Re: Info on Balancing for Intermediate Player
- From: Adam Beneschan <adam@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:41:16 -0700 (PDT)
On Oct 25, 1:33 pm, myocarditis_recovering
<myocarditis_recover...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi,
I am an intermediate player. I play Standard American. What
conventions and/or rules would some of you more advanced
players recommend for me and my partner to use for the
following bidding sequences: (A book reference or Website would be
appreciated).
Mike Lawrence wrote a book called "The Complete Book of Balancing". I
won't offer any opinion as to whether it's actually complete, but it's
definitely good.
Also, would you handle the situation differently depending on
vulnerability.
1NT x x ? (1NT=15-17, I know DONT over NT).
Please don't use "x" for pass. "x" normally means "double". If you
use "p", we'll understand it.
As for this particular auction: Keep in mind that since the opponents
did not try for game, RHO isn't going to have 9 HCP and often won't
have 8. That means that even if you have 0 HCP, partner will have at
least 15, quite possibly a little more; if you have a long suit, you
have a good chance of finding a decent place to play---partner's
honors will be well placed over LHO's, assuming you can get to your
hand (via ruffs) enough to finesse through him, or throw the opponents
in. I wouldn't bid like this without a 6-card suit, or a 2-suiter
with some distribution. In particular, I wouldn't balance on a flat
hand. (I did once have a good partner show a major 2-suiter after 1NT-
pass-pass- with something like 4=4=3=2 and about 5 HCP.) But with a
long suit, balancing even with a very low point count has worked well
for me. Others on this newsgroup have doubted my sanity, however, and
some of the doubts actually have to do with bridge, and some of those
have to do with how I balance over 1NT. Plus, I did get the director
called on me once when I did that and it worked and the opponents
couldn't believe that I would bid on nothing unless I had a wire or
something. I explained my reasoning and the director was satisfied.
1H x 2H x
x ? (Would you recommend any hand with 4S bid 1S?)
I don't recommend bidding 1S on any hand, unless you like having the
director called on you for insufficient bids. Assuming you mean 2S:
keep in mind partner has passed, and with four spades and an opening
hand, in *most* cases he would have doubled 2H. This also depends on
how aggressive your partnership is when the opponents raise. Bergen
had a discussion of this, I think in "Better Bidding With Bergen, Vol.
II", although I won't swear that that's the correct book. But no, I
personally wouldn't balance in spades with a nothing hand in this
position. Remember, just because the opponents have raised hearts
doesn't guarantee that your side has an 8-card spade fit.
-- Adam
.
- References:
- Info on Balancing for Intermediate Player
- From: myocarditis_recovering
- Info on Balancing for Intermediate Player
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