Wednesday, October 01, 2003 12:20 AM

Hand Evaluation - Tactics ( Splinters in Competition )

PITBULLS:

Going against a long standing Edmonton tradition , we do not like splinters in competition. The first reason is frequency . Splinters need 4 card support or more with limit raise values . These hands show up a lot less frequently than playing the bid as a natural weak jump shift . The 2^Nd reason is concealment in competition . Why help the opponents out with their opening leads , their sacrificing & defense by describing your singleton ? The third reason is that you always have a Q bid of the opponents suit as a way of immediately describing your fit with partner. With slam tries , you can always make a belated splinter or Q bid the singleton as a control later in the auction. The 4^th reason is that Bridge is a game of suits ( like Garozzo says ) not a game of singletons. Bidding your suit immediately allows you to compete better. Preserving a jump as a weak suit describes your hand in one bid so can get you to slams , alternative games & sacrifices with ease. The bid also complements your system in that it further defines your 2/1 in competition as stronger of these kind of one suite hands. Describing your hand pattern to partner in a crowded auction , now there is a thought.

Weak hands with a long suit , can easily get shut out by the opponents bidding. Some hands like ♠void ♥109x ♦xxx ♣KQJxxxx , partner opens 1♥ & they overcall 1♠ . Is it not nice to bid 3♣ as a descriptive bid to put partner in the picture ? You can almost predict LHO will bid 4♠ looking at your void. If you pass or bid 2♥ partner will have no idea what to do over 4♠. When they bid 4♠ , you can single handedly back in 5♣ but you are shooting dice. Partner has ♠AKx ♥AQxxx ♦Q10x ♣x so just loves your 5♣ -500 pseudo sacrifice.

After a minor opening with a competitive auction it is silly to play splinters. You have a Q bid to describe those hands with a minor fit . More often , you have a weak jump shift hand you would like to describe in one bid . Playing this treatment helps in interpreting 2/1 bids in competition as it eliminates a class of hands. A weak jump shift in competition is a negative free bid so has many competitive advantages. You remove these hand types from your negative double structure.

♠x ♥KQJ10xx ♦xxx ♣xxx 1♦-1♠-3♥

Describes your hand in one fell swoop & is pre-emptive

♠x ♥xx ♦KJ1098xx ♣Q10x 1♥-1♠-3♦

Describes a weak diamond pre-empt . Now a 2/1 in diamonds must be more healthy .

♠xxx ♥AKxx ♦x ♣Jxxxx 1♥-1♠-2♠

Why bid 3♦ as a splinter to help them with their competitive decision , opening lead & defense ? You are chasing a rare slam with a “magical fit” is the only plus for a splinter but you throw away the natural diamond WJS. Revealment vrs concealment in competitive auctions so put pressure on their defense with a pre-empt.

Splinters not in competition are a good idea after a major opening only. You do not have the luxury of Q bidding the opponents suit so the splinter describes your hand very nicely for close games & slam tries. My partners “mask” their splinters after a major opener. A 3♣ jump is any minor splinter & 3♦ is the other major splinter. The main reason for this treatment is concealment. We will only allow the opponents in on the location of the splinter , when we have slam aspirations.

In competition , the rules change. Having a Weak Jump Shift helps define your 2/1 structure in competition so allows you to get in there with your suit for pre-emptive or descriptive purposes. Negative free bids are hard to play against ( competitive advantage ). Finding a secondary fit fast , “showing where you live” helps for sacrificing purposes . This information also leaves you better placed to make decisions in competitive auctions.

For those who want to know if partner has a splinter in competition they can use modified Mathe asking bids. When partner Q bids an immediate NT bid asks for a singleton. Simple as you do not want to play your major fit in NT anyway. Kokish game tries can be used in competition so a singleton is shown by those methods . Why show a splinter if partner is not interested in slam ? Partner has tools to ask for a singleton if he has ideas of bigger & better things...

1♥-1♠-2♠-P

2NT

If partner is slamish , she can bid 2NT which is defined to ask for a singleton after a Q bid. Therefore , NT gets your splinter into the auction anyway.

Mathe used spades to ask for a singleton if hearts were trump so NT asks if spades were trump . The “serious 3NT” allows you to show your singleton as a control . So there are many ways to show a singleton belatedly. What is the hurry ?

1♠-2♥-3♥-P

3NT

I have slam aspirations , do you have a singleton or other control so we can investigate duplication of value ?

A jump Q bid is still a splinter whether a minor or major has been opened . 1♥-1♠-3♠-P is obviously a game forcing heart hand with a stiff spade .

Splinters or weak jump shifts as a passed hand are not a good idea. Fit showing jumps are far more useful & the structure allows you to ask for the singleton by using NT . You can modify Drury or 2NT to ask for the splinter with the appropriate hands.

Splinters over a takeout double are O.K. This is because the opponents have shown the unbid suits by doubling so jumping in that suit as natural is not a good idea. This splinter can setup a useful defense as a lead director if they but the contract.

There is a case for “playing the vulnerability “ with splinters. If you are nv vrs vul do not play splinters in competition. Getting your suit in will result in a nice sacrifice against their vul game. What about the other vulnerabilities ? You must now weigh the advantages of a splinter vrs a suit showing bid. If you are vul vrs not maybe a splinter might be best as you are never taking a sacrifice on this vulnerability. However , finding your fit immediately has a decided tactical advantage on equal vulnerability to get to your best game quickly. I still prefer the suit showing bid over a singleton showing bid..

To summarize , more and more bidding tools developed have ways of asking partner for a singleton . Why announce to the table that you have a singleton when it may be more helpful to the opponents ? Fit showing jumps have minimum NT to ask for singletons , Drury can be modified to ask for a singleton , Mathe asking bids ask for a singleton so preserve the immediate jump to show a natural weak jump shift. A singleton is just a control so can be bid later playing the Italian style of Q bidding. Partnerships now have a piece of the competitive negative free bid pie without actually playing them.