Jul 15 2011
Hand Evaluation
Evaluating hands is a bridge skill that seems to come with experience. When you’re learning bridge, you learn about how to count points, how to evaluate singletons or voids. Teaching hand evaluation can be difficult, because it’s dynamic. A singleton in partner’s first bid suit is not nearly so valuable as one in the opponents suit. KJx looks like four points, but it isn’t if your LHO had bid that suit.
Playing in a local Swiss team game, red on white, i find myself holding a pretty terrible hand:
J4 
987 
9852 
Q742
Three points. No shape. Can you imagine a situation where this becomes a good hand?
Partner opens 1. RHO overcalls 2, and i, of course, Pass. LHO also passes, and partner re-enters the auction. His choice? 4. RHO passes. Your bid.
| CHO | RHO | you |
LHO |
| 1 |
2 |
Pass | Pass |
| 4 |
Pass | ? | |
All of a sudden, this hand has gotten a LOT better. Do you see why?
- Your three points are in partner’s suit. What little assets you have are working.
- Partner has at least 5-5 shape and perhaps more shape than that. You have a known 9-card or longer fit in clubs.
- Partner jumped a level of the bidding, red on white.
- Partner bid freely at the four level, having heard nothing from you. Red on white. Partner is begging you to raise with any excuse.
Perhaps more reasons could be articulated, but that’s enough. This is a good hand. The correct bid is a confidant 5.
The two hands:
| J4
|
 |
| AQT853
|
5 is cold as a wedge, with only the black Kings to lose.
At the other table, it was the South hand that failed to make a proper hand evaluation. He bid only 3 over 2, and then when our teammates competed to 3, he gave up. South needs to appreciate the strength of his hand just as much as North does.