HANG-UPS OF MY HUSBANDS (Part IV)

Three down and more to come!   Let me remind those of you who have not kept pace with the earlier Hang-Up blogs, I am not the ‘speaker’ — merely ‘the scribe.’  Continuing with Bobby’s least favorite conventions, let us resume today with BERGEN RAISES (BR).

Bobby classifies this as another convention that is not nearly as helpful to the users as to their astute opponents, though admittedly, does a number on lesser players!  BRs are a variety of jump raises with the dual intention of showing a trump fit to partner and at the same time crowding the bidding for the enemy.   Because of the theory of the Law of Total Tricks and trump fits (especially on the right vulnerability), BRs appeal to many as they serve as an obstacle course.  A variety of weak raises disadvantages the opponents, forcing them to investigate their options at a high level.  Quite often these calls are made with relatively balanced hands and ultra-weak holdings and intimidate unsavvy opponents into submission, thereby stealing the hand.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            At least to Bobby, Marty Bergen (along, of course, with his former partner and friend, Larry Cohen — ‘MISTER LAW”) has contributed mightily to bridge by awakening us to just how valuable big trump fits can be (always nine pieces or better).  With that as a premise, it is now up to the audience to evaluate how we should utilize our newfound great arsenal of trump pyrotechnics.  Yes, it must be better, when holding a large trump fit with partner, to up the level as high as practical to make it as cumbersome as possible for the opponents to enter the auction and exchange information.  Bergen Raises are most effective when their users have enough values to ward off the bogeyman who is frequently lurking in the shadows during attacks of overbidding — standing ready to punish these irrational blind leaps of faith.

Marty sometimes suggests jumping to three of partner’s major with as little as J10xx in that major and perhaps only xx, xxx, xxxx in the other three suits. Let us assume that he is right and not belabor this point, though there may be some well-considered high-level bridge personalities who differ.  It is not that judgment with which Bobby picks a bone.   It is rather the other can of worms that Bergen Raises open.   BRs dictate jumping to three of a minor suit (in response to a major opening), and depending upon which minor is chosen, distinguishes between a three card raise and four card support.   It is these ramifications with which he takes issue.

Counter-measures are easy to strategically deploy.   Some use the double to show the other major and a minor — thereby freeing up a cue bid of the opponent’s suit as a standard three suit takeout.  Yet, another effective treatment over an artificially bid suit is the plain old-fashioned double!  If used for ‘lead direction,’ the absence of the double is not unlike the dog that doesn’t bark.  It may suggest you look elsewhere for your opening thrust.  Another benefit of the lead directing double might also suggest a possible trump suit for your side — for sacrificial purposes — even with the miraculous possibility of  converting it to a ‘make.’  To Bobby’s way of thinking, BRs afford the opponents better judgment calls because more information about strength (and especially distribution) is revealed.

Novices and inexperienced players, due to their lack of sophistication, can be targets of intimidation with the deliberate use of such conventions intended to freeze the opponents out of the auction with light jumps, sometimes of Yarborough proportions.   This ilk of players are easy prey as they are unsuspecting victims!   Also, similar home brewed conventions figure to work against these relatively innocent beginners, but the key here is for the serious, honest wannabe who is on the rise not to be mesmerized or overwhelmed by the alleged effectiveness of such fancy footwork and needs to recognize and accept all of this for what it is.   Before one embarks on these space rocketing adventures, explore their soundness and practicality — and don’t be blindly smitten into incorporating them into your partnership understandings.  Employing these conventions against your talented and experienced contemporaries is one thing, but using such methods at the expense of unwitting, inexperienced, low-level players is like taking candy from a baby!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        These strategies are commonly called “shooting fish in a barrel” which should be more fittingly reserved for aquariums — not bridge contests.