{"id":1658,"date":"2011-02-04T01:40:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T09:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=1658"},"modified":"2013-02-15T23:01:25","modified_gmt":"2013-02-16T07:01:25","slug":"poll-36-balance-of-power-penalty-doubles-in-contract-bridge-%e2%80%93-day-2-february-4-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=1658","title":{"rendered":"Poll #36, Balance of Power Penalty Doubles in Contract Bridge \u2013 Day 2, February 4, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Balance of Power Penalty Doubles in Contract Bridge<\/h2>\n<p><noscript>JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work. <a href='http:\/\/www.constantcontact.com\/survey\/index.jsp?cc=ViraWidPOL'>Online Surveys<\/a> by Constant Contact.<\/noscript>\u00a0 <a class=\"twitter-share-button\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\">Tweet<\/a>\u00a0<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Power lies in the balance, Balance Of Power, that is. So when the opponents get in the way of your auction and your side has the power, the &#8220;B.O.P.,&#8221; it&#8217;s time to follow the advice of Bridge author Augie Boehm: wield the axe with your &#8220;Demon Doubles!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bridgehands-videos.s3.amazonaws.com\/Polling_You_36_Part_1\/Polling_You_36_Part_1.html\"><strong>Click here to view Part 1 of the video commentary<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>BridgeHands<\/em> members &#8211; after logging in, please scroll down to view text and video&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>On day one of Penalty Doubles we examined several scenarios where the opponents had bidding misfits, allowing us to invoke our Penalty Double. After all, if they cannot find a fit, neither can our side. With the Balance of Power Penalty Double moving into our war chest, we are adding another lethal weapon in our bidding arsenal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Polling You #36 1a<\/h3>\n<div><!-- Board 2: Diagram --><\/div>\n<table cellpadding=\"4\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><strong><em>Board 2<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nEast Deals<br \/>\nN-S Vul<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 5 4 3<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> J 10 7<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> Q J 10 9<br \/>\n\u2663 8 6 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 Q 10 7 6<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 9 8<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 8 7 6 5 4<br \/>\n\u2663 J 7<\/td>\n<td>\n<table width=\"64\" border=\"0\" frame=\"void\" rules=\"none\" bgcolor=\"#008000\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">N<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">W<\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">E<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">S<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 A K 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> K Q 4 3<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 3 2<br \/>\n\u2663 A 10 9 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 J 9 8<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> A 6 5 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> A K<br \/>\n\u2663 K Q 5 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table>\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col span=\"4\" width=\"64\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>West<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>North<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>East<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>South<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>1 N<\/td>\n<td>Dbl<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>While South may have full Notrump opening values, notice the hand has several defects:<br \/>\n1. Soft Spade values &#8211; questionable J 9 8<br \/>\n2. Doubleton Ace-King\u00a0&#8211; &#8220;tight&#8221; values cannot setup extra tricks when the opponents are playing in Notrump<br \/>\nSo while the hand has 17 HCP and is behind East&#8217;s 1 Notrump opener, 4-5 playing tricks falls a few short to set the opponents.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thus, as nice as South&#8217;s hand first appears, it lacks the playing values to make a &#8220;balance of power&#8221; double over East&#8217;s Notrmp opener.\u00a0\u00a0 Without transportation to North&#8217;s nice Diamonds (if only South had a precious third Diamond), East actually makes 8 tricks with these hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Polling You #36 1b<\/h3>\n<div><!-- Board 2: Diagram --><\/div>\n<table cellpadding=\"4\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><strong><em>Board 2<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nEast Deals<br \/>\nN-S Vul<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 J 5 4 3<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> J 10 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 10 9 7<br \/>\n\u2663 K 8 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 Q 10 7 6<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 9 8 7<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> J 8<br \/>\n\u2663 Q J 7 2<\/td>\n<td>\n<table width=\"64\" border=\"0\" frame=\"void\" rules=\"none\" bgcolor=\"#008000\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">N<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">W<\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">E<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">S<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 A K 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> K Q 4 3<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 3 2<br \/>\n\u2663 A 10 9 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 9 8<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> A 6 5<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> A K Q 6 5 4<br \/>\n\u2663 5 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- Board 2: Auction --><\/p>\n<table>\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col span=\"4\" width=\"64\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>West<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>North<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>East<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>South<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>1 N<\/td>\n<td>Dbl<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Contrast South&#8217;s hand here with the previous hand.\u00a0\u00a0 South only has 13 HCP this time, yet the lovely self-sustaining Diamond suit more than makes up for the lacking honors.\u00a0 With East promising at least 2 Diamonds, it&#8217;s unlikely any of the opponents will have four Diamonds to the Jack.\u00a0 So South&#8217;s hand should generate 6 Diamond tricks plus the Heart Ace, enough to set West&#8217;s 1 Notrump opening bid.\u00a0 Looking at\u00a0South&#8217;s hand from a Losing Trick Count perspective, with 6 LTC (2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 2 Clubs)\u00a0the hand is should be a champion to set the declarer &#8211;\u00a0unless the opponents run to another suit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><strong><strong>Premium and ULTRA Members \u2013 please login for more advanced video commentary, lesson details and downloadable files.<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\nPlease login or register to view this content.<br \/>\nPlease login or register to view this content.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Warm Regards, <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>BridgeHands<\/em><\/strong><strong><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Balance of Power Penalty Doubles in Contract Bridge JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work. Online Surveys by Constant Contact.\u00a0 Tweet\u00a0 Power lies in the balance, Balance Of Power, that is. So when the opponents get in the way of your auction and your side has the power, the &#8220;B.O.P.,&#8221; it&#8217;s time to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3476,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions\/3476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}