{"id":1730,"date":"2011-02-09T02:13:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T10:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=1730"},"modified":"2013-02-15T22:58:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-16T06:58:12","slug":"polling-you-38-penalty-doubles-and-environmental-factors-1-5-day-4-february-9-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=1730","title":{"rendered":"Polling You #38: Penalty Doubles and Environmental Factors 1-5, Day 4, February 9, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<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><a class=\"twitter-share-button\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\">Tweet<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Penalty Doubles in Competition: Too close to call?<br \/>\nTime to make the environment your friend!<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Life isn\u2019t always easy and sometimes the same can be said at the Bridge table.\u00a0 You know the drill \u2013 you or partner begin the bidding, the opponents overcall and before you know it the bidding is at the 3 level and you\u2019re left with a difficult decision. \u00a0And when both sides have roughly the same trick-taking power, determining the best action can be a bit tricky. \u00a0In a Super Bowl football game when you\u2019ve got the ball it\u2019s either throw, run, or punt.\u00a0\u00a0 Hmm, let\u2019s see if we can work this paradigm into today\u2019s Bridge lesson.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bridgehands-videos.s3.amazonaws.com\/Polling_You_38_Part_1\/Polling_You_38_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>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Before we get into lots of nitty-gritty details, suffice it to say that when competing at the 3 level we are not going to always make the right decision.\u00a0 There, now we\u2019ve got that off our chest, hopefully we both feel a little bit better.\u00a0 Still, we do have several useful factors to consider when deciding to throw, run or punt \u2013 err, bid game, pass or make a Penalty Double.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Okay, so what\u2019s the secret sauce to become a Bridge Ninja competitor you ask?\u00a0 Sorry, we don\u2019t have any silver bullets to offer.\u00a0 In large part, being an effective competitor is mostly about common sense.\u00a0 You know common sense, right?\u00a0 Common sense is the application of good judgment, discovered AFTER having exercised bad judgment one too many times!\u00a0\u00a0 Only kidding, but we will have to pay careful attention to the Bridge bidding ecosystem.\u00a0 Okay, here we go, let\u2019s jump right in.<!--more--><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>In recent lessons we\u2019ve touched on Bridge \u201cenvironmental factors,\u201d which are particularly critical on those auctions that are close to call.\u00a0 In this article we will begin with five of our fifteen factors that should be near the top of your proverbial grocery list:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Partnership fit.\u00a0 Yes, Bridge is a partnership game and the aggregate shape and strength are key factors to consider when bidding onward.\u00a0 Recall the fundamental element of the \u201cLaw of Total Tricks\u201d suggests that we bid to the level of our combined number of trumps.\u00a0 Mind you the opponents are equally as likely to be followers of the L.O.T.T. and may be bidding more on their good looks and fit then their High Card Points!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Double fits.\u00a0\u00a0 As you will recall, having a double fit (two suits) can be magical.\u00a0 But then again, that means the opponents also have a double fit.\u00a0 So if they own the Spade suit and discover their double fit, you may find yourself outbid.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BridgeHands FREE, Premium and ULTRA Members &#8211; please login for more details:<br \/>\n<\/strong>Please login or register to view this content.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Additional Content, video and downloads is available for Premium and ULTRA Members:<\/strong><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong>Please login or register to view this content.<br \/>\n<\/strong>Please 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work. Online Surveys by Constant Contact.Tweet Penalty Doubles in Competition: Too close to call? Time to make the environment your friend! Life isn\u2019t always easy and sometimes the same can be said at the Bridge table.\u00a0 You know the drill \u2013 you or partner begin the bidding, [&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\/1730"}],"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=1730"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1732,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730\/revisions\/1732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}