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Hand Evaluation Part VI

The Game Try. A bread and butter area of constructive bidding is the decision whether to try for game or settle for a safe partscorer finding a trump fit. There are two halves to this decision, firstly whether to make a game invitation and secondly, after finding a trump fit, whether to accept it.

The bidding commences 1 - 2; with which of these hands would you try for game and what should you bid as your try?

(a)		J 3
		A Q J 7 4
		A Q 10 8 6
		5

(b)		5
		A Q J 8 6
		10 9 6
		A K Q 3

(c)		QJ6
		A K J 9
		K 3
		K J 7 3

(d)		Q 8 4
		A Q 8 3 2
		A 7 4
		K 5

(e)		K 5
		A Q J 10 8 6
		J 10 2
		9 7

In his excellent 'Secrets of Success', Tony Forrester suggests the rule that opener should try for game if he can give partner two specific cards totalling 6 HCP (i.e an ace and a queen or two kings), will make game a good bet. If two such cards would not be enough to make game a good bet, then do not invite game.

The point is, of course, that the simple raise is a very limited bid and to ask for more than two ideal cards in partner's hand is being a bit over-optimistic. Personally, I would be willing to relax Tony's rule slightly and allow opener to hope for a specific ace and a king, but the basic principle is a sound one and I would not wish to argue too strongly that Tony's rule was not more realistic than mine.

Of course, if opener has a shapely hand, then not all high cards in partner's hand the rule was not more realistic than mine.

Of course, if opener has a shapely hand, then not all high cards are equal. Opener would like his partner's honour cards to be facing his long suits, where they should be working well, rather than opposite shortage where they maybe less valuable.

That being the case, it makes sense for opener's game try to be as descriptive as possible to help responder to judge the value of his high cards.

There are regular tournament pairs who agree that opener should bid his short suit in this situation, allowing responder to judge how much wastage he has, but the standard approach is the reverse of that; opener bids his length or, more accurately, bids the suit in which he has some length and needs help. So, here are the solutions, using the standard approach.

(a) Here, game will be almost certain if responder has two of the missing aces and red kings so opener qualifies under the 'two card rule'. The game try should be 3, focusing partner's attention on the red suits. Knowing that opener is long in hearts and diamonds, responder will upgrade honours in those suits. But the reverse of that is that opener will be short in at least one of the black suits. Black aces and, to a lesser extent, black kings will be useful to opener but minor honours may play no part in the success or failure of the contract so should be down-valued.

(b) You might think that 3 is the obvious game try, but stop and think a moment. You do not need partner to have any help in clubs and, indeed, you know that he cannot have fitting honours. If you bid 3, partner is all too likely to have a bad holding such as three small cards which will discourage him from bidding game. No, your game try should be 3. It is partner's diamond holding which will decide whether 4 is a good bet or not so that is the suit to which you must draw his attention. He will consider three or more cards with no top honour to be a bad holding and will downgrade his hand - exactly as you would wish. But he will upgrade a shortage or any holding including a top honour, again just what you want him to do. It is true that a holding like Q will get upgraded yet will not actually make the play easy, but this is about the only problem holding and does not detract from the fact that 3 will still help partner to judge correctly more often than will any other bid. It may seem strange to make the same bid on two such different holdings as in examples (a) and (b). True, partner will not know which type you have, but that doesn't matter, all you want is for him to evaluate his own hand.

(c) Bid 2NT. There is no particular suit you are concerned about, you just want as many high cards as possible from partner. 2NT tells him that all high cards should be valuable. He can pass or bid 3 with a minimum and bid 3NT or 4 with a maximum. And if he has raised to
2 with something like:

	7 5 4
	Q 6 3
	K 10 8 7 6 5
	4

he can bid 3, non-forcing and showing six diamonds and only three hearts - perfect.

(d) Pass. Just try the 'two card rule'. Can you construct a hand for partner which makes game a good bet? No, so settle for a safe plus score.

(e) Even giving partner two aces does not make game very likely so you should not offer an invitation. However, if you pass 2, it is almost certain that the next hand will protect. The opposition can certainly make a partscore and it is not too difficult to imagine them having a game if their fit is in spades. Make it a little more difficult by reraising to 3.

For a beginner, the sequence 1 - 2 - 3 is invitational, indeed, it is the only way to invite game. But there are so many other ways in which to invite game that most regular tournament players prefer to use the reraise in a more pre-emptive fashion, not to invite game but to make life difficult for their opponents - just as here.