feb1.indd

English 55 Brian Zietman This article is for beginners and less experienced players. We are taught very early that we need 12 HCP in order to open the bidding. However, the situation is different after the other three players have Passed. Everyone is looking at us, expecting that we have a powerhouse. In many instances this is true, but what do we do with 10-13 HCP? We have to decide whether to make a bid or Pass it out and have a cup of coffee before the next round is called. If we Pass it out, our score of zero is going to be compared to the scores at other tables. Clearly, it is worthwhile to make a bid only when we expect a plus score. How do we know what to do? Well, the experts have come upwith an interesting theory. From my personal experience, it seems to work consistently. It is called The Rule of 15 . Just to backtrack a little, you have probably heard about the rule of 20. This concerns hands with 9-11 HCP. The question arises: when to open? The answer is to add our HCP number to the length of our two longest suits. If the sum is 20 or higher, the hand may be worth an opening bid. Let’s give an example: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AK543 86 QJT32 7 We have only 10 HCP, but adding to that our two 5-card suits, we get to 20, so we open 1 ♠ . Note the advantage of having our points in the long suits. If we had instead ♦ JT732 ♣ Q, for example, the hand would probably not be worth an opening. Now let's go back to the rule of 15. When we have about 10-12 HCP after three Passes, we can be pretty sure that the points are distributed fairly evenly around the table. The remaining 28-30 HCP must be evenly spread amongst our partner and both opponents, or else someone would have opened. When the balance of power between the two sides is even, the bidding is likely to be contested (if we open it at all). In other words, both sides are going to battle for the part-score, and any contract beyond the two-level is unlikely to succeed. Therefore the side which holds a spade fi t is going to have a signi fi cant advantage. So with long spades there is a good chance of having a spade fi t with partner, and the likelihood of a plus score increases. On the other hand, being short in spades, our opponents are likely to have a spade fi t, which means that opening the bidding may well lead us to a minus score! The bottom line is that with long spades we would like to open the bidding even with 10-11 HCP, while with short spades we may prefer to keep quiet and Pass the hand out. Thus The Rule of 15 reads: “Add up your HCPs to the number of your spades. If the total is 15 The Rule of 15