Wednesday, November 09, 2005 3:25 AM

Hand Evaluation – XYZ ( Minor Suit Fits )

PITBULLS:

Partner opens 1 of a minor and you have a 5 card fit in that minor with a game forcing hand . How do you proceed ? Without a 5 card or longer major this is easy . Bid an inverted minor. Do not bid a 4 card major , when your minor is 5 or more with game forcing values & slam intentions. It is too hard to “catch up” with those kind of hands. Inverted minor understandings should be complex enough to find your major fit when you have one. With no slam interest , just bid your major.

You have a game forcing hand with a 5 card major & 5 in partners minor. How do you describe those hands when partner rebids 1NT or rebids at the one level ? My partner’s & I play 2♣ by responder ( relay to 2♦) as showing all invitational hands in these sequences. These frees the Goren jumps as forcing & descriptive. These jump preferences are exactly as Charlie played them , forcing to game & showing 5 card support. Truly simple. You can use the 2♦ understanding to have jump shifts into a new suit by responder as a strong 5-5. When you have the HCP’s but not the distribution use the 2♦ bid.

What if you have a 5 card major , 4 card support for partners minor with a game forcing hand ? Again how do you describe these hands when opener rebids 1NT or stays at the one level ? Enter a Cabay innovation of an either/or 2NT bid. The 2NT bid is a relay to 3♣ to drop the auction there. What if you do not drop the auction & continue bidding ? This sequence shows all the hands with 4 card support for partners minor with your 5 card suit ( major or diamonds ) . These hands by necessity are 5-4-3-1 or 5-4-2-2 or 5-4-4-0 so the relay allows us to describe these patterns exactly !! After the relay you simply bid your stiff or bid NT to show the 5-4-2-2 hands . These sequences can only happen in 5 auctions. 3 auctions with clubs opened as diamonds can also be the response & twice with diamonds opened when partner responds a major.

1§ 1¨

1N 2N

3§ 3¨ 6 + diamonds, 4 clubs, singleton

3© 5 + diamonds, 4 clubs, singleton heart

3ª 5 + diamonds , 4 clubs , singleton spade

3N 5 diamonds, 4 clubs, 2-2

1§ 1©

1N 2N

3§ 3¨ 5 hearts, 4 clubs and short diamond

3© 6 hearts, 4 clubs and a singleton

3ª 5 hearts, 4 clubs and singleton spade

3N 5 hearts, 4 clubs and 2-2

1§ 1ª

1N 2N

3§ 3¨ 5 spades, 4 clubs, short diamonds

3© 5 spades, 4 clubs, short heart

3ª 6 spades , 4 clubs , singleton

3N 5 spades, 4 clubs, 2 – 2

1¨ 1©

1N 2N

3§ 3¨ 5 hearts, 4 diamonds and short clubs

3© 6 hearts, 4 diamonds and singleton

3ª 5 hearts, 4 diamonds and singleton spade

3N 5 hearts, 4 diamonds and 2-2

1¨ 1ª

1N 2N

3§ 3¨ 5 spades, 4 diamonds, short clubs

3© 5 spades, 4 diamonds, short heart

3ª 6 spades , 4 diamonds , stiff

3N 5 spades, 4 diamonds and 2-2

Lets try an auction ♠10xxx ♥Qx ♦Axx ♣AKxx opposite ♠x ♥AKxxx ♦KQx ♣QJ10x .

1♣-P-1♥-P

1NT-P-2NT-P

3♣*-P-3♠-P

4♣-P-4♦-P

6♣-P-P-P

Playing the excellent XYZ structure , the above is applicable with a 2NT jump after 3 bids at the one level.