Wednesday, December 06, 2006 11:34 AM
 
Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Jumping )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            One of the worst hand evaluation habits coming out of the Goren era is jumping to show HCP strength. This way of showing strength is just plain wrong as it violates the principle of “fast arrival”. You should not “eat up” bidding space to show HCP strength especially in competition . You double , bid a new suit or Q bid. In today’s game , jumping indicates a different message. If you jump the bid in a competitive auction, you are either showing  a good suit if it is a jump rebid or a distributional hand if the jump is into a new suit. Do not let the lack of HCP’s deter you from showing your two suiter or your good suit. You have other ways of showing HCP strength , do not waste the jump bid for that purpose. Do not be a slave to the Goren HCP system.

 

            A Tormentee held this hand ♠A ♥QJ1098x ♦A ♣Kxxxx , opened 1♥. The opponents overcalled 1♠ , partner made a negative double with RHO Q bidding 2♥. How do you paint a picture of your hand to partner ? By bidding 3♣ you are not telling partner very much about your hand. You are competing in clubs but you could be doing that with a flat minimum. You have a 6-5 with a 5th club in one of the suits partner is announcing with her double. Come alive with your 6-5 and jump the bidding to 4♣. This bid helps partner make an informed decision in a competitive auction.

 

I have gone so far with overcalls to define a new meaning for a jump bid in an overcall situation. I got this idea from Maurice de la Salle who makes these kind of bids quite often. If you overcall at the one level , subsequently jump in your suit , the bid shows a good suit only  but not overall HCP strength. Why ? because you have competitive doubles & Q bids to show HCP strength. You do not need a jump to indicate HCP’s via Goren style bidding. Jumps now have a different meaning in modern Bridge .  Fast arrival to show weakness, jumps to show good suits and jumps to show distribution but not HCP strength.

 

            We do not buy into the concept of “auto splinters”. This idea does have some merit for the splinter fanatics but I feel that jumps should be consistent throughout your system. When you leap to the 4 level , you are showing a 2nd suit with lots of distribution. 6-6’s , 6-5’s need all the help they can get to describe to partner. Some play

 

1♠-P-1NT-P

4♥                   as a singleton heart with a self sufficient spade suit. This auto-splinter” as it is called means you can not describe the 6-6’s or 6-5’s with one bid. Bridge is still a game of suits in my opinion. 1♥-P-1NT-P

                                                                    4♦                             is an almost a totally red hand with not enough HCP’s for a 3♦ bid..

 

            Another traditional place for an “auto splinter” is by responder.     1♣-P-1♠-P

                                                                                                                              1NT-P-4♦                   again an auto-splinter has its use but we still prefer this sequence to show a weakish 6-6 or 6-5.   Discuss with partner so that jumps are consistent throughout your system ( easy on the memory ).

 

            If you are going to bid like a kangaroo, do it with a purpose other than pre-empting partner with HCP strength. Not all of Gorens’ notions stood the test of time so this is definitely one of his failures , in my opinion. Elevating the level of bidding to show strength is slowly & surely becoming extinct in modern bidding.