Tuesday, October 30, 2012

When opponents don't draw inferences from our bidding

Partner and I had one of our worst club games in a long time, finishing with 44%. Looking back over the boards, the whole thing was very swingy -- lots of fives (tops), but unfortunately lots of zeros as well. And the zeros outnumbered the tops. Hence 44%.

Sitting East (as dealer) and holding:
W
West
KJx
Kxxx
KQxx
K9
Lead: 5
E
East
AQ10x
Jx
J
Q10xxxx
I opened the hand, taking advantage of the preemptive nature of our 2C bid:
W
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
21
Pass
22
Pass
23
Pass
3NT
All Pass
(1) 5+ clubs, 11-15 pts
(2) stayman, range-ask
(3) 4 sp, weak (11-13)

We ended up with 3NT played by West.  2/1 or standard players who passed as East would find that the auction goes:
W
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
Pass
Pass
1NT1
Pass
2
Pass
2
Pass
3NT
All Pass
(1) 15-17
Same contract, same direction, so what's the big deal?

Well, by bidding 2D and then raising to 3NT, partner has sort-of-indicated a 4-card heart suit whereas in the 2/1 auction, partner has stated he has a 4-card heart suit.  Against us, when South got in with clubs, she led a heart through partner's king. Against the others, presumably, defense was more passive because the Jack in dummy made it look as if we would get an extra trick if they led the suit.  3NT exactly making vs. 3NT+1.  The difference between a bottom and an average board.

Can we teach our opponents to make the right inferences from our bidding?

Of course, I had my share of bad decisions as well. Here's a bidding problem. Sitting South, I hold this wonderful hand:
S
South
xx
9xxx
9xxx
AJx
I pass, naturally, and find that partner has a strong hand:
W
West
N
North
E
East
S
South
Pass
Pass
11
Pass
12
1
2
2
?
(1) 16+ points
(2) 0-7 points
Now what?

If I had an invitational bid available here, I could have used it. (Do you play Lebensohl in these situations?). I can bid 3H or 4H, but 3H is not really invitational, just competing.  I bid 3H, partner passed and made 11 tricks for a bottom board.  Turns out my 4th trump, spade shortness and the ace of clubs (he had a singleton club) were huge.  Playing 2/1, partner would open 1H, I would stretch to respond 2H and with his 18 points, partner would raise to 4.  Having opened 1C, and then bid 2H, partner had told me everything about his hand, so he didn't feel compelled to bid the game.

Is it time to ditch precision and go back to a 2/1 bidding system? The advantage of this is that we might get less swingy matches. On the other hand, as our string of clear tops from last night illustrates, opening light does play dividends as well.

2 comments:

  1. Playing a system that is different to the field always feels like it creates lots of swings, but I'm sure it makes less difference to the score than most believe.

    Sure, there will be occasional hands where you get a top or bottom because you play a contract from a different side, but in the main the scores do reflect your play.

    And I infer the swings are due to an aggressive opening style rather than the system. Perhaps Precision encourages such a style; and many US experts will say that a light 2/1 style does not work, but it seems to be the norm in Europe.

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  2. I wouldn't give up the club system just yet. On the second deal, it's not the system, but your evaluation of your hand that was the problem.

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