Friday, February 4, 2011

Price of Information

On a related note to the "steppingstone Bid" is "Price of Information" Series.

Partner passes, and RHO opens a strong 1NT.  White on red, you overcall 2C because you are playing Cappelletti and have a one-suited hand.  This call is alerted as such.  LHO doubles, passed to you.

So, you bid 2D, alerted by partner as showing a one-suited hand.  The opponents ask if that means diamonds, but partner says, "nope -- could be any suit."

The idea is that you play a series of calls above 2CX as all one-suiters without specificity as to which suit.  If the opponents really want to know, then they must double you and find out with a final pass, but then you end up declaring. 

This maneuver, properly alerted, cannot be deemed a  psychic.  Rather, it is "steppingstone-ish" in that the opponents cannot leave you in your contract undoubled and therefore must take action.  However, you are obviously creating a tactical problem for them.

Moreover, this sequence also is "steppingstone-ish" in that it compounds definitions.

If one way to 2S is 2C-X-P-P-2D-X-P-P-2H-X-P-P-2S, then 2C-X-P-P-2S shows something different, as does 2C-X-P-P-2H-X-P-P-2S.  If this situation presents itself, this may call for some discussion.

Of course, there is a defense to the "POI Series."  LHO stops doubling and lets RHO start the doubling.  But, this defense is only partial.  Sure -- it eliminates the box of being forced to defend our contract doubled.  But, it still forfeits definition somewhat for the opponents and it still gains us bidding space to fine-tune whatever we might want to fine-tune.

2 comments:

Memphis MOJO said...

Could the opponents exploit this (when they think they don't have game) by just passing and shooting for +150?

Kenneth Rexford, Esq. said...

Well, of course they could. That's the gamble always involved.

On the other hand, one could counter that by having Advancer redouble to show defensive values, such that a pass makes that go-for-150 gamble a bad idea.