Friday, November 15, 2002 2:48 AM

Revealment Vrs Concealment

Pitbulls :

A good declarer practices deception all the time . She hides cards from the opponents , hides her intentions and plan of attack until the appropriate moment , plays “false cards” , attempts stealing tricks when a suit is wide open etc etc.

In bidding there is also the same element of deception . Your partnership bidding style can be one of revealment or concealment. You have heard the expression that certain partners are “ hard to play against” . These are normally the rubber bridge gambler types who leap to game a lot , hide their distribution and HCP and put maximum pressure on the defense for blind leads. Its hard for the defense to count out the distribution when suits are not bid or HCP’s are not accurately shown . Blind opening leads and wrong discards account for many , many unmakeable contracts to come home.

I am from the “rubber bridge” school of concealment . If the opponents are not in the auction they will prevented from getting information from me on a “right to know basis” . If you do not have slam in mind, do not show your distribution – leap to game . Do not overuse game tries or make low percentage slam tries. You just may have beat yourself by helping the opponents with their lead . Vish , one of my old partners , says bidding game is a game try ! I like the “serious 3NT” but a draw back is that sometime you are “too accurate” and the opponents find the killing lead on that basis. Scientists follow the principle of revealment and in my opinion they can assist the defense too much .

Overcalling and bad opening bids is revealment rather than concealment . Overcall , pre-empt , make a 2 suited bid or double when you have a purpose not just to make a noise . You are not clubbing baby seals at the national level . You give away far too much information and cause partner to make bad leads or bad decisions by needless bidding . Opponents will go wrong quite often when you pass or trap to conceal values . Needless bidding just helps good opponents . The art of passing is a must in the tactic of concealment . Make lead directing bids in 3^rd seat and keep your overcalls & opening bids disciplined. Do not get me wrong . If you have the unbid suits double and if your overcall is a lead director or if you have a disciplined pre-empt get in there . Blind opening leads by partner is a killer also.

Certain conventions and treatments assist in concealment also . I like the Kokish clubs over diamonds treatment . The structure of only allowing the 2♣ bidder to find the 4-4 major suit fit allows the principle of concealment to work in 3NT games . There is a deceptive beauty in an auction that goes

1♦ 2♣

2NT 3NT and the opener has two four card majors ! Lead against that !!

Two bids from Bergen I like . I like Bergen raises because of the notion of concealment with a 5-4 major fit . This puts pressure on the opponents for blind opening leads when you have lots of trump. You just leap to game and put pressure on the opening leader . I love the Thrump doubles invented by Bergen mainly that you get to 3NT and hide information from the opponents with a double. Puts the pre-empter on opening lead also . 3NT’s are a lot easier to defend when you know declarers HCP to an exact range and her distribution. The Thrump double can be made on almost any kind of hand that 3NT is the desired contract . It also prevents the opponent from “talking you out of 3NT “ with their pre-empt. Thrump doubles are only applicable at the 3 level and the range 3♦ to 3♠ bid by the opponents.

There are many more “tricks” to the art of concealment in bidding . Hiding a 6 card minor suit and bidding a NT , bypassing 4 card majors once in a while and bidding 1NT . Bidding a suit you do not have to “setup” the NT or bypassing a diamond suit to bid NT pre-emptively to keep out balancers . Leaping to 3NT concealing a huge minor fit with partner is another tactic. There are bad ways of concealment also . Leaping to 4 of a major should always be pre-emptive . You do not conceal useful cards & distribution from partner . Do not splinter if the opponents are in the auction . If you have a weak hand and lots of trump conceal your singleton and leap to 4 of your game. You do not need to help them with their leads . Splintering without a purpose of getting to slam helps the opponents more often than not. I have seen so many games beaten by a trump lead or the correct lead due to a splinter that I can not even count them. Modern bidding has gone away from direct splinters. They use a 3♣ bid to say I have a splinter somewhere. If partner is not slamish she does not even bother asking where it is . Most Jacoby 2NT’s have been modified as not to show the singleton except if strong. You just help the opponents too much . Be difficult to play against.