Tuesday, March 25, 2003 1:35 AM
Hand Evaluation – Tactics (
4 of a Minor )
PITBULLS:
Four of a minor has a common nuance whenever it is bid . The fact that you bid
deliberately beyond your
3NT contract means that the bid is always descriptive
when bid directly . Let’s examine all the situations
when a raise of partners suit directly to the 4
level occurs & also discuss opening
4 of a minor .
Nick G says that all 5 of a minor openers should be opened
at the 4 level . This he believes , draws the opponents into the fray unwisely so you
can have your cake & eat it too. The bid gives partner way more options.
Nick says partner is now in the position to bid 5 of a minor as a sacrifice
, 5 of a minor to make or double the opponents . Four of a minor implies
a long broken suit & probably some
outside stuff .
This makes the bid safe at the 5 level or else you would have opened it a
gambling 3NT or at the one level when too strong .
There is no
intelligent way of describing your 8th card
to partner by passing or after opening at the one level with minimums.
Reserve the 4 level to describe these hand types but agree that the bid is not pre-emptive but descriptive.
A Tormentee
held this hand tonight ♠Ax ♥x ♦QJ1098xxx
♣Ax 2nd seat nv vrs vul . She opened 4♦ a la Gartaganis & the opponents got muddled & played it
at the 5 level for +500 the tormentees way. At my table , my partner opened 1♦ , they
overcalled 1♠ , I passed & they bid 1NT. A 4♦ bid would now
describe your 8th diamond & put partner in the picture however , you chose to bid 2♦ which pretty
well hides your real hand from partner. They find their heart fit &
leap to 4♥ . Since you have
hid your hand from partner , you now take single handed action & bid 5♦ which is a
pseudo sacrifice against 4♥ which goes at least 1 down. You go 3 down for –500 as partner had no input at all in
this auction. Singe handedness at its worse.
Since opening 4 of a minor is not a pre-empt , 4NT by responder is to play. This is very important. Kickback is used as KCB (
4♦ after 4♣ & 4♥ after 4♦ ) . 4♠ is natural after 4♦ so both 4♥ & 4♠ is natural after 4♣. Tom
Gandolfo held ♠AKxx
♥Kxx ♦Ax
♣K1098 & I opened
4♦ with ♠J ♥Jxx ♦KQJ1098xx
♣Q . Tom can bid 4NT to play or 4♥ KCB. When I have
an outside Ace , I will bid 5♣ so Tom can now right side the contract with
6NT. Of course , 4NT right sides the contract
immediately.
Susan Culham
held ♠Axx ♥x ♦xx
♣AKJ10xxxx , opened 1♣ with partner responding 1♥. Now what is
your rebid ? A 3♣ rebid shows 16-18 HCP in
standard bidding. In my mind , this hand is almost
stronger than that range with the playing strength. When you bid 3♣ , you get to 6NT off the AK of hearts for a disaster
as 6♣ is cold. Even though you go past 3NT , I
feel this hand is a 4♣ opening bid. When describing your hand to partner
means you bypass 3NT , so be it. Standard bidding has
no rebid for this hand.
Even when partner is a passed hand , a jump raise to the 3
level in a minor is pre-emptive
. There still are balancers lurking so keeping them out when you hold a lowly
minor makes tactical sense. This is not
true over takeout doubles also so you can “right side “ your
3NT when that is bid and keeps out low level lead directing bids by the
opponents. When the opponent
or partner overcalls , you have a Q bid to show the limit raise
. Therefore a jump raise is descriptive and bid to
make a nuisance of yourself .
What should a jump raise to 4
of a minor mean in competition when a Q bid
is available ? Taking a page from Nicks book ,
I think the bid should be an implied jump to
5 of a minor based on distribution
. It gives one more chance for the opponents to hang themselves & allows
partner to maybe Q bid if there is more . A jump to 5 of a minor after partner opens a
minor ( not overcalls a minor ) does not exist with these understandings. You
do not need two pre-emptive bids when the opponents
overcall ( 3 level pre-emptive) so make the other one at the 4 level a distributional game force equivalent to a
jump to 5 of a minor .
When left alone ,
what does a jump raise to 4 of a minor by responder
mean ? It has to be pre-emptive
as there are other bids available . I think the bid
has to quite weak and distributional as you are deliberately jamming your side
past 3NT . Last Thursday nite
I held ♠Q ♥xx ♦QJ1098xx
♣1098 , vul 1st
seat Tom opened 1♦ . I cannot pass with this many trump and 3♦ as a pre-emptive
raise does not do the hand justice . Bidding 1NT on this collection does not
appeal to me so I am weak enough to jam the contract past 3NT
. I bid 4♦ , LHO bid 4♥ . Tom held ♠AJxx ♥x ♦AKxx ♣Qxxx so made a good psychological
bid of 5♦ . He does not expect this to make but vul
against not vul it will put maximum pressure on LHO . LHO took the bait , bid 5♥ & that
contract takes good play just to go down one !! Meanwhile 5♦x goes for 500 so
a nice swing for us.
What should a raise to 4 of a minor mean over a
take out double ? In Japan , Judy G had this hand ♠xxx ♥AKJx ♦K10xx
♣xx and partner opens 1♦ and RHO doubles . An immediate redouble might work out better but Judy
chose to bid 1♥ . Nick rebid 2♦ and RHO doubles
again . What does 4♦ mean ? It has to be pre-emptive because you had a redouble available .
There is never a need
to bypass 3NT from a
position of strength . At the
other table they were in 3NT for 430 and at this table the 4♦ bid was passed
for 130 . A direct 4♦ raise over a
takeout double is pre-emptive as 3♦ is a limit
raise.
Passing 8 card suits or opening 8 card suits at the one level is very poor bidding , in
general. You trap yourself
by not describing your hand to partner properly.
An experienced player held this hand ♠xx
♥A10x ♦KJ10987xx ♣void & passed first seat ! The opponent opened
his void and partner overcalled 1♠. Around
to him again. What do you bid now as you trapped yourself
? Say you make a non forcing 2♦ bid. Partner
with ♠Axxxx ♥Kx ♦Ax
♣xxxx will pass & 6♦ is lay down . Partner may even pass with ♠AQxxx ♥Kx ♦Ax
♣xxxx so a grand slam is made with the spade king in declarers
hand. Once you have made the terrible pass in first seat you must figure out a way of
playing “catch up” so maybe a leap to 5♦ is best. Anyway , I recommend an opening
bid of 4♦ with this hand which is descriptive & not pre-emptive. Ghoulie hands should be described by Ghoulie
methods . Start the
bidding at a high level
works best from my experience.
Pitbulls , please discuss
your 4 of a minor understandings …