Advanced Decisions

(Courtesy of Bob Crosby)

Two hands came up tonight that merit some discussion. One involves an "advanced cue-bid" and the other an advanced sacrifice. First hand involves a rare concept which is an implied cue-bid when circumstances change in an auction. I held Axx Kxx Kx QJxxx

Partner opens 1 vulnerable and RHO bids 2. Normally cue bidding their suit shows a limit raise or better in our suit but I chose not to do it in this hand. If I bid 3 partner can be very poorly placed with a flat minimum and no heart stopper. This could propel us past 3NT which may be are only makeable game. So I jumped to 3NT which brought about 4 to my left and around to me again. We contracted for a vulnerable game so forcing passes are on. Partner's pass means that he prefers offense to defense and shows one or less hearts. You bid 5 now right? Wrong! Your hand is too good. You should make an implied cue-bid of 4 first to let partner in the picture. You get rewarded as partner bids 6 which makes for 1370.

Partner's hand is QJxx void Axxx AKxxx. He does not know how severe the duplication of value is in hearts so his pass is the right action. If I double 4, he takes his +800 and on to the next hand. If I bid 5, I put him in a guessing situation for slam when I did not have to do so.

Same match our partners held this hand xxx Q10xxx xxxx x and heard partner open 2 not vulnerable against vulnerable. Vulnerable RHO overcalls 2. Your call? Two schools of thought on these sort of hands. One is that you conceal your big fit in hopes that you do not push them to their slam. This would be good thinking if you have a trick. With this hand you should be preventing them from getting to 7! An advance sacrifice of 5 is in order which takes away their Blackwood for exploring seven. The opponent's hand was Qxx A AKQJ KJxxx and when the jam bid was not forthcoming they bid Blackwood and the 7 which was reached at both tables for a push. Wasted opportunity for picking up 12 IMPS!

High Level Mathematics

The scoring and vulnerability is the “mathematics” of Bridge decision making. When the opponents pre-empt you to the 5 level or higher and partner doubles, she is not promising a takeout double per se. A double just shows “cards” and in most cases the double ends the auction. The only time the double is pulled is if slam or a vulnerable game is virtually guaranteed. In IMPS, you shrug your shoulders and take your fix even if by bidding you can get a better score. Your partners better be wreaking the same level of havoc at the other table. The 5 level belongs to the opponents in 99% of the hands. Pre-empts force you into decisions you do not want to make or bad gambles you should not make. Just taking your plus is the easy way out in a vast majority of hands. The “house” has the edge in these kinds of gambles and the pre-empter is the house.

An opening bid of 4 of a major or 5 of a minor puts a partnership in a different “zone”. The doubles are not takeout but co-operative or D.S.I.P. Here is an example of a bad decision induced by a pre-empt. Equal vulnerability, non-vulnerable RHO opened 5. I held KJ1098 A Axxx Q109 so I doubled to show cards and trying to discourage a 5 balance. Partner held x KJ109xx KQxx AK and with equal vulnerability bid 6. Let's examine the mathematics of the bid. If we make 6♥, we get +980 and if we go down one which was happened at the table we get –50. The 5 bidder goes for –1100 with an outside chance of –1400. Qx xx x Jxxxxxxx. You have no guarantee of making 6 of anything as the double shows “cards” and may even be void in hearts. Bidding is just a silly blind gamble.

Playing with BJ Trelford, RHO opened 5 and again I wanted to show “cards” to discourage a 5 balance so I doubled with x AJ1098x KJx Kxx. The 5 level belongs to the opponents and we are equal vulnerability or non-vulnerable. BJ held Axxx Kxxx void Axxxx and with the diamond void it is very tempting to pull. The opponents can easily have 8 or 9 solid diamonds and we are playing with a 30 HCP deck. I think passing here may be the wrong bid. We can beat 5 doubled 800 with perfect defense but I do not need to hold wastage in diamonds for my double but I may have. I could also hold the club queen and 7 would make. Enter the problem of bad breaks and knowing what suit in which to play the hand. With a long suit shown on the auction, your trump suits are not going to break well. You can not just blindly guess and bid 6 as partner may be void in clubs or the suit may break badly. A 4-4 major fit may get pretty bad breaks also. An expert has a tool of 5NT which says choose a slam somewhere partner. If partner just wanted you to pick a major, she would have bid 6. On this hand, we land on our feet as over BJ’s 5NT bid, I bid 6 and we get +980. These kind of decisions are huge swings as you are changing a reasonable plus to a minus. To force partner to bid, you must be pretty sure you have an iron clad plus. Changing a +500 to a –50 or getting +980 is a huge IMP swing.

Would the vulnerability change any of these decisions? Of course as the expected gain or pot odds would have been taken into consideration but Bridge involves intelligent gambling or risk taking. If the pot odds are not to your liking, they still buy the contract at the 5 level.

Taking Your Plus (5 level)

Taking your plus is an obvious Bridge strategy. In IMPS, it is easier to do so than matchpoints as that is your default way of thinking. In matchpoints, much tougher as you must also maximize your plus with the rest of the field. The 5 level is for the opponents is more than a cliché, it is sound Bridge. 11 trick contracts are difficult to make so be like the house in a Casino Blackjack game, let the opponents go first and break.

Playing the vulnerability, of course comes with 5 level decisions. You are a passed hand, LHO opens 3 non-vulnerable vs non-vulnerable and partner doubles. A passed hand re pre-empts to 5. Their pre-emptive action automatically turns on forcing passes for your side at the 5 level. You have xxx KQxxx xx Kxx so you must make a decision as partner will play your pass as forcing. 5 is not an option as that is a slam try as is the pass and pull. I would double to warn partner that I have wasted values so lets just take our plus on this equal vulnerability.

Taking your plus is also equated to “accepting your fix”. The opponents will jam you sometimes so do you just gamble or “take your fix”. The 5 level is where you just remained fixed, double the opponents and get out of Dodge. If the opponents take room away from you, slam exploration is all but impossible do you take your fix? Yes, gambling is for Casinos or matchpoints. A player held Ax KQxx xx xxxxx, and his partner opened 1 and he responded 1. I overcalled 2 and his partner bid 2 showing 5 with a decent to good hand. Tom Gandolfo upped the ante to 4 robbing you of any room to show your slam intentions. Do you gamble on partner holding the magical singleton diamond an all or nothing approach? No, with the “taking your fix mentality”, you should make the underbid of 5. Partner who held 19 HCP with a singleton diamond may bid 6 as he has more than he showed with the 30 HCP in the deck rule in effect.

You hold xxx KQJ xxxx xxx and in 3rd seat non-vulnerable your opponent opens 1. Partner vulnerable vs not bids 3 and your RHO bids 4. The opponents have fixed you as you should have had a good shot at 3NT, so do you take your plus or try for the magical 4NT? I think this is an IMPS vs matchpoints decision. In IMPS, I just take my sure money and double. The KQJ are the most useless cards for partner's hand if he tries 5 of his minor and 4NT is no certainty to make. There is also another consideration. Will partner interpret 4NT to play and not an invitation to bid his suit? Why did you not double 4 if you feel you can make 10 tricks at NT? 4NT should be to play but this is not the hand for it. Axx QJx xxxx xxx is a more suitable hand. Partner probably should have read your 4NT as natural but did not, so trying to be too precise in IMPS led to a disaster. 4 doubled goes for –500 and 6 through the misunderstanding goes for –800. In effect you were gambling +630 –500 or a 3 IMP gain for a possible minus in 4NT or a possible disaster if partner misreads your intentions. Take your plus and leave gambling for matchpoint hounds.

When the auction is up at the rarefied 4 level or higher, taking your plus becomes more paramount. 3 - Dbl - 5? Forcing passes are automatically turned on so that at least you can guarantee a plus. If you do not have a certain game your way take your plus – do not gamble. The auction goes 4 - P - P - ? You hold x J10x AQx AKxxxx so you have 3½ quick tricks. Why gamble that partner has clubs when you can take your plus with a double? Partner can hold spades, a long heart suit, a long diamond suit or a void in clubs. Bidding 5 is an unnecessary shot that can easily turn a certain plus into a minus. By taking unilateral action, you are falling into the hands of the pre-empter. A double is the most flexible bid in Bridge and certain describes your quick tricks better than bidding 5.

Quick tricks and vulnerability assist you in your 5 level decisions. xx Qxxx AKJxx xx. Partner opens 2 and RHO doubles equal non-vulnerable. This may be a good time to bid 3 just in case you have the magical double fit. You decide not to and leap to 4 instead. The opponents now bid 5 so now what? This is easy, you have 2 quick tricks so you have the contract booked. Partner may have a trick or a stray queen for you so why gamble by bidding? The mathematics of bidding makes no sense as you are going for a sure –300 non-vulnerable against their iffy 400 in 5. You pass, partner has a doubleton diamond, gets a ruff and her A for +100. You have now saved 300 +100 for a 10 IMP swing.

Forcing pass theory is alive and well at the 5 level in order to facilitate taking your plus. Review your understandings with partner. At the 6 level, you can make a nuisance of yourself as well. Doubling their freely bid slam for penalty is poor Bridge. Just pass and take your plus as a set is at the wrong end of the IMP scale anyway (your partners are only in game ). If you are in the auction and want to suggest a sacrifice, a double should mean I have no tricks and lets sacrifice partner. This “asking permission” to sacrifice prevents the dreaded pseudo as partner has the KQJ of their trump suit. If you are not in a competitive auctions and they reach slam, of course the double is lead directing.