2007-12-21 06:18
Hand Evaluation – Visualization ( Counting HCP's )
PITBULLS:
With years of experience in the game of Bridge ,
counting HCP’s becomes a routine
skill. More advanced counting of HCP’s is during the hand as declarer or
on defense. This is called being a
“human odometer” as you keep track of HCP’s as they are being played. This skill can also become routine with practice .
This skill is assumed
if you are a Bridge expert.
We play Bridge as a cerebral hobby. Keeping our gray matter exercised helps us as we age. “If
you do not use it , you lose it “ medical
people advise us. Being lazy & not counting HCP’s as they unfold is unacceptable when you want to play good Bridge. I was
born with the worst memory known
to humans & I can do it. That
being said , anybody else can. Your level of Bridge
goes up a notch when you have this
excellent habit ingrained for defense & declarer play at the Bridge table.
Defense in Bridge requires a plan.
There are two ways to obtain this plan. One way as we all know is
translating bidding , leads etc into hand patterns. The other is being a human
HCP odometer. You have an idea of their HCP’s from
the bidding so you turn on your brain cells to “record” for the defensive session. It is simple as telling yourself to
do it. Here is Tom Gandolfo in action to show how
simple obtaining a defensive plan can be.
Tom held ♠Kx
♥AJx ♦xxxx ♣Qxxx & heard the auction get passed around to 4th chair to a
1♠ opening . They bid 1NT & 4th
chair rebid 2♠. An invitational 3♠ ensued & this was passed. Tom decided to lead 4th best
club, the board
hit with ♠109x ♥Qxx ♦K1098
♣KJx . Declarer put in the jack , partner the deuce & declarer small. You have recorded your first
piece of information that declarer as the club
Ace. 4 HCP’s accumulated thus far in our human odometer. Declarer now leads a trump & inserts the
♠Q as you win your king. Now what ? It should be
all over as your odometer places the ♠AQJ in declarers
hand. Declarer should be virtually “all in” as far as HCP’s are concerned to be
consistent with the bidding.
Partner should have the rest of the HCP’s that you do not have. Partner’s low
club could mean four of them so declarer might get a pitch on the club. You
switch to a red suit & cash your 4 red
tricks for down one & +5 IMPS. If you did not count HCP’s ,
you may return a club for –140.
The next hand was Tom again against Susan . Susan opened 1♠ vul & NV Tom decided not to overcall 1NT with a 14 HCP hand that
evaluated to 15 HCP’s. ♠KJx ♥Jxx ♦Kx ♣AQ987 . Maurice
responded 1NT & Susan rebid 2♠ which ended the auction. 3NT Tom’s way , does make but due to the vulnerability it does not
matter as you may set 2♠ enough to compensate for your nv game !!
♠x ♥Qxx ♦Jxxx ♣KJ10xx . I hate leading blind so I
would have led the ♣A but Tom guessed to
try the ♦K . Susan won & led the diamond 10 which Kiz
won with the queen. The HCP recorder being
activated means that Susan has shown up with the ♦A. Kiz returned the club 3 which is an obvious singleton so
you win your ace & give Kiz a ruff.
Kiz returns a diamond so you ruff as Susan pitches a
heart. No return looks attractive but you know Susan is 6-3-2-2 by now, so you switch to a heart. Susan tries
the heart queen , Kiz covers
with the King & Susan wins with the Ace. Susan leads a spade & you win
with your jack. Your HCP recorder tells you that Susan has a 10 HCP opener so
you cash your heart & lead a club which Kiz ruffs
with her trump Ace. Your side took 1♥ , 1♦, 1♣ & 5 trump
for 3 down vul so you virtually got your nv 3NT back for +300 !!
Defense is just relegated to just a series of guesses , when
you do not apply patterns &
count HCP’s the two basics of expert defense. When you have
played Bridge a long time , you can make educated
guesses but they are still guesses nevertheless. Applying patterns
& counting HCP’s turn guesses into certainties & elevates
your game a notch. Develop this habit !!