Sunday, November 23, 2003 2:51 PM

The Art of Rescuing

 

PITBULLS:

 

         There is a time to believe the opponents . When they convert a takeout double for penalty you are generally in trouble . An established partnership has some understandings to help them out in these situations. The first rule is give a chance for the opponents to rescue you first. Responder has no obligation to find a better spot as bad spots are rescued by the opponents most of the time . A pass by responder does not mean we are in a safe resting place. There is no such thing as a “pre-rescue” by partner in case the contract gets converted for penalty. The obligation in these kind of auctions is to rescue yourself  after the contract gets converted.

 

          Think about it . Partner opens one heart and RHO doubles . You hold xxxxx void xxxx xxxx so should you pre-rescue by psyching a spade ? This makes no sense as a response shows values especially if you ignore the takeout double as most partnerships do. What if you had a response Qxxxx void Kxxx Kxxx so now should you bid in case 1♥x gets converted ? No this is silly Bridge also . The opponents are about to bid one of your suits in a misfit auction so why rescue them ?  Partner should make no inference from your pass that you have tolerance for hearts. It does not work that way. You simply must believe the opponents and the opener must initiate rescue action herself unless her hand and suit indicates they made a mistake. A redouble is always SOS by the opener however.

 

          O.K. the tools of the trade in these bad situations are the S.O.S. redouble and the scrambling NT bid . If you open 1 major or a minor the S.O.S. redouble should show tolerance for the unbid major or the majors. The 1NT rebid should show a flat hand with tolerance for the minors . Bidding their suit in these situations is natural.

 

          Paul Erikson had a difficult hand in the recent IMP tournament in Edmonton. He held KQxxx xx KJ K1098 and  opened 1♠ vul vrs not . Takeout double to his left and the contract gets converted for penalty and around to him . Passing 1♠ doubled is not an option with this hand . The opponents have told you this will be a disaster so its best to scramble. Bidding 2♣ does not seem to be a good idea either. A 5-4-2-2  is a flat hand and the KJ of diamonds tips the scale in favour of a 1NT bid . The 1NT card hits the table and I held J Q10xxx Q109xx xx & bail out to 2♦ . The takeout doubler has Axx of diamonds and the other hand xxx so neither of them feel they can double . The escape is complete and the disaster averted. 2♦x is not a bad spot and may get out for 1 down . The opponents chose to bid and play a 2NT partial making .

 

          Maurice had a hand where rescuing techniques were the order of the day. AJ10xx xx Ax J10xx   vul in 3rd seat Maurice opened 1♠ which got doubled and converted by his RHO.  This is a time to believe the opponents and rescue thyself so you bid 1NT. I held x KQ98 Jxxxxx xx and converted to 2♦ which got doubled. There is a J10 doubleton in hearts and the diamonds behaved so +180 instead of –500 in 1♠ doubled . 

 

          There are DONT rescue sequences over 1NT x ( opener or overcall ) but established partnerships need to discuss rescue sequences over all possible occurrences not just 1NT . The key rescue bid playing DONT is the redouble. This shows any single suited hand. If you bid and not redouble you must have two suits. The suit you bid and one of a higher rank.

 

          Do not forget that partner is part of the rescuing process. If she passes a doubled contract she is doing so for a reason. She heard the double too and chose not to bid. Try to figure out her reason for passing. I held Jxx KQ KQJx AQxx and the auction went 1♥-P-P-X    XX-1♠-P-1NT  X-P-P-?   Partner chose to pass 1NTX when she had the option of rescuing the contract. There is probably length in hearts over there. You should take the cue and pass 1NT X also. You get rewarded with +180 and 2♠ goes two down.

 

 

There always seems to be a place to wiggle out to if you know what you are doing. Vish had this hand playing with me in an IMPS tournament in Red Deer. 8x AJxx xx QJ10xx  .

 

The auction went   P-P-P-1♦

                             1♠-P-P-X

                              P-P-?

 

The opponents have told you that the spades are breaking very badly. Why not believe them ? This hand is a classic S.O.S. redouble in an overcall situation . You have excellent holdings in the unbid suits and you have an inference that partner did not open a weak 2♠ so a 6 card spade suit is very unlikely. It turned out I had KQ10x of hearts and the opponents can not double 2♥ . Worse still for them they realize they do not have a heart stopper for 3NT and miss their game !!

 

          The moral of the story is to rescue yourself. 9 times out of 10 they have you , so life preserver time !