April 2013 - 56

Bidding Matters

Karen Walker
www.kwbridge.com

The 12 habits of highly
effective bidders
10. They allow their opponents to
make mistakes (cont.)
LHO
3ࡕ

Partner RHO
Pass
Pass

You
?

Vulnerable vs. not at matchpoints,
what's your call holding:
ࡕQ 4 3 ࡖK Q 7 5 4 ࡗ10 ࡔA Q J 9?
There are two different approaches
to solving this type of problem:
(1) When the opponents are being
aggressive, we need to be aggressive too, especially at this vulnerability. Letting them play 3ࡕ will
surely be a bad result for us, so
desperate measures are called
for. If I pass, partner could have
a perfecto, and we'd miss an easy
game.
(2) When the opponents are being
aggressive, we need to be careful.
Letting them play 3ࡕ will probably get us a small plus score,
which could be a decent result.
If I bid, partner could have some
ill-fitting minimum, and we'll turn
that small plus into a big minus
and get a zero.
56 Bridge Bulletin April 2013

Those who agree with the logic
in (1) feel they have no choice but
to muster up a 4ࡖ or 3NT overcall.
Those who follow the thinking in (2)
will concede that the opponents might
be stealing from them, but they refuse
to be bullied into an overbid. Which
approach rates to be more successful?
Bidding or passing could be right
on any given deal, but in the long run,
you'll hang onto more matchpoints
and IMPs if you forego heroics in
situations like this one. Good bridge
players hate being forced into blind
guesses. That's why you'll often hear
them repeat the old adage, "Get fixed,
stay fixed" to explain why they made
a conservative decision in a competitive auction.
This advice means that when the
opponents "fix" you with a welljudged preempt or other obstructive
bid, you sometimes have to accept
that they have the advantage. In these
situations, your goal is to salvage
what you can by finding a reasonable
contract, not necessarily the perfect
one. With the hand above, passing 3ࡕ
may not get you the optimal result,
but it's a sensible action that will
probably be chosen at other tables.
The concept of "staying fixed"
doesn't always involve letting the opponents declare. It may take the form
of an underbid.
RHO
3ࡗ
Pass

You
Pass
?

LHO
Pass

Partner
Dbl

None vulnerable at matchpoints,
what's your call holding:
ࡕQ 10 3 ࡖJ 6 4 ࡗJ 3 ࡔA K 7 6 4?
When this hand was dealt in a
regional pairs game, the field came up
with several creative advances. Some
went for the big score by jumping to
5ࡔ or passing the double for penalty.
A handful of 3ࡖ and 3ࡕ bidders were
determined to play in a major, even if
it was a 4-3 (perhaps a 3-3) fit. The
most aggressive went for the game
bonus, too, by cuebidding 4ࡗ (pick a
major).
The winning action was the unexciting bid of 4ࡔ. That may seem an
underbid with 11 points, but there
are plenty of reasons to be cautious
with this hand: the balanced pattern,
the soft honors outside clubs, and the
possibility that partner may be a bit
light for his balance in the passout
seat.
One of the strongest arguments for
being conservative, though, is that
when you have this much strength,
you can't afford to be preempted into
a minus score. Since you can't tell
if partner has a 12-point stretch or a
16-point perfecto - and you don't
have room to show him your strength
- don't let the opponents pressure
you into guessing. When in doubt,
accept the "fix" and protect your plus
score at matchpoints, even if it's plus
150.

http://www.kwbridge.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2013