Friday, January 10, 2003 7:36 PM
Hand Evaluation – Tactics (
Duty Redoubles )
PITBULLS:
A while back we had an article discussing “duty doubles” . This is
where partner should double the opponents bid to warn partner there is
duplication of value thereby “shutting her up” in forcing pass theory. In forcing auctions , this is common
practice. In fact ,
the whole concept of forcing passes is based on that principle .
A double says that I do not have much
interest in bidding more so let’s just take
our plus . In competitive auctions , a pass
says the same thing.
What is not so well
known is the “duty redouble” . It came up tonight where
Vince Nowlan held ♠J ♥Q9xx
♦Kxx ♣QJxxx . His partner opened 1♠ , RHO overcalled
2♥ , Vince passed around to opener who doubled . Vince chose 3♣
rather than 2NT , which set my partner up . Opener bid
3♥ , Vince bid 3NT
so my partner doubled . Time for a “duty redouble” . Partner will pull on this auction 9 times out of 10 if you do not . You must redouble
to prevent that from happening. Happily passing is not an option . Vince redoubled & they made their 3 NT
redoubled.
My partner & I had an auction
where the Vinnies did not
make a “duty redouble” so it cost them dearly. When you have a two suited fit with partner ,
do not give partner a chance to go wrong.
The redouble is a loud & clear message to partner. The Vinnies
reached an ice cold 6♦ which was doubled. The partner of the diamond bidder had ♦A109x
of diamonds. He should make a duty redouble
to indicate to partner that a bad trump break in diamonds can be
handled. Partner fell from grace & passed. Vince Nowlan ran to 6♠ , this slam had
no play so went two down doubled.
A Tormentee had ♠AKxx ♥xx
♦AKJxxxx ♣void , opened 1♦ with partner responding a heart. She rebid 2♠
, partner leapt to 4♠ which was doubled . It
looks like the double is being made on club & heart cards. If so , partner has spades which is good news & maybe the
diamond queen. This is a duty redouble .
You can never go down more than one
with this monster so let’s go for the gusto. At the table ,
a disaster occurred when the opener ran to 5♦ which got
doubled so now partner got confused & interpreted the 2♠ bid as a splinter. Partner bid 5♥ which got
doubled & went for a number when 4♠ XX is cold.
There are negative inferences that should be taken when partner fails to redouble. The auction went
2♠-X-P-3NT
X-P-P-?
My partner doubled the weak two & passed the double. Partner does
not especially like 3NTX or else he would have made a duty redouble to tell me not to pull. I deny hearts by jumping to
3NT so when he was really weak he would start
a scramble by bidding 4♣. As usual , scrambles
start at the lowest ranking suit and says just start escaping to a safer maybe undoubled contract.
There are times when a redouble is silly . In a CNTC match , I held vul ♠x ♥KQxx ♦KQ10987x
♣x , partner opened 1♦ ! After an entertaining competitive auction, we ended up in 5♦ X . Do you redouble ? This time a redouble is silly .
The opponents are not aware of your freak hand , so a
sacrifice in a major only goes for 300 . Peter Jones made 6 for plus 950 vul . A
redouble throws away 10 imps , when they get a 2nd
chance to realize their folly by leaving in the double .
There are psychological
redoubles also . Sometimes you are not 100
% sure that your contract will make but you know it can not
possibly go down more than one .
Redouble and test the character of
the opponents . They might pull so you get a sure plus . Anyway do not
neglect the blue card in your bidding box , it can come in handy . Real Pitbulls redouble …