In a new partnership with an experienced player, how would you interpret his double in this auction?
LHO Partner RHO You
1D 1H Pass 1S
2D DBL
This situation is rare enough that even long-time partnerships probably haven’t discussed it. Like them, you have to rely on bridge logic to figure out what type of hand partner has.
Which of these hands do you think he’s most
likely to hold?
(A) ♠J
♥AK963
♦KJ94
♣K104.
(B) ♠Q5
♥AKQ109
♦973
♣AJ6
It’s clear that partner has some extra strength. Your freebid of 1S is widely played as constructive but not forcing, so partner knows you have some values, too. If he holds Hand (A), he’s telling you that your combined assets and his diamond holding are right for defending 2D doubled.
The other possibility -- Hand (B) – is that he has shorter or weaker diamonds, but enough strength that he doesn’t want to sell out to 2D. There's only one unbid suit, so his double isn’t purely for takeout. It’s more of a “Do Something Intelligent” (DSI) type of double – a hand that has offensive and defensive values, but no clear way to describe its distribution. In this auction, it would be a good hand that has only five hearts and lacks 3-card support for your spades.
Hand (B) was posed as Problem #4 in the “It’s Your Call” feature in the September 2023 Bridge Bulletin. Over LHO’s 2D bid, the DSI double was the choice of almost two-thirds of the expert panel, although not all were certain that this meaning would be obvious to partner. Other panelists also expressed doubt about how partner would interpret a double and chose rebids of 2H, 2S and 3D.
From a purely logical standpoint, I think the penalty meaning is more practical, especially since partner is sitting over the diamond bidder. If he can’t make a penalty double in this auction, then what are his alternatives with Hand (A)? Your 1S bid didn’t promise more than around 8 points, so this isn’t the type of auction where partner can pass and expect you to reopen with a double.
There’s enough ambiguity here that partner probably shouldn’t have tested you with an undiscussed double. If you have to field it at the table, though, there’s more to think about than just what seems logical or practical. You also need to consider your partner’s bidding style and what you believe would be the most widely accepted meaning among players of his skill level.
Playing with a beginner or an “old-school” expert, I’d assume his double in the above auction was penalty. With most other partners, I’d expect Hand (B) – not because I think it’s the best meaning, but because it’s so similar to other non-penalty doubles that I’m guessing that’s probably what partner intends. DSI-style takeouts have become so popular that many players consider them “expert standard” – a term that refers to the “everybody plays it this way” treatments used by experienced players.
Even if you prefer a fairly basic system, it’s helpful to become familiar with how experts solve bidding problems. Their agreements are not necessarily complex; many are just simple improvements to standard methods. Knowledge of their preferences can help you better understand your opponents' bidding styles -- and maybe your partner's.
Keeping up with modern bidding methods doesn’t require intense study. You can pick up valuable ideas just by talking to experienced players, kibitzing them in online tournaments and reading their comments on online discussion sites (Bridgewinners.com, Bridgebase.com/forum and group pages on Facebook).
Bidding forums are also good sources of information about "expert standard" styles. This quiz format is featured in “It’s Your Call” in this magazine, Bridge World’s Master Solvers Club and many Unit and District newsletters. You can learn a lot about how experts think from the panelists’ comments about why they chose their bids and how they evaluated alternatives.
© 2023 Karen Walker