Friday, May 19, 2006 12:51 AM

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( The Majors )

PITBULLS:

I can spot a matchpoint hound a mile away. How ? Simply how they handle the majors . The matchpoint reward of making +140 instead of +120 or plus +420 instead of +400 is way too much for them. They refuse to suppress a 4 card major even when they have a 5 card or longer fit for partners minor with a game forcing hand. Why ? because of their matchpoint training . When a slam try is aborted , you end up in 5 of a minor instead of 4 of a major so you have a zero. In IMPS, who cares ? Go for your minor suit slam instead of the major game & if that gets aborted make 5 of a minor or 4NT so no difference. +420 & 400 , they score IMPS the same. Experts have said that the game of IMPS has brought back respectability to the minors. You can always find your major game from responders side anyway following the Kokish principle. The Kokish principle is to allow responder to take the initiative to find the 4-4 major fit , not opener.

When I have a “soft hand” with a 4 card spade suit , I will bid a forcing NT over a heart. Partner has an inference when I do bid a spade over a heart , I have a 5 card suit , good 4 card suit or a distributional hand not suited for NT. Match point players seem to respond 1♠ with any 4 card spade suit because they are afraid of missing their spade fit. Playing a minor partial or NT with a spade fit is a disaster in matchpoints . Who cares in IMPS ? Quite often 9 tricks make where 10 tricks are impossible at the game level. Match point players seem to always bid Stayman over partners strong NT. When I have a good hand with no slam interest,. I always bid 3NT as a safety play against a 4-1 break in a major. Hand evaluation is more important than noticing I have 4 cards in the spade/heart suit. Trying for 620 rather than 600 is not always the safer contract strategy.

When you have a good ( invitational ) hand with 4 of a major & 6 of a minor , the matchpoint hound always bids one of the major. Our style is to cheat on the 2/1 by bidding my 6 card minor. ♠Axxx ♥xx ♦x ♣KQJxxx is a 2♣ bid , not a spade response over any red suit opener. I have seen otherwise sane players respond a 4 card major in lieu of their longer minor with a game forcing hand !! When I have a balanced hand with a bad 4 card major , quite often I will respond 1NT. I feel a bid that describes my soft values , flat distribution & HCP’s in one bid is more descriptive. A matchpoint hound will always bid one a major no matter what constitutes the hand type. This one level response is an ambiguous bid that quite often wrong sides the NT & makes subsequent bidding more difficult. I have seen matchpoint players bid 1♠ with ♠xxxx ♥Jx ♦Ax ♣AKxxx after partner opens 1♦. The obvious bid of 2♣ does not occur to them so if you do have a 4-4 spade fit , it can be found from the other side.

Matchpoint players bid “up the line” as opener. Again they are deathly afraid of missing their 4-4 major suit fit. IMP players again says who cares ? when I have a weak NT type of hand , I divulge that information to partner immediately . Only then do we find a 4-4 major suit fit , if we have one. Quite often , we choose not to find one as with a balanced hand opposite a balanced hand. We do not want to put ourselves at the mercy of one suit breaking properly. Also trying to find a 10 th trick where 9 is available in a NT contract, makes the NT contract better in many hands.

Matchpoint hounds hate it when partner opens 1NT with a 5 card major . Why ? again +140 is better than +120 . The game hands where 4 of a major makes on a 5-3 balances with the major suit games that go down on a 4-1 break where 3 NT is cold . Also the opponents bend over backwards to lead a major. Quite often lead into my 5 card major that I concealed or into my majors that I concealed by not bidding Stayman. The 1NT opener describes your balanced hand & HCP range in one bid. Opening a major , causes rebid problems with that distribution & HCP range . Forces an ambiguous bid with a 3 card minor . Lovely.

I was playing with an expert who held this hand ♠AJxxx ♥Kx ♦KQx ♣Axx , the auction went 1♥ passed around to her in the balancing chair. She doubles so I bid 1NT. In IMPs you have a balanced NT hand that evaluates to 18 HCP’s taking into consideration your 5^th spade. Therefore, you have a simple 2NT or 3NT bid. She leaped to 3♠ so I bid 4♠ . 4NT is cold without the spade suit & 4♠ has no play. At the other table , they were in 4♠ on a competitive auction which should have been doubled for a huge pick up (+300) . The only place where a 3♠ bid could possibly be right with this balanced hand is in Matchpoints. The Kx of hearts should solidify partners heart stopper so you know partner has no more than 3 spades. 9 tricks look easier with your balanced hand. Bid your hand type not just one suit contained therein.

Matchpoint hounds know that a partial is just as important as a grand slam in their game. An IMP player knows that games & slams define IMPS. IMP players define their system in order to get to games & slams. IMPS & Matchpoints are two entirely different games. They score differently so cause you to “change hats”. When playing IMPS , think IMPS so do not default to your old matchpoint habits. Matchpoints confuse me anyway J.