March 2021 - 56

Intermediate Players

Boehm on Bridge
Elastic evaluation - part 3

ne of the many things that make
bridge so intriguing is how
your hand may change in value,
sometimes radically, as the bidding
progresses. The bottom line in bridge
is to take tricks. Counting high-card
points amounts to a rough estimate
of trick-taking ability, most useful
holding two balanced hands. The more
distribution is present, the more point
count requires adjustments. The more
extreme the distribution, the more
radical the adjustments - significantly
upgrade hands with fine fits, shortness
in the right suits, good controls, and
strong trumps. And in all cases, it is the
composite picture of the partnership
hands that really matters.

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56 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2021

BY AUGUST BOEHM

Holding balanced or semibalanced
hands, point count is a reliable yardstick, but at all times try to think tricks.
For example, matchpoints, both vulnerable, you are dealt this nifty 20-pointer:
A K Q A Q 5 2 A J 7 6 5 3.
What's your opening bid?
It has become the rage to open
notrump with singleton high honors,
and 2NT would be popular today, nearly unthinkable yesteryear. Personally,
I prefer 1 on this hand for several
reasons. I don't mind opening notrump
with a high singleton if it precludes rebid problems, but here there are no rebid problems. Over 1, a reverse to 2
(forcing), followed by delayed spade
support, implying diamond shortness,
paints an excellent picture. If partner
responds 1, a jumpshift to 2 creates a game-force in most methods
and strongly suggests at least five clubs
because big balanced hands tend to rebid 2NT. What if partner passes 1? If
he is that weak, he usually passes 2NT,
and 1 will be much easier to make
than 2NT, lacking a source of tricks and
dummy entries. While acknowledging
that 2NT will sometimes work well,
let's see what happens if we choose to
open 1.
LHO intervenes with 1, pass, pass,
back to us. What have we learned?
Arbitrarily assigning the overcaller 10
HCP, that leaves 10 HCP between the
other two hands. Give partner his fair
share, 5 HCP. His length, if any, is apt to
be in diamonds, given our shortness. A
representative hand resembles:
J x x

x x

K J x x x

x x x.

Start counting tricks, both offensively
in notrump and on defense against
1. The play in notrump is generally a
race. Assume a heart lead and track the

play - win a heart, lose a club and they
knock out our last heart stopper. We
lose a second club, LHO runs hearts,
forcing us to discard a club on the fifth
round (let's discount the possibility of
a six-card heart suit). We still have a
third club to lose, assuming a 3-2 division, five losers in all, thus rate to be set
one in 2NT and scramble home with
plus 90 in 1NT. Remember, partner will
rarely hold more, often less. Also realize
that partner would raise a 2NT opening
to 3NT with our example hand, creating a larger minus.
Now, let's project defensive prospects
versus 1. We rate to win six-plus
tricks in our own hand, and partner's
K in our example adds a seventh.
So, when partner has bits and pieces,
we forecast a plus 100 on defense, plus
90 on offense. When partner is broke,
we expect to go minus 80 against 1,
minus 100 in 1NT our way. These aren't
the only possible contracts - 1NT may
not end the auction - but the most likely. At this vulnerability, the matchpoint
odds seem to favor a pass. In no other
form of bridge does the vulnerability
and scoring method so impact this type
of partscore decision.
If it is more than flesh can bear to pass
with 20 HCP, rebid 1NT but not more.
The moral of elastic evaluation is to
use an informative auction to focus on
winners and losers, far and away the
most productive line of thinking. It's a
lame excuse to explain to partner after a
poor result, " I had to bid; just look at my
point count. " As Culbertson advised his
1933 readers, " as the bidding develops,
begin to project the play. " The mental
processes, he advised, " can turn every
well-bid deal into a thrilling victory
of the mind over the dark unknown. "
What a shame if we have become too
lazy to do the work.

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March 2021

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