge is a partnership game !