Open or Pass?

Here we look at hands where the question is "Do we open or do we pass?".  You'll see some references to the Rule of Twenty, it's a useful guide in these situations, but far from infallible and needs to be moderated by that legendary common-sense that is the hallmark of Wednesday Game players.  This selection of hands contains quite a few "12-counts we would pass".  See also the link to Choice of Opening for some "10-counts we would open one of a suit".  Maybe you'll even find a couple of 9-counts.

 

                                    7th April, 2010                   N-S Vul

 

 

                                    3rd February, 2010             E-W Vul

 

 

                                    2nd September, 2009

                    Boards 8, 15, 30

Which of these three hands would you open?

 North on Board 8:      ♠ A973, ♥ Q5, ♦ J9, ♣ KJ942            (2^nd seat, None Vul)

 South on Board 15:    ♠ A87, ♥ K92, ♦ 3, ♣ QJT743           (1^st seat, N-S Vul)

 East on Board 30:      ♠ 5, ♥ Q543, ♦ AKT7, ♣ Q653          (1^st seat, None Vul)

 

When deciding whether or not to open a hand, we like the Rule of 20, it’s a better litmus test than HCP alone.  But, let’s not use it willy-nilly, and, to illustrate the point, here are three hands where we would flout the Rule.

 

Board 8 passes the Rule of 20 by virtue of 11 HCP + 4 Spades + 5 Clubs.  However, it’s a rather poor 20, don’t you think?  We don’t like the doubleton Jack and the doubleton Queen, and the hand is tragically Ten-less (though that ♣9 might be useful).  In this case, our choice would be to pass.

 

Board 15 fails the Rule of 20 and yet we would open 1♣ anyway.  We like the chunky Clubs and the Diamond singleton (note that the Rule of 20 treats 3=3=1=6 and 3=2=2=6 as equals, which they clearly are not).

 

Board 30 also flunks the Rule of 20 test, and again we would open regardless.  How so?

-         Bidding 1♦ is a good lead-director, all the more so as there is a good chance of a 1♠ overcall from South, putting Partner on lead

-         The singleton adds to the playing-strength (the Rule of 20 treats 4=4=4=1 and 4=4=3=2 as equals, which they are not)

-         We are non-vulnerable, and that’s often used as an excuse to stretch a little.

On the other hand, those two dangling Queens are a negative, they would look better if they were accompanied by other honors, even a humble Ten.  Even so, that ♦AKxx is the clincher, let’s help Partner find the right lead for once.

 

                                    1st April, 2009                     Both Vul

 

 

                                    1st October, 2008               E-W Vul

 

 

                                          17th January, 2007           Board 1      None Vul

 

 

Would you open the North hand?  Those 11-point hands with 5-4 distribution certainly pass the Rule of Twenty but this one does not pass the rule of common-sense in our opinion, too many flaws, we’d downgrade the hand to below opening strength for these reasons:

-         Three Queens, a card which is over-valued in the 4-3-2-1 HCP scale.

-         One of those Queens is a singleton and of dubious value.

-         It’s not always possible to open good suits, but, when we have a hand which is a marginal opening, a weak suit is another argument to keep silent, it might induce Partner into a disastrous opening lead.

-         If we open 1♣ and Partner responds 1♠, we’ll have to rebid 1NT which is a tad inconsistent … there we are opening light based on our distribution, then we go and rebid 1NT showing sound, balanced values.

We should counter the above by saying that the hand has some useful fillers, but nonetheless we would not open the North hand.

                                                                  

                                          14th February, 2007         Board 10      Both Vul

 

 

We love to open distributional 10- and 11-counts, but there are also some 12-counts which we would gladly pass, and this is one of them.  Here’s what we don’t like about the hand:

-       Square distribution … by all means let’s upgrade those 5-5 and 5-4 hands, but let’s also downgrade the 4-3-3-3 hands, they have so much less playing strength.

-         No Aces … it’s well-known that Aces are undervalued in the 4-3-2-1 HCP scale, so having none is another defect.

-         No Tens … these useful cards are also lamentably absent from our hand.

 

When is it right to open a square 12-count in first or second seat?  That’s a matter of partnership style, our own preference is not to open them unless they are loaded with intermediates or unless there is a lead-directional benefit.  And that’s another reason not to open this particular hand, because if we do we’ll be opening a suit with four small … not much lead-direction there!

                                                                   

                                           7th March, 2007               Board 22      E-W Vul

 

 

We are not averse to passing with a square 12-count, but South’s hand has a good honor card structure, so worth an opening in our book.  To illustrate the point, consider a slightly changed version of the South hand … same distribution, same high cards:

            ♠ AT8

            ♥ K73

            ♦ K875

            ♣ Q52

This is still not a terrible hand, as square 12-counts go, but substantially worse that the original hand … that dangling Q♣ was so much better looking when it was snuggled up with the K♦.  Please feel free to open both or neither of these hands, our only point is that one on them is substantially better than the other.

                                                                       

                                           4th April, 2007                  Board 20      Both Vul

 

 

Some players never ever pass 12-counts but our personal preference with this ugly hand would be to do just that.  Here are the factors with make this hand less than a real 12-count:

-         No Aces and 3 Queens … Aces are under-valued in the HCP scheme of things, and Queens are over-valued, so this hand has none of the good stuff and loads of the bad stuff.

-         Doubleton KQ … this holding is a major defect, how much nicer it would be if those 5 points were transformed into the A♠ and a Jack in Hearts or Clubs, supporting those Queens.

-         Unsupported honors … the Q♥ and K♦ are just dangling there with no supporting cards, and the Q♣ is only a little better off, at least that has the Ten for support.

 

Yes, indeed, an awful 12-count, not an opening bid, at least not for us.  Think how much better this hand would be if we just rearranged the same high cards into the following:

            ♠ 73

            ♥ KQ87

            ♦ KQ8

            ♣ QT52

Still not a thing of great beauty, but a much more promising collection than before and a hand we would not mind opening.

 

P.S.  We are delighted to be able to report that if North opens the original hand, N-S will likely get into trouble.  South will compete under the misapprehension that North actually has an opening bid, and on what is just a part-score hand, there will be a -200 or -500 in the N-S future.

                                                                      

                                           7th June, 2007                  Board 17    None Vul

 

 

When it comes to opening bids, this one is close to the bottom of the list, but, yes, it is on our list and just about worth squeaking out 1♣.  The hand passes the Rule of Twenty and, although it has an astonishing lack of intermediate cards, it also has no dubious honor holdings (such as Jxx or Qx or singleton King).  We don't suggest that you blindly follow the Rule of Twenty, but when the hand is "pure", as this one is, we find that it's an excellent rule of thumb.

                                                                         

                                          5th July, 2007                   Board 16      E-W Vul

 

 

Some Rule of Twenty addicts will count up to 20 and open 1♣, but this useful device is more of a guideline than a rule.  Playing the Guideline of Twenty, the more discerning West will notice those two doubleton Queens, and downgrade his hand to a Pass.  However, if we were to put those Queens to better use, we would cheerfully open 1♣, as in the following hand:

                 ♠ 72

                 ♥ KQ87

                 ♦ T2

                 ♣ AQ954

Here, we have the same points and the same distribution as before.  But it's a far better hand, now those Queens are working well, so we'd open this one.

 

                                          11th October, 2007           Board 18      N-S Vul

 

 

Here’s a simple enough question … is this an opening bid?

 

It’s not completely terrible to open 1♦ here, but it’s minimum in terms of HCP’s, and it’s minimum on the Rule of Twenty scale.  Furthermore it has some flaws which might cause us to downgrade the hand.  Yes, we are talking about those two dangling Queens which are just not just pulling their full weight.  Let’s see how much better the hand would be if it were:

            ♠ KQ86

            ♥ 753

            ♦ AQJ9

            ♣ 43

Same shape and high cards, but look at how much better is the high card structure.  Now, the high cards are all working well together and this hand has more potential than the problem hand.  This second hand is well worth opening, but in our opinion the Problem hand is not.

 

                                          8th November, 2006         Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

There’s nothing wrong with passing the West hand in second seat, but we rather like that 1♣ opening bid.  Of course, at favorable vulnerability, it’s always tempting to preempt the opponents but that would be dangerous with a hand that has two or three potential defensive tricks … Partner will also notice the vulnerability and might be persuaded to take a phantom sacrifice.  Therefore, we take the constructive route, showing opening values (well, almost!).

 

Now, when the bidding comes back to us, do we make a craven Pass, feeling guilty that we opened on our 10-count?  No, of course not!  We opened because we had a good 6-card suit and we still have that same good 6-card suit.  So, we bid 2♣, showing extra Clubs, not extra values.

 

                                          15th May, 2007                 Board 12      N-S Vul

 

 

We rather like the Rule of Twenty as a measuring stick for opening bids.  To recap, the Rule says to add HCP’s to the length of your two longest suits, and, if the answer is 20 or more, then we have before us an opening bid.  By that logic this 6-4 10-count qualifies.  Even so, we’d pass, the hand has flaws.  We don’t much care for that singleton Ace, but the real problem is that doubleton Queen, a potential wasted value.  We like opening 6-4 and 5-5 10-counts, but the values need to be working better than they are on this hand.  And it’s not as if we are desperate for a Club lead, either!

 

The computer dealt West a similar type of hand on Board 28, repeated here for convenience:

            ♠ KJ42

            ♥ T

            ♦ QT8764

            ♣ AT

Another 6-4 10-count, but this one we would open.  No wastage.

 

                                          21st May, 2008                     Board 32      E-W Vul

 

 

Would you open the West hand?  It’s not often that an 8-count passes the Rule of Twenty, but this one does!  But, more to the point, if West does not start bidding his long suits right away he will never get to describe that hand.  So, we would open 1♣, then rebid 1♠, then bid 2♠ next time around (we are assuming that, in the meantime, Partner is perversely bidding red suits and/or No Trump).

 

Next, suppose that the bidding develops thusly:

            West    North   East     South

            1♣       Pass    1♥        Pass

            1♠        Pass    2♦        Pass

            2♠        Pass    2NT     Pass

            3♣       Pass    3NT     Pass

            ??

That 3♣ bid suggests 5-7 in the black suits.  Does that mean that West has done enough and should let Partner play in 3NT?  We don’t think so, this is going to be a highly disappointing Dummy!  Our own guess would be to try 4♠, suggesting that maybe a 5-2 Spade fit is the way to go.  West has good Spade intermediates and if Partner has honor doubleton then 4♠ could well have a play.

 

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