Kokish Game Tries

[nrford100]

I have a bridge bidding program which I wrote that came up with the following deal:

E:AK98-QJT62--K975
S:T6-A94-Q952-AJ83
W:432-K72-KJ863-64
N:QJ75-85-AT74-QT2

Matchpoints, No vul., East dealt.

1H-P-2H-P
2S*-P-?? *Kokish. Shows 16+ total points. Asks for lowest help suit.

A double dummy analyzer shows that the max E-W can make is 1H.

1. First question: I've just finished Googling and can't find any pages which say what the minimum is where responder can just rebid the trump suit despite having help in a suit.

2. The program responds 3D. East signs off in 3H down 2. E-W are always going down with normal bidding. Any way to avoid getting to the 3 level?

[ais523]

Post by nrford100
E:AK98-QJT62--K975
S:T6-A94-Q952-AJ83
W:432-K72-KJ863-64
N:QJ75-85-AT74-QT2
Matchpoints, No vul., East dealt.
1H-P-2H-P
2S*-P-?? *Kokish. Shows 16+ total points. Asks for lowest help suit.
A double dummy analyzer shows that the max E-W can make is 1H.

My double dummy analyzer complains that there are two 2s of hearts. I'm
assuming that one of them should be a 3 (it doesn't matter which).

Post by nrford100
1. First question: I've just finished Googling and can't find any
pages which say what the minimum is where responder can just rebid the
trump suit despite having help in a suit.

You're meant to bid the cheapest suit in which you would accept a game
try. So the minimum bid of 3H means "I wouldn't accept a game try in
/any/ suit". West should probably accept if North wants help in
diamonds, but decline if North wants help in some other suit, so I think
3D is the correct response here. (A hand that would accept a game try
in any suit bids 2NT, because spades is the cheapest suit in which the
game try would be accepted; the fact that it would be accepted in any
other suit too isn't shown immediately.)

Post by nrford100
2. The program responds 3D. East signs off in 3H down 2. E-W are
always going down with normal bidding. Any way to avoid getting to the
3 level?

East has to pass 2H to avoid the 3 level, fairly obviously. I think this
particular East hand is close to the border between making a game try
and just settling for 2H; perhaps it's the sort of hand that invites at
IMPs but passes at matchpoints. (I tried out East's hand with a range of
published hand evaluation algorithms and got wildly varying estimations
of its strength, ranging from 13 to 16; obviously, 13 passes, 16 makes
a game try. It's the sort of hand whose strength depends heavily on how
well it fits partner's, so you're never going to be able to consistently
make good decisions with it.)

In order to stop at the 1 level on this board, 1H needs to be a limited
bid, as it is in, e.g., Precision. In systems where 1H has a range like
10-15, West isn't going to risk making an invite, as game is very
unlikely to make. (Of course, in that case, N will probably balance
with a double, and E may balance back again after S bids 2D. So EW will
probably end up in 2H anyway, or worse, 2DX which makes. Note that
although in theory EW should sell to 2D, in practice 2H is never going
to get doubled, so -50 is their best practically available score.)

[t***@att.net]

E:AK98-QJT62--K975
S:T6-A94-Q952-AJ83
W:432-K72-KJ863-64
N:QJ75-85-AT74-QT2

Matchpoints, No vul., East dealt.

I'd probably luck out using a canape approach: 1S-P-1NT-P-2H-P-P-P. The East hand isn't worth a jump and West has 9 losers with Hearts as trump.

[Douglas Newlands]

Post by nrford100
E:AK98-QJT62--K975
S:T6-A94-Q952-AJ83
W:432-K72-KJ863-64
N:QJ75-85-AT74-QT2
Matchpoints, No vul., East dealt.
1H-P-2H-P
2S*-P-?? *Kokish. Shows 16+ total points. Asks for lowest help suit.

Where do you get 16 total points?
The ruffs are in the long hand so they don't generate any extra tricks.
They might furnish control of diamonds at the danger of trumps being
precarious if they are 4-1.
They might help set up a long diamond suit but that aspect of valuation
should be tied to the long diamonds not the short ones.

doug

Post by nrford100
A double dummy analyzer shows that the max E-W can make is 1H
1. First question: I've just finished Googling and can't find any pages which say what the minimum is where responder can just rebid the trump suit despite having help in a suit.
2. The program responds 3D. East signs off in 3H down 2. E-W are always going down with normal bidding. Any way to avoid getting to the 3 level?