Sunday, December 01, 2002 8:12 PM
 
Taking Control

 

PITBULLS:

 

    The theme today is taking control of a hand . This hand is from Calgary and involves one of the Pitbulls ( since only one of you went to Calgary it is easy to figure out who ) . She held    ♠AKQJxx  ♥Axx ♦x ♣KJx  and opened 1♠ vul and heard LHO overcall 2♦ and partner ( Tom Gandolfo ) bid 3♣ . This Pitbull decided to splinter to 4♦ which describes her hand to partner and allows him/her to take control of the hand which he dutiful did and leaped to 6♣ . You hesitate a while with your monster hand but you do not want to bid 7 off an ace so you pass . Partners hand is ♠xxx ♥void ♦Axx ♣AQ10xxxx and you have 15 top tricks in 7NT !  The problem here is the wrong person took control of the hand ! You do not need to tell partner you have a singleton diamond as you know you have the solid spade suit , the Ace of hearts , the club fit . Therefore taking control with Blackwood is in order . You find out partner has 2 Aces and the Q of trump and 5, 6, or 7 clubs . You can count 13 tricks in NT and you claim before the opponents lead .

 

    To play serious 3NT , you have to decide who is going to take control of the hand by biddng the 3NT as a serious slam try . As a general rule the stronger hand takes control but that is not cast in stone . The decision will be ultimately be made by who needs the information the most . For example you open 1♠ with

 

♠QJ10xxx ♥void  ♦Ax ♣AQJ10x    and partner bids 2NT Jacoby . You would like to know about partners K of clubs , trumps and controls so lets not tell her about our heart void right away & take control of the hand. Bid serious  3NT & force these bids from her. Partner bids 4♣ so we have found the club K ! You can now bid exclusion Blackwood in hearts and hear that she has 2 aces outside the heart suit which must be the AK of trumps !  You bid 7 spades and dummy is ♠AKxx ♥xxx ♦QJ10 ♣Kx and you have your 13 tricks .Exclusion Blackwood has taken the necessity out of showing voids in Jacoby 2NT and splinters . You can keep the secret from partner and if she has some key cards outside the suit you can always exclusion Blackwood to find out the Aces . Jumping to show voids should be very very rare with this new weopen .

 

Another auction . You hold ♠AKxxx ♥x ♦KJ10x ♣KQx  and you open a spade & partner bids 2NT . Your hand is not suited to take control , so you inform partner of your singleton heart . Partner takes control by bidding 3NT and you Q bid your club king . Partner bids 4♦ and you bid 5♦ & partner now bids the grand slam force . You comply by bidding 7 spades and partners hand is ♠QJ10x ♥Axxx ♦AQx ♣Ax . The hand with no duplication of value in hearts took control and you reached your lay down 7 spades .

 

With the serious 3NT if neither side bids 3NT , bells should start ringing and you should stop in game in most instances .

 

You open 1♥ with xx AQxxx KJx Axx and hear partner bid 2NT . You bid 3♥ waiting and partner bids 3♠ . You comply with 4♣ and partner bids 4♦ . Now bells start to ring . Neither side was strong enough to bid serious 3NT so there is no slam and you sign off in 4♥ . Both sides were Q bidding in case the other had a hand strong enough to bid a serious 3NT but it did not happen and you are still under game . Stay there ...

 

In 4th suit forcing auctions sometimes the only way to get to the desired contract is taking control after being a “good listener”  first . Do not take control too early but try to glean as much information as you can . Sometimes your hand is just plain unbidable so do not even try . Just lie low and then take control .  Take this hand

 

♠xx ♥Axx ♦KJx ♣AKQJ10            1♣ by you and partner bids a diamond and you temporize by bidding a heart . Partner bids 2♠ which you play as 4th suit forcing . Resist the urge to do something spectacular with this hand as partner has forced to game ! You bid a quiet 3♣ and partner bids 3♦ . Partner has a game forcing hand with at least 5♦ do you need more to take control of the hand ? You bid 4♦ and partner bids 4♠ and 4NT by you is Blackwood . You ask for Aces and then the Q of trump which partner shows along with the K of spades . 5D + 5C +2S +1H and leads to 7NT .

 

          Bidding Blackwood is the most obvious way to “take control” . There are times not to take control also . I was playing with a Pitbull who held a nice 7-4 in the blacks . She opened 1♣ and LHO doubled . I bid 1♥ and the Pitbull bid 1♠ . I continued with 1NT and she showed her nice 7-4 with a 3♣ bid . I heard that I bid 3NT . The Pitbull perservered and bid 4♣ Blackwood . This is the wrong time to take control . When you have adequately described your hand to partner and she shows no sign of life then taking control is redundant. I passed this Blackwood and we made exactly 4♣ .  Quoting the Bard “to take control or not to take control – that is the question”