Lorne wrote:
[context: Benji Acol]
Post by LornePassing a 6 count just invites the oppo to protect and losing a part
score battle you do not need to have is very expensive in MPs and half a
game swing at IMPs.
Now the opponents' protective bids have a ridiculously wide range. That
means that we may well end up with a plus score on a hand where it
shouldn't have been available, due to the opponents trying for game and
missing, or due to going past their last making part score trying to
find the correct strain.
A part score battle isn't necessarily about buying the contract: that
only happens when at least one side (usually both sides) have a fit.
You'd generally be most inclined to make a heavy pass of an opening bid
when the existence of a fit is dubious or your hand is balanced, making
it more likely that your opponents don't have a fit either. It's quite
possible that the opponents will be at the high 2 level, or the 3 level,
before they even find a viable suit, and still have no idea whether
they're too low or too high.
Meanwhile, bidding makes it easy for the opponents to figure out whether
to intervene, as they have a lot more bidding sequences (with a choice
of bidding immediately or waiting until the next round), and will also
have a much more accurate idea of how strong your partnership is (and
thus how strong their partnership is).
Note that the early pass works especially well when your opponents are
playing methods like Michaels and the Unusual Notrump, which are very
common nowadays; it means that the other bids have very little scope for
conveying strength. Many partnerhips would overcall on a 9 count, so if
you "borrow a King" that means a minimum overcall shows a 6 count (this
seems about right to me if you believe in trying to avoid letting the
opponents play 1 of a suit). Meanwhile, the maximum in this position
is normally a 15 count or so. A range of 6-15 is ten points, the same
as a 12-21 opening would be (and most players would consider that
range too large); if the opening bid was anything other than 1C,
there's also less bidding space available. So the odds of the
opponents making a mistake go way up.
A bidding sequence like 1H, (P), P might be looked down on by most
players nowadays, but I think that, especially if fairly
wide-ranging, it's much harder to defend against than sequences like
1H, (P), 2H, (P), P. (For example, it's much easier to visualise the
non-opening side's likely hands in the latter sequence than in the
former sequence, where they could have almost anything.)
(Incidentally, if the opponents almost always protect, that should
in theory mean your passes can safely go even heavier: if your
opponents almost always protect, then an opener who happens to be
maximum will almost always have a chance to call again. I haven't had a
chance to experiment with this at the table, though.)
There's also the side advantage that heavy passes as responder give to
the rest of your system, making your invites more accurate. I don't
think that's a major gain, but it likely helps a bit.
--
ais523