Monday,
April 16, 2007 8:09 PM
Hand Evaluation – Visualization ( The Translation
Process )
PITBULLS:
You can never be
an expert or even a good Bridge player unless you learn the translation process.
Just like a translator at the
U.N. who translates one language into another , a
Bridge player must develop translation
skills. Lacking this skill is just not an option to become an expert player
or even a good player for that
matter. Of course , I am referring to translating information into hand patterns.
To what information am I referring ?
The simple act of anybody showing out of a suit needs to be translated into a hand pattern. The bidding needs to be translated into hand
patterns. An opening lead needs to
be translated into a hand pattern. A discard
or signal showing count needs
to be translated in to a hand pattern. Weak twos , pre-empts and systemic toys are automatic
triggers to begin the translation process .
The translation process is not just patterns. Before you lead ,
you also translate the bidding
into HCP’s. Where is the big hand ? What is a tentative HCP count of partner’s hand based
on the auction ? With the bidding & the 40 HCP in
the deck rule , you know how many HCP’s partner should
contribute to the defense. By counting the HCP’s in your hand , means whether
you go passive or active on the opening lead & subsequent defense. This mental
preparation is done before you make your opening lead.
Having this translation skill improves your opening leads , defense , bidding and declarer play. This
skill allows squeezes , endplays and defensive
techniques to be mastered. Knowing how many trump declarer has
, allows the tapping defense to work. This translation skill is not
rocket science. By now , you must have the
basic hand patterns
memorized. Just take the time to take the next step and apply
them when something in Bridge triggers this translation process to commence.
What should trigger applying these
hand patterns ? The opponents bidding is the first “trigger” . Based on their bidding ,
apply a tentative pattern. The
100 % trigger to apply a pattern is somebody showing out of a suit. Just like
Pavlov’s dog this should be an automatic stimuli –
response. An opening lead or a count signal are both
triggers to apply patterns. Not applying patterns means you are home but the lights are out.
Recently my partner & I overbid
to 4♠ . The auction went 1♦-4♠-P-P , LHO led a diamond. Partner tabled this collection as
dummy. ♠Q10x ♥Jxxxx ♦xx
♣Q10x . The Tormentee had 150 honours
in diamonds so she won her queen. Looking at the dummy ,
Kantars LSD comes to mind so with
the diamond shortness you might switch to a trump as declarer will probably ruff diamonds as a source of tricks. OK ,
assume you do not do that & cash a 2ND diamond , partner shows
out ! This is a trigger to apply a pattern which is 5-5-2-1 .
Declarer has 5 diamonds along with his 7 spades , so
his hand is virtually completely counted.
So you now switch to your trump. No , you switch to a
heart so I get all 3 diamond ruffs on the board for +420. Open up the slip
& the field is in 3♠ going down 1 or 3♠ making. The Tormentee turns to me & says how could we have beaten
this contract ? L
Here are a couple of hands where applying patterns by Tom Gandolfo resulted
in maximum penalty extractions. The opponents were in 1♥X vul vrs not .
Tom opened 1♣ , they overcalled 1♥ . I held ♠Qxx ♥KJ987
♦A10xx ♣x so I passed & converted Tom’s double. The board was ♠J109xx ♥10xx ♦xxxx ♣x . I led a club
against 1♥X . Tom held ♠Ax ♥x
♦KQxx ♣AK109xx , won the club & returned a heart. Declarer let the heart ride
around to my jack so I returned a trump which declarer won with in his hand.
Declarer now led a club to ruff so I discarded a spade. Declarer won the trick
with the trump on the dummy & lead a spade which
Tom ducked & I won the queen. I returned a trump for the 3rd
time which declarer won & lead the queen of clubs which Tom won. Tom knows
that declarer has 5 clubs ( I showed out ) so has a good tentative count on his hand.
5-5-2-1 or 5-4-3-1 .
He knows the last thing I want is a club ruff as
that returns trump control to declarer. Accordingly Tom starts diamonds &
declarer goes for –800 at the one level. Nice work
, Tom !
A pre-empt
is an automatic trigger for
applying a hand pattern. Here is Tom in action again defending a heart sacrifice
against our 4♠ game we bid. ♠AKJxxx ♥x ♦A109 ♣AJ10 . They opened 2♥ to Tom’s right & sacrificed in 5♥X. The board was
♠Qx ♥AJxx ♦Kxxxx ♣xx , Tom lead the
spade king. Tom & I play “known count” Gartaganis
signals. Since Tom knows my spade count from the bidding ,
suit preference applies. I play a
middle spade saying that I have no
suit preference. Tom cashes the spade Ace , I follow
with the deuce & declarer follows. Tom now knows for sure that I do not have a high club honour
or else I would have played the spade deuce at trick one. OK
, Tom now applies
the “6 series” of hand patterns . He has the good start of
knowing the pattern is 6-2-?-? so he just exits a
heart. Declarer draws two rounds of trump & leads the diamond jack . Tom wins his Ace so I show 2 or 4 diamonds. If I have
4 diamonds , declarer is 2-6-1-4 so Tom will never
lose our two club tricks as one club goes on the diamond king & the other
on the 5th established diamond but declarer still must lose two
clubs. Since I can not have the club king ,
Tom makes the good play of returning a diamond so we beat the sacrifice for
+500.
Here is a hand from Calgary . If partner did not
translate the bidding into a hand
pattern ,
they steal a vul 3NT bid. Partner held ♠AJxx ♥KJx ♦QJ10
♣xxx & LHO opened 1♠ & rebid clubs.
Responder bid diamonds & hearts so partner elects to lead the ♦Q . The board comes
down with ♠x ♥AQ10xx ♦Axxxx ♣xx declarer ducks the diamond & I overtake the diamond & return
one so everybody follows. From my diamond play ,
partner knows the diamonds are 5-3-3-2
so that makes declarers hand pattern complete from
the bidding & the opening lead , 5-4-3-1. Knowing declarer has a singleton heart , partner leads a heart to kill the board & not assist
declarer by attacking her
black suits. Declarer now
goes down two , if she does not finesse the heart
& goes down one if she does . Declarer has 3 diamond tricks
, 1 or 2 hearts & must come to us in the black suits with the dummy dead.
Translating the bidding into patterns & HCP’s , then
defend accordingly – do it !!!