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How do you survive this situation? (AKA the AUTO-SCREW HAND)
magician11 - 10-31-2009 at 05:10 PM

All month I have been having a really hard time with hands like 6/8/10/8/7/7....with this hand you can't really bid it.....but you take extras with it all the time. It's the situations where you have no jesters.

I keep getting stuck in situations where the bid is like 5 bids for 6 tricks...Im the last one to bid now. I dont know what to do....should I bid it or not?

When I even up the bid, people always play aggressively...and I almost never make the bid. But if I don't bid it.....people play passively....and I take the extra-trick. This is why I call it the "auto-screw hand".

Right now I think the better play is to even the bid.....because if you miss, somebody is coming with you. And there is that small chance that you'll make your bid.

If you disagree, please tell me why. Could I have your opinions please?

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Here's my example : Player 1 - 120, Player 2 - 140 points, Player 3 - 170, Player 4 -160, Player 5 -160, You - 150

There are 6 cards - and the bids go....1, 1, 2, 1, 0....then you. Should you even it up or not?

Your cards are 7/8 diamonds.....9/6 hearts....7/6 clubs......and 8 spades (spades is trump).

This is the situation where you don't know what to do. Because like I said....people get aggressive when you even the bid.


dmwatson33 - 10-31-2009 at 05:42 PM

Everything else being equal, I would be inclined to even it for the reasons you stated. If I had to do one or the other, and I were behind I might bid over in the hopes the others would fight amongst themselves. Another factor would be how far behind I was, if I needed the points I would tend to risk bidding on cards I might not normally.