Tuesday,
July-08-08
Hand
Evaluation – Visualization ( Stoppers )
PITBULLS:
I
believe very strongly in bidding hand patterns. Tell partner which hand
pattern you have followed by enlightening her as to your HCP's.
We feel all balanced hands should be shown by a NT bid , not too many exceptions.
Showing stoppers immediately by opener contradicts this philosophy. When
you open 1NT you are telling partner that you have a balanced hand
pattern within a certain HCP range. You are not informing
partner that you have stoppers in every suit. When you rebid 1NT you are
showing a balanced hand with 12-14 HCP . You do not
promise stoppers in both unbid suits , that is ludicrous. When partner makes a 2/1 or
an inverted minor ,
you first obligation should be to show a balanced hand as opposed to a distributional
one. In fact , you can bid your stoppers later in the
auction as long as you are under 3NT.
1♦-P-2♦-P
2NT-P-3♥-P
3♠-P-5♦
neither partner has a club stopper.
Get the NT
in first to describe your balanced hand & HCP range & let’s
worry about the stoppers later. If you do not bid NT , partner has the right to expect
distribution with extra values in all auctions. Showing stoppers just
adds ambiguity to an auction & “muddys the
waters”.
A Tormentee & I had an auction tonight that emphasizes
the stoppers philosophy. ♠Jx
♥AKJ
♦Q1098x ♣Qxx
1♦-P-2♦-P ?
I advocate bidding 2NT to show a weak NT type of hand. I feel bidding
stoppers first is sick bidding as it adds ambiguity as to HCP
range & distribution. What if you had a good hand with diamonds & hearts , bid the same way as you would with a flat 13
HCP ? We all play 5 card majors
so our minors are suspect. Bidding a 2nd suit by opener gives
legitimacy to our minor so should not just be a stopper
bid. Do not be in such a hurry to show
your stoppers .
Distribution & HCP range should have priority in the correct order.
The Tormentee bid her stopper so I thought she had
distribution & extra HCP’s . I made a slam try & we got to the wrong
game. You open 1♣ on ♠AKxx ♥xxx ♦KJx ♣QJx & partner
bids 2♣. Bidding 2♠ to show a “stopper” with this hand is criminal.
You have a balanced NT hand so do “legitimize” your club suit by bidding
spades. You opened 1♣ because you play 5 card majors !!
You have a balanced 4-3-3-3 NT hand.
We all play Q
bids & many systemic bids as limit raise or better. Our first
obligation in these hands should be the death response to prevent
ambiguity. 1♦-1♠-2♠-P . The 2♠
bid is limit raise or better. Should opener start bidding stoppers now ? This is silly as the 2♠
bidder can have 9 HCP or 20 HCP . Tell the Q bidder
that you are minimum & balanced first with a death response &
if partner makes a forcing noise , you can now bid stoppers. All in good time. Stoppers should follow the same rule for Q
bids. You bid your stoppers up the line. Failure to bid a lower
ranking stopper should mean you do not have one.
Mike Lawrence in
his 2/1 teachings says do not bid 2NT without both unbid
suits stopped after partners 2/1. He says rebid your 5 card
major suit instead . Quite often in Bridge you must
pick the best lie. This style is not the best lie in my opinion
as showing a 6 card major is very valuable.
When you have a balanced hand within a tightly defined HCP range, bid NT. We will worry
about stoppers later as long as we are under 3NT.
With the philosophy of game before slam , partners should assume we are
bidding stoppers later in the auction
& not Q bidding for slam. If we subsequently bypass 3NT ,
yes we were Q bidding originally for slam. Stoppers are over rated. The
suit could split 4-4 & 3NT is the correct spot .
They must find the lead on a "blind" auction & may not
want to lead away from a vulnerable holding. Their suit might block . Also bidding
stoppers allows for lead directing doubles & generally helps the opponents
with their opening lead.
A natural bidding system has
an advantage over artificial systems in that you are bidding your suits
& distribution naturally. Bidding stoppers detracts from natural
bidding. You do not have the nice inferences from patterning
out.
1♦-P-2♦-P
2♥-P-2♠-P
3♣-P-?
Without the silly bidding stoppers mentality ,
opener has shown a stiff spade & a good hand with legitimate diamonds.
Responder with ♠Axxx knows that the
hand fits well & drives the auction to slam. What if opener was just
bidding stoppers ? She could be a 4-3-3-3 13
HCP hand. Bidding stoppers simply screws up your natural bidding.
I feel bidding should be defined as showing your hand pattern &
HCP's to partner. To show stoppers , you are lying
about your distribution & HCP's. Let the power of the lead inhibiting NT
work for you. A blind opening lead gives you 3NT more often than not , so why show your stoppers & broadcast your
weakness ?
Kokish & Nagy with their 1♦-P-2♣-P
structure were smart enough to not allow opener to bid
stoppers. Opener must show the balanced hand with a NT bid initially. Responder
can initiate the search for a major fit or stoppers. When responder
feels she has a hand unsuitable for NT due to distribution or HCP’s , she will bid naturally & now you can find
out if you have the stoppers to warrant a 3NT contract.
1♦-P-2♣-P
2NT-P-3♥-P
? Oops we do
not have a spade stopper as responder is probably 6-4 or 5-4 in those two suits . Responder, by bidding that way may be pin
pointing spade shortage.
I
think the Kokish philosophy should apply to all
2/1 & inverted minor bidding. Show your balanced hand first
& responder will start the search for major fits & stoppers. All in good time. The concept of “
right siding” the NT should only come into play when the
opponents enter the auction. In my mind , showing the
flat hand is right siding the NT . There are exceptions though.
Here is a well bid hand by Stan Cabay that shows the flat
hand rule can be broken. ♠AJ9x ♥xx
♦A109 ♣K109x , Stan opened 1♣ & Lisa
bid 2♣ which is a game force with their methods. Stan has a balanced hand
so should be bid 2NT ? Other hand evaluation concepts come into play. Stan is “all
controls” with a legitimate club suit. There is a danger of no heart stopper
for NT so bidding 2♠ cannot hurt. If Lisa has a club slam aspiration,
they are off to a good start with Stan’s controls. Lisa now bid the 2NT so they
right sided the NT as Lisa held ♥Kx which was
protected from the opening lead.