After evaluating our side suits and spades, the next step is to look at what we call “Hand Texture”.
Short Suits
When you hold a singleton (1 card) or a void in a side suit, you can add 1 to your bid if you have three small spades, or Axx, or Kxx. We do not add 1 for longer spades suits as we have already bid these spades in the first stage of bidding. Thus, if we hold Axx, Kxx, or xxx in conjunction with a singleton or void side suit, we can add 1 to our bid.
Long Plain Suits and Kings
Side suits with 6 or more cards pose a risk to our kings. We should not bid 6+ deep side suit kings at this stage of the bidding.
When our bid is based on 3 or more “unsupported” kings (king without the ace or queen), we should reduce our bid by 1.
Spade Length and Shortness
Spade length strengthens our hand while shortness weakens it. We should reduce our bid by 1 if we hold a singleton or void spade suit.
With spade length, the rest of our hand is greatly strengthened. When we hold 5 or more spades in conjunction with a 5-card plain suit, we can generally add at least 1 to our bid and sometimes more.
AK432 A10654 108 5 A865
This hand has a normal value of 6 tricks. We bid 2 for each plain suit ace, 2 for the AK of spades, and 2 for spade length.
However, we also have what is known as a “5-5” distribution. We have 5 spades in conjunction with 5 hearts which greatly strengthens our hand. Once we draw spades, our heart suit now becomes a powerful holding. For this reason, we can add 1 additional trick, or 2 if we are aggressive.
The 5-5 is particularly powerful when we hold 1 or more of the commanding cards in either the spade suit, or the plain suit. When we lack either of the commanding spades or side suit holdings, it becomes less desirable to bid on plain suit length. Careful judgment comes into play here, and it is normally best to bid our hand in regular fashion unless the game situation dictates otherwise.
Secondary Honors
We normally don’t consider queens when bidding, but when our hand is rich in what we call “secondary honors”, we can sometimes raise our bid. Secondary honors add “texture” to our hand. For example:
A32 QJ4 Q1085 KQ86
Bid 3. In the above case, we count our A and K and would normally stop there. But with 3 other potential tricks ( Q, Q, and Q), we can be aggressive and add 1 to our bid. In general, when we have 3 “possible” tricks, we can consider adding 1 to our bid.
K86 AQ4 Q1085 Q85
Bid 3. This is another case where we have 3 potential winners – the Q, Q, and Q.
A952 AQJ4 2 KQ86
Bid 5. You have a “face” value of 4 (2 spades, A, K). However, you have great “texture” in hearts and clubs, as well as the ability to ruff diamonds. This is a hand with good overall texture and can be bid more aggressively.
A52 K64 J102 K865
Bid 3. This hand lacks texture, and is a straightforward bid.
In Summary
We have covered two important stages of Hand Evaluation – The first stage is to determine the face value of our hand. The second stage looks at the spade suit and overall texture of our hand.
Face Value Bid
1. Bid 1 for each plain suit ace and king
2. In spades, we bid 1 for each A, 2+ suited K, and 3+ suited Q (refer to chart in first article). We add 1 for a 4th spade and each subsequent spade beyond our 3 card spade holding.
Texture Analysis
1. Don’t bid on plain suit kings with 6 or more cards.
2. Subtract 1 if our bid is based on 3 plain suit unsupported kings.
3. Subtract 1 if the spade suit is singleton or void.
4. Add 1 for texture (secondary honors). With 3 possible winners, add 1.
This covers Beginner Bidding. Later, in Intermediate and Advanced Bidding we will cover situational factors that will require further bidding adjustments.