One would think that after 3 blog posts I would have nothing more to say about negative doubles. I have discovered that trying to put finality to any bridge discussion is like raking up leaves in a windstorm. I was playing south in Ocala on Thursday, paired with Barbara Burgess, a new partner for me, but one of the best in ODBC.
Barbara opened 1 diamond, her LHO bid 2 clubs and I held something like KJxx, Q10xx, Jx, Axx. “Aha”, I said, classic negative double showing both majors, so I pulled out the double card and slid it on the table. Partner now bid 3 hearts. I could not resist the urge to show off a bit, and since I had a squarish 4-4-3-2, I thought I would offer her a choice of games. The thought also occurred to me that Barbara may have started with something like Axx, AQx, xx, Kxxxx and her heart raise could have been a “least worst” choice. In any event, I bid 3NT and Barbara passed. She did have 4 hearts, but a very minimum hand and 3NT "sunk like a rock." Each of us were careful not to start a food fight on the 2nd board of the day, but as it turned out Barbara felt that I only needed one major to make my negative double and that my bid of 3NT said you have hit my short major, but I have a club stopper.
The issue is “does 1d/2c/x guarantee both majors or can that negative double be made with a single major?” I turned to World Champion Mike Lawrence to get his take on this. Mike in his excellent book Double! New Meanings for Old Bids (2002) says in the 1d/2c/x sequence opener’s expectation should be that the negative double shows 4-4 in the majors, but responder can make the call with 4-3 in the majors, or even 4-2 in the majors, if he can afford to escape to 2NT when opener bids his short major. Here are two hands that are not 4-4 in the majors, and yet are good enough, according to our World Champion, to make a negative double after a 1d/2c sequence. (i) JT73, Q8, A742, KJ3 and (ii) J3, AJ83, KJT4, 763. Karen Walker (Bridge Bulletin Columnist) on her web site shows this hand as being good enough for a negative double with 4-3 in the majors: KT63, 762, K72, AJ3. She says that the double shows an invitational hand with a club stopper. Since you started with a negative double rather than 2NT, partner will know that you hold a 4 card major. Well done Karen! Got a game next week?
I also looked in Max Hardy's treatise Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century (2000). Max shows an example KJ86, AJ9, 64, T742. Max is not thrilled about the hand, but says that a negative double is the best of the numerous evil choices. I think it helps that the hand has 4 clubs and 2 heart honors.
I think the bottom line is "Do you have a solution if partner bids your short major suit?" If so, you can afford the luxury of making the negative double with only 2 or 3 cards in one of the majors. So, Barbara was correct that my rebid of 3NT should be interpreted as a warning that “I may be short in hearts.” So much for being clever! If I just bid 4 hearts we go from 0 to 12 match points!
You may be asking what does responder do with 1d/2c/ holding KJxx, Qxx, Axx, xxx. I am open for suggestions, and until I get a good one, I’m going to pass.
While I was studying the problem I glanced down at Mike Lawrence’s discussion of the sequence 1c/1d/x. I knew that showed 4-4 in the majors (no ifs, ands, ors or buts about it!) and this was reading just to restore some of my shattered confidence. I found the agreement I was looking for: the negative double shows both majors, but hold on —Holy Cow – Mike says it doesn’t have to be 4-4; it often can be 5-4 in the majors. Mike suggests that experience shows that there are hands where it is appropriate to double the 1c/1d sequence holding hands like these: AJ73, J8543, 543, 3. He says if you bid 1 heart and the next opponent bids 2 diamonds, you might loose the spade suit. Also with KJ973, Q543, 54, Q3, same idea and same reasoning. If you bid 1 spade opponent can raise diamonds and you may loose a potential heart fit. Even with as much as this: KJ73, AQ762, 32, 82, negative double as well. Mike says that he inquired among his fellow experts and found no rule of thumb, but that he believes you need a good 11 hcps before you try to bid out 5-4 major suit hands in the 1c/1d/ sequence.
Does this contradict the rule that you double when you have a 4 card suit and bid the suit if you have 5 cards in the suit? No, that rule applies only to auctions where your negative double is showing only a single major such as 1d/1h/x. It has no application to auctions that start out with a minor suit opening and a minor suit overcall.
People ask me where I get my ideas for blog posts. Almost all of them are prompted by things I see at the table week in and week out. Most often if you look, at the center of the controversy you will see my face buried in my hands!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Support Doubles Made Simple
It seems logical to discuss support doubles after finishing negative doubles. They are both actions that let you convey multiple pieces of information to partner with one bid, saving a level of bidding space. The other thing they have in common is that the advantage achieved by those two actions could not be enjoyed without the opponent’s assistance and cooperation. Thanks for the overcall! As opener, after 1d/p/1h, I often find myself internally cheering for RHO to make an overcall. Without an overcall, I am going to have trouble finding out if my partner holds 4 hearts or 5 hearts, since “pass” takes away my support double. If you are defending in that sequence, do you ever think “should I pass on this worthless overcall and take away their support double?” To my opponents who love to make aggressive and questionable overcalls, keep it up, we couldn’t get to our best contracts without you!
Unlike the negative double which is always made by responder, the support double is always made by the opening bidder at his second opportunity to bid. The bidding goes 1d/p/1s/2c/?: You hold Axx, Kx, AQxx, xx. You show 3 card support for partner’s spades by doubling 2 clubs. This bid does not limit the size of opener’s hand, it merely shows 3 card support, denies 4 card support and transfers control of the hand to responder. If responder has a 5 card spade suit you are going to play in some number of spades, depending on the size of responder’s hand. If he has only 4 spades, he can try for no trump or play the 7 card trump suit.
Suppose on the same bidding you held Axxx, Kxx, AQxx, xx. You now need to tell responder a different story; that you have 4 card support. With this minimum hand you would do that by bidding 2 spades over the opponents 2 club overcall. Note: here you can also show the size of your hand. With 12-15 bid 2 spades, with 16-18 bid 3 spades and with 19+ bid 4 spades.
Assume we change the bidding to 1d/p/1s/x: With three card support as in my first example, make a support redouble, it means the same thing as “double” in our earlier context. If you have the second hand, simply bid 2 spades to show 4 card support. Support Doubles or Redoubles Must be Alerted.
What do you do if you do not have either 3 or 4 card support. If you don’t have a strong hand you can always pass, partner will have another bid. If you have some defensive tricks and are strong in the opponent's overcalled suit, you must pass and hope that partner will double back in so that you can pass his double for penalties.
Is making the support double or redouble obligatory with 3 card support? I think the best rule is to play that you must show the support if you have it. Max Hardy says that opener has an obligation to double or redouble if he has a 3 card fit for partner’s bid suit. One advantage of playing support doubles “mandatory” is that you know when opener passes he has 2 or fewer cards in your bid major. I believe that with this understanding it is appropriate to alert the pass as denying support.
Use support doubles only when you do not know whether responder has a 4 or 5+ card suit. If responder’s bidding clearly indicates that he has either a 4 card suit or a 5+ card suit, then support doubles are off. So if the bidding goes 1d/1h/1s/2h/, we know that partner by bidding his spade suit, rather than making a negative double, is showing 5 spades, so a double of 2 hearts at this time would be for penalties! I credit my partner, Howard Christ for this analysis, but I like it.
If you agree to play support doubles (as each of your should) it is important to decide how high to play them. Here is a workable rule: Play support doubles on every conceivable auction up to the level of 2 of responder’s bid suit.
Bob Scarbrough and I were playing recently when Bob opened his hand with one diamond. I responded one heart, and my LHO bid one spade. Bob held Qx , QJx, AQJxxx, xx and choose to rebid his 6 card minor suit and eschew the support double. As it turns out, I have a 5 card heart suit and we can compete effectively in hearts. I tactfully whispered “Support Double.” Bob replied, “Do some research, I want better authority.”
Mike Lawrence in his book “Double” (2002) gives us this hand. 86, KQ8, J10, AQ7842. The bidding is 1c/p/1h/2d/?. Mike says don’t rebid your 6 card minor, you must make the support double. If you have a really big hand you can rebid the minor on the next round. Max Hardy in his book “Advanced Bidding for the 21st Century” (2000) on similar bidding shows K84, 84, AKJ1062, J8. and says make a support double, it is more important to show 3 card support for spades than your 6 card diamond suit.
For the record, the controversy is still unresolved, as Bob maintains that Mike is too old and Max is dead. It is nimble thinking like that keeps us going! Who can quarrel with that cogent analysis?
Unlike the negative double which is always made by responder, the support double is always made by the opening bidder at his second opportunity to bid. The bidding goes 1d/p/1s/2c/?: You hold Axx, Kx, AQxx, xx. You show 3 card support for partner’s spades by doubling 2 clubs. This bid does not limit the size of opener’s hand, it merely shows 3 card support, denies 4 card support and transfers control of the hand to responder. If responder has a 5 card spade suit you are going to play in some number of spades, depending on the size of responder’s hand. If he has only 4 spades, he can try for no trump or play the 7 card trump suit.
Suppose on the same bidding you held Axxx, Kxx, AQxx, xx. You now need to tell responder a different story; that you have 4 card support. With this minimum hand you would do that by bidding 2 spades over the opponents 2 club overcall. Note: here you can also show the size of your hand. With 12-15 bid 2 spades, with 16-18 bid 3 spades and with 19+ bid 4 spades.
Assume we change the bidding to 1d/p/1s/x: With three card support as in my first example, make a support redouble, it means the same thing as “double” in our earlier context. If you have the second hand, simply bid 2 spades to show 4 card support. Support Doubles or Redoubles Must be Alerted.
What do you do if you do not have either 3 or 4 card support. If you don’t have a strong hand you can always pass, partner will have another bid. If you have some defensive tricks and are strong in the opponent's overcalled suit, you must pass and hope that partner will double back in so that you can pass his double for penalties.
Is making the support double or redouble obligatory with 3 card support? I think the best rule is to play that you must show the support if you have it. Max Hardy says that opener has an obligation to double or redouble if he has a 3 card fit for partner’s bid suit. One advantage of playing support doubles “mandatory” is that you know when opener passes he has 2 or fewer cards in your bid major. I believe that with this understanding it is appropriate to alert the pass as denying support.
Use support doubles only when you do not know whether responder has a 4 or 5+ card suit. If responder’s bidding clearly indicates that he has either a 4 card suit or a 5+ card suit, then support doubles are off. So if the bidding goes 1d/1h/1s/2h/, we know that partner by bidding his spade suit, rather than making a negative double, is showing 5 spades, so a double of 2 hearts at this time would be for penalties! I credit my partner, Howard Christ for this analysis, but I like it.
If you agree to play support doubles (as each of your should) it is important to decide how high to play them. Here is a workable rule: Play support doubles on every conceivable auction up to the level of 2 of responder’s bid suit.
Bob Scarbrough and I were playing recently when Bob opened his hand with one diamond. I responded one heart, and my LHO bid one spade. Bob held Qx , QJx, AQJxxx, xx and choose to rebid his 6 card minor suit and eschew the support double. As it turns out, I have a 5 card heart suit and we can compete effectively in hearts. I tactfully whispered “Support Double.” Bob replied, “Do some research, I want better authority.”
Mike Lawrence in his book “Double” (2002) gives us this hand. 86, KQ8, J10, AQ7842. The bidding is 1c/p/1h/2d/?. Mike says don’t rebid your 6 card minor, you must make the support double. If you have a really big hand you can rebid the minor on the next round. Max Hardy in his book “Advanced Bidding for the 21st Century” (2000) on similar bidding shows K84, 84, AKJ1062, J8. and says make a support double, it is more important to show 3 card support for spades than your 6 card diamond suit.
For the record, the controversy is still unresolved, as Bob maintains that Mike is too old and Max is dead. It is nimble thinking like that keeps us going! Who can quarrel with that cogent analysis?
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Making Negative Doubles Postive (Part 3)
In my recent blog Making Negative Doubles Positive (Part 2) I referred to Mel Colchamiro’s "Rule of Nine.” To use the term “Rule” is sort of a misnomer, as they are really guidelines. What is the distinction? Guidelines can be breached, but if you do, you better be right!
The Rule of Nine is used for determining when it is appropriate to convert partner’s take out double to penalty double. In Part 2 of my recent Negative Double blog, the rule was mentioned in the context of a reopening double in a sequence like 1h/2d/p/p/x/p/? Partner’s double here is effectively asking you to bid, but sometimes you will have passed with a trump stack in overcaller’s suit hoping that opener will re-open with a take out double and give you a chance to convert the take out double to a penalty double. This is overcaller’s worst nightmare—he has been caught speeding at the wrong time against the wrong opponents and is about to get a bloody nose, a dose of humility and a bottom board.
The Rule of Nine gives us a guideline as to when it is safe to pass for penalties and when we must bid, even though defending may look juicy. Here is the basic rule: Add together your cards in opponents suit plus your honors in that suit plus the level of the bid, and if they total nine or more, then smile and pass partner’s take out double. This rule can be applied to all situations where partner has made a take out double and you are thinking of passing.
Here is an example of the application of the Rule of Nine: Partner is the opening bidder. The bidding is 1h/2d/p/p/x/p/? You hold xxx, Kx, AQ987, xxx. You can’t bid a suit or make a negative double so you pass to see what partner will do. Happy Day, he re-enters the bidding with a take out double. You say, aha, lets see if we can count to nine! You have 5 trump plus two honors and the bid level is two so 5+2+2 =9 and you pass, hoping no one will notice the saliva on your chin.
If you have the capacity to remember a couple of refinements, then you can enhance your results: (a) when you have doubleton or trebleton honors such as AQ or KQJ etc. make it the Rule of 10. One of those honors may get smothered and be a non-counter (b) if you have two sure defensive tricks outside the trump suit, it is discretionary to let the double stand even though your count is only eight and (c) if the opponents open the bidding at the four level, it often will be correct to leave the double in even if you don’t meet the Rule of Nine, If you have a squarish hand and at least 1 defensive trick, leaving the double in will be better than contracting for 11 tricks in a minor or 10 tricks in spades. When you have length in your suits and distribution, then it is more likely to be correct to bid. If the basic rule is all you remember, you will be money ahead and right most of the time. There are no guarantees, but if you are correct 75% of the time, that will produce a nice score.
There are two further points to keep in mind. First, the Rule of Nine is a matchpoint rule and is not always correct if the scoring is IMPs. Second, this rule is not a rule telling you when it is correct to double opponents, it tells you when to convert partner’s take out double to a penalty double.
My favorite team game partners are Carolyn Waugh, Barbara Burgess and Patty Luther. Plenty of competitiveness, ample competence and adequate patience. They drag me along for comic relief. Last Thursday I was a spectator as Barbara and Patty were put to the test in a difficult hand. My post round analysis was flawless since I had forever to decide what to do and had just finished my blog on Making Negative Doubles Positive (Part 2). Barbara is the dealer and holds KQxx, xxxx, KQxx, A. Even I can get that opened with one diamond! LHO overcalls 1 heart and there is no further competitive bidding. Patty has to make a call with 10xxx, void, Axx, KQxxxx. Here is your first chance to stumble. I hope, like Patty, you ignored the club bid and made a negative double. Yes, even with those ratty spades and 6 nice clubs.
Back now to Barbara’s hand, she of course bid spades, but what is the correct level. Remember in my blog I said a jump bid in response to a negative double shows 16-18 points. I also said that this is not a hard number and subject to the usual valuation adjustments for fit and playability. Should Barbara jump to 2 spades? There is a fit, so how do you value the singleton club Ace? Remember, that the only game force bid is a cue bid in the overcalled suit. The obvious weakness is the 4 small hearts. Do you want to inspire partner or slow partner down? You pick!
Now we have it back to Patty. We know there is a fit and so we now have to revalue Patty’s hand and find the correct call. Patty’s nine high just got huge. Not only does she have the club suit with the KQ in the sequence (always better to have length and touching honors, this hand has both) but we also have a heart void and an Ace. What do you say, bid game, make a game forcing cue bid in hearts, or invite with 3 spades?
This the type of hand that can produce big swings in IMP scoring because it requires both partners to look beyond hcps and assess the true playability of the fit. If Barbara’s raise is 1 spade, then she has limited her hand and slam is not in the cards. But, if Patty now bids 3 spades, Barbara can pass, so my bid is 4 spades, I don’t want to play this hand short of game with IMP scoring.
If Barbara jumped the bidding to 2 spades, then I might make a game forcing cue bid of 3 hearts to get another bid out of partner before I give up on slam. Barbara could have as much as 18 hcps and still bid 2 spades. Since she is really on a minimum for that double raise, I would hope that she would spike the balloon by bidding 4 spades.
What did my partner’s do? I told you that they are good didn’t I. I will give you a clue, we won the round by 26 IMPs. In team games, it is only the end result that counts. Them things ain’t no beauty contest. But even if it were, my team would contend.
The Rule of Nine is used for determining when it is appropriate to convert partner’s take out double to penalty double. In Part 2 of my recent Negative Double blog, the rule was mentioned in the context of a reopening double in a sequence like 1h/2d/p/p/x/p/? Partner’s double here is effectively asking you to bid, but sometimes you will have passed with a trump stack in overcaller’s suit hoping that opener will re-open with a take out double and give you a chance to convert the take out double to a penalty double. This is overcaller’s worst nightmare—he has been caught speeding at the wrong time against the wrong opponents and is about to get a bloody nose, a dose of humility and a bottom board.
The Rule of Nine gives us a guideline as to when it is safe to pass for penalties and when we must bid, even though defending may look juicy. Here is the basic rule: Add together your cards in opponents suit plus your honors in that suit plus the level of the bid, and if they total nine or more, then smile and pass partner’s take out double. This rule can be applied to all situations where partner has made a take out double and you are thinking of passing.
Here is an example of the application of the Rule of Nine: Partner is the opening bidder. The bidding is 1h/2d/p/p/x/p/? You hold xxx, Kx, AQ987, xxx. You can’t bid a suit or make a negative double so you pass to see what partner will do. Happy Day, he re-enters the bidding with a take out double. You say, aha, lets see if we can count to nine! You have 5 trump plus two honors and the bid level is two so 5+2+2 =9 and you pass, hoping no one will notice the saliva on your chin.
If you have the capacity to remember a couple of refinements, then you can enhance your results: (a) when you have doubleton or trebleton honors such as AQ or KQJ etc. make it the Rule of 10. One of those honors may get smothered and be a non-counter (b) if you have two sure defensive tricks outside the trump suit, it is discretionary to let the double stand even though your count is only eight and (c) if the opponents open the bidding at the four level, it often will be correct to leave the double in even if you don’t meet the Rule of Nine, If you have a squarish hand and at least 1 defensive trick, leaving the double in will be better than contracting for 11 tricks in a minor or 10 tricks in spades. When you have length in your suits and distribution, then it is more likely to be correct to bid. If the basic rule is all you remember, you will be money ahead and right most of the time. There are no guarantees, but if you are correct 75% of the time, that will produce a nice score.
There are two further points to keep in mind. First, the Rule of Nine is a matchpoint rule and is not always correct if the scoring is IMPs. Second, this rule is not a rule telling you when it is correct to double opponents, it tells you when to convert partner’s take out double to a penalty double.
My favorite team game partners are Carolyn Waugh, Barbara Burgess and Patty Luther. Plenty of competitiveness, ample competence and adequate patience. They drag me along for comic relief. Last Thursday I was a spectator as Barbara and Patty were put to the test in a difficult hand. My post round analysis was flawless since I had forever to decide what to do and had just finished my blog on Making Negative Doubles Positive (Part 2). Barbara is the dealer and holds KQxx, xxxx, KQxx, A. Even I can get that opened with one diamond! LHO overcalls 1 heart and there is no further competitive bidding. Patty has to make a call with 10xxx, void, Axx, KQxxxx. Here is your first chance to stumble. I hope, like Patty, you ignored the club bid and made a negative double. Yes, even with those ratty spades and 6 nice clubs.
Back now to Barbara’s hand, she of course bid spades, but what is the correct level. Remember in my blog I said a jump bid in response to a negative double shows 16-18 points. I also said that this is not a hard number and subject to the usual valuation adjustments for fit and playability. Should Barbara jump to 2 spades? There is a fit, so how do you value the singleton club Ace? Remember, that the only game force bid is a cue bid in the overcalled suit. The obvious weakness is the 4 small hearts. Do you want to inspire partner or slow partner down? You pick!
Now we have it back to Patty. We know there is a fit and so we now have to revalue Patty’s hand and find the correct call. Patty’s nine high just got huge. Not only does she have the club suit with the KQ in the sequence (always better to have length and touching honors, this hand has both) but we also have a heart void and an Ace. What do you say, bid game, make a game forcing cue bid in hearts, or invite with 3 spades?
This the type of hand that can produce big swings in IMP scoring because it requires both partners to look beyond hcps and assess the true playability of the fit. If Barbara’s raise is 1 spade, then she has limited her hand and slam is not in the cards. But, if Patty now bids 3 spades, Barbara can pass, so my bid is 4 spades, I don’t want to play this hand short of game with IMP scoring.
If Barbara jumped the bidding to 2 spades, then I might make a game forcing cue bid of 3 hearts to get another bid out of partner before I give up on slam. Barbara could have as much as 18 hcps and still bid 2 spades. Since she is really on a minimum for that double raise, I would hope that she would spike the balloon by bidding 4 spades.
What did my partner’s do? I told you that they are good didn’t I. I will give you a clue, we won the round by 26 IMPs. In team games, it is only the end result that counts. Them things ain’t no beauty contest. But even if it were, my team would contend.
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