Values Of Side Singletons And Voids

[AAr]

Once a major suit fit is found, how valuable are side suit singletons and voids?

 

I play for Singletons to be worth as much as Kings (equivant of 3 Pts) and Voids to be worth as much as Aces (eq. 4 Pts), added to the high-card point count (I don't add much value to doubletons.), but I seem to be undervaluing them, causing me to miss games.

 

Some of my missed games comes from forgetting to add ANY value to short side suits and thus counting ONLY high card points and not adding ANY points for the singleton or void, which I have to admit is just bad bidding on my part, but even when I do add them, it seems like if you have at least a 9-card major suit fit and as little as 20 Points in high cards and a side suit singleton or void, you have game.

 

So, when it comes towards whether to bid a major suit game or take a partscore in a major suit, it does seem like I need to add value to side suit shortness (singletons and voids) and not just count high cards (Is this correct?). If so, how much value should I add?

 

Once major suit fits are found, are singletons as valuable as Kings and voids as valuable as Aces. Are singletons actually MORE valuable than Kings and voids MORE valuable than Aces (It seems like that in my hands lately.) towards major suit games (Meaning, I should add at least FOUR points for a singleton and FIVE points for a void, once a major suit fit is found?)? Does the extent value of singletons and voids depend on the fit (Meaning, FE, they're generally more valuable in, say, a 5-5 fit than a 4-3 fit?) Other factors?

 

Finally, it does seem like I am correct in that singletons and voids aren't nearly as valuable in NT contracts as in major suit contracts (In some hands, they seem to actually LOWER your chances of making 3NT!). Is this correct?

 

And, just how agressively should I bid "distributional games?". I read that while distributional slams should be bid conservatively, borderline distributional major suit games should be bid even MORE agressively than borderline high-card oriented games. Is this correct?

 

Thanks!

[coyot]

I've been using the following:

 

When evaluating single hand, doubleton is +1, singleton +2 and void +3. When a fit is found, doubleton remains +1, singleton +3 and void +5. Of course, adjustments to this should be made:

 

1) If my shortness is in a suit my partner has, value it much less

 

2) If my trump length is 3, value it less

 

3) If my trump length is 5, value it less unless we have a superfit. (Quite often, getting forced early is pretty bad

 

4) If my trump holding contains honors, value it less. (AKx, AQJx are bad holdings in this sense, Kxxxx or xxxx is optimal holding.

 

That said, tend to bid major games on 24 good points (working honors, working shortnesses).

 

The math is simple. When you have a working singleton (against empty 3-4card) and 20 HCP, youre now in contest of 10 out of 12 tricks in a 30-HCP deck, which has some odds for success with as little as 22 HCP (if you're missing i.e. K, K, Q in the remaining suits.

 

With two working singletons, you're battling for 10 out of 11 tricks in a 20HCP deck, which should be enough lacking an ace or two queens or whatever :).

[Guest Jlall]

It matters a lot whether you have a 9 card fit or an 8 card fit. Singletons and voids are much less valuable in 8 card fits than 9 card fits.

[joshs]

The answer depends on how many trumps you have. If you have a 5-4 fit, singletons in the 4 card suit are worth closer to 5 points (increases trick taking by slightly more than 1.5 tricks). In a 5-3 fit, its worth only about 1.5 or so. In a 6-3 fit its probably worth 2.5 and in a 4-4 fit its probably worth about 3.5-4. These are on average. If partner has Kxx opposite its worth less, with xxx opposite or Axx opposite its worth more. Also if you have a big trump fit (5-4, 5-5, 6-4, or so), how many cards you have opposite the stiff is critical.

 

If I opened 1S on: AKxxx Axx xxxx x and partner splintered with 4D, I would drive to slam despite having on an 11 count if partner has enough keycards. A singleton opposite 4 small when in a 5-4 fit is worth about 2.5 tricks, so about 6-6.5 points. If partner had 5 trumps its worth closer to 3 tricks so about 7.5 points. Further note that this hand is better than AKxxx xxx Axxx x since in the first hand your ace is promoting partner's heart honors and in the second hand its promoting nothing.

 

For instance:

QJxx KQxx x Axxx

 

Opposite AKxxx Axx xxxx x slam is very good

Opposite AKxxx xxx Axxx x slam is well under 50% ( the heart ace has to be onside, they have to not get a heart ruff, and you have to manage to ruff 3 diamonds).

 

Josh

[Guest Jlall]

If I opened 1S on: AKxxx Axx xxxx x and partner splintered with 4D, I would drive to slam despite having on an 11 count if partner has enough keycards.

I think this is a definite (and common) OVER evaluation. If we knew partner had 5 trumps, that would change things dramatically. Even opposite your example hand where you say "slam is very good" it isn't. The opponents will presumably know to lead trumps after the splinter and your slam is not that great. You need hearts to break or a squeeze. That example hand also contains 0 wastage in clubs. Why can't partner's heart Q be the club queen (or jack?) Why cant his HQ be the jack? This DOES illustrate why having a 5-5 fit instead of a 5-4 when you need to ruff 3 losers is much better.

[joshs]

If I opened 1S on: AKxxx Axx xxxx x and partner splintered with 4D, I would drive to slam despite having on an 11 count if partner has enough keycards.

I think this is a definite (and common) OVER evaluation. If we knew partner had 5 trumps, that would change things dramatically. Even opposite your example hand where you say "slam is very good" it isn't. The opponents will presumably know to lead trumps after the splinter and your slam is not that great. You need hearts to break or a squeeze. That example hand also contains 0 wastage in clubs. Why can't partner's heart Q be the club queen (or jack?) Why cant his HQ be the jack? This DOES illustrate why having a 5-5 fit instead of a 5-4 when you need to ruff 3 losers is much better.

OK I should have said I would drive to slam when the splinter's promise an opening hand plus 4 trumps and a singleton (not when it might be an 11 count with only 4 trumps - I have played two tiered splinters for so long that I forget its not standard) since the contract will be good opposite a sutable minimum.

 

Yes partner might have:

QJxx Kxxx x AQxx where I will probably have to take a club hook.

or

QJxx QJxx x AQxx where slam sucks.

 

I was assuming that partner can't have:

QJxx Kxxx x AJxx (or even worse QJxx QJxx x AJxx) because of my usual methods, but if thats in the range, this hand is merely worth 2 slam tries.

 

Josh

[awm]

Josh's example hands aside, I think the moral here is that the value of a singleton depends a lot on two main factors:

 

(1) How many trumps your side has. A singleton is more valuable when your hand has lots of trumps to ruff with, but the other hand has a long/strong enough trump suit to play as the "master hand" and control the taps.

 

(2) What partner has opposite the singleton. Three or four small cards is usually ideal. Quick tricks and some small cards (Axx, AKxx, etc) is okay but not as ideal. Slow honors (KQx) are the worst.

 

With this in mind, the ideal method is to somehow communicate the shortness to partner and let her decide how valuable it will be. This can be done using methods like splinters, mini-splinters, and short-suit game tries.

 

If forced to evaluate in isolation by my methods, my reasoning is that showing an "invite" on these hands is usually wrong. Partner will not know that a minimum with "points in the right places" makes game cold, whereas a maximum with "points in the wrong places" gives it no play. So generally I will decide to either force game or try to leave room for partner to make intelligent tries. There are very few hands with singletons opposite a 1M opening where I would "make a limit raise" for example; holding seven losers I tend to force game and hope for the best, whereas holding eight or more I tend to make a single raise and hope partner makes a try.

[joshs]

And yes, partner having a 5'th trump would make the slam excellent as opposed to just decent... (Justin is right, after a trump lead, and a trump continuation when the get in I am reduced to needing 3-3 hearts in my example)

 

I guess I needed partner to also have the heart J instead of the spade J to actually make the slam great..

 

I am just too used to light opening bids and strong splinters where my hand is really good.... Sorry about that.

 

If I listened to my own formula I would have said partner's hand is worth about 19.5 in support of my 11 (13 HCP and about 6.5 for the shortage opposite my 4 small with a 5-4 fit) which is in the slam neighborhood (30-31) but not quite a force.

 

Josh

[han]

Josh's example hands aside, I think the moral here is that the value of a singleton depends a lot on two main factors:

 

(1) How many trumps your side has. A singleton is more valuable when your hand has lots of trumps to ruff with, but the other hand has a long/strong enough trump suit to play as the "master hand" and control the taps.

 

(2) What partner has opposite the singleton. Three or four small cards is usually ideal. Quick tricks and some small cards (Axx, AKxx, etc) is okay but not as ideal. Slow honors (KQx) are the worst.

 

With this in mind, the ideal method is to somehow communicate the shortness to partner and let her decide how valuable it will be. This can be done using methods like splinters, mini-splinters, and short-suit game tries.

 

If forced to evaluate in isolation by my methods, my reasoning is that showing an "invite" on these hands is usually wrong. Partner will not know that a minimum with "points in the right places" makes game cold, whereas a maximum with "points in the wrong places" gives it no play. So generally I will decide to either force game or try to leave room for partner to make intelligent tries. There are very few hands with singletons opposite a 1M opening where I would "make a limit raise" for example; holding seven losers I tend to force game and hope for the best, whereas holding eight or more I tend to make a single raise and hope partner makes a try.

I agree with everything that Adam says here, I think that this is a very good way to think about singletons.