Basement Bridge

DESTRUCTIVE AUCTIONS.

2012-02-08T07:06:00.001-08:00

When you and partner freely exchange bids without opposition interference, you can be said to have a CONSTRUCTIVE auction. However when one side starts overcalling you are now into the crazy world of the DESTRUCTIVE auction. They overcall to destroy your auction, to suggest leads or to steal away what may rightfully be yours. This is when you need to access your inner Dalek and EXTERMINATE! Fits in suits often count for more than mere HCP so be on the look out for these situations.

At the recent pan- galactic tournament on Arcturus V the hotly contested final was between Humanoids and Daleks. This hand arose with the match all square. N & S (vul) were the Humanoids, S dealt:

AJxxx

xxxx

AKxxx 1098542

Q xx

Kxxx xxxx

Axx 10

---

K10xxx

AJx

KQJxx

The tough auction went:

1H - 1S - 2S! - 5S

???

2S by North was a good raise (10+) and a 4+ fit. Despite his zero count the Dalek East imagined his species cry of "EXTERMINATE" and went through the roof with his bid of 5S but this induced the catastrophic error by S of 6H which went 2 off after the efficient defence of AC, club ruff and a Diamond return. -200. At the other table with the Daleks sitting N- S the auction was a gentler affair but with a sting in the tail:

1H - 1S - 2S! - 4S

5H - X - Passed out

Bemused by his partner's pass of the double, West now made a series of Humanoid defensive errors and led the AS, ruffed by the Dalek South, who drew trumps and led a club. Winning his A the Humanoid West compounded his errors by leading a low Diamond, won by the Q on the table so the Dalek South could claim his doubled vulnerable contract PLUS ONE and score +1050 which the Daleks gleefully added to the 200 won at the other table for a total of +1250. The humanoids caved in and duly lost the rest of the match by a heavy margin. After the match the Daleks discussed the hand:

"Why you make lunatic bid of 5S? Could be disastrous. Right this time, lucky......"

"Had to do desperate thing. Never know. If they bid 6H's and make, I will congratulate warmly then terminate me in nearest Nova. But I don't think so..."

5S is a "pressure bid." Pressure induces mistakes. A destructive auction can go either way. Make sure it's your way...

Have fun

WIZARD BRIDGE - LENGTH AND STRENGTH

2012-02-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

"We have two weapons", intoned the wizard. The evening sun dappled the stone chamber. "Each of these weapons has magic force. Sometimes they have power on their own and sometimes their forces combine."

"What are these weapons, Dumbledore?" quizzed Harry.

"They are STRENGTH and LENGTH, young Harry. Observe." The wizard waved a wand and 13 cards tumbled before Harry's face, jiggling and giggling. "Get a grip," moaned the wizard. The cards obediently fanned themselves in the air. This is what Harry saw:

KQx

AJx

AQxx

Kxx

"This hand is powerful as a result of its STRENGTH in high cards. But note that it has no shape. Opposite the wrong hand it may very well take no more than 4 tricks despite its power. But that would be extremely unlikely in practice. We open 1 Diamond expecting to rebid 3NT if partner responds. Now consider this hand:

KQxxxxx

Qxx

xxx

"This hand is powerful as a result of its LENGTH in the Spade suit. It has no power of STRENGTH. Now we must use its power quickly and make a pre-emptive strike before the opponents muster their forces: we must try to cut their communications by opening 3 Spades!"

"Wow, that seems a lot," said Harry.

"True. But consider: if we bid like that before they bid, we hope fatally to damage their auction. We take away precious bidding space. Can they bid the right game? Will they miss slam?"

"But what if we have a hand with both powers combined?"

"A very wise question, young Harry," beamed the wizard, snapping his fingers to change the cards. Harry saw:

AJx

KQJxxx

AJx

"Here, we have Strength and Length. There are 16 points and a 6 card suit. But the value of the hand is worth no more than a 1 Heart opening. If, however, partner responds 2 Hearts we now re-value the hand for it's SHAPE. The singleton pulls its weight so we ADD 3 points giving us a total of 19: enough to attempt game. We bid a direct 4 Hearts! The STRENGTH & LENGTH combine but only after we find a fit!!!"

It really isn't magic at all, y' know...

OUTLAW BRIDGE - BIG SHAPE, BIG BIDS

2012-02-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

William Brown was not a natural card player. It was having to sit still and keep quiet he found hardest. Having eaten all the chocolate eclairs his mother had baked for the WI, his punishment was to spend the afternoon partnering Violet Elizabeth while his mother and father practised their bidding on them. Luckily for William, he and Violet Elizabeth were dealt a succession of very good hands - much to his Father's petulant annoyance - so the scores were fairly level, despite Mr Brown's advanced techniques. Then William failed to raise Violet Elizabeth to a slam and Mr Brown began to scent a victory. William was sulky.

"I din' have nearly enough points for slam! Why're you sayin' I should bid slam. You keep tellin' me we need 32 points for slam and we din' have nearly that. Not even close to nearly, actually."

"But it isn't just about points is it William? Distribution is as strong a weapon as lots of honour cards. You had a void, so that increased the power of your hand quite dramatically. Don't you think so Violet Elizabeth?"

"Oh yeth, but he hath done very well tho far. At leatht, I think tho," said Violet Elizabeth, batting her eyelids with alarming sophistication at William who resolutely refused to notice or even enjoy her constant praise.

The next hand was dealt by Mr Brown who took his time and then bid 2C (Any big, unbalanced hand of 20+ HCP or a balanced 23+). Violet Elizabeth passed and Mrs Brown obediently bid 2D (Any hand with less than about 8HCP). William stared at his hand for some time, still smarting from his father's criticisms as well as acute indigestion. All that fuss. He din' even like chocolate... Taking a bold view and holding to one of the Outlaws favourite sayings (Get 'em before they get you!) William bid 4S. Mr Brown went through a series of emotions including shock, fear and homicidal mania. Channelling his aggression he doubled with a profound air of killer self-satisfaction. Everybody passed, the lead was made, dummy went down and, when the dust finally settled, William emerged with the 10 tricks he bid and an incandescent father.

"You said it wasn't about points, so actually, it's like I kind of took your advice, din't I ,Pops?" said William loftily.

"Well I think that's it for the afternoon," said Mrs Brown abruptly, thinking how awful it was to get blood off the Axminster. "Well played William dear. Why don't you walk Violet Elizabeth home?"

"That would be thuper, wouldn't it William", said Violet Elizabeth in a voice of cream and honey.

Mr Brown had yet to find his voice. He had been so sure William had finally and foolishly overstepped the mark. After the others went, he sneaked a look at William's hand:

AKxxxxxxx

William lost a Club, a Diamond and the Ace of Hearts; the Spades broke kindly and though William only had 12 HCP the doubled game had been lay-down. Mr Brown hated losing. Especially to William.

William, wondering if he could get back to the other Outlaws before dark, suggested to Violet Elizabeth they take a short cut to her house through the woods.

"Oh yeth, William, yeth." She whispered. "I'll thcream and I'll thcream..."

POOH BRIDGE - PARTNERSHIP BIDDING

2012-02-02T17:11:00.001-08:00

It was the final of the 100 Acre Wood Pairs. For the last round Christopher Robin and Pooh were playing Tigger and Eeyore. Tigger was the dealer and excitedly sorted his cards with little grunts of satisfaction. After much chin scratching and intense study of distant late afternoon clouds he bid 1NT. Eeyore correctly intoned: "12 - 14" but then went on: "balanced, no singleton, only one doubleton - ".

"Yes, we get the picture," said Christopher Robin.

"Do we? When?" said Pooh. Christopher Robin passed and Eeyore went into a huddle, shifting in his seat and dropping his cards while his tail knocked over the bidding box. When order had finally been restored Eeyore resignedly and slowly passed.

"Your bid Pooh," said Christopher Robin.

"Is it?" said Pooh, who up until now had been laboriously sorting his cards by some secret system known only to himself. "What's happened so far?" The auction was explained to him and then Pooh made a sound such as "Aha" as if to say well that tells me all I need to know doesn't it and then with great craftiness - he passed as well.

"Right, 1NT it is then," said Christopher Robin, controlling the urge to throw his toys out of the pram, "Any questions partner?"

"Yes. When's dinner?" said Pooh.

Tigger did his utmost bestest to go down but even he managed to wind up with 9 tricks in the end. As he won each trick he leapt up and down giggling: "Did I win that? Did I really win that? I won that. Which hand am I in?" As Christopher Robin scored the traveller Tigger tried to teach a disinterested Eeyore the finer points of the high five but without much success. Christopher Robin noted that he and Pooh had scored a complete top as everyone else had been in 3NT but he doubted it would be enough to beat Rabbit and Owl.

Later, as they ambled back to Pooh's house, Christopher Robin pointed out that as Tigger had 15 HCP points on that hand he just was too good to open 1NT. Especially as Eeyore had 10 HCP and they should have been in the making game of 3NT with a combined total of 25 HCP.

"You see, Pooh, it's partnership game."

"Now he tells me, already..." growled Pooh in a surprisingly good New York Bronx accent.

"Thing is, Pooh, if you lie to partner - your beloved partner - however small the lie, partner can only get it wrong. Tigger should have opened 1 of a suit and then REBID 1NT, showing 15 - 16 HCP. Eeyore with his 10 HCP can now safely bid 3NT knowing the partnership has a combined holding of 25 HCP - enough to attempt game. Do you remember that other hand where I opened 1C and you responded 1NT, Pooh?"

Pooh narrowed his eyes and thought as hard as a bear can think and finally said "Oh ye-es." in the nonchalant devil may care voice he used when he had no idea what anyone was talking about.

"You had a balanced 9 count, true, but you also had 4 Hearts. As did I."

"I didn't know that, Christopher Robin. How could I know that?" said Pooh spreading his arms wide and appealing to the gathering dusk.

"True. But if you bid 1H first then you have a chance of finding out. As it happens I bid 3NT which can never make while 4H is cold on any defence. We have to work together to find our best combined contract. If you withhold information from me then I can only get it wrong. Do you see?" said Christopher Robin more in hope than expectation.

"Oh ye-es." said Pooh hurriedly. "Can we have dinner now?"

Christopher Robin sighed as the sun sank below the distant trees. "The real trouble is that Owl and Rabbit won. Even though he's only an Owl, we'll have weeks of him crowing".

MORE ON LEADS

2012-02-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

Back in the stone age it was sort of decided that a good leading strategy was to lead the fourth best of your longest and/or strongest suit. It is no longer the stone age. It is true that if you do decide to lead from a 4 card or longer suit HEADED BY AN HONOUR (!) then the 4th best card is the right card to play. But the crucial point is to decide whether or not that is the right SUIT to attack in the first place. The opening lead is probably one of the hardest parts of the game and many a contract will make or fail on the first card led. When the bidding is over you should all leave your bids on the table until the first lead is made. This is to enable the opening leader to look at and assess the auction while they opt for the - hopefully - correct lead. Here's a couple of hints:

1) Try not to lead a suit bid (or implied) by the opposition - especially declarer.

2) Try not to lead from an unsupported honour - especially A's or K's

3) DO lead the suit bid by your partner

4) Eliminate the suits you do not want to lead from and then choose the right card from suit you decide on.... but which is the right card, I hear you holler?

The standard approach is to lead: Top of a sequence (KQxx, QJxx, J1098 etc), top of an internal sequence (KJ109, Q109x), 4th best from an honour (Qxxxx, Kxxx) and 2nd from bad suits not headed by an honour (10xxxx, xxx), A from AK and top of a doubleton. Obviously singleton leads against a suit contract are always worth a shot as well. But you should not make one of these leads just because you hold them. These are the leads you make from any given holding once you have decided to lead that particular suit from your assessment of the auction. No amount of so-called "rules" will ever take the place of actually thinking about what to do in any given situation. "Rules" are not a substitute for thought. They are an aid to assist your thoughts in certain repeating patterns. On the other hand sometimes you're stuffed whatever you do. The auction goes:

1NT - 3NT. You're on lead with this:

Kxx

Kxxx

Er.. I don't know either. Anything could be "right" or "wrong" but the rules state that you must lead something. But what? Frankly, I might choose a low card from one of the major suits on the basis that no-one bid a major, used Stayman or made a transfer, but if partner turns out to hold Qxxxx in the club suit I'm going to look a twat. Tuff. Score up, move on. Not an easy game is it?

RESPONDING TO 1NT

2012-02-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

When partner opens 1NT (12 - 14) you will hold one of three types of responding hands:

1) A hand that DOES want to be in game (13+)

2) A hand that MIGHT want to be in game (an "invitational" hand: 11 - 12)

3) A hand that does NOT want to be in game, (less than 10)

1) (a) With a 4 card Major (H/S) you bid Stayman first and then rebid 3NT, 4H or 4S.

(b) With a 5 card - or longer - Major you bid the suit BELOW (a transfer), partner completes the transfer, and then you bid game: With 5 cards you rebid 3NT. With 6 cards rebid 4 in that Major.

2) (a) With 11- 12 HCP and a 4 card Major, after bidding Stayman first, you will only rebid 2NT, 3H or 3S.

(b) With a 5 card - or longer - Major you transfer as before. If you have 5 cards you rebid 2NT. With 6 cards bid 3 in that Major

3) In general ALL these hands will pass. The only time you will bid is when you have a (goodish) 5 card Major and a singleton OR any hand with a 6+ major. In both cases you make the relevant transfer and then just pass. The idea is that you don't want to be in game but you do want to suggest either a lead if the opponents steal the contract later, or a place to play that might be safer than 1NT. You might also talk the opponents out of bidding which is always a good idea! You might also try Stayman with a void or singleton Club, as you can then pass any bid by opener.

So after a 1NT opening from partner, you will either:

PASS

BID 2NT or 3 NT

bid Stayman or Transfer and then bid game

bid Stayman or Transfer and then invite game

bid Stayman or Transfer and then pass.

FITS AND SPLITS

2012-02-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

The way the points are divided between you and the opposition is obviously important. However, just as important is the way individual suits are divided. We talk about fits. Ideally you are always on the lookout for an eight card fit in a particular suit between you and partner to determine the trump suit. Especially if it's a major suit. When you have such a fit the opponents will hold between them 5 cards of that suit (13 - 8 = 5). The suit will split 5 - 0, 4 -1 or 3 - 2. With an eight card fit you can - mostly - put up with, or navigate your way around, the 4 - 1 and the 3 - 2 splits but 5 - 0 will - mostly - prove insurmountable. Luckily, this is heavily against the odds and should be largely discounted. If it happens - tuff. Live with it. When making your plan as declarer in any contract you will naturally assess the trick-taking potential of an individual suit based on information from the auction and the high card power you and dummy possess. But there is another "fit" you should train yourself to be aware of of: The SEVEN card fit. In a No Trump contact you see this combination between you and dummy:

AKQx xxx

As you have seven cards in the suit the opponents will hold six of them (13-7=6). If they each hold three cards in that suit the little (insignificant!) x in four card holding will magically become good. It will be "established" and you will make four tricks. Likewise:

AKQxx xx

If the suits "splits" 3 -3 you will make FIVE tricks and even this combination:

AKQxxx x will produce SIX tricks on the same split.

We can't always be so lucky. Sometimes you'll get this:

AKxx xxx

No, you won't make four tricks here but you might make three! On the first round of the suit play low from both hands, then cash the AK. If the split is 3-3 then again the little x in the four card holding is promoted to a winner. In trump contracts you have an extra "trick" up your sleeve. Try this:

AKxxx xx

Having drawn trumps (hopefully!) you play off the AK and then ruff the third card. Now, if the split is 3-3, two of the small x's in the long holding have been promoted and what looked like two winners - magically - become four!

No. None of this happens all the time. Nothing does. But you should always be alert to the possibility available to you and be ready to take advantage when it does occur. Be ever optimistic. Pessimistic bridge is losing bridge. Hope for the best but be gracious in defeat. At least you tried...

HOT TIPS ! THE END PLAY!!!

2012-02-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

There are lots of esoteric ploys at declarer's disposal. Some of them - such as the automatic double guard squeeze - are pretty rare. But others crop up a lot and here's one of them:

THE END-PLAY (Eliminate and Throw in)

West opens 1C and N/S wind their way - rightly or wrongly - to 4S and when dummy goes down you see this motley collection

J10xx

KQx

Axx

xxx

AQxxx

xxx

AQ10

Instead of wondering where to get another partner - MAKE IT! Yes, you have an apparent 4 tricks to lose (AH, KS, KC, JC) but there's ways and ways... As they opened the bidding you can be pretty certain West holds all those cards so the contract looks doomed. In fact it's cold as long as West holds the AH, which looks probable on the bidding. West leads a diamond, you lose the spade finesse and the AH and end up with this:

10x

xxx

Qxx

AQ10

The key point is to ELIMINATE the red suits. You cash the KH, ruff a diamond in hand and cash the QH, now ending on the table with this:

10x

---

xxx

---

AQ10

Having eliminated the red suits you now execute the THROW IN. You can lose one more trick so you lead a small club to the 10. As expected West wins but now is end-played! If they lead a red card you ruff in one hand and discard a club from the other (Ruff & Discard). If they lead a club you make the A & Q. 10 Tricks bid and made. Once you've organised the end-play West is powerless. Whereas you...:-)

It's fun, I tell you.

BASIC SQUEEZES

2012-02-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

There is a general tendency among teachers of the game not to mention too soon in the careers of people learning Bridge the all important and fascinating world of the Squeeze. There are just too many snares, pitfalls and technicalities. Well stuff that. Here goes. The Simple Squeeze. I'm not going to get technical about menaces, threats and entries but there is one guiding principle you do need to attend to before even contemplating the positions. It is called "Rectifying the Count." You can only apply a simple squeeze to the defenders when you are in the position where you are going to win all but ONE of the remaining tricks (n-1). Here's a single positional squeeze. It's a 3 card ending with both menaces in one hand (North) so only West can be squeezed. The JS & KH are the menaces and AD is the squeeze card while the AS is the entry card. You are certain to win 2 tricks but look as if you have one to lose. Aha but no...

---

A Immaterial

---

When the AD is led, West has to find a discard before the North hand and cannot get it right whatever they do. The squeeze is inexorable. West discards the AH - now the KH is good and North discards the JS. If West discards a Spade honour, north lets go the KH, making A & J Spades. The squeeze works just as well if one of the menaces (KH) is in the South hand:

---

A Immaterial

---

I'm not going any further into this but if you want you can immerse yourselves in the romantic world of Double, Automatic, Triple and Repeating Squeezes to your heart's content!

Enjoy

OPENING LEADS

2012-02-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

There's no question defence is the hardest part of the game to get right. It helps if the lead gets you both off on the right foot. Rest assured no-one ever gets it right all the time. You either: (A) try to establish tricks for your side or (B) try not to give away tricks to declarer. There are many other styles of leading, but below is a quick run down of what are known as STANDARD LEADS

The standard rules for which card to lead are

a) top of a sequence or a broken sequence K Q J 10, K Q 10 9 (K)

b) top of an internal sequence K J 10 x x (J)

c) fourth highest from a good suit Q 10 7 5 2 (5)

d) lowest from three to an honour K 8 3 (3)

e) top of a doubleton 9 5 (9)

f ) MUD (middle, up, down) from three small cards, play the top card on the

next round 8 5 3 (5)

g) second highest from four small cards, play your original fourth highest card

on the next round 10 8 6 3 (8)

As in all contracts if your partner has bid a suit it will most often be right to lead that suit. However if partner hasn't bid then you must decide from a combination of your own hand and the opposition bidding which SUIT will either be the best attacking lead OR the safest lead. First you decide which suit to lead. Then you must lead the "right" card from that suit, so that partner has a chance to work out what to do if they get the lead later in the play.

There is one difference when leading against Suit or NT contracts

K Q 7 6 3

Against a suit contract lead the K but against a NT contract lead the 6. You want fast tricks in a suit contract, but slow tricks when defending NTs. When you lead top of a sequence against NT contracts you will normally have 3 cards in the sequence, broken or otherwise. See (a)

Sadly none of this helps you decide which actual suit to lead. All you can do is listen to the bidding and avoid leading their suits. Obviously you can't do this if they bid everything (!) If declarer on your right has bid a suit and in that suit you hold: K x x x then it's probably wrong to lead it, even if it's your only 4 card suit. If there's no obvious lead, then work backwards by deciding which suits you probably can't lead and then lead the suit left!

Be warned: nothing works all the time. That is why Bridge is the fascinating game it is. In everything you do there is an element of risk and chance. The idea is simply to do the best you can with cards you have and the information given to you by the bidding.

DEFENSIVE SIGNALLING

2012-02-02T07:39:00.001-08:00

The suits have a rank. Clubs is the lowest ranked of the suits and Spades the highest. We can use this fact to our advantage when we want to give partner information about which suit to switch to (or to lead). This the dummy:

KQxx

AQxx

Kxxx

The contract is 4S and partner leads the A of H's. This wins the trick and now partner has a dilemma: what to do next? If during the auction you had bid a suit (C's or D's) partner would presumably switch now to that suit. But there are many auctions where you don't get a chance to tell partner useful information about your hand. So let's assume partner has no idea what to switch to and so has to guess which minor suit to lead next. Ah yes. But what is it I keep saying? It's a partnership game!! Wake up! Why leave partner to guess when you - presumably! - know the answer. If you have the K of D's you want that suit led. If you have the AQ of C's you want that suit led. Right so how do we do this? Well, we use what is called a "Suit Preference Signal". There is no earthly point in partner continuing with the H suit so now the H card you follow with to the A will tell partner which suit to switch to. If you want a D, then discard a HIGH Heart - asking for the highest ranking of the other two suits. Alternatively if you wand a Club led then follow with a LOW heart , asking for the lowest of the other two suits (Obviously S's & H's are discounted) It is not always true that the card you follow with to the first trick is a SPS. It's just that in this case - nothing else matters. if you have the 269, the 2 asks for a Club and the 9 asks for a D. Of course you may be dealt the 234 of H's so how is partner to know what your signal means? I'm afraid they just have to work it out based on the discards from the dummy and declarer!

It follows therefore that when you are defending you must not blindly pull a card from your hand and place it on the table. What information are you giving partner? This communication is key in getting good scores. Do not give declarer tricks they do not deserve. Be frugal in your beneficence.

COMPETITIVE CUE BIDS

2012-02-02T07:38:00.001-08:00

The Competitive Cue bid is a strange unnatural bid I'll grant you. But it is hugely valuable, especially when both sides bid. In these situations a cue-bid is defined as "a bid of the suit opponents have bid". It cannot possibly be "natural". That is to say, when you do bid the opponents suit you cannot possibly be interested in playing in that suit. If you do - genuinely - hold their suit, you should either be passing to begin with, or later on in the auction, doubling them for a big fat juicy penalty. The last thing you want is to play in THEIR suit. It follows therefore that, when you bid their suit, it must be for another reason. There are two distinct and separate situations when this can occur. Partner will (1) open a minor suit or (2) open a major suit.

(1) when partner opens a minor suit we will - most of the time - be aiming to play in a NT contract. 9 tricks are easier than 11. After an overcall on your right (1D - 1S!) you may want to play in NT but have no "stop" (ie high honour) in their suit but still have a lot of points. Don't "guess" 3NT - use the cue-bid to ask partner if they have a "stop"

AQx

Kxxx

Axxx

You bid their suit as in 1D - 1S - 2S! This says "do you have a stop in their suit such that you can suggest a NT contract?" If possible partner will duly bid NT at some level or other depending on their hand. (Note that with 4 H's this hand would use the "Negative" double!)

2) When partner opens a major suit we will - most of the time - be looking to express a fit for partner and aiming for game. After an overcall on your right, you now want to bid the value of your hand either pre-emptively (weak) or constructively (strong). But how can we distinguish the difference? After 1H - 1S (overcall) what do you do with this:

Kxxxx

Qxxx

xxx

You must make a weak (!) pre-emptive jump to 3H! Make things difficult for them. Push them into guessing what to do next. Obstruct. If you do then sometimes they will get it wrong. Conversely what do you do with this?

KJxx

Kxx

KJxx

After 1H - 1S (overcall) you have a good fit for partner (gold dust) as well as good (10+) points (platinum dust). You must show that your raise is strong and NOT pre-emptive. You do this by bidding their suit thus:

1H - 1S - 2S!

Have fun!

TOFF BRIDGE - ENDPLAYS

2012-02-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

"I say Jeeves. Bit rum of you to raise me to 3NT after their weak 2S opening. I went down like a May Ball Fresher. Have a care in future."

"Yes of course Sir. Though if I might venture to suggest Sir, it seems eminently possible you can make the contract."

"The Dickens! You don't say so old chap. Really?"

"Yes Sir. If you remember the hand... East opened 2S (weak), you bid 2NT and I raised to 3NT -

xxx

AKxx

K10xx

xx KQJ10xx

10xxx Jx

xx Qxx

AQJ10x xx

Qxx

AJxx

Kxxx

A Spade was led, which you very correctly ducked, Sir.."

"Golly ta ever so Jeeves,"

"East continued the suit and you then - correctly again in my humble view Sir, played East for the Q of D, as you cannot let East in to cash his Spades and lead a Club, can you Sir,"

"I think should bally well think not old bean."

"You now had 5 tricks and if the H's split 3 - 3 you make 4 H tricks and your contract."

"But that was the deuce of it. Duffing H's split 4 - 2 so heck what now says I to meself. Ghastly so I try a low Club to the K, but West has all those and the last H so I'm a gonner - one orff. As I said Jeeves, your raise to 3NT was somewhat of a tad on the hasty side."

"If I may sir? The H's do not break, as you say, but there is remedial action to be indulged at this juncture. If, despite the bad break in H's you nevertheless continue a 4th round of the suit, West is forced to win and now, with only C's left in his hand, can cash the A of the suit but must then perforce lead a C round to your K for the 9th trick. Contract made."

"Oh I say that is jolly clever. Well slap me with a whippy fishing rod what a dashed fine notion!"

NEW JERSEY BRIDGE - PRE-EMPTS

2012-02-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

"Lissena me, schmuck," said the capo di tutti frutti. "When you pre-empt you pre-empt with a single suiter, ain't that right?"

"Yes boss," whimpered the face strapped in the chair.

"So, why, tell me why did you go on and pre-empt - as dealer! - with a TWO suiter, you lousy little no-good mangy son of a rat's ass?"

"But boss, boss," squirmed the face, "it worked out OK. I open 3D, they go overboard, go down in 4H. We gotta plus. What's to worry over, already? Look at the hand:"

AJxxx

QJxxxxx

"I seen the hand, don't you fret. Who cares they bid 4H, they mighta anyways. Problem is, what happens when you open 3D with that hand and I have Spade support? Huh? Maybe real good Spade support? How you gonna tell me that? How you gonna guess it right? How'm I gonna guess it right? You pre-empt to give THEM a guess. You don't pre-empt to give ME a guess. I don't like to guess, do I Shorty?

"No boss. But opening 1D didn't seem right. Or 1S. What should I do Boss? Tell me what I should do Boss, please Boss tell me. What's to do?"

"OK. Lissenup, wise guy. Here's the way it is. You can pre-empt with 4 of another suit if you really want, (But I knows guys who will rub you out fer that.) But not never 5. If you was 3rd in hand I wouldna minded so much, but you were first! If I've passed, OK, you can take a liberty. After 2 passes Not Vulnerable you can get creative, sure thing, why not. But not when you the dealer. Not with this. Too many times we'll miss a Spade fit. And then. I WILL. BE REALLY. ANGRY. You was lucky I didn have no spade fit with you this time. So lucky. And that is why I'm lettin you off light. The best you coulda done was PASS. Wait and see. Remember one thing if nothing else: Don' lie to me. I gets antsy when folks lie to me. Don't get me antsy."

If you want to open habitually with these hands - and I think you should - then you and partner are going to have to learn the convention that allows this - LUCAS TWOS. Weak 2 suiters - 5 - 10 HCP. There's a whole raft of these conventions, Muiderberg 2's. Woo 2's, Dutch 2's etc etc. But you'll need to learn the conventional responses as well. On top of that you now won't have single-suited weak 2's available. So be careful what you decide!

DUPLICATE

2012-02-02T07:08:00.002-08:00

It's a tough game. You can't win every board. All you can do is cut out the zeros and keep plugging away. You get bad scores for these reasons:

1. You, or partner, make a mistake in bidding, defence or play.

2. Opponents don't make a mistake in the bidding, defence or play.

3. The cards lie wrong for you, so your perfectly reasonable contract is doomed to fail.

4. The cards lie exceptionally well for you but, perfectly reasonably, you don't take advantage.

The remedies are:

1. Cut down the mistakes.

2. Bully opponents into bad contracts

3. So what? Nothing to be done.

4. When in doubt, bid up. Just in case...

The other two things are DEFENCE and DEFENCE. Giving away unnecessary overtricks is where most of the round fat zeros come from. Sometimes just holding the opponents to their contract, and no more, will gain you a good score. Letting them make a contract that should go down will always get you a bad score. There are three elements to Bridge: Bidding, Declarer play, & Defence. On average you will be Declarer 25% of the time. But you will Defend 50% of the time. Logically, then, you should work at your defence twice as hard as your declarer play. Defence is the hardest part of the game. And the hardest part of defence is the opening lead. More contracts are let through by a duff opening lead than anything else. Somewhere in all your bridge books there will be a table of the suggested card you should lead from specific holdings. If you study nothing else, study this table. You are bound to do better in the long run as a result. This is an area even top experts get wrong so don't beat yourself up about it, but do think, think and think again. Study the auction, not just your own hand, for any small clue. Above all, do not blindly lead 4th best. It is frequently a losing option. You know it makes sense...

STAR WARS - TRUST THE SYSTEM

2012-02-02T07:08:00.001-08:00

As the starship sped through a galaxy of 53 trillion stars, Obi Wan turned to the Princess Leia:

"What were you thinking before you bid that last hand?"

"Whether to bid 1S or 1H."

"Why?"

"They were my options."

"No, I mean, why were you thinking about it? You must have taken at least 2 minutes to decide."

"Surely I should always think about my bid shouldn't I, Obi Wan?"

"Bridge is quite taxing enough on brain power as it is. I don't see why you would expend two minutes of quite valuable intellectual energy on a foregone conclusion. You finally, & correctly, bid 1S on this hand:

Kxxxx

AK10xx

The system is clear on these hands: with both majors 5 - 5 you open 1S: the fact that H's are stronger is irrelevant. There is nothing to think about. Save that brain power for genuinely difficult hands. If you try to imagine the universe of possibilities with every hand, your brain will rapidly become an exploding Death Star. Luckily you don't need to: there is a system that takes care of all the common, repeatable situations just so you don't have to waste your brain thinking about it. Ancient and wise heads have sifted all the myriad possibilities and decreed there is a pattern in the universe of chance that Bridge encompasses. The Force in the system is unbreakable and if you trust the Force so may you prevail."

THE ENTERPRISE - MANAGING PARTNER

2012-02-02T07:06:00.001-08:00

Spock was teaching Klingons Bridge.

"Above all else, Bridge is a partnership game," said Spock. "With both sides bidding - a competitive auction - partner competes to 5D over their 4S hoping to make a worthwhile sacrifice. It so turns out it's not; you go badly down when, in fact, their 4S was never making. You get a really bad score. How do you re-act?"

"I tear his ears, gouge his eyes, break his teeth. Then I kill him," the Klingon smiled wearily. Spock narrowed his eyes.

"Interesting. However, not conducive to partnership understanding. If that was board 4 of a 24 board session, what do you do for the next 20 boards?"

The Klingons shuffled in their seats and mumbled.

"It's not really going to work out, is it?" explained Spock patiently.

"You mean... should we keep him alive?"

"That's certainly a viable option. Another option would be to commiserate with your unfortunate partner and praise them for their willingness to boldly compete the auction to the limit. Then partner is more likely to aggressively compete correctly on future boards. Which he can't do if he's dead."

"Are you saying I should be nice to partner whatever happens?" Spock lowered his head in consent. "But this is not the way of Klingons, Spock."

"Maybe not. But it is the way of Bridge. Do not treat your partner as your opponent. You have enough trouble with the bastards either side of you. Everyone makes mistakes; bids too much; bids not enough; misplays or misdefends a hand. As, I can assure you, so will you."

The Klingons banged the table and swore they would never ever in the heat of bridge do such things. Spock gestured and the room fell silent.

"You will make mistakes, I guarantee it. And when you do, you will hope partner understands your mistakes were made with the best of all intentions; for the good of the collective and not for individual glory. Your partnership will then do so much better. The Power of Pairs outweigh the Weakness of One. This is the Law."

Keep partner relaxed and focussed. Whatever happens. Getting tetchy achieves zero. Worse - it will make you play badly as well, as you are now concerned with being right when your only concern should be the next hand.

Have more fun

NEGATIVE DOUBLES

2012-02-02T07:04:00.001-08:00

The convention was first proposed over 50 years ago and is now so common the latest international rules state it does not even need to be alerted, while an old fashioned penalty double does!

They occur when a) partner has opened & b) the next opponent overcalls. A double by you is now said to be "Negative". This means you do NOT hold partner's suit and you do NOT hold the opponent's suit. The inference is you therefore hold the other two suits. You will have - depending on the level of the overcall - about 7+ HCP. An extension to this idea is that if either partner or the overcaller has bid a Major suit, you will hold the OTHER major with at least 4 cards, and not necessarily the 4th suit as well. Here's an example of it in action: Partner opens 1C and your RHO bids 1S. You hold

KQxx

QJxx

xxx

You do not have enough to bid at the 2 level and 1NT would promise a decent Spade honour, so it looks like you lie or are frozen out of the auction. NOT SO! You simply Double. Now partner knows you have at least 4 H's and (in an ideal world) 4 D's as well. Armed with this valuable information partner will be able to make informed decisions later in the auction, rather than trying to feebly guess what's going on if you just pass, or lie.

The reason for using Double like this - as a positive forward going manoeuvre and not simply a weapon to bash opponents - is to do with numbers. Specifically, the numbers of hands possible in relation to the number of bids possible. There's in the region of 53 trillion possible Bridge deals and to bid them all we have a mere 35 legal suit bids. However we can vastly improve our chances if we use DOUBLE as a positive, forcing bid in the early rounds of bidding. Now we have 36 bids! Modern theory has also begun - in certain competitive situations - to use PASS as a forcing bid as well, so adding 2 whole bids to the armoury in our fiery battle against random chance.

Remember, Double is a bid just like any other, and like any other bid, it can have different meanings in different situations.

QUESTIONS I GET ASKED No 4752...

2012-02-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

You are Not Vulnerable, while the Vulnerable opponent on your right deals and opens 1H. You hold...

AQxxx

Qxx

Kxxx

and I get asked "What should I bid? I was going to open (1H). Should I (A) double or (B) lie a little and bid 1NT?"

The question ought really to be not "what" but simply "should I bid?" And the answer is a resounding NOOOOO!!!

The opponents have bid a suit in which you are strong, so why tell them that. It's unlikely the bidding will end up in a H contract anyway, but careless talk costs lives (and tricks!)

(A) A double in this situation would be "for Take-out." It is NOT a penalty double. It would carry the message that you are happy for partner to bid any other suit than H's at whatever level they deem fit. This is not a message you want to send with this hand at all. PASS.

(B) 1NT as an overcall promises 15 - 17 HCP and a good (ish) stopper in their suit. You only have 12 HCP. Do not lie about this hand. PASS.

(C!) In a perfect, ideal, wonderful world of supreme happiness the auction would - you fervently hope - go like this:

1H - PASS - PASS - DOUBLE!!!

PASS - ???

Partner's double is for take out, as before, asking you to bid one of the other three suits. But before you reach for the 3C card have a think. Say you make 3C that's +110. Say you end up in 3NT and make +400. All fine. Except what if you PASS again? They play in 1H Vulnerable and go 2 down for +500 to you? That's the perfect score isn't it? And that score is only a (remote) possibility if you PASS twice. if you try to bid in these situations you immediately lose the chance for the magical +500. Even 1 down for +200 could be the top score possible. Nobody knows. And nobody ever will if you try to bid with these hands.

The question you should really have asked is "WHY should I bid and WHY should I pass?" 9 times out of 10 my answer will be "What's the score?"

When the opponents bid your suit - PASS, unless you have a hand suitable for a 1NT overcall (15 - 17) If you have an even bigger hand (18+) you can then double as you will re-bid NT's - promising a hand better than an immediate 1NT overcall. On a slightly different note: when you do pass, pass smoothly. Do not dither. Do not hesitate. Do not by your demeanour let them or your partner know that you have this type of hand. If you do so you give the game away to the opponents, which is pointless. OR you give partner unauthorised information which is unethical. Be careful about this. In general try very hard not to hesitate and then PASS. To hesitate and bid is fine.

POINTS Vs SHAPE

2012-02-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

I frequently get asked the question: "How many points do I need?" This is especially true when someone wants to overcall, but sadly the answer is not - necessarily - about points. It is also about distribution or "shape". It can also be about where your points are. Take a look at this hand:

KQx

Kxx

Kxxx

Qxx

A perfectly decent opening bid of 1NT. But if your Right Hand Opponent (RHO) opens anything you cannot bid. You cannot bid 1NT over a suit as you need 15 - 17 to do so; plus you have no 5 card suit to get into the auction with. Nor should you bid if they open 1NT themselves. So now you must - reluctantly - PASS. On the other hand you might have fewer points BUT in a more shapely hand:

xxxxxx

Qxx

Axx

I suppose some people might overcall with this hand - good luck to them! Swap the points round, though, and things change radically:

AKQxxx

xxx

Now you should bid, even though you have fewer total points than the 13 count above. What you lack in HCP is more than compensated by the "shape". When your RHO opens 1C or 1D you can make a weak jump overcall of 2H! And even if they open 1S or 1NT you are still entitled to bid 2H. You might steal the auction and you also give partner a good indication of what to lead if you subsequently lose the auction.

Remember - Points are good but Shape is better. SB4P

This is why there are so many conventional overcalls to show specific shapes before showing the point count.

Shape. If you got it - flaunt it baby...

PLAYING TO THE SCORE

2012-02-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

At Pairs and teams scoring a Non-vulnerable game is worth 400/420. A Vulnerable game is worth 600/620. It follows that if you can somehow give away less than either of those two scores you will have returned an actual plus for your side. If the opponents contract to play 4 Hearts Vulnerable they will make 620. If your side is not vulnerable you can go 3 down doubled for a score of -500, an actual profit of 120. However - be careful. The loss of 500 is only worth it if the Vulnerable game can actually make! And even if it can, you must hold your losses to that -500 mark, as if you go down for -800, you just turned the loss from 620 to 800 instead. This is not good. Don' be fooled into thinking that all sacrifices are necessarily the correct thing to do. It is probably as true anything can be in this game that if you are the Vulnerable side and the opponents are Not Vulnerable, then to sacrifice is almost never the correct thing to do.

The crucial point I am making is that how far you bid will depend not just on what cards you hold, what partner bids and what the opponents do but also what the score is. This applies to all forms of the game - Rubber, Duplicate and Teams. This concept also applies to the part-score battle, when both side have roughly an even number of points. This is particularly true at Duplicate, rather less so at Teams or Rubber. The maths is the same: if they contract to make 2 Hearts for -110 to you, then you can go for -100 in 3 Clubs or Diamonds (say). This profit is so marginal that at teams scoring it is a flat board, but it's very important at Duplicate, where the size of the profit is not an issue. if you beat all the other pairs by 10 points, you get the same Matchpoints if you beat them all by 1000.

However - Rubber Bridge players should beware the siren song of the sacrifice. Do not be lured unthinkingly to those rocky rocks. Let us assume a rubber score where you are not Vulnerable, but they are Game and 60. If they get this game they get a 700 rubber plus their Game and overtrick scores and any other scores above the line you might have gifted them on the way. So. Thinks. If we can sacrifice for anything less than 700, you think, apparently rationally, then we are quids in. WRONG. Ok let's say you duly sacrifice in this dubious enterprise and go for -300. Aha! you might think, saved 400! WRONG. The reason is that when the dust has finally settled they will STILL be Game and 60 and will gratefully receive the 300 you just donated to them. Now, having invested that 300 in trying to save the rubber, will you now protect your investment by sacrificing again and again until you finally do get a game? And how will you feel if, in this extended rubber, your opponents find a slam, thus giving them another 1000+ points into the bargain? Initially you were worried about chalking up a -900 rubber but now you find yourself scoring about -3000 instead. The way to avoid this common pitfall is to know when to give up. Minimise your losses by getting out of the rubber as cheaply as possible and move on to the next when hopefully your luck will change. Do not flog dead horses. Cut and run.

This is why - before you even look at your cards - you must check the vulnerability. Your cards don't really matter. The Vulnerability is utterly crucial.

When ‘Rules’ Are Made To Be Broken – 20 Jan 2011

2011-02-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

The basement bridge group meets every Wednesday evening for ‘supervised play’ at the Princess of Wales in London NW1. Date given in each headline is the date this posting was mailed out to the basement bridgers. Check the blog for past info on transfers, cue-bids, doubles and so on … New players are always welcome and partners are found for all players. To be added to the mailing list, send an email to bridge@ruffclub.co.uk with the subject ‘Basement Bridge’.

An evening of weird distributions was evidence that sometimes the rules don’t seem to apply and you just have to fly by the seat of your pants, stare down the opposition and see who buckles first. Even the last hand of the night was a treat. A perfectly sound 6D was bid and the play could cater for a 4 - 1 trump break but was finally defeated on the 5 - 0 break. Which you can do nothing about 90% of the time. Hey ho… Another chronosynclastic infundibulation… which brings us to the subject of:

“Rules”

There are many of these so-called “Rules” in Bridge. They are designed to assist the average player make decisions in certain repeating situations. But be warned! None of them are sacrosanct or 100% cast iron.

The problem is that if you follow a rule blindly you will stop thinking clearly about the hand you actually hold in the deal you are actually playing. For instance – as I've said before – most of the time it is not a good idea to lead from a suit headed by just the ace or just the king against a suit contract. This is not a RULE. It is “Advice To Players” (ATP)

The same is true of the Rule (!) “2nd hand plays low, 3rd hand high” when you are defending. Most of the time these ATP will hold good but not ALL of the time. So you have to think about the situations where these ATP do NOT apply.

The opposition bid as follows:

1S - 2D
3D - 3S
4S - P

You are on lead and you hold a diamond suit like this: Axxx.

Looking at the auction - and thinking about it - you can tell that the opposition have an 8 card fit in both the diamond suit and the spade suit. Well, if they have eight diamonds and you have four then partner has … er … ONE! So – in this case – you must lead the ace of diamonds and then give your partner the expected ruff.

Similarly if, after a competitive auction where you and partner bid hearts but the opposition bid on to 4 Spades, partner leads a small club. Dummy wins the ace and a small spade is led from the table. What do you now play with this hand?

Axx
AJxx
KJ
Jxxx

The ATP is that 2nd hand plays low. But Stop! Think! Why has partner not led a heart – the partnership’s known best suit? Partner is either a dang dumb fool OR knows exactly what needs to be done and wants you recognise the fact. What if the club is singleton and that’s why partner led it?

Now you have to ignore the ATP “2nd hand plays low”, dive in with the ace of spades and give partner the club ruff before declarer has a chance to draw trumps.

The Rules in bridge (ATP) that you will hear about and read about are not rules. They are percentage plays or bids that probably succeed more often than they fail. What you have to be aware of is the slightly smaller percentage times when the ATP do NOT apply. There is only one Rule in bridge: NEVER STOP THINKING…

Have fun
Kit

2-Suited Overcalls - The Contessa Bids Michaels 12 Jan 2011

2011-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

“You have to get in there whenever you can,” breathed the Contessa.

As she laid them gently on the table, I was rather amazed to see what she had. The bidding had started on my left:

1H - 2H! - 4H - 4S
Dble - P - P - P

I alerted the Contessa’s 2H and when asked said it was a Michaels Cue bid showing a weak hand (5 - 9) with at least 5 Spades and a 5 card minor.

In fact the Contessa’s dummy was a lot less in points than expected and my heart sank when I saw it:

Q87642
3
9
106542

I held:

AK93
762
A53
K87

I didn’t expect to make 4S but knew we had a double fit and just wanted to be awkward. 16 points between us didn't seem enough for game (!) but I soldiered on. Luckily the ace of clubs was on my right and the suit broke 3-2. I got away with losing 2 clubs and a heart to make my daring doubled game.

It was always exciting when the Contessa let me play with her. “You see? You should never be shy when you have a good shape, no?”

I swear she winked at me…

For more on this, check the blog at: http://basementbridge.blogspot.com/2010/05/two-suited-overcalls-part-2-michaels.html

Have fun
Kit

Freak Show – 12 Jan 2011

2011-02-23T13:12:00.000-08:00

Something like 70% of hands fall in to the category of “Bread & Butter” hands. The rest can be almost anything. Tonight we had:

Qxxxxx
-
-
QJxxxxx

This is not a hand you will find in textbooks. Basically you have to do whatever you think is right and make it up as you go along. Partner opens 1NT and the bidding – I arbitrarily decided – should go along the lines of:

1NT - 2H!(transfer)
2S - 3C
3S - 4S

Well.. who knows? It went down, but on another day you might make an overtrick!

Everyone Loves Big Ones – 5 Jan 2011

2011-02-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

However much you may want to, you won’t hold one of these very often. So it’s crucial you know what to do when you get a handful…

A Big One is defined as hand of 20+ HCP. As there are 40 points in the pack you hold half or more of the total, so game can be on opposite less than 6HCP. So. How do you tell partner about your wonderful holding?

Balanced Big Ones

20 - 22 HCP BALANCED = 2NT
23+ HCP BALANCED = 2C - THEN RE-BID NTs

Ok. So that’s all the big balanced hands taken care of. In all the above cases you want partner to bid when they hold LESS than the normal responding hand of 6+ HCP.

Shapely Big Ones

But what about the UNbalanced hands where Game is on opposite less than normal responding hands? These will be hands of 20+ HCP where a NT bid or re-bid is not suitable:

6
A Q 5 4 2
A K Q 8 6
A Q

21 HCP. You need almost nothing from partner to make game and with a a couple of Kings over there, slam could on. The point count is right for 2NT but the shape is NOT. If you open 1H you will be VERY cross when partner passes with nothing but the King of Hearts and 4H rolls in.

The solution is to open such hands with the BIG BID - 2 CLUBS! This bid does mean you have 23+ with a BALANCED hand but it also means 20+ with an UNBALANCED hand.

2C followed by a suit re-bid is unconditionally forcing to game. It cannot be passed by a shy responder! Note that the hand above has only 3 losers, but that 2C can be bid on hands of 4 losers. Also if you add in the Length Points for the 5th cards in each red suit you do have 23 points.

See you all soon
Kit

Talking of Big Ones, how about Squeezes! For those of you with an enquiring mind about the finer intricacies of declarer play, you might like to glance at books about the Squeeze: a slightly esoteric but nonetheless important part of declarer’s armoury. Here’s a few to look at:

A Bridge to Simple Squeezes - Julian Laderman
Squeezes Made Simple - David Bird, Marc Smith
Squeeze Play Made Easy - by Terence Reese and Patrick Jourdain

Overcalling Part I – The SQOT Test – 15 December 2010

2011-01-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

By now I hope you all have understood that to overcall we need a suit of at least 5 cards in length. I encourage aggressive overcalling – especially non vulnerable – but you do need to be careful about introducing bad suits into the auction when you don’t have too many high card points (“hcp”). But how to judge when to bid and when to pass I hear you wail in unison? Luckily there is a little rubric that helps and that is:

SQOT

This stands for Suit Quality Overcall Test. Be warned! It is not foolproof. Nothing ever is. But it will at least guide you towards considering the quality of the suit you want to overcall in as well as giving you a nudge towards the level at which you can be (reasonably) safe to overcall.

It goes like this: add the number of cards held in a suit to the number of honours (A,K,Q,J,10) held and the answer will give you the level at which you can overcall. Well that’s the idea anyway. But as I said be careful, especially when vulnerable. The overall quality of the rest of the hand is just as important as the suit you want to overcall with.

Some examples of suits in isolation:

A8753

A97432; ... KQ764; ... A10852; ... AQ753

AKQ84; ... AQ9652

KJ10832

The first one has a SQOT of 6 and should not be bid. The nextfour examples can be bid at the one level as the SQOT is 7. The next two have a SQOT of 8 and can be overcalled at the 2 level. The last one has a SQOT of 9 and can therefore be used in a weak jump overcall to the three level if NV. (If Vul have a 7 card suit for the 3 level)

This idea can be used for simple overcalls or Weak Jump Overcalls (5 - 10 with a good 6-card suit).

See also
http://basementbridge.blogspot.com/2010/04/responding-with-minimum-hand-and.html

If I don't see you before, have a wonderful Christmas and a very good New Year!

All the best

Kit

Duplicate Pairs Scoring – 9 December 2010

2010-12-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

I talk a lot about bidding, how to get to the best contract, how to stop the opponents finding their best spot; then how to try to make all the tricks you can in defence and as declarer so that you score best. But why? And what does that really mean, I hear you scream in unison. Ah well…here we go then:

A hand (board) will be played a number of times. You will score 2 Match Points for every pair you beat and 1 Match Point for every pair you equal. This means it doesn’t matter what the contract is. 1NT or 6NT attract the same number of Match Points depending on success or failure. They are equally important contracts – both as declarer and defenders. Let’s say a hand is played in 1NT four times. The score sheet might look like this:

NS ... EW .. Contract .. By .. N/S .. E/W .. MP .. MP
. 1 ..... 5 ....... 1NT= ...... N ..... 90 ..... ......... 3 ..... 3
. 2 ..... 6 ....... 1NT+1 .... N ..... 120 ..... ....... 6 ..... 0
. 3 ..... 7 ....... 1NT= ...... N ..... 90 ........ ...... 3 ..... 3
. 4 ..... 8 ....... 1NT-1 ..... N ............. .. 50 ..... 0 ..... 6

Pair 2 have the best N/S score by playing the hand well OR by pair 6 defending badly. Likewise pair 4 have gone to sleep OR pair 8 have defended exceptionally well.

If you substitute 6NT (NV) as the contract:

NS ... EW .. Contract .. By .. N/S .. E/W .. MP .. MP
. 1 ..... 5 ....... 6NT= ...... N ..... 990 ................ 3 ..... 3
. 2 ..... 6 ....... 6NT+1 .... N ..... 1020 .............. 6 ..... 0
. 3 ..... 7 ....... 6NT= ...... N ..... 990 ................ 3 ..... 3
. 4 ..... 8 ....... 6NT-1 ..... N ................ 50 .... . 0 ..... 6

note that the pair that make the overtrick still do best. In fact the crucial point is that the Match Point scoreline for the hand hasnt changed at all: pairs 2 & 8 still get tops!

Overtricks matter. Accurate defence matters. Single tricks one way or another matter. You need to get really stingy …

Hi ho, Silver…

Kit

Bidding Theory: The Reverse Made Clear – 1 December 2010

2010-12-29T13:06:00.000-08:00

I get asked about “reverses” a lot. Here’s a basic definition: a reverse is a re-bid by opener in a higher ranking suit than that originally opened. 1C - 1S: 2H! In this case the heart suit is higher ranking than the original club suit first opened and is therefore a reverse.

Included in the idea is that a reverse will take you above the repeat level of the first suit bid. So, e.g., in the sequence 1C - 1H - 1S, the 1S bid may be in a higher suit but it’s not a reverse – partner can easily go back to the first suit cheaply by bidding 2C. On the other hand, where the bidding goes, say, 1S - 2H - 3C, the club suit is indeed lower ranking than the first bid spades, but to get back to spades partner will have to bid THREE spades. So this IS a reverse.

The reverse is so named because it is a bidding sequence that is the reverse of that which is expected. Normally you open one of a suit and then bid another, lower ranking suit, as a re-bid. 1H - 1S: 2C. Partner can then “give preference” without raising the level. But after you make a reverse partner will be forced to give preference to your first suit at the three level.

Because of this raise in level you shouldn’t make a reverse unless you have a minimum of 16 high card points. When you make a reverse you show 16+ points and the two suits bid will be at least 5 - 4. And it is FORCING. Responder cannot pass.

It follows (doth it not?) that with less than 16 points you cannot make a reverse. So with this hand, after the bids 1C - 1S, all you can do is bid 2C:

Kx
AJxx
xx
Kxxxx

You must resist the temptation – go on, fight that temptation! – to re-bid 2H. If you do bid 2H you will be fibbing to partner about how strong your hand is. Partner will assume you have a hand like this:

Ax
AQxx
xx
AQxxx

and bid confidently to a slam that will never make because you didn’t have the hand in reality that you claimed you had during the bidding.

This is why I so frequently ask you to consider your natural re-bid BEFORE you make your opening bid.

Responder can also make a reverse, and as above it shows a better than minimum hand (ie 10+ hcp) Here’s a sequence where responder is reversing and showing a 5 - 4 hand as well:

1D - 1H
2D - 2S!

This is also forcing.

The second bid is always the one that attempts to define more accurately the shape AND the strength of your hand.

Good luck!

Kit

The Mystery Of The Missing Cue – More from the Baker Street Diaries – 18 November 2010

2010-12-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

I had not seen Holmes for some time. I had been busy with my own affairs and he had been abroad on some investigation about global fraud and funds for hedges. I called at his rooms where he was languid as ever and regaled him with a tale of the card table.

“You see Holmes, twice my Partner opened 1H, overcalled on my right by 1S, and on both deals I was desirous of bidding 3H but for entirely different reasons. It’s all a bit of a muckle, ain’t it old boy?”

Holmes perused the two hands in question, sighing the while:

a) . xx
..... AJxx
..... Kxx
..... Kxxx

b) . xx
..... Axxxx
..... xx
..... Qxxx

“I see the quandary in which you mired yourself, Watson. With the first hand, having the required points for an invitational raise to 3H (10 -12) you made that bid, even though the opponents had intervened.

“Then when the second hand occurred you were, correctly, ready to pre-empt the opponent on your left by bidding 3H with a much weaker, more distributional hand. Had you done so your partner could only have inferred that you had hand like the first one. Did you bid 3H?”

I nodded assent that I had.

“I thought you might’ve. Partner had a rock-crusher, pushed to 6H and you went 2 down I dare say?”

I nodded again in the affirmative that he was jolly well spot right on.

“When opponents intervene, you as responder, are Snookered. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The answer is to get out your Cue when you have a good hand and leave it in its case when you don't.”

“Eh?” I snorted, “Get what out, Holmes?”

“To distinguish between a pre-emptive raise and a GOOD raise we need two different bids. If 3H is pre-emptive then what can we bid with a good hand? The answer lies in the cue; as in cue-raise. You merely bid the opponent’s suit. Now you are no longer snookered. You can bid a pre-emptive 3H with a weak hand – less than 9HCP and make a cue-raise with any 10+ HCP hand with 4 card support.”

When opponents intervene you are in a “competitive auction”. This is different from a “constructive auction” when they are silent. Therefore your aims are different. Either (1) you want to tell partner you have a good fit and 10+HCP, or (2) you want to pre-empt them out of their safety zone.

Remember, get yer retaliation in first!

Intervention over 1NT – “System On” or “System Off” ? – 10 November 2010

2010-12-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Captain Ann and the PoW team in the London Newcomers League who WON their first match of the season. Brilliant! Onwards and upwards!

Now for some bridge!

Partner Opens 1NT And Your Right Hand Opponent (RHO) Doubles Or Overcalls

STANDARD (Systems Off)

In Standard Acol it is normal to play "Systems Off" when your RHO intervenes. This means that Stayman and Transfers no longer apply and all bids are natural. ie 2C,2D,2H,2S mean what they say.

If RHO bids a suit, a Double by you is now for penalties. If RHO Doubles, a Re-Double by you means you think partner will make 1NT Doubled. This is nice and simple and everyone knows where they are.

On the other hand… if Stayman and Transfers are so great when RHO stays silent why aren’t they even better if RHO Doubles or bids?

ADVANCED (Systems ON)

Everything in this section is NON Standard and MUST be discussed with partner before you start playing around (!) just to make sure everyone is on the same wavelength. Otherwise fantastic mis-understandings can occur. Well, they probably will anyway but why
make it worse? Everything below is ONLY by partnership agreement! You
have been warned…

1NT - 2C - ?

Playing Systems On you might agree with partner that a Double by you is Stayman i.e. “They stole my bid: I wanted to bid 2C so I’ll Double to let you know that.” You’ll have a goodish hand and with two 4 card majors and want to compete.

Notice that you now therefore can’t double 2C for penalties. Experts believe this a very small price to pay for regaining Stayman, but you must decide for yourself.

Again in the above auction you can now keep 2D & 2H as transfers. BUT… what if it goes 1NT - 2D - ? Following the principle above a double by you is now a Transfer to Hearts, and 2H is transfer to Spades.

WARNING!! EVEN MORE ADVANCED STUFF

All this of course assumes that the 2C & 2D were natural doesn’t it? You’ll find that a lot of practised partnerships have quite complicated defences to opponents opening 1NT, most of them revolving around two suited hands. This means you have to be a bit more careful in employing Systems On.

For instance a popular defence to 1NT is to play a convention (known as Landy) where a 2C overcall shows BOTH Majors (5 -4), so there’s now no point in Doubling 2C to show the majors in your hand as you’ll want to defend against their untimely intervention.

To make matters even more interesting, other partnerships use a convention (known as Astro) where a 2C overcall of 1NT shows 5+ Hearts and a minor suit, and 2D shows 5+ Spades and a minor. There are plenty of these conventions about (Cansino, Ripstra, etc) and if you come up against them you need to discuss with partner what your bids will now mean.

Not Quite So Basic Bidding Refesher – Responding To Weak Twos - 3 Nov 2010

2010-12-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

A contentious area. BUT... When partner makes a weak bid our job is to (1) help them obfuscate the opposition OR (2) try to find our own best spot.

(1) A pre-emptive weak 2 (or 3) bid is mostly designed to a nuisance. Partner will have about 6 - 9 points and a 6 card suit (the same as for a weak jump overcall).

Assuming you have no interest in game (less than 14 HCP), now what's important is FITS, i.e. do you have a fit for partner or not? And how good the fit is will determine the level you should bid at… not the point count.

[a small digression… A cornerstone of all modern bidding theory is the concept of “the level of the fit”. This theory, popularised by the US Masters Marty Bergen and Larry Cohen, though originated by a French player, states that in competitive auctions (i.e. where both sides are bidding) the combined fits of the trump suits will equal the number of tricks to be taken.

At its simplest and most raw interpretation this means that if you and partner have a 9 card fit you should contract to make 9 tricks; 10 card fit = 10 tricks etc. This is a VAST over-simplification of the theory but it nevertheless holds good in most competitive situations.

So… If partner makes a weak 2 noise and you hold 3-card support, you should therefore raise to the 3 level (6+3 =9) and with 4-card support raise to the 4 level (6+4=10). You most probably won’t make your contract but you will lose less than if they do make theirs. Theoretically. Most of the time. Percentage-wise …]

(2) If you have a very decent hand (18+) opposite a Weak Two you’ll either plump directly for game or slam or whatever. But sometimes you’ll want to know whether that Weak Two was based on a 6 count or a 9 count. You hold:

KQx
QJxx
Axxx
Kx

Partner opens a Weak Two in D, H, or S. If it’s 9, game is a distinct possibility in NT, H’s or S’s. But how can you know? Should you just guess? Scratch your nose? Smile apologetically and bid game anyway? NO NO NO NO NO. What you do is bid 2NT!

This says nothing about your hand but what it does do is ASK partner to tell you which end of the range the weak bid was made with. If the bid was minimum (6 - 7) the opener will just repeat the original suit and you can then decide what to do in the light of the rebid. But if partner holds a “good” hand for the opening bid partner must tell you this by bidding a “feature” in a side suit.

AJxxxx
xx
x
Axxx

2S - 2NT
3C!

This says, “I’m maximum and I’ve got the club A or K.”

Armed with this valuable information you now bid the game.

Kit

Basic Bidding Refresher Part III – Pre-Empts – 28 Oct 2010

2010-12-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

Most of the time you’ll open the bidding with hands of 12+ HCP. However there are some mini opening hands that can be opened one of a suit with slightly less and here we can use the “Rule of 20”, e.g:

KJxxx
x
KJxxx
Qxx

This hand has 10 HCP. Add the number of HCP to the combined length of the two longest suits and if the answer is 20 or more – open 1 of a suit: in this case 1S, preparing to rebid 2D.

This is a way of getting weakish 2-suiters into the auction early. Aggressive bidding within fairly well-defined limits is always a good idea.

And this is also why we make “pre- empts”:

7-Card Suits

x
KJxxxxx
Qxx
xxx

With this hand you can open 3H! You'll have a 7 card suit and 6 - 9 HCP. The idea is simply to destroy the opponents auction before they’ve even had a chance to start. Partner now knows you have rubbish and can either control the auction with a good hand or, with a fit, bid 4H – sometimes to make and sometimes not expecting to make, just to get even more in the way.

This bidding style is called “Barrage Bidding”. The opponents frequently get into the wrong game and often miss slam because you have eaten up their space.

6 Card Suits

The pre-empt idea got extended as players discovered more about bidding. In the 1950s some bright spark thought “Well, hey, if 7- card pre-empts are that good, why not 6-card pre-empts?" and so the Weak Two was born …

xx
KJxxxx
Qxx
xxx

With this hand you open 2H! The principle is exactly the same as above.

Some of you may mourn the loss of the Acol Strong Two bid but to be honest this is an outmoded way of showing strength. Added to which the Weak Two type hand occurs far more frequently. So you will be bidding more and being more of a nuisance than before. This is a VERY Good Thing…

For the more adventurous of you, I can recommend you scour the internet for a variety of bids known as “Lucas Twos”. Then you can open 2S with a 5(!) card suit. Fun fun fun!

Next week : responding to weak openings.

Enjoy!

Kit

Basic Bidding Refresher, Part II – Responding After a Suit Bid – 21 Oct 2010

2010-12-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

There are 2 starting points to any possible contract: 1NT or a bid of a suit. With 1NT partner is limited to exactly 12 -14 HCP and you base your actions on that inherent knowledge. You can pass 1NT with as many as 10 HCP whereas after a 1 level suit opening that would be criminal. This is because when partner opens 1 of a suit they may have from 10 to 20 HCP and we just don’t yet know, so we struggle to keep the bidding open for at least one round. (I'll leave discussions of how to respond after weak 2 or 3 bids for another time.)

Responding with 6 - 9 HCP

The weak range:

1) Always, always, always, ALWAYS respond with 6 HCP (assuming no overcall). Always, always, always, ALWAYS show a 4 card major at the 1 level if you can.

Do NOT, repeat NOT, bid 1NT if you can bid 1H or 1S. If you bid 1NT after partner opens 1D, but you had 4 Hearts, later in the bidding, when you might need partner to know you have them, partner will never believe you. The net effect of this is to damage partnership confidence. If partner had 19 points, 6 Diamond and 4 Hearts, you're NEVER going to find the Heart game and you miss out on the lovely game /rubber bonus. More importantly, your partner will miss the bonus and will not be a happy bunny. Still inwardly cross, they will probably make a mistake on the next hand, and now the partnership is in a downward spiral. All because you didn't bid 1H when you could.

2) You can give partner a weak raise with 4 card support (1H - 2H) but if partner opens a minor suit, the above constrictions apply: even with 4 card support for a minor, show a 4 card – or better – major FIRST.

Responding with 10 - 12 HCP

The "invitational" range: i.e. you can suggest game to partner but you cannot yet insist on it.

1) Bid a 4 card major at the one level (I do go on don't I?)
2) You can bid a new suit at the 2 level. It can be 4 cards long [except!!: After 1S, 2H's promises 5 hearts]
3) You can make a “limit” raise of partner's suit (1H - 3H) with 4-card support. If partner opens a minor though, if you remember, bid a 4 card Major first…
4) There used in Old fashioned Steam Age Acol to be a bid that covered this range and it was 2NT. This bid has almost completely dropped out of usage and you should forget you ever learnt it. The reason is that modern computer based study of percentage actions has shown that it is correct to open on fairly weakish hands that would have horrified our forefathers. Consequently the best place to play may be in a suit at the 2 level. Impossible if you bid 2 NT.

Responding with 13+ HCP

The Game range

1) Make sure of game.
2) Bid a 4 card major at the 1 level if you can (again already?)
3) Er, that's it.

More next week
Kit

Basic Bidding Refresher – 14 October 2010

2010-12-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

New players are showing up so here’s a quick summary of how we aim to bid. Commit this to memory!

“BALANCED” Hands (4333, 4432, 5332 shapes) :

12 - 14: open 1NT. 15 - 16: open 1 of a suit, rebid 1NT.
17 - 18: open 1 of a suit, rebid 2NT.
19 - 20: open 1 of a suit, rebid 3NT. 20 -22: open 2NT. 23+: open 2C, rebid 2NT.

WEAK Hands:

6 - 10, 6 card suit: open 2D, 2H, or 2S. You CANNOT make a weak 2 bid in Clubs!
6 - 10, 7 card suit: open a pre-empt at the 3 level.

BIG Hands:

Open 2NT (balanced 20 -22) or 2C (Unbalanced 21+ OR balanced 23+)

EVERYTHING ELSE…

Will open 1 of a suit. But here the key is the REBID. Sherlock is very keen on the idea that before you make your opening bid you decide what your rebid is going to be. This will depend on your
assessment of your hand. Your hand will normally fall into one of two distinct ranges: 12 - 15 and 16 - 19. With the first you can only make a minimum rebid, but with the second point range you must make some kind of forcing or jump rebid.

Here are some examples of how different rebids tell different stories. Assume partner makes a 1-level response of some kind:

OPEN: 1H, REBID: 2H. You show 5+ H's and 12 - 15
OPEN: 1H, REBID: 3H. You show 6+ H's and 16 - 19
OPEN: 1H, REBID: 2D. You show 5+ H's, 4+ D's and 12 - 15
OPEN: 1H, REBID: 3D. You show 5+ H's, 4+ D's and 16 - 19

Don’t be shy – bid your hand. I know the opposition (sometimes, even your partner) will contrive to make it difficult for you to bid exactly what you want when you want. Nevertheless, Sherlock says you should have a very good idea of – IDEALLY – what your rebid will be.

The point is that by doing this you are forced to assess the value of your hand at the beginning of the auction, not two-thirds of the way through when you might by then have forgotten why you opened in the first place!

The other key factor is to listen carefully to the bids made by partner and the opposition to see if you can gather information about where certain key cards might be and how that affects the value of your hand. Remember the value of your hand may go down as well as up – just like your investments (hollow laugh…)

Have fun

Kit

The Adventure of the Four Kings, The Final Chapter – 6 October 2010

2010-11-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

Lovely to see you all again. Turn out has been down the last two weeks so there’s plenty of room for you to come along and mug up yer bidding! Especially the different strategies depending on Vulnerability and hand assessment. But now…

The last chapter of…
The Adventure of the Four Kings

Holmes sprawled on the sofa in a loose dressing gown. I had returned from a sojourn in Huffington Parva, whence he had despatched me to research a rare poisonous beetle. In my absence he had been cataloguing – for what purpose I know not – filmy nether garments as worn by racier elements of our dear sisterhood. Was nothing beneath his forensic thirst for knowledge?

Despite his lassitude he enquired what card question it was that so irked me. How could he know this from my demeanour? I put down the pack I was fiddling with.

“Holmes”, I ventured, “Can we ascertain with certainty the commandment pertaining to the covering of an honour with an honour?”

Holmes jerked himself awake.

I continued: “The queen of spades was led but when should I play my king of spades?"

"The principle, Watson, is that when we cover an honour with an honour we do so in the knowledge – or failing that, in the hope - that we shall by doing so promote a lowlier card of ours to its full trick taking potential. It follows does it not, dear boy, that if we cannot see such value then we should by no means cover an honour with another? That one should cover only when absolutely necessary and to our side's advantage?”

“Yes yes yes Holmes,” I blurted, glad to see he had so readily taken the bull by the horn: “but when and how can we tell which particular situation occurs? Can you shed light on this matter?”

“If the honour is led from dummy and the suit is such as QJ10 then do NOT cover the first honour. But however, if the honour is UNsupported – say, Q86 – then always cover it with alacrity.”

"Thank-you Holmes. Good weekend?” How he guffawed…

It can be fatal to cover an honour in this situation:

.......... QJ109
???? ............... Kxxx
........... A

Now the play of the king gives declarer four easy tricks when the queen is led.

However in the next situation you gain a trick by covering the queen:

.......... Q86
9xx ............... K10xx
.......... AJx

See you next week.
Kit

The Adventure of the Four Kings, Part the Third – 29 September 2010

2010-11-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

I trod the stairs to our rooms with a heavy heart and and a quandary. I made a mistake at cards the previous night and – so far – Holmes had not mentioned this. His silences terrify me. I opened the door and there he lounged with those wide open, red rimmed, glistening eyes and permanent smile.

“Holmes,” I blurted, “I cannot possibly apologise enough for my derogatory card play yesterday evening. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Dear boy, on the contrary,” Holmes sniffed deeply, “I, for once, cannot recall a single error of cardplay. Some misfortunes in the bidding perhaps, but…” . He waved an airy hand dismissing my concerns.

“But Holmes,” I rushed to explain. “I led the king of hearts – top of a sequence – when you had specifically told me to play the bottom card in such instances.”

Holmes had a fit of giggling and loudly blew his nose before continuing.

“Don't be an ass, Watson, really,…” he countered. “You may hold a sequence of any two or three cards at any time, mayn’t you? But your position in the order of play may vary. You may only be following suit to a card led by the opposition. When we defend the correct card to play will also vary depending on our position. For instance when declarer leads a card and you FOLLOW with the Queen I know two things: (1) you do not possess the Jack. (2) You may possess the King. This is because when you FOLLOW suit you play a sequence in ASCENDING order (Jack, Queen, King, Ace...)

However, when you are LEADING the first card to the trick you play from a sequence in DESCENDING order (Ace, King, Queen etc). When you played the King I knew either you held also the Queen, or that it was singleton. I was therefore able to base my defensive strategy on sound information not guesswork. So in this instance – as you were leading and not following – you were absolutely correct to play the King of Hearts. Absolutely.…”

I blushed and moved towards him. “Yes, it is a partnership game isn’t it. Holmes?”

"Indeed, but – emphasis on Game, Watson. Now, did you bring those new needles…?”

With these holdings lead the king:

KQJ, KQ10, KQxx

This is “top of a sequence”. However, when you follow suit, play the lowest card in a sequence, thus promising the touching cards above. You may feel all this gives away too much information to declarer. It is more important to give partner information than to withhold it from declarer. If you do not tell partner what you have, partner will have to guess and partner will ALWAYS guess wrong. Take away the guess whenever you can.

Kit

The Adventure of the Four Kings, continued – 23 September 2010

2010-11-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Holmes was cross. Very cross. He had said nothing in the not very Hansom cab all the way back from the card game in Deptford. When we got up to our rooms he sat me down at the table, took out his loaded service revolver and fired it at the ceiling. While not unnecessarily unusual behaviour there was an extra steel in the way his eyes devoured me across the pink and yellow velvet.

“Rightio - Watson. One last chance. Tell me in detail why you led away from the king of diamonds against their Heart contract.”

I swallowed hard. “Well, er, you see Holmes, well I, er…” I chuntered on for a bit.

“Snap out of it Watson”. Holmes softly caressed the shiny gun metal.

“Aha, well, you see Holmes, I was only following a rule of cards, that like as you said, what that when a bit sort of stuck for a lead one could do no worse than lead 4th best of one's longest and strongest suit.”

I gurgled at him deeply chuffed to finally remember this pearl of wisdom.

“Yes, I said that, Watson. In relation to a defence of No Trump contracts, Watson. This was a SUIT contract, wasn’t it Watson? Watson?”

I nodded, bereft of verbal facility. He leant back and studied the hole in the ceiling.

“Let us assume that when one holds the king of a suit the other most important cards to consider are the ace and queen of that suit. Yes? But where are they? We do not know. How can we know something that is unknown to us? Therefore as we DO NOT KNOW…’ – he paused, spinning the revolver’s carriage – “we should not under any circumstances lead away from that king, as declarer might hold both the ace and the queen, might they not?”

“Thereby giving declarer a trick they did not deserve!”

“I trust Watson you will not make such a mistake again?”

I assured him in all earnestness that I would not until Hades froze. I would have gone on but at that moment Mrs Hudson appeared wearing a quizzical smile and VERY little else…

It is unwise – most of the time – to lead away from a King against a suit contract. Here’s why:

............... xx
Kxxxx ........... J10xx
............... AQ

............... Qx
Kxxxx ........... J10xx
............... Ax

You can do it if partner OPENED that suit, or against a NT trump contract (though I would always struggle not to do it for the reasons above even then.) Remember: Sherlock is right. That’s why he’s Sherlock.

Kit

Strange But True… The Baker Street Diaries – 15 September 2010

2010-11-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

It was in the Summer of ’83 while doing research that I was lucky enough to come across lost fragments of a Conan Doyle novella : The Adventure of the Four Kings. Here’s an excerpt:

Holmes was a deuced fine card player. He excelled at partnership whist. Always he magically knew which card to play. When I marvelled at his flair for plucking out the right card, he would be incensed at my clumsy inability to see there was no magic: “Watson, don’t be a fool! Magic does not exist in my world, all is logic, plain simple ordinary logic, to which I merely apply my mind.”

“But,” I fawned, “when you held the A,Q of Clubs you declined to lead that suit, and thereby, later in the play of the hand you were able to capture the K of clubs held by the player on your right. How did you know it was there? Magical!” I sighed.

“Watson, you half brained idiot,” he commented, “I did not KNOW the King of Clubs was on my right. How could I? I am no sorcerer. But since I did not hold said card there was ever a possibility of its being on my right.”

“Yes, Holmes, but that’s only a 1 in 3 chance and 33% is no solution!!” I said, chuffed to have spotted a flaw in his statistical reasoning.

“Doh! Pass the syringe, Watson, and I will endeavour to explain. You’re right of course to point out that among four players if I do not hold a particular card it will, logically, be in one of the other three hands. This is true. So. Let us consider those three options in detail.

If the king of clubs is on my left there is nothing I can do, except keep hold of my A Q of clubs and hope that player leads a club round to my hand so that I make both A and Q when I shouldn’t.

If my partner, you dear Watson, holds the K of Clubs then we shall have three tricks in the suit between us whatever occurs.

However, if the player on my right holds the K, I must at no time, under whatever pressure, lead any of my clubs whatsoever or I will give away a trick. I must always lead something else, almost anything else, so that that player is induced to lead the club suit to me! Whereupon I will magically, as you say, make both the A and Q.”

Thereupon, the great man, sank to the sofa with his electrical violin and lost himself in the staccato rhythms of his dub-step remix Brahms quintet…

You should NEVER lead an Ace unless you also have the king. Never. You should NEVER lead a low card from a suit headed by the Ace. Never. Here’s why. It will cost you. The incredibly few times it might – just – be right to do so will far be outnumbered by the myriad times it’s wrong.

............ xxx
AQxxx ........ J10xx
............ K

Lead a low card away from the Ace and now declarer makes that King. OK, so lead the Ace?

............ xx
AQxxx ........ J10xx
............ Kx

Lead the Ace on this layout and again you give away a trick; lead low and you also give away a trick.

In both these situations you want the lead to be toward your holding in the suit. You must wait. Bide your time. Find another lead. You and partner may have bid this suit, but when partner supported you they did not promise the king. They promised four cards. Any four cards. Do not give to declarers tricks they do not deserve.

Defensive Signalling – The Suit Preference Signal - 9 September 2010

2010-11-09T08:21:00.002-08:00

Hope you all had a great summer and good to see you all again after the holidays. OK now you’re back let’s get going…

Suit Preference

When you defend you must not sit there following suit when you have to while wondering about the price of steam cleaners. You have to DO something! You have to think. But what? Sometimes the great god of bridge will gift you the high cards to defeat the opponents iffy contract. Other times you may have between you and partner the right cards to get the contract down but too too often neither of you realise what is going on until it’s over. It’d be great if you could look at partner’s hand – or partner could see your hand – then you’d both know exactly what to do. Sadly the rules of bridge forbid this. But the rules of bridge do allow you to SIGNAL to partner in various ways your holdings in particular suits. Armed with this vital knowledge you help each other.

Take this frequent situation:

dummy
Kxxx
x
AQxx .............. you
KJ10x ............. xx
....................... Q952
....................... KJxx
....................... Qxx

The contract is 4 Spades and partner leads the Ace of Hearts. What card do you play and why? Let’s re-phrase the question slightly. What card do you want PARTNER to play next? After the HA, partner has a problem. What to lead next? Not really knowing what’s going on partner has a complete guess whether or not to lead: 1) another heart, 2) a spade 3) a diamond or 4) a club.

In this situation, remember the suit rankings. The lowest ranking suit is Clubs, then Diamonds, Hearts and Spades in that (alphabetical) order. You can use this knowledge as part of a system to communicate your like or dislike of a lead of a particular suit.

In the example above you would quite like it if partner led a diamond. Partner could lead another heart, which would be ruffed in dummy, or even lead a spade. The one thing you really really don’t want partner to do is lead a club. If they do, dummy plays the jack, you must cover with the queen and of course declarer has the ace and now no club losers. But how – logically – can you dissuade partner from the disastrous club lead at Trick 2?

Remember the suit rankings? Clubs is the LOWEST ranking suit so – logically – the LOWEST card you play would ASK for a club lead. So DON’T play your lowest heart. Instead, under the lead of the ace of hearts drop the NINE of hearts, asking for the HIGHER ranking suit between diamonds and clubs. Easy when you know how, isn’t it!

Of course, this means when you are the one on lead with the Ace of Hearts you’d better watch out what card partner plays, hadn’t you?

Making A Plan

You are declarer. The lead is faced. The dummy goes down. The bids are back in the boxes. Now what? No, no, no the answer is not “PANIC!” The answer is: make a plan. Think. Take your time. How many tricks do you need? Where are they coming from? How many losers have you got? How are you going to get rid of them? It doesn’t matter how hopeless or how marvellous the contract is – the aim is the same. To do your absolute best with cards you and your partner were dealt. So remember

NO PLAN - NO CHANCE!

See you next week!
Kit

Power Hands – What To Do With A Big One! – 1 September 2010

2010-10-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

It’s always a pleasure to find you’re holding a big one. But what to do with it? Should you handle it gently or grab the moment? As you’re aware, I’m no shrinking violet so my advice is that if you’ve got something worth showing – get it out there!

Opening

In most systems the biggest opening bid you can make is 2 Clubs. In Acol, 2C is a game force. Only the sequence:

2C PASS 2D PASS
2NT

can be passed out below game when the 2D bidder has nil points. Otherwise game must be bid.

If you hold a balanced hand with any of these distributions: 4333, 4432 or 5332, then you need to have 23+ HCP. However if you have more distribution, 6322, 5521 then, as a result of your presumed extra playing strength, you can have a few points less than 23, but certainly a minimum would be 20 HCP.

For balanced hands in the 20 - 22 HCP range the opening bid is 2NT. You need to tell partner very clearly that a) the hand belongs to your side and that b) you are the proud possessor of half or more of the available total HCP (40).

Overcalling

Most of the time when you overcall you’ll have about 9 - 16 HCP and partner will respond accordingly. So how to tell partner when you have a hand better than that? The answer is to start with a Double and then bid again – assuming the opponents have left you the space
to do so!

AKx
AQx
Kxxx
Kxx

Whatever is opened on your right, your hand is too strong to overcall 1NT (15 - 17) so the strategy is to Double and then bid NT’s (at the lowest available level) and partner will know you are 18+ and take appropriate action.

Likewise:

AKQxxx
Ax
Kxx
Kx

is far too good for a simple 1S overcall, so again, Double first and then introduce the spades, making it clear to partner that you have a 17+ hand with spades.

It follows that when you do Double you cannot make another bid UNLESS you have 17+ HCP as partner will assume you hold one of the big hands. This is why when you respond to a Double
you must always make a jump bid with 9+ HCP. Of course, never assume partner does have one of the big hands. Wait to be told.

We Open And They Double

Partner opens 1S and opponent on your right Doubles. What’s your strategy? Most of the time you can either ignore the double and bid naturally OR – with a fit for partner – make some appropriate pre-emptive raise. But there is another weapon you can use when you do NOT have a fit for partner but you do have 9+ HCP. It’s the very little used blue one with the two XX’s on it: RE-DOUBLE!

Now, partner knows that as a partnership you hold at least half the points between you and will know what to do.

Oh yes they will…

Seeya

Kit

Plays in Single Suits – 25 August 2010

2010-10-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

How can you play this suit for four tricks whatever happens?

A Q 10 x

K 9 x

You have between you and dummy seven cards in the suit so six are held by the opposition. If they break 3 - 3 between those two hands you just play off the A, K, Q and the little one in dummy will be good. But what if they break 4 - 2 and the jack is in the 4-card suit? What if they break 6 - 0? 5 - 1? How can you now make four tricks?

The answer is to play off the A first. If the jack drops singleton, or there’s a void you make 4 tricks (You know where the Jack is!). If not then you play low to the King. Again if the jack drops now you make four tricks. If on the other hand the player to your right shows out void, then now you can play low to the 10 and you make 4 tricks even on a 5 - 1 break. But what if all follow small to the second round?

Actually at this point – if you have no other information about the opponents likely shape from the bidding or their previous play – you should play for the drop and the 3 - 3 break. It’s all about finding the Jack. But by playing the Ace first you give yourself more chances to find it. Take those chances!!!

Ciao

Kit

Don't be shy - After 1NT You Can Bid On Air (And A Long Suit!) - 25 August 2010

2010-10-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

As I said last week when partner opens 1 of a suit you MUST respond when you have 6 or more points in case partner holds 19 HCP. However when partner opens 1NT things radically alter.

For a start, you know they won’t have 19, so the need to just bid any old thing with 6 HCP doesn’t arise. Alternatively, when partner open 1 of a suit you shouldn’t bid with less than 5HCP, but now after 1NT there are situations where you WILL bid with absolutely nothing! Bids have different meanings; you may be expected to bid with 0+ points and you may be expected to pass with as many 10 points. Weird huh? How can this be? you cry. Has the man taken leave of his senses? Well, maybe, but the point is …

Responses When Partner Opens (12 - 14)

When partner opens One of a Suit they can have a crummy 10 to a gorgeous 20 HCP. We just don’t know so we keep bidding until we do know. But when partner bids 1NT we know specifically the range promised – 12 - 14. Armed with this valuable knowledge your strategy is subtly different. Here’s a breakdown of what your responses should be and what they mean:

PASS Balanced – less than 10 or unbalanced with no suitable bid
2C Stayman (“Have you got a 4-card major?")
2D Transfer (“Bid 2H”)
2H Transfer (“Bid 2S”)
2S minor suit run-out (“bid 3C”)
2NT 11-12 balanced (“Bid game if you have 14”)
3C VG suit, slam interest
3D VG suit, slam interest

Above this things get more complicated as well as being open to many differing and varied concepts and styles so, er… we’ll forget all that then!

Kit

The Rule of 25 – Bridge’s Best “Value Bet” – 18 August 2010

2010-10-17T02:44:00.000-07:00

There are many so-called “rules” in bridge, some of which are nonsense, some of which are eminently breakable and some which are cast iron mathematical certainties. But there is one truly important rule – one rule sent to rule them all – the Rule of 25!

The Rule of 25 states that: If the combined total of a partnership’s point count is 25 or more then – assuming normal breaks and normal distribution – game should be made MOST OF THE TIME.

Therefore when you and your partner have that magical number - Bid Game! Somewhere, somehow.

The corollary of this rule is that: if you and your partner have less than 25 combined points – game is not on unless the distribution is wild. In this case you should PASS as soon as you reasonably can.

Partner opens 1NT and you hold:

xx
QJxx
KQxxx
xx

What you absolutely and categorically know is that game is not on (14 + 8 = 22!) and therefore you will try to pass as soon as you can before the auction gets too high. In fact with this hand you will pass immediately. You have nothing to say and have no reason to suppose that a contract other than 1NT will score better for your side. You cannot bid 2D as that means hearts (transfer) and you definitely can’t go stayman as partner is likely to bid 2S with dire consequences. So PASS 1NT.

Alternatively you hold

Qxxxxx
Jx
xxx
Kx

You also know game is not on but this time 1NT rates to be second best to 2S, so transfer to spades and THEN pass! Remember - no 25 - no game.

The Rule of 25 is also why you must ALWAYS respond to 1 of a suit with 6 points – because partner may open One of a Suit with 19 hcp (6 + 19 = 25). It really is that simple.

Don’t forget Ned Paul’s friendly duplicate on Friday evenings – details here: http://www.ruffclub.co.uk

See you next week

Kit

Fourth Suit Forcing – Routefinding To The Best Game – 11 August 2010

2010-10-17T02:32:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of different ways to bid game when you know unequivocally what the denomination will be. It’s less easy (and illegal) to scratch your head and say to partner – “Hey! I want to be in game but frankly I really don't know which one. Sorry!” Luckily there is a legal way of doing this. Really! And it’s Fourth Suit Forcing (FSF).

You hold:

Qxx
AKxxx
Kxx
Kxx

The auction begins with partner opening 1C. You know straightaway game is on but is it 3NT, 4H or 4S or 5C? Which is the safest? Which the most high scoring? Is 3N +1 (+430) going to be better than 4H/S (+420) or will a major suit game produce an overtrick for +450? Will 3N get you +2 for +460? At some stage you will have to take control of the auction and push partner to game.

The auction proceeds:

1C - 1H
1S - ???

Does partner have five clubs and four spades? Or six clubs and five spades? Or just four of each? Or even three hearts? Maybe a diamond stopper? At this point in this auction game might be on in three of the 4 suits plus the NT game and slam can’t be too far off either. So which one will you guess to bid? And why should you stab at a silly guess when the solution is to simply bid 2D! FSF!

How FSF Works

Once three suits have been bid between you and partner it is extremely unlikely that the bid of the 4th suit can possibly be natural. Therefore it is used as a conventional (ie unnatural) bid to demand of partner that they continue to define the parameters of the hand they hold. The other
great thing about it is that it is unconditionally forcing to game, so you and partner can swap useful bits of information between you safe in the knowledge that a game – somewhere – must be reached!

So the auction goes on:

1C - 1H
1S - 2D (FSF)

Now opener’s 3rd bid should be the one that finally unlocks the clues to the Sherlock Holmes-like mystery of which game to play in:

2H = 3 card heart suit
2S = 5 card spade suit (5+ Clubs as well; i.e. you have a fit in two suits)
2NT = A diamond stopper, no 3 H’s, no 5 S’s
3C = 5+ Clubs
3D = asking for a diamond stop for 3NT

When partner makes one of these bids you will – finally – know exactly which denomination to play in. What you may not know yet is exactly at which level. OK, so game’s on but what about slam? You’d like those extra 500 or 1000 points on the score card wouldn’t you? It’d take care of any of those silly minuses that creep in. As I said earlier, FSF is “forcing to game”. This means that both of you can bid away as much as you like showing a feature here, a void there, cue-bidding merrily away because you both KNOW that whatever else happens you MUST end up in game.

See you next week!

Kit

Hunting Big Game – Bidding With Powerful Hands – 5 August 2010

2010-09-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you start a climb from the very bottom of the mountain, not knowing how far up the slippery slope you will be able to climb. Occasionally you can take advantage of technology and make your journey more certain by starting higher up – thereby ensuring you get where you want to be. In Bridge the two bids that get you started higher up the slippery slope and force the journey to the top are 2NT and 2C.

1) 2NT = balanced 20 - 22 HCP

It’s not FORCING (!) but is highly invitational and partner should consider game with as few as 3 HCP in their own hand (22 + 3 = 25!) . Stayman and Transfers can be used as over a 1 NT opening.

2) 2C = balanced 23 + OR!!! An unbalanced hand with about 20+ HCP (4 losers)

The point is these are hands that want to be in Game opposite hardly any points from partner and maybe even slam opposite a few decent key cards.

The reason you want to force to the game so much is because of the Game Bonus. At teams, duplicate & chicago bridge these are worth 300 not vulnerable and 500 vulnerable and at Rubber, if you win 2-0, you get a whopping 700!

Don’t be shy. If you’ve got something worth showing – get it out in the open light of day fast!

Responding With Big Hands

I know I know, mostly when partner opens you hold some dross and queasily end up in a ratty part-score. Just occasionally it is you as responder who holds the power house and not the opener. But what do you do then? Make some kind of jump forcing bid straight away? Bid game immediately? Hmm. Mostly not is the answer.

Usually there’s no need to get over-excited too quickly (as the actress…) The trouble is you don’t know what partner has for their opening. They may have no more than 10 HCP and a scrappy 6-card suit. That’s not their fault - it's what they were dealt and you shouldn’t berate
partner for occasionally being a tad aggressive in the auction. That’s why – even with fairly big hands – you should just make some simple natural bid. Not to deceive partner but to give them the option of making their most natural re-bid. In that way you find out what their hand is worth.

Later in the auction – after partner has made their simple natural re-bid, and given you some idea of what they actually hold – you can always keep the bidding open with a jump rebid, a reverse or by using the common Fourth Suit Forcingconvention. The only kind of hand that should make a direct jump response is a hand almost too good for game and very very interested in slam possibilities. It should contain a long strong suit of its own and a good point count, usually 16-19hcp:

AKQxxx
AQ
Kxx
xx

Partner opens 1H and you would be perfectly within your rights to bid 2S and slam would be on opposite some opening even as awful as this:

xxx
Kxxxxx
Ax
KQ

You’ve told partner with your jump that game is certain and slam is probable which would certainly not be the case if you had some ordinary 12-hcp hand. If slam is on in those circumstances it is because partner has a good hand and it is partner who will take charge and drive forward. Save your biggest bids for truly big moments!

Forcing Bids – 29 July 2010

2010-09-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I’ll mention that such and such is bid is FORCING. But what exactly am I talking about? (Do you ask yourself this too?) Well here’s a round-up of the kinds of things that I might be talking about.

With the opposition silent it goes like this:

1H - 1S
2H - ?

The first thing to notice is that the 2H bid is NOT forcing: partner CAN pass. So a quick resume is that a forcing bid is one that FORCES partner to bid again (assuming the opposition remain silent!)

Something like

1H - 1S
3C!

The 3C bid is unconditionally forcing. It cannot be passed. Even if you responded 1S on drivel, that’s your problem but you CANNOT pass.

1H - 2D
2NT!

The 2NT bid is FORCING. (2D = 10+, 2NT = 15 - 19 so game is on.) Again if you responded 2D with not quite 10 HCP that is not partner's problem, it’s your problem – you still have to bid over the FORCING 2NT.

Partner opens with a Game Force bid of 2C (23+ in a balanced hand but only 20+ with an unbalanced hand!) and you hold:

9432
106
578
J865

You get cold feet and pass. What will you say when partner turns up with 29 HCP and Four Spades is cold? The point is that partner made a Game FORCING bid. You cannot pass. You must bid – whatever you’ve got. It’s not just about your hand but how the hands fit together in partnership. You do not bid alone your 13 cards. You bid together your 26 cards.

Just so you know, there is one auction that starts 2C that can die below game and it is this and this alone:

2C - 2D
2NT - ?

Now, with something like the hand above, you may pass. Everything else goes to game –regardless of what you hold.

In the same way, responses to 1NT are all forcing too (Again I assume the opps are silent). 2C (Stayman) 2D, 2H, (transfers) and 2S (minor suit take-out) are all forcing. When partner makes a forcing bid the option of whether you bid or not ceases to exist. Partner has taken control of the auction, so obey. If partner has it wrong that’s just tough but partnership confidence and understanding can be fatally damaged by not listening to what partner is saying.

In most auctions at some point one of you has to take control – either by passing an unsuitable hand or by forcing the auction to the correct level.

1S - 3S (10 -12, 4 card support)
4C!

It doesn’t really matter what Four Clubs actually means - it’s FORCING! It might be a void, a singleton, a real suit, a partial suit – anything. But it doesn’t matter. Partner has taken control of the auction and has made a bid that is forcing to at least game and maybe more.

You don’t need to think about what it means – you have to think about the bid that will most help your partner understand how your hand fits with theirs. Have you got the Ace of Diamonds or Hearts? (Cue bids!) Are you bare minimum (in which case sign off in 4 S)?

Listen to your partner. Remember – just like you, partner does really really like to win!

Harassing the Enemy – The “Unusual No Trump” – 22 July 2010

2010-09-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today - that old favourite! Yes it’s…

The Unusual 2NT Overcall

Once the opposition attempt to start their delicate little bidding conversation at base camp it is your job to jerk them up the mountain as fast as possible before they know whether or not they’ve got enough oxygen for the climb to the summit. Of course this is risky – but no more so than anything else! (see this link! : http://basementbridge.blogspot.com/2010/07/world-of-risk-1-april-2010.html)

Let’s look at all the possible 1 of a suit openings and see what a 2NT overcall means:

1C - 2NT = Hearts and Diamonds
1D - 2NT = Hearts and Clubs
1H - 2NT = Both minors
1S - 2NT = Both minors

All these 2NT overcalls are made with a hand that is at least five cards long in each of the two suits promised and LESS than opening points (6 - 10) give or take a bit for vulnerability or whether partner has passed.

Partner now knows you are shapely (!) but weak. The possible outcomes are:

You steal the contract and make it
You steal the contract but don’t make it when they had game
You talk them out of game or slam
They bid and make what they would have done anyway.

Of these possibilities only the last one is bad so you could suppose it’s a 75% action. Well, it isn’t quite: but in general the odds are on your side PLUS you make life very difficult for them. Will they know what to do? Will they bottle out? who knows who has what? Do they have the oxygen? It is always a good idea to induce uncertainty (lack of oxygen) into their auction.

Responding

After an overcall of a minor suit give preference to hearts with 3-card support or more. Otherwise agree the minor suit.
After an overcall of a major suit bid the minor you are longest in. Responder’s forcing bid is a cue-bid of the opener's suit showing a good hand with a fit for at least one of the suits implied: 1C - 2NT - pass - 3C! Three Clubs here is forcing (probably to game, maybe slam.)

What About Spades!?

Luckily the spade suit is naturally strong enough to be bid as a natural overcall – even with a two-suiter. It is King of the Suits and beats all others in the auction. Always get yer spades in if you can!!

BTW I tend to teach that with 12-14 points and a 5332 distributional hand you should still open 1NT even if the 5-card suit is a major. The reason is that one bid says it all and partner is much better placed if the auction gets competitive. But I will come clean and say that I would open 1S with something like:

AKQxx
Qxx
Kxx
xx

It’s maximum and if partner bids at the 2-level I’ll re-bid 2N. Not classical I know but as good as anything and slightly more honest in this dishonest world where too few bids have too much work to do.

Drawing Trumps – 15 July 2010

2010-09-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

You’ve made it! You started the ascent from base camp with a nervous 1-level bid and now here you are at the summit in a good trump contract. Tired but happy you settle down in your mental tent to consider the opening lead and partner’s dummy. What next?

The crucial point here is to take your time. It took a lot of effort to get all the way here so now you don’t want to go ruining the moment by rushing the hand without consideration of exactly what to do.

Inevitably you will have to consider the key part of the hand which will be the perennial question : “When shall I draw trumps?” There are three answers to this question:

In a minute
Never
Now

You may have heard often enough the refrain “Always draw trumps first!” and while this is a good guideline it does not tell the whole story. Let’s say the contract is Four Spades and the lead is a heart:

a) .... Kxx ......... AQJxx
........ x ............. Axx
....... AKxxx . .....xx
....... Qxxx ........ J10x

If you draw trumps too early you will never get rid of the two losing hearts in your hand. The reason is you need to trump them with two trumps in dummy so you must attend to that BEFORE drawing trumps.

b) .... Kxx ........ AQJxx
........ x ............ Axxx
........ Axxxx ..... x
........ Qxxx ...... J10x

Now you can’t draw trumps as you need to trump hearts in dummy as well as trumping diamonds in your hand. Here you never draw trumps as you need them all separately coming to eight spades and the two aces.

c) .... Kxx ........ AQJxx
........ xx .......... Ax
........ AKxxx .... Qxx
........ Qxx ........ J10x

Now you do draw trumps. You are not going to trump anything in dummy and you need to get rid of their trumps BEFORE you try to run the diamonds.

Just remember the old song : “It's now or never…”

The Splendid Splinter – A Convention Well Worth Learning – 8 July 2010

2010-09-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

Another full house - lovely to see you all. When do Stayman and Transfers apply? In these four instances:

1) 1NT opening
2) 2NT opening
3) 2C - 2D - 2NT
4) 1? - 1NT (overcall 15-17)

Just so you know… And now…

Splinters

When we make a bid, most of the time we can only convey one simple piece of information about our hand. We try to convey a mixture of information over a series of bids to tell partner about our point count as well as our shape: whether or not we have 5 or 6 or 7 cards in any particular suit.

1D - 1S
3C!

In this standard auction with our second bid we tell partner we have about 16 - 19 points, 5 Diamonds and 4 Clubs. But we might have 5D and 5C; we might also have 6D and 4 or 5 C but that information is yet to be communicated. The higher points are communicated by the jump to 3C; had we only had 12-15 points, we would have contented ourselves with a simple 2C.

The same is true is the responder has clubs. 1H - 2C is a regular response, at least 10hcp and 4 clubs, and 3C is agame forcing response, 16+ and possibly a lot of clubs.

Well, that takes care of clubs, whatever your strength, so interestingly that leaves higher club bids without a meaning, at least until we give them one… Enter a very useful tool – the SPLINTER bid.

I know, I know… There are times when you really really want to jab partner with a sharp pointy bit of wood but I'm afraid that is not what it means and anyway the World Bridge Federation gets a bit shirty about that sort of thing. It means this:

When you make a double jump bid in any other unbid side-suit it indicates a game-going trump fit with your partner and a singleton or void in the suit bid. Thus:

1H - 4C! (or 4D)

The 4C bidder will have at least 4hearts, wants to be at least in game and has a singleton or a void in Clubs. It’s a DOUBLE jump. As set out above, 2C is just 10+ HCP, 3C is a big hand with a very good Club suit so 4C is a bit redundant otherwise, which is why it has been pressed into
service like this. It's a really handy bid because unlike many bids it carries two pieces of information, not just one.

As well as being handy for responder, opener can also use them – like so…

1H - 1S
4D!

Now opener makes a splinter re-bid, promising 4 spades and a singleton or void diamond suit plus they want to be in at least game and could well be interested in going further down the line to one of those incredibly rewarding slams.

The only thing to remember is that splinter bids do not apply in NT auctions – a trump suit is ALWAYS agreed as the previous suit mentioned by partner. Splinters are well worth remembering as it’s great to convey so much information in one go while at the same time making life very difficult for the opponents.

If you’re interested the Italians won the European Bridge Championships at the weekend, with Poland winning the Seniors event and France the Women’s event. No, we didn’t do very well. Don’t ask…

A couple of links you might like:

Seeya!

Kit

A Hot Night For Bridge – The Importance of Going Plus – 1 July 2010

2010-09-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

Bit hot down there but the bridge was steamy too, so… Welcome to the new faces lovely to see you all hope you had fun. Er, and learnt a bit too…

We had this ludicrous hand last night bit of fun, bit of fun, nudge, nudge…

S: KJ10xxx
H: -
D: AJ10xxxx
C: -

And starting on your right the bidding went:

1D! - pass - 3C - pass
6C - ????

So now what on earth do you do here? You can read as many text books as you like but none of them will tell you how to navigate in these perilous parlous difficult dangerous waters. The initial pass is probably “right” thoough 1S would not be “wrong” but you must surely bid here. The hand is a freak and there are no rules about freak hands but my rule of thumb is “just bid something!” So here, what does this hand do now? Answers on a ten pound note… ;-)

The POINT of it all: The cards are dealt. They’re in your hand. Before you even look at them – what is your aim? What are the possibilities? If you bid to a contract (at Chicago, Teams or Duplicate) you will gain anything from +70, for 1 C making, all the way up to 2980, for 7NT redoubled making. If they bid to a contract and go down you’ll get anything from +50, 1 down NV, to 7600 for 13 down redoubled and vulnerable.

Obviously – whatever you cards are – your initial plan must be to make the best score you possibly can given the 26 cards you and your partner have been dealt in this specific hand. If that fails you must then be especially careful to give away as little as possible ie WIN BIG, LOSE SMALL.

Realistically we can discount all the super massive scores because they only exist in dreamland. Though an International at last year’s World Championship did manage to go 5 off redoubled for -2800 rather cleverly. So what CAN we aim for?

Certainly any of the small slams should be a goal all the time. This is because they score so many points: 6N = 990 NV and 1440 VUL so you need to be alert to the possibility of a slam all the time.
Next up of course is the Game. 4S will get you 420 or 620. This is why sometimes you will stretch to bid the game because 3S + 1 is only 170.

Naturally when you do finally look at your hand you won’t necessarily see the 20 HCP rock crusher you’ve been fantasising about bidding all the way to slam. You may not even see your way to game after a few rounds of bidding; so slowly, gently, tired but happy, you’ll finally
settle in some measly part score and be pleased enough just to make it.

But what if the other side keep bidding? How do you improve your losing score? If they bid, vulnerable, to 4S and it makes, they will get 620. If you are not vulnerable and can go only (!) 3 down doubled they will now get just 500. At this form of scoring this is a winning strategy. (At rubber, just be a bit careful about gifting Vulnerable opponents extra points when the rubber was lost anyway!)

And the POINT of all this? Before you look at your hand - look at the vulnerability! Is it
favourable ie GREEN - RED? or dangerous RED - GREEN? Know this as you start to count the points in your hand – think about what your strategy should be in the upcoming bidding war. And your preferred aim? Well I think anything from 500 - 1000+ is always good news in my book!

The freaky hand we started with. If the opps seem to know what they are doing, you better pay your insurance premium by bidding 6S. At least you know partner doesn’t have many diamonds.

All the best

Kit

A Bit More Advanced Stuff – Roman Keycard Blackwood – 23 June 2010

2010-09-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

Here for reference are the responses to 4NT when it’s Roman Keycard Blackwood. In RKCB the King of the agreed trump suit is counted as an Ace so there are in effect 5 (!) Aces. The responses to the 4NT ask enquiry are:

5C = 0 or 3 Aces
5D = 1 or 4 Aces
5H = 2 or 5 Aces but no Queen of trumps
5S = 2 or 5 Aces with the Queen of trumps

After partner responds 5C or 5D then the a bid of 5 of the next suit above (not the trump suit)ASKS for the Queen of trumps. The Queen is important because if you are missing an Ace you can’t afford to lose a trump trick as well so you suit better play for no losers, i.e. you need the Queen.

You show the Queen by jumping to 6 of the agreed suit or by bidding another suit which shows not only the Queen of trumps but an extra feature in the suit bid as well(King or singleton). If you don’t have the queen you “sign off” by simply bidding 5 of the trump suit.

K Q 7 6
K 7 5 4
Q 10 9 6 2
7

Partner opens 1S and you junp to 3S – a limit bid, 10 hcp but not mcuh quality to tee hand. [You also have seven ‘losers’ but no ace so devalue the hand a bit – 3S looks better than going game. Nonetheless partner now bids 4NT.

The bidding goes:

1S ..... - ... 3S
4NT.. - ... 5D
5H ... - ... 6H
6S

5D = One of five “key cards”, in this case the King of Spades.
5H = “Do you have the Queen of Spades?”
6H = “Yes, I do and the King of Hearts as well”
6S = “Thanks for the info, but 6S is enough, we don’t have seven!”

Fighting Fire With Fire Pt II – More on Responding When The Opps Have Made a TakeOut Double – 23 June 2010

2010-09-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

Last week partner opened a minor (1C or 1D) and the opponents doubled. This week Partner opens a Major (1H or 1S) and the opponents double:

When partner bids, the magical quest for slam begins. But when the opponents DOUBLE, that quest is forever lost. Well, ok, maybe 99 times out of a 100 anyway… However everything is not totally lost as game, partscore or even a juicy penalty double are all still options. Partner has opened with at least (we hope!) 12 high card points (hcp). The doubler will have – most of the time - at least 12 HCP as well, so now out of the total of 40 HCP in the pack, 24 of them have been allocated, leaving just 16 of them between you and the opponent on your left.

It is now your job to tell partner whether a) you have any points and/or b) you have a fit. Remember you have to keep the bidding alive if at all possible in case partner has opened with 20 points. This is a possibility. This is why you respond with 6 HCP. ALWAYS.

1H - X - ?

The responses aren’t that much different from when partner opens a minor. As before, all your raises of partner’s suit are pre-emptive (or stretch raises) so you show a good raise (4 cards & 10+hcp) with 2NT (Truscott). All hands with no fit and 10+ HCP go through REDOUBLE (the blue one!). Otherwise you just bid as naturally as possible.

But do remember that you MUST bid with 6 points. This means that if you can’t bid at the 2 level you'll have to bid 1NT. You’ll bid 1NT with whatever hand you have and only 6 - 9 HCP. For instance:

xxx
Qx
KJxxxx
xx

You can't bid 2D as that promises 9 or 10 HCP, so the only bid you have is 1NT. I know it doesn't describe your hand but it does at least tell partner you have 6 - 9 HCP which may be the most valuable information partner needs! There’s a useful motto:

Help Your Partner Win at Bridge!

(There's a book of the same title…)

Fight Fire With Fire – How To React When Partner Opens And They Double – 18 June 2010

2010-08-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

It’s great when partner opens the bidding and there you sit, looking at a pretty good hand. You mentally check off the possible bids, narrow it down to the right one and wait for your RHO to pass. But the beastly opponent DOESN’T PASS but DOUBLES!

Now what? Should the double affect the way you bid? Can you still make the bid you were going to? Does that bid now mean the same thing? It’s a nightmare. Yes, sometimes a double can make things difficult, sure, but there are other times when it can work out to your advantage. It can warn you where all the points are, or where certain cards are too, making your tight decisions less of a guess. So, what’s the strategy?

1) Partner opens a minor suit (C&D) and they double:
To begin with, there’s no reason why you shouldn't just “ignore the double” and bid exactly the way you would without the Double. There’s a fair possibility you have a 4 card (or better) major and if so BID IT. Before you do anything else.

With no 4 card major your options are about whether or not you have a fit and/or points, so you
can either: a) Raise partner. b) Bid 1N. c) Redouble.

a) When you raise a minor you will ALWAYS have at least 4 card support (4cs). Prefer a raise of partner’s suit in preference to either 1N or Redouble if you have a fit and no 4 card major. [OK, you can bid 1N if you have support BUT the hand is deathly flat – 3334 – and deathly weak: 6 or 7HCP].

After a double your raises are all pre-emptive. They’re called stretch raises. That is, you bid a level higher than you would have done without the intervening Double. So, partner opens
1D and your bids could be something like:

2D = 3 - 5 HCP (4cs)
3D = 6 - 9 HCP (4cs)
4D = 6 - 9 HCP (5cs)
5D = 6 - 9 HCP (6cs)

None of this is written in stone. I’m just trying to give you an idea of how you might bid and how the principle of the “stretch” raise works in practice. All you’re trying to do is get in the way of LHO and what you actually do will depend on singletons, voids and vulnerability.

OK? So now, you want to know how you raise partner with a fit, no 4 card Major, and an invitational (10 - 12 HCP) hand or one that's even better, don’t you? Fair enough. Both these hands go into one bid! which is (of course) 2NT!

The theory runs that in competitive situations 2N is a redundant bid. Unless specifically asked by partner about the viability of a NT contract your bounden duty above all else is to communicate fits if at all possible, and the loss of a natural 2N in these situations is of no consequence. (So says Mr Truscott who started all this off in the 50’s and to whom we are indebted.)

In the sequence

1D - DOUBLE (X) - 2NT

partner now knows: you do not have a 4 card major, but you do have 10+ HCP and at least a 4 card fit in D’s. If minimum, partner should sign off in 3D. If partner makes any other noise, game must be on somewhere.

Points But No Fit
Next are all the hands that don't have a fit for partner:

b) 1NT is the usual bucket bid: no 4 card Major, no 4cs in partner’s suit and 6 - 9 HCP. We-e-ell, I suppose you might have a scrappy, lousy 4 card major you’re not keen on and you’d rather just get in the way…

Now you also want to know what to do with all the other 10+ point hands I expect.

So:

c) Most of these hands are covered by RE-DOUBLE (XX).

This says “I have 10+ points partner, we have the balance of the points, so there might be a juicy penalty if they get over ambitious as we do not ourselves have any obvious fit so far.” (Notice how only when they Double do you get this extra bid!)

Kit

Bidding Sequences – How Your Bids Build A Picture – 2 June 2010

2010-08-26T06:42:00.001-07:00

Hello you lot! Yes, I’m back again so no more shirking… Great to see so many new faces – Hiya! – and thanks to everyone for helping out, as five tables is a bit of a novelty. Actually I'll be away next week too as I’m forced to go to New York to see my daughter’s gig. However I shall return thereafter refreshed, eager and edgy. And so to bridge …

There are a few times when you can make a bid and that bid says it all about your hand in one go – but very few. This is because there are 52 trillion possible hands and 35 bids. The most simple descriptive bids are 1N, 2N, weak 2’s and weak 3’s, where your hand is quite defined as to points and shape. You have any hand outside these parameters –and there's quite a few trillion of them – then you’re going to have to find other ways to describe all those hands. You do this by means of …

A Sequence

Because you just can’t have one bid to describe all the hands you might have, you have to make use of a sequence of bids that tell a simple story rather like pre-historic pictograms. People ask “what does that bid mean?” Too often the answer is “it doesn't mean anything. Yet.” Just as a Pharaonic name is a cartouche comprised of different pictograms, so a bid in isolation can be meaningless until it is accompanied with a further, more explanatory bid.

When partner opens 1S (playing a natural Acol based system) all we know is that they have at least 4 Spades and somewhere between about 10 - 20 HCP. This is by and large fairly useless information. We cannot assess the joint values of our two hands until we know more exactly about the HCP and the shape opposite and so make a judgement of how our two hands fit together. Depending on our bid in response, partner may rebid 2C,2D, 2H, 2S, 2N, 3C, 3D, 3H, 3S, 3N etc etc etc. But the point is that each of these separate rebids re-defines the hand opposite more narrowly in terms of its HCP as well as its shape. The cartouche has been given extra meaning.

When partner opens (a) 1S, then rebids 2S, this is different from (b) 1S followed by a 3S rebid.

(a) Shows about 10 - 15 HCP and a 5+ card suit (the weaker the hand the longer the suit – theoretically). (b) Shows about 15 - 18 HCP and a 6+ card suit

Neither of these bids in unconditionally forcing, but the cartouche is now clearer than after the first pictogram (bid).

Similarly, 1S followed by (a) 2H or (b) 3H paint different pictures (a) shows 10 -15 with at least 5 Spades and 4 Hearts while (b) shows 16 - 20 HCP again 5 - 4 at least. Could be 5 -5, 6 - 5, 6 - 6. Hopefully this information will gleaned from the third Pictogram (bid). Note that (b) here is unconditionally forcing.

The same is true of the NT rebids after an opening bid of one of a suit:

1NT = 15 - 16
2NT = 17 - 18
3NT = 19 - 20

It follows that when you start to chisel your pictograms in the cartouche on the sandstone block you need to be aware of just what message you intend to convey before you lift the hammer. You are the dealer. What are you going to bid and rebid with the following hand? Decide before you mark the stone…

x
AQxx
AKxxx
Qxx

The first bid is clearly 1D. But haste ye not so fast yet to bid! What is the rebid? What is the hand value? Where are you going? Remember this is a partnership game. OK, you can carve all the cartouches you like but the true meaning of the ancient inscription can only be fully deciphered when your partner’s pictogram has also been included in the cartouche.

Consider: 2N (Game forcing) and 3D (10 - 12, 4 card support) are outside bets from partner but not impossible: with either you make sure of game and maybe sniff slam. (Ditto with 2H or 2S) However partner may most likely bid 1H, 1S, 1NT, 2C or 2D and each of these alters the value of your hand and therefore what your rebid is:

1D - 1H - ? Bid 3H. VG support 15 HCP + 2/3 for the singleton
1D - 1S - ? Bid 1NT. 15 - 16 HCP (Not classic, I know...)
1D - 1NT - ? PASS. 2D not impossible, nor, oddly, even 2C (partner must have at least 4)
1D - 2C - ? Bid 2H. After a 2 level response (10+ HCP) you just about have enough for the game forcing reverse, especially with the Qxx of clubs.
1D - 2D - ? Bid 2H. 2H here shows the stopper in the suit and is a gentle nudge towards 3N or 5D if partner is max.

OK. Now you can bid. Now you have the picture in your head. Now you are prepared. Although you might like also to think about what happens if the bidding goes:

1D - (2S!) - PASS - (PASS)
??

(Answer: you’ll double and pray partner can pass for penalties!!!)

See you soon, now.

Kit

Weak Opening Bids – 12 May 2010

2010-08-26T06:20:00.001-07:00

There are lots of times you want to get in the auction with weakish shapely hands. The value of this is threefold:

1) You want to suggest a lead to partner if the opposition win the auction.
2) You want to get in their way.
3) You want to let partner know what kind of hand you’ve got as soon as possible.

But just how weak can you be? Well the answer is “pretty damn weak!” OK, so we all know you have to have 12 points to open the bidding and this is fine if your hand is fairly flat. However what would you do with this?

x
x
K x x
K J x x x x x x

7 HCP. You cannot possibly be thinking of passing this endless Club suit. The opponents might have a game or slam in Spades or Hearts. You need to trash their auction – fast. Bid 5 Clubs. You won’t make it most of the time but so what? They’re never going to be in 4H or 4S now are they?

Aha! you say but what if they weren’t making game their way? Well if that's true your partner must have quite a lot and now you probably will make this dodgy 5C into the bargain. So, trebles all round, Steerpike.

That is an extreme example of pre-emptive bidding. You bid not to make your contract at all, but simply to make life as difficult as possible for the opponents. It is – simply put – getting your retaliation in first.

You can pre-empt at any level you think fit but the normal levels are 2 & 3. A 3-level pre-empt is based on a 7 card suit (possibly 6 in clubs – you'll see why) and about 5(6) - 9(10) HCP. The lower the point count the more the points should be concentrated in the suit, e.g KQxxxxx is a good pre-empt suit with no other points in the hand, but 10xxxxxx is a bad pre-empt suit.(Though it wouldn't deter some people I know....)

A 2-level pre-empt is based on a 6 card suit and again 5(6) - 9(10) HCP. Note that you cannot bid a weak 2C, as this is the big Game Force bid (Hence the 3C bid can be 6). 2-level pre-empts (weak 2's) are far more common than strong 2's and are also far more damaging.

Well, that takes in weak hands with long suits and up to about 9 HCP. But what if you've a fraction more than that? When should we open in the 9 - 11 range? And how do we value the hands?

Kxx
Qxxx
Axx
Jxx

10 HCP, flat hand - PASS!

KQxxxx
x
AJxx
xx

10 HCP, shapely - 1S! Exactly the same HCP as above and this hand is just a bit too good to open 2S, but how can we tell? The answer is the Rule of 20:

Add your HCP.
Add the length of the 2 longest suits.
Add these 2 answers together and if the answer is 20 or more - open the bidding.

In the hand above you have 10 HCP and 6 S and 4 D so (10+6+4=20). The Rule of 20 is best applied when you have between 9 - 11 HCP. In a sense this is now pre-empting at the 1-level. You’re in the auction, you suggested a lead, and if partner can raise you a bit then you’ve made their life harder. All these are GOOD THINGS.

Have fun and get bidding!!

Kit

Simple Signalling in Defence – 6 May 2010

2010-08-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Ned has pointed out that a while ago I sent an email entitled Defence Pt 1 . As yet there has been no Pt 2 so today folks … !!!

Defence Part 2:

As I’ve said before defence is the hardest part of the game. Just as bidding is about you having a cosy fireside chat with partner to get to either the best contract, or the least worst contract (!) so too defence must also be a chat where you help each other to make – hopefully – the right leads, plays or discards. But how can we do this without winking at partner or rubbing your chest when you want hearts led? The answer is that the individual cards you hold can be used to give information. This is the only legal thing you can do, but it does mean that as well as being alert to the signal you give, you must also be alert to any signal partner is giving you.

There are three different kinds of signal you can give:

1) Attitude
2) Count
3) Suit Preference

1) Attitude
This is about your attitude to the initial suit led by your partner, i.e. do you like it or not? Has partner hit on a good lead as far as you are concerned? When partner regains should the lead be continued or should partner switch to another suit?

Two further questions arise:

a) WHEN do you give an attitude signal?
b) HOW do you do it?

a) WHEN: I’ll keep it simple. There are other situations but the key one is when partner makes a lead and declarer/dummy wins the trick before you play a card. Now partner needs to know if you liked the lead. Let’s say partner leads a low spade against a NT contract,
4th best from the Q. Dummy has:

A J 7

and you hold

K 10 8 2

Dummy plays the A. What do you play? You want partner to continue the suit when on lead again so you must give a loud positive attitude. But HOW?

b) HOW: There’s a very popular and simple mantra which is “Low Likes; High Hates.”

Following this mantra you play the 2, meaning: “I like your lead, you can continue the suit when you get in again – as long as there’s nothing better to do!”

It follows that if you had held only 9 8 2 you would play the 9 to say “Sorry! Can’t help you there!”

BE CAREFUL!! THIS ONLY APPLIES IN THIS SPECIFIC SITUATION! For the rest of the time you should give COUNT…

(Editorial caution! Playing a low card to encourage partner’s lead and a high card to discourage as Kit advocates above is called “reverse attitude”. You’ve guessed it. “Standard Attitude” is the other way round – low discourages and high encourages. Most newer players play Standard Attitude ’cos that’s what they’ve been taught. It doesn’t matter as long as you and your partner are both agreed on which you are doing. The key thing is doing it all. NP)

2) Count
I've done this before so: Count signals also have a When? How? quality so here again I’ll keep it simple: WHEN declarer plays a suit you will mostly be playing smallish cards, but they can still
give your partner information. HOW?

With 8652 you play a HIGH card (8) first, then a LO card (2), so that HI-LO means you have an EVEN number of the suit. While if you have 862, play a Lo card (2) and then a Hi card (8) signalling an ODD number of cards. This will help your partner work out what declarer
has got in that suit.

3) Suit Preference
This mostly applies to suit contracts and is a way of telling partner what suit to lead if they get the lead.

Following the mantra above, when you are forced to make a discard, try to signal in a suit
with a LO card if you like that suit (LO Likes), otherwise a HI card (HI-Hates) says you do NOT like that suit. (“Reverse Attitude” again. NP)

SO:

After a number of tricks in a Heart contract you are left with:

A 9 2
-
8 3
Q J 9

Declarer plays a heart. What do you throw away/discard/signal with? A LO Spade (2) says you like the suit. a HI Diamond (8) says you don’t like that suit and the Club suit looks best untouched. As to what you actually play – well that depends on what’s happened so far, but at
least you can give fairly accurate information to partner about what you’ve got! This is a GOOD THING!

You’ll no doubt have noticed that all this means that nearly every card you play in defence – when you’re not actually cashing winners – is part of an information system of signals and discards, just like the system of bids and passes. It is your job as defenders to give declarer as rough a ride as possible, so watch what partner’s doing. Watch: what card did partner lead, play or discard and ask yourself “Why?”

Seeya
Kit

(Hair) Raising Partner – 29 April 2010

2010-08-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Part I – The “Delayed Game Raise”

You yawn as you sort your hand (it’s been a long session!) and wearily shove suits into their preferred order. It’s a goodish hand, you’re Vulnerable, but what exactly to open?

AKJxx
Qxx
Kxx
xx

1S could be right but the slight re-bid problem (1S - 2S should ideally show 6 Spades) means you flirt with the (correct) idea of 1NT. Just as you toy with that notion you get a rude awakening: LHO nudges you and a bit rudely informs you it’s your turn to bid as partner has opened. You jerk awake and look over the table to see partner has tabled 1S.

1S? Can this be right? Presumably. Remember – partner is always right even when they're wrong. But now what are you going to do? 4S flashes to the forefront of your cranium: enough
points for game and the best damn fit partner is going to see for a very long time. So you…

Hang on hang on. What is it that pesky man keeps saying? “A jump to 4S is a weak pre-emptive manoeuvre…” Thinks: you mean... something like:

J10xxx
x
Kxxx
xxx

Ok right. So you can’t bid 4S. Apart from anything else if partner had a really good hand, (18 - 20 HCP) that just happened to be missing the AK of trumps, and you jump to 4S there’s going to be precious little room for the partnership to investigate any even teeny-weeny possibility of a slam, which is why the bid is reserved for rubbish hands with a good fit.

It is this thought that should persuade you away from 4S. 4S will almost certainly make for 620 but wouldn’t you rather at least have a look at the possibility of 1430? It’s an awful lot more isn’t it? But tactical strategies aside – what on earth are you actually going to bid?

For a start 2S, 3S and 4S are out – as your hand is far too good for any of these “limit bids”. Likewise 1NT, 2NT and 3NT are also just not on the money. The way to think of it is that in order to know if slam is possibly making or not we need to get a better idea of just
exactly what partner’s got over there. If all partner can rebid is 2S then 4S will probably be enough, but if partner starts jumping about in second suits or NT then your hand might come as a very pleasant surprise.

Yes, yes, yes, but what do you actually bid? By now LHO is clearly considering whether really really slow bridge could have been a neat torture for a Spanish Inquisition. It is still your turn so
you do have to bid. I’m afraid all you can do is bid 2D! 2C isn’t ideal; 2H would promise 5 of them and we just dismissed about everything else. 2D does at least give partner room to rebid the opening hand and anyway you know for a certainty that whatever partner does you are going to finish up in at least 4S. So give yourself room in the bidding. Lie just a little in the interests of future harmony…

Part 2: Upgrade to a Forcing 2NT

For those of you who want a better bid than the 2D bid above, I suggest you start playing 2NT as a game force over a major, showing 4+ card support and 13+HCP.

This does mean though that you lose the old-fashioned Acol 2NT response showing 10-12 HCP, which is a vile space eating monster anyway. It does also mean you’ll have to find a 2 level minor suit bid when partner opens 1S and you hold something like:

Qxx
KJxx
Kxx
Qxx

10 - 12, only 3 card support but at least you get to be able to actually stop in 2 of a major when partner has been a bit aggressive with the opening bid.

And when you have a better hand with a similar shape you can make the “pudding raise” of 3NT showing a flat hand, 3 card support and 13 - 15 HCP.

It just keeps on getting simpler and simpler, doesn’t it?

Kit

Hand Evaluation – The “Rules” Get Fuzzier – 22 April 2010

2010-08-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

It’s getting to the point where the so-called “rules” you’ve all learnt are about to get fuzzier.

1NT Balanced 12-14

We open 1NT with 12 - 14 HCP. Always. Don’t we? 99 times out of a 100 – yes. BUT… you sit at the table with 13 cards in your hand, you sort them into suits and ponder the immortal question: “Is this a bidder I see before me?”

There are all sorts of marginal hands where it might be right to get in the auction even though you don’t – quite – have the time-honoured 12 HCP hand. And even if you did, what sort of 12 count is it? Are there long suits? Are there singleton honours about? Voids even?

e.g 1 ....... QJx
.............. QJx
.............. QJxx
.............. QJx

12 HCP - balanced: 1NT. Right? I'm afraid my answer goes along the lines of: “Hmm. Possibly.”

Not Vulnerable – what the heck. yeah, open it 1NT, cross your fingers and hope partner has everything else. But note that there are certain particular downsides to the hand. It’s all Queens and Jacks (Quacks). It’s flat as a pancake. It’s got 8 losers and doesn’t make the rule of 20 either. If I was Vulnerable and sitting in either the first or second position I might well decide the hand was just too dull to bother with, hope partner could open with anything, even a pre-empt or weak two, and go from there.

e.g 2 ....... QJ10
.............. QJ10
.............. QJ10x
.............. QJ10

Same HCP but marginally different with all the tens. Now I wouldn’t hesitate to open this anytime, whatever. Those 10’s are good, despite the same HCP and shape.

e.g. 3 ....... AJ10
............... Qxx
............... KJ10xx
............... xx

I know - only 11HCP! But: a good 5 card suit and a couple of 10’s make this a worthwhile shot at 1NT. If partner transfers you’ve got three cards in both majors and if the worst comes to the worst you’ve got a decent 5 card suit to run to. I know it isn’t quite a rule of 20, but you know me. I love to bid and there’s another thing: There is a slight tweaking of the point count method involved here. It is particularly important when considering borderline NT decisions and that is that you give yourself an extra HALF a point for each 10 you hold.

In a sense it’s a matter of partnership style. How aggressive are you going to be? How tolerant is partner of your aggression? Is partner solid or prone to flights of fancy? Is partner awake and sober? These are important issues, Especially the sober bit…

Marginal Opening Decisions

There’s a host of difficult hands where you don’t have 12 HCP but you should probably open the bidding. The reasons are that you get to start your conversation before they do, or else – if you later lose the auction – partner will have some idea of what might be a good lead. These hands will be mostly in the 9 - 11 HCP range and there’s a good system that will help you evaluate these hands. It’s called the Rule of 20. It applies to these weakish hands and takes account of the distributional qualities that make up for the apparent lack of points. You add your points up, then add the length of your two longest suits and if it comes to 20 – open. Like this…

e.g. 4 ....... Kxxxx
............... Qx
............... AJxxx
............... x

10 HCP. 10 cards in Spades and Diamonds. 10 + 10 = 20. So you open 1 Spade.

An extreme example might be:

e.g. 5 ........ KQxxxx
................ x
................ Axxxx
................ x

Nowadays a lot of players have in their armoury various weak 2-suited opening bids, as these kinds of hands have immense playing strength that the point count doesn’t really do justice to. But all the same this hand obeys the rule of 20, so get in there!

As usual check out the rest of the blog for previous rants…

Kit

Opening Hands – A Few Thoughts on the “Rules” – 15 April 2010

2010-08-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

Some basic thoughts on “rules” for opening hands. As you all know I’m wary of the concept of rules in general as they have a tendency to stop people thinking things through at the table for themselves. But, that said…

What to do with a 4441 hand? Simple rule is: Open the suit below the singleton with a red singleton and the middle suit with a black singleton.
When you have a 4432 shape with both majors and 15+HCP, open 1H. If partner responds in a minor suit you will rebid NT.
When you hold a 4432 shape with 15+ HCP and where one of the 4-card suits is a major and the other a minor - use judgement. Personally I like to get the major suit into the auction as soon as possible. On the other hand… if one of your suits is 3578 and the other is AKJx it might tactically work out best to bid the worst suit! Now, if you declare 3NT, they might not know you’re crap in the suit you bid, and then go and lead your other suit away from their Q! This stuff happens …
If you have a 5332 shape with 12 - 14 HCP and where the 5 card suit is a major or a minor open 1NT. The reason is that you are either a) stuck somewhat for a good rebid and b) if partner responds 1NT the stronger hand will now be on the table, making life easier for the opponents. This is a Bad Thing.
If you have 5521/5530 shapes, bid the higher ranking suit first. This is so you have a sound rebid. (I might also bid the 5 card suit major even if I had a 6 card minor for the same reason!)

Big Hands

All hands that are at least 23+ HCP and balanced should open 2C and then rebid NT. But what if you have a hand of a few HCP less than 23 but you have an unbalanced hand with a big suit? These hands can also be opened 2C. Now the strength lies in the distribution as well as the HCP. What you don't want to happen is for your opening bid at the one level to be passed out and then find you could have made game as partner had 4HCP.
With a balanced 20-22HCP hand open 2NT. Sometimes you might be a bit fixed so don’t worry if the shape isn’t always as perfectly balanced as you’d like it to be (5422 say). Occasionally the “right” bid just isn’t there but you’d better say something!

Opposite a 2NT opening bid partner should respond with as little as 3 HCP. You’re in the game zone so BE there.

Double – Your Flexible Friend – 8 April 2010

2010-07-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

We’ve all got a fair idea of what each bid means, opening, responding and overcalling, but there are times when we want to compete and the bid of a suit is doesn’t quite fit the hand we have. Do we:

a) Run up the white flag? b) Hide our heads in the sand? c) Cross fingers and toes and bid anyway? d) Find a bid – or sequence of bids – that explains what we have?

Reasonably often the answer is d). And on a fair number of occasions it is best to Double. But what exactly does a double actually mean and when should we prefer it to a straight overcall?

Double of Opponents’ Opening Bid
If we double an opening bid we could have – confusingly – three distinct and different kinds of hands.

1) A shapely hand with a shortage in the opponents' bid suit
2) A hand too strong to overcall 1NT
3) A hand too strong to make a direct overcall

Which of the three you actually have does not matter initially. The key is to remember that a double is often the start of a two part communication. It is not in itself a final statement but merely the beginnings of an exchange of information.

1) They open 1H and you hold:

AKxx
x
Kxxx
Kxxx

Bidding any suit would imply that you hold five cards in that suit so you can’t do that. Yet you have a hand you want to tell partner about – you just don't yet know where, if at all, the pair of you have a fit. So you double. Initially this says you are interested in any of the other three unbid suits and have a hand of at least opening values.

With this hand you plan to pass whichever suit partner bids . Partner could jump to encourage you to continue, but failing such strong action from partner, you would need a hand of 17+ HCP to contemplate bidding on.

2) Again they open 1H but now you hold:

AQx
AQx
KJxx
Kxx

You want to bid 1NT, but this shows specifically 15 - 17 HCP. Your hand is better than this so you start with a double, intending to re-bid in NT if the auction allows it. Partner must still assume you hold a hand like hand 1) but your re-bid will further explain your hand.

3) 1H again, but now you’re dealt:

A
Axx
AKJxxx
Kxx

You want to get that Diamond suit into the auction but you also want to tell partner the general strength of your hand as well, a tidy 19hcp and too strong for a simple overcall. So now you will Double first and then – if the auction allows it – bid diamonds. Now partner can tell not only what your suit is but that you also hold a decent number of points into the bargain.

Be aware that partner will not have much. The opening on your right is about 12+ and with your 19 there are only about nine HCP going begging, but if partner has six of them you’re in the game zone.

Remember, if you Double and then bid, you show a big hand playable opposite a fairly weak (6-9) hand. And if you're really really big (22 +) you can Double and then Cue-bid!!!

Too much fun…

Kit

The World of Risk – 1 April 2010

2010-07-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

I’m often asked, when I suggest a bid or a line of play, whether or not my suggestion is a bit on the risky side. Oooh yes. It’s all risky, guv… the moment you sit down at the Bridge table you enter a world of risk. Even the most harmless, solid opening bid can lead to disaster. The apparent cast iron lead can gift declarer a contract they should never make. There is nothing you can do about this. The god of cards is out to get you.

The only defence you have against this cruel nemesis is that you must not help him. Sometimes the god will tease you by putting all the outstanding cards exactly where you want them, so that a dodgy 2H contract makes +3 on a favourable 3-2 trump split and all the finesses working. Should you have bid the game? No. Do not make plans based on his teasing ways. Always take the middle ground. Take his gifts firm in the knowledge that next time the trumps will be 5-0 and all the finesses wrong.

What does this mean? Should we avoid all risk? Should we underbid our way to safe contracts and a warm glow of success? I think by now you know my answer. Look that god firmly in the eye and fight back. You will certainly occasionally court disaster but consider: disaster is always round the corner anyway, whatever you do. You do not make the risk. It already exists, waiting to pounce. You must take your moment of advantage and catch the pesky god when he sleeps.

Finesses
Suppose it’s early in the play of a hand, there was no opposition bidding to guide you and you hold a suit between you and dummy that looks like this:

AQ

xx

You need 2 tricks from this suit. The K will be right or wrong. There is no risk. You finesse the Q. You’ll be right exactly 50% of the time. If you play the Ace you will be wrong 100% of the time.

Raises in Competition
As I’ve said before, once you are in a competitive auction the ground has shifted. Opponents are rascals who will do anything – and I mean anything – to knock you out of your comfort zone, to destroy your peaceful exchange of information and stamp on your delicate system.

By the same token, once they interfere, you don’t want to sit idly by and watch them neatly explain their hands either. You want to cramp their space just as much. Partner opens 1S, opponents overcall 2H and you hold either of these hands:

a) Kxxx ........................ b) Kxxx
... xx ................................ x
... Axxxx .......................... Jxxxx
... Kx ............................... Qxx

With a) and without an overcall you would have made the “limit” raise of 3S (4 card support, 10 - 12 HCP). Similarly with hand b), without the overcall, you would have made the “weak” raise of 2S (4 card support, 6 - 9 HCP). But after the overcall, 2S with hand b) does no damage to them. Into the bargain, if they bid to 3H what does partner risk? PASS? 3S?

In this situation you need to get in THEIR way. So… you bid 3S! and risk you messed them up. Take the risk away from partner and transfer it to the opponents.

OK. So what do you do with hand a) that otherwise was going to bid 3S? Luckily, as a result of the overcall you now have have that extra (risk-free) bid you didn’t have before - 3H! A “cue-bid” of the opponents’ suit. This takes the place of the uncontested limit raise of 3S, allowing 3S now to be a pre-emptive and weak raise.

So:
Good hand + good support = cue-bid.
Weak hand with support = weak jump!

When both sides bid, the value of your fit is as important as your HCP. Here you can distinguish between “weak” raises and “limit” raises. The risk does not vanish You now control it.

Kit

The Myriad Faces of 1NT – 25 March 2010

2010-07-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

Good to see you all again. My sessions are where I try to help you learn in a non-competitive, mutually helpful environment. With jokes. It is where you come to make mistakes, try things out and see what works. You should be pushing the envelope a bit. You should be sticking the stamp on it and seeing where it goes. Mistakes are not “bad”. They are part of learning through experience. Just keep an eye on yourself and make sure you don’t keep making the SAME mistakes…

And so to …

The Myriad Faces of 1NT

Over the many long years gestation of bridge a bid of 1NT has come to be the way to simply express the value of a hand; both its specific shape and narrow limit of high card points (HCP).
It can be used by opener, responder, overcaller, or even as a rebid. But in each case it will carry a different meaning. These different meanings need to be learnt as they are the cornerstone of any bidding structure. Just as when partner opens 1NT you know they have a balanced hand (4443, 4432, 5332) and 12 - 14 HCP, so when partner does NOT open 1NT you know they do not have this combination of shape and point count.

OPENER:
1NT = 12 - 14 HCP, balanced
Do not underestimate the pre-emptive value of this bid. Also be aware that a surprising number of partnerships have never discussed a proper defence to it either. So good is it as a mini pre-empt that some serious players now open 1NT with 10 - 12 HCP. (I do not recommend this at all!!)

OVERCALLER:
1NT = 15 - 17 HCP, balanced
The reason you need more HCP as overcaller is that the opposition have already started their conversation. They have passed information like cold war spies in Berlin. If you’re going to butt in you need to be better armoured. The other reason is that if you hold 15 - 17 HCP and opener has 12+ HCP then that’s at least 12 HCP you know your partner doesn’t have. The two people yet to bid are now scrapping like mangy Delhi dogs over a maximum of 11 - 13 HCP between them. If the player on your left has rather smugly got them all in his hand – you’re in for a tough time.

RESPONDER:
1NT = 6 - 9 HCP, any shape whatsoever
If partner opens 1S and you have 6 - 9 HCP you cannot bid at the 2-level (you would promise 10 HCP) but you MUST bid. All you can do is 1NT even with this nonsense:

x x
Q 10 x
K J x x x x
x x

Tough but true. You’ll pass any 2-level rebid from partner, except 2C when you bid 2D and partner now knows you have a rubbish hand, no fit, but with SIX diamonds.

HOWEVER
As I’ve said before – endlessly – if you can respond with a 4 card major at the one level, then do so. You can bid 1NT later:

1C - 1H
1S - 1NT!

What To Remember
It is your job to tell your partner what you have so partner can make decisions. 1NT in all its guises is a very handy tool. Used properly it will sharpen your sequences and get you to better contracts.

Have fun

Kit

Opening Leads – 17 March 2010

2010-06-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

There’s no question defence is the hardest part of the game to get right. It helps a lot if the lead gets you off on the right foot. Rest assured no-one ever gets it right all the time. The basic idea is that you either: (a) try to establish tricks for your side or (b) try not to give away tricks to declarer.

As in all contracts if your partner has bid a suit it will most often be right to lead that suit. If partner hasn’t bid then you must decide from a combination of your own hand and the opposition bidding which SUIT will either be the best attacking lead OR the safest lead. First you decide which suit to lead. Then you must lead the “right” card from that suit, so that partner has a chance to work out what to do later in the play.

There are many other styles of leading, but below is a quick run down of what are known as Standard Leads. These Standard Leads tell you which card to lead once you have decided which suit.

top of a sequence or a broken sequence – K Q J 10; K Q 10 9; Q J 10 5; etc
top of an internal sequence – A J 10 x x; K J 10 9
fourth highest from a good suit without a 3-card sequence – Q 10 7 6 2. Note though that with some combinations, e.g. K Q 7 6 3, there is variation depending whether the lead is against NTs or a trump contract – see below for more guidance.
lowest from three to an honour – K 8 2
top of a doubleton – 8 5
MUD (middle, up, down) from three small cards – 9 6 3. Then play the top card (9) on the next round.
second highest from four small cards – 10 8 6 3. Then play your original fourth highest card on the next round.

Let’s look at the difference I mentioned when leading against Suit or NT contracts:

K Q 7 6 3

Against a suit contract lead the K but against a NT contract lead the 6. You want fast tricks in a suit contract, but slow tricks when defending NTs. KQ at least guarantees one trick against a suit contract when you have driven out ace but after that declarer will most probably be trumping. Against NT however you are aiming to win the 4th and 5th rounds with your long cards. Note that when you lead top of a sequence against NT contracts you will normally have three cards in the sequence, broken or otherwise – see (a) above. Lacking three, you will need help from partner so lead a small one and on a good day partner will be right there. Even if partner can’t help immediately at least you will have left your teammate with a card in your suit so they can renew the attack if they get the lead.

Sadly none of this Standard Lead wisdom helps you decide which actual suit to lead. All you can do is listen to the bidding and avoid leading their suits. Obviously you can’t do this if they bid everything (!) If declarer on your right has bid a suit and in that suit you hold: K x x x then it’s probably wrong to lead it, even if it’s your only 4 card suit. If there’s no obvious lead, then work backwards by deciding which suits you probably can’t lead and then lead the suit left!

Be warned: nothing works all the time. That is why Bridge is the fascinating game it is. In everything you do there is an element of risk and chance. The idea is simply to do the best you can with cards you have and the information given to you by the bidding.

Have fun!

Kit

Stayman With a Weak Hand – 11 March 2010

2010-06-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

There seems to be an idea floating about that you need a certain number of points to respond with Stayman (or Transfers) to an opening 1NT by partner. I do not wish to denigrate any other
teachers/mentors you may have had but believe me – this is not true.

Let’s say partner opens 1NT (will they never stop bidding?) and you hold this collection:

Kxxx
Qxxxx
x
xxx

There is no game, so you should you pass? No you’ll be much better playing with a trump suit. You could of course bid 2D, transfer to hearts, but why back one horse in a race when you can back two? Weak hands like this with 5-4 in the major suits are fine for Stayman. You bid 2C and if partner has either four hearts or four spades you will reach a playable spot. Partner bids either of these two suits and you just pass. Partner of course may not have read the script and lacking a 4-card major bids a wooden 2D. Don’t they always? Still, no big problem, we just bid 2H anyway. We are no worse off than if we had transferred to hearts in the first place, but along the way we had a look for a spade fit. Partner just passes 2H and that’s where we play.

What about this? This is real garbage:

Jxxx
Jxxx
Jxxx
x

Surely you can’t let partner suffer in 1NT. If you do PASS, about 999 times out of 1,000 Left Hand Opponent (LHO) will bid something. LHO may bid a suit, but much more likely will double. Partner will mostly pass (though they could bid a 5 carder on their own) RHO passes and then what? Which suit do you rescue to? You surely can’t PASS. How much easier it would have been if you'd bid 2C BEFORE LHO had chance to say anything.

Apart from paving the way for a safer contract for yourselves you now seriously muddy the water for LHO. Opponents of course may not know you’re bidding Garbage Stayman; it sounds the same as ordinary Stayman (doh, that’s because it is!). But after 1NT PASS - 2C - PASS 2H PASS PASS what does LHO’s double mean? Have the opponents discussed it? Is it penalty or Take-out? RHO might bid 3D and run into a mis-fit. Seriously good news.

The moral is that even though you may have zero points, it will sometimes be incumbent upon you to bid. Just because you don’t have many HCP doesn’t relieve you of your partnership duties. One of those duties is to think; and keep thinking how you can manoeuvre yourselves into the best, or even more probably, the least worst option for your side.

Using Stayman with weak hands comes with a warning thoough. Be very careful: in reply to Stayman partner will bid one of 3 options : 2D, 2H, 2S, depending on their hand. If any of these responses could cause embarassment then save Stayman for another day.

x
Qxxx
Jxxx
10xxx

Yes, you have a nice 4-card suit but what happens if instead of hearts partner bids 2S? Oops, all you can do is suddenly remember a vital engagement in Rotherham.

Opener Stays Calm!

The corollary of all this bidding Stayman with a weak hand is that the 1NT trump bidder must not get over-excited just because partner bids.

More On Defence – The Count Signal – 3 March 2010

2010-06-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

The defenders, as well as being able to tell partner their attitude to the suit led or which of the other suits they like, can also so tell each other how many cards of a particular suit they hold. When you add that up with the cards in dummy and your own hand you can tell exactly how many cards in a suit declarer has. THIS INFORMATION IS GOLD DUST.

The classic example is:

Dummy holds KQJxx of a suit and you hold Axx of the same suit. There are no other entries to the table for declarer to enjoy and they need four tricks from the suit to make their contract. When do you take the ace?

Obviously that all depends on how many of the suit declarer holds. If they have two, you take the ace on the second round and the suit is isolated for ever. If declarer, however has three of them, you have to wait until the third round of the suit before cracking down the ace. But which is it? Is there a law of guesswork involved. When’s Shrove Tuesday? Have you got enough onions? You could always peer round declarer’s hand and have a look at it but, oddly, this is not encouraged. Or legal.

So let’s see how it’s done without guessing. You can see eight cards of the suit (5+3) so there are five left between partner and declarer (13-8 = 5). These cards will split 5 - 0, 4 - 1 or 3 - 2. If declarer has 4 or 5 of them there is nothing you can do. If declarer has 0 or 1, then again you can’t get it wrong. So the 3 - 2 split is the key one. Does declarer have 3 or 2? You could always ask, but all my years of experience have led me to believe you will NEVER get an answer. Other than a pithy rude one. Luckily, none of this matters as the answer is that you don’t need to ask declarer as your partner will tell you. Your partner – loving, kind, beautiful, considerate partner – will be giving you the count of their suits on every card declarer plays, no matter whether or not they have any idea if this information will be useful to you or not. You will, naturally in response to partner’s beneficence be doing exactly the same thing so that they can work out what to keep, what to chuck, what to duck, what to play. Aha yes. But HOW?

The answer is monumentally simple. If, when declarer plays a suit where partner cannot win the trick, and partner holds an ODD number of cards in that suit they will start with a LOW card and then play a HIGH card. If they have an EVEN number they will play a HIGH card, then a LOW card. SO....

1) Declarer plays a card from his hand to dummy and partner plays the 2. This instantly telles you that partner has one, three or five cards in the suit. Declarer has one so it’s one or three. Declarer returns to hand and plays a second card of the suit on which partner plays the 7. Declarer has now played two cards, partner has played two cards but has indicated three! So now you can take your Ace secure in the knowledge that declarer has no more of the suit as they only had two, and when declarer regains the lead, they will not be able to access the remaining cards in dummy.

2) Declarer plays a card from his hand to dummy and partner plays the 9. They have one, two or four cards in the suit. Declarer returns to hand and plays a second card of the suit on which partner plays the 5. Now you must NOT take your Ace. Partner has an even number of the suit: two or four. It cannot be four as declarer has a second one (i.e. the suit is not 4 - 1). Therefore declarer has 3! If you take your Ace declarer will be able to get to the now unisolated suit and play off all the established winners, making a contract that should have gone down. So you simply wait until declarer plays the third card in the suit and take that. And then on the 3rd round of the suit partner gives you a Suit Preference signal and you know what to lead back!!! (You know you do…)

This is why you should give count signals all the time. You have no idea – initially – what partner has. Nor they what you have. So tell each other. Work together. All the time. Every card. Until it is utterly second nature to count partner’s hand and at the same time declarer’s hand.

This is the key to playing well. Even if you don’t fully count the hands, then try to spot the key suit or suits and just count them.

“Hi - Lo Even Carding, every time you play now baby,
I see your cards are telling everything I need…
…So it’s obvious.”

Sung to the chorus of this ditty…

http://www.last.fm/music/Jeff%20Beck/_/Hi%20Ho%20Silver%20Lining?ac=silver%20lining

Kit

Signals – Co-operating To Thwart Declarer – 24 Feb 2010

2010-06-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

I get asked a lot about defensive leads, signalling and discards. Rather than give you all a list of do’s and don’ts I’m actually going to have a look at what the defence is really trying to do; how they can do it together and try to thwart the dastardly declarer.

Leads

As you all know there are various mantras about leads: 4th best, MUD, top of a sequence etc etc. These are merely guidelines about which card of a suit to play. What they don’t do is tell you which suit to lead. The suit you lead will depend on one or all of at least four parameters.

The hand you have.
Whether you defend a Suit or a NT contract.
The opposition bidding.
Your side’s bidding.

Let’s take an example:

KJxxx
x
QJxx
KQx

Against a NT contract you might lead the 4th best Spade, trying to establish the suit. Against a suit contract you might lead the singleton Heart, looking to get a ruff from partner. If partner has bid Diamonds you might lead the QD. If opponents bid S,H,& D then settle sheepishly in 3NT you might decide partner has the C’s and lead the CK. Then again, if the contract is 1NT - as opposed to 3NT - you might think that a spade lead could give away the 7th trick and
therefore lead a low D.

Any of these might be right on any given deal but the important thing is to be clear about what your thinking is; what your aim is.

Sometimes you will want to make an attacking lead – you can see how the contract might go down. Other times you’ve no idea if the contract can go off or not, so now your aim is not to give declarer cheap tricks that are not deserved, so you want a passive lead.

What all this really means is that the card you lead will depend on the suit you lead which will depend on your CAREFUL attention to the bidding. A classic example is this kind of hand:

Kx
xxx
Axxx
Axxx

You and your partner pass throughout while the opponents have this auction:

1S - 2D - 3D - 4S.

Superficially it looks as if the contract might make, losing only the two aces and the king of trumps. What do you lead? On the basis that against a suit contract you must never, ever, nevernevernever lead away from an unsupported ace (OR KING!) you might lead a heart (the middle one - MUD). In this case you’d be wrong because you didn’t pay close enough attention to the bidding.

Let’s take a step back. What do you know about the opponents hands? What therefore do you categorically know about your partner’s hand? Opponents have bid and supported diamonds. They therefore – most probably – have an 8-card diamond fit as well as the spade fit. Do you see? If they have an 8-card fit in diamonds and you have four of them as well, (making 12) then your partner can only have at most one diamond.

So, lead the ace of diamonds, give your partner a ruff, partner leads back a club to you, and you give partner another diamond ruff, sit back and wait for the king of spades to make and the contract is 2 off!!

Signals

Well defended. BUT ..... how did partner know to lead back a club and not a heart? Let’s say you had this diamond suit: A952. You play the Ace, Then you play the 2. Why? When partner takes the first ruff the only thing they need to know is how to get back to your hand so you can give them another ruff. Work together. So your lead at Trick 2 must be a Suit Preference signal, helping partner work out what to lead back to you. The 2 is the LOWEST card you have, so you are asking for the LOWER suit back (ex cluding the suit you are leading and the trump suit. In this case the lower suit you are asking for is CLUBS.

If your other ace had not been the ace of clubs but instead the ace of hearts (the higher of the two possible suits) then you would have led the C9 – the higher card asking for the higher suit.

The point is that it doesn’t matter what the correct card to lead is if you haven’t listened carefully to the bidding and worked out what the right suit is in the first place. It won’t always be as simple as this, but the principles remain the same. It is your job to help partner build a mental picture of declarer’s hand so partner can have an idea of which is the right card/suit to play.

Next week it’s my old favourite the COUNT signal.

Kit

Photo Interlude – ‘Banksy’ at the Princess of Wales

2010-06-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

This week at the Princess of Wales, a new mural, allegedly by Banksy, appeared in the garden at the Princess of Wales [street address 22 Chalcot Road, Camden, NW1 8LL]. The pub was broken into Tuesday and the mural appeared overnight. Bridge players in the weekly bridge game held at the pub on Wednesdays were among the first to see the new artwork.

Click picture for full image. Photo by Chris Bates.

Two-Suited Overcalls Part 2: The Michaels Cue Bid – 18 Feb 2010

2010-05-30T04:18:00.000-07:00

The use of 2NT as an overcall saying that you have the 2 lowest unbid suits (cf last week) is fine if that is what you have, but if you don’t you're going to need another very popular convention –the MICHAELS CUE-BID.

Axxxx
x
Kxxxx
xx

After an opening bid of 1H on your right, 2NT would say you had both minors. With this hand you have the other major (Spades) and a minor. To tell partner this divine, glorious, helpful news you simply bid 2H! In this situation a direct cue-bid of the opponent’s suit says “I’ve 5 of the other major, and a 5 card minor as well. Any ideas?”

The point count will be in the 5-10 range, depending on things like suit quality, vulnerability, whether partner’s passed already and how much you’ve had to drink. Apart from telling partner useful stuff, the bid also attacks the opponent’s space and crucially makes it absolutely impossible for your left hand opponent to bid 2H! Great. You tell partner about two suits AND you get in their way as well.

Michaels works just as well over a minor suit opening. If opponents open 1C then Michaels (1C - 2C!) says you hold both majors. How useful is that!

The basic hand shape for these bids is two suits each at least 5-cards long. They can be longer (6 - 5, 6 - 6) but never shorter.

Both the Unusual 2NT and Michaels are pre-emptive weakness bids, so if you have a genuine opening hand you must bids your suits naturally. The point is you don't want to eat up your own space when you need a dialogue.

Responding To Michaels

What about responses? Let’s assume partner has gone 2H over the opponent’s 1H. This was the hand remember:

Axxxx
x
Kxxxx
xx

With 3 card support or better for spades, partner of the Michaels bidder can bid 2, 3 or even 4S before it gets back to the opener’s turn. By which time it's all got too high for them to do anything safely.

Without 3 card support for Spades, but a tolerance for either minor, partner bids 2NT. This says “Tell me your minor.”

1H - 2H! - P - 2NT
P - 3D

Sometimes the inevitable happens and it is partner, not the opponents who has the big hand. No problem, partner can force by cue-bidding again!

1H - 2H! - P - 3H!

Now with a heart stop (A, or Kx) you could bid 3NT and see what partner does next. If not, just bid your minor.

Both the Unusual No Trump and The Michaels Cue Bid conventions are so popular and widespread that they are almost assumed to be “standard”, so you’ll come across them again and again.

Have a jolly time!
Kit

Two-Suited Overcalls Part 1: The Unusual No Trump – 10 Feb 2010

2010-05-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

Two suited hands are stronger than their point count initially indicates. The result of this is a whole family of bids, both opening bids and overcalls, that specifically tell partner about two suits in your hand. Normally, most of these concern weakish hands with 2 places to play. A hand like

x
xx
KQxxx
QJ10xx

is short on points but a bit handy in playing strength. Luckily, common conventions exist to deal with these fairly frequent hands.

The first one to learn is the UNUSUAL NO TRUMP. This is an overcall of 2NT that you make when you have a weakish hand and the two lowest ranking unbid suits and they are 5 - 5.

The player on your right deals and opens 1S. What do you do with the above hand.

2D? 2C? PASS?

Oh no very much no no no. What you do bid is : - 2NT!!

Fabulous. You just ripped the heart out of their bidding sequence. The whole 2-level just went flashing by. Plus you gave partner an option of two suits in which to play.

2NT as a direct overcall says : “I have about 6 - 9 points and am 5-5 in the two lowest unbid suits – in this case the minors. Choose your favourite.”

Even better is the sequence: 1C - 2NT!!! Now you just wiped out the whole of the 1 AND the 2 level and showed H’s & D’s into the bargain because the UNUSUAL 2NT BID says you hold the 2 lowest unbid suits 5-5.

So after 1C you show H’s and D’s. After 1D you show H’s & C’s. After either major you show both minors.

Some of you will have spotted that, good as it is, it doesn’t quite cover all the possibilities which is why … NEXT WEEK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN — THE MICHAELS CUE BID!!!!

Have fun now, y'hear?

Kit

A Digression on Transfers – Weakness Take-Outs With A 6-Card Minor – 10 Feb 2010

2010-05-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

The Red Suit Transfers we know all about. 2D & 2H are transfers to the suit above after a 1NT opening. So what does 2S mean?

QJx
x
KJxxxx
xxx

Partner opens 1NT and it’s passed to you. 1NT doesn’t look like a good contract, does it. Big hole in hearts, which, if you pass, may well be filled by your left hand opponent bidding the suit. So you need to do something. But what? You can’t bid 2D as that’s a transfer to hearts. 3D is a mild slam invitation in that suit, which you certainly don’t have, so you’re a bit stuck … unless we can use 2S as a “minor suit transfer.”

The bidding goes:
1NT - PASS - 2S - PASS

Now partner must “complete” the transfer and bid 3C. With the given hand you have other plans, so it continues:

3C - PASS - 3D.

Obviously, had your suit been clubs you would have passed. This a weak manoeuvre, designed to be obstructive and/or guide partner to the best place to play the part-score.

Let’s just summarise that:

A 2S repsonse to a 1NT opening bid forces opener to bid 3C. The 2S bidder passes with a 6-card club suit, or “corrects” with a 6-card diamond suit.

Don’t use this manoeuvre with a 5-card only minor suit, just pass 1NT.

Responses in Competition – The Opponents Attack – 4 Feb 2010

2010-05-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we looked at limit bids and how useful they are at quickly letting partner know the safety of the path towards Eternal Bridge Happiness. This week we’ll look at what happens when the opponents attack our leisurely stroll through the bidding box towards our ultimate goal.

Once the opponents overcall our opening bid – do not despair. While it is true that they will try to deprive you of space, disrupt your communications and generally be unpleasant, it’s crucial to
understand that they also, as a result of the overcall, gift you a whole TWO extra bids you wouldn’t otherwise have at your command. These wonderful explanatory bids they dump
freely in your lap are:

1) Double
2) Cue-Bid

Let’s take an example:

xx
KQxx
xx
Kxxx

Partner opens 1D and your hand hovers over 1H, but out of the corner of your eye you notice the opponent on your right putting down 1S! This is annoying, but at least not as annoying as if they’d put down 2S! (Weak Jump Overcall) But all the same, your intended bid – 1H – is now unbiddable. You have a reasonable responding hand, 8HCP, no immediate fit for partner’s suit but you want to bid with any hand worth more than 6HCP. What are your options?

With 6 - 9 HCP you might think: that’s what I’ll tell partner, so - 1NT. Yes but, no but but but but … 1NT in this sequence, where opponents bid, should promise a stop in their suit. I’m not saying you should always have AK in their suit, but four to the J at the very least. Here you have nothing like that at all. So 1NT is OUT. Have another think.

What about 2C? It's true you have 4 clubs and the bid of 2C doesn’t promise any more than that, but what it would promise is 10 HCP (Possibly 9 with a decent 5 card suit.) You have 8HCP. So both 1NT & 2C would be lies, would set partner off on the wrong track and might get you into the proverbial mire, ending up 3 down doubled and partner getting all tight-lipped. So should you just quietly PASS?

Nooooooo!!! The answer is clear-cut. Instead of casting about for a bid you don’t have – DOUBLE!

In these low-level auctions Double is for “take-out”, i.e. it asks partner pretty please to bid. It doesn’t promise masses of HCP or anything, nor any great holding in the opponents’ suit but what it does promise is : interest in the two so far unbid suits – hearts and clubs in our example and about 7+ HCP. So, far from being a nuisance, the opponents bid has given you a chance to tell partner much much more than without the overcall. Before, you were going to bid 1H. Now, you have, effectively, bid 1H & 2C all at the same time. That’ll teach ’em to interfere!

Cue-Bid To Show A Fit!

As the piece last week tried to point out, if you have a fit for partner you must convey the news as soon as possible about it and at the right level so partner may judge any further course of action.

This is fine in unopposed auctions, but in real life you bid, they overcall. They want to make life difficult, steal the auction, disrupt your partnership harmony and watch you fret. Well, frankly m’ dear, two can play at that game.

You have:

x
Kxxx
xxx
Kxxxx

The bidding goes: 1H(partner) - 1S(Overcall) - ???? Now what do you do?

2H is the “correct”, by the book bid. 6HCP plus some shortage extras make the hand worth about 9. If there were only 3 hearts in the hand then 2H would (probably) be right. But 2H does absolutely no damage to THEM. Overcaller’s partner can now freely bid 2S and your partner is now deep in the land of GUESSWORK.

Almost anything poor partner does now could be wrong. PASS, 2NT, 3H all fraught with danger. And it’s no good watching partner squirm and feeling smug – you sink or swim together. So take that guess away from partner and do it yourself. Bid 3H!

This says: “I have a 4-card fit, a few points and not much else, so I’m getting in their faces before they have a chance to take over.”

This bid, variously known as a “stretch raise” or “bidding to the level of the fit”, applies only when they overcall. Otherwise stick with what we did last week.

But then what happens when you have this sort of hand?

xx
KQxx
Axx
Qxxx

On the evidence of last week, after 1H from partner and NO overcall, you should bid 3H – limit bid: 10 -12 HCP. But, after the overcall situation above, we just used 3H to be a bit of a difficult, lousy, obstructive, petulant obfuscator. So now, when they have overcalled, we can’t use 3H. That bid would tell partner we are bidding defensively, while what we actually want to do is tell partner we are attacking with the goal of bidding game still very much in view. Damn. Damn. Damn.

Luckily, all is not lost, and a torch is lit in the gathering gloom. The auction has gone 1H - (1S) - ??? You now, as I said earlier, have 2 extra bids. Well we used one of them already – the double, so now it’s time for the other – the CUE BID.

In a “competitive” auction – after they bid – a cue bid is a bid of THEIR suit and says “I like your bid partner. Ignore these upstarts. I have good support and good points – anything from 10 +HCP upwards.”

So the bidding goes: 1H - (1S) - 2S!

In this case the cue bid says nothing about the spade suit but is used as a stepping stone to help partner cross the lake to the next level knowing they won’t sink. The overcall HASN’T made life difficult at all. It meant you were able to distinguish between a hand with “real” support for partner (cue bid) and a hand with nuisance value (jump raise).

Don’t be put off by overcalls. They are designed to shove you off the path. Shove back. Help your partner. Partner needs you. Above all, if you do PASS partner will know you don’t have a fit or any points or the other suits. This is incredibly valuable information. What responder DOESN'T do is just as important as what he does do.

A Digression on Points – Adding Points for Length and Shortage – 4 Feb 2010

2010-05-14T00:03:00.000-07:00

The basic system is The Milton Work Count taught to all beginners. As we all know it’s A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1. These are High Card Points (HCP). But this does not take account of distribution or ‘shape’ which might turn a dull, flat 10 hcp hand into an alluring one with a great deal of playing strength. So we can also add points for length and for shortage.

You should know that there are other systems of hand evaluation that take more account of distribution or side-suit high cards, or “losers” but for now we’ll stick with good old fashioned points.

A suit such as AKxxxx is worth 7HCP. But to this we can add + 2 LP (Length Points) , 1 LP per card above 4 in a suit. This is how you evaluate the hand before you first bid.

During the course of the bidding your hand can either increase or decrease in value as the auction progresses, mainly as a result of you and your partner discovering a fit or not. When you have discovered a fit you forget the LP you had initially and now instead add in your Shortage Points (SP) . With you and partner enjoying an 8-card or longer fit that will give a good trump suit, a void in a side suit is worth 5SP, a singleton = 3SP, and even a doubleton is worth a humble 1SP. So …

AKxxxx
x
KQxx
xx

12 HCP's + 2 LP's = 14 — a reasonable opening hand.

A couple of rounds of bidding later, however, you find that you have a spade fit opposite and that partner has about 8 - 9 HCP. So now you re-evaluate your own hand in light of this information. The original 14+9 opposite is not quite enough for game, but let’s see what happens when we can add in the SP in place of the LP.

12 HCP + 4 SP = 16! Now 16 + 9 = 25 — enough to bid game easily.

The SP for the singleton heart and the doubleton club have increased the HCP of the hand by 33%.

There are other features of a hand that can make it worth more or less, but hopefully you will learn to trust your instinct on this, rather than hard math, as you play more.

Back to Basics – The Legend of The Fit – 27 Jan 2010

2010-05-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

’ello ’ello. It’s good to see you all getting so confident. Well done.

Game (3NT, 4H,4S,5C,5D) will normally be made on a combined 25 count between the two hands. When partner opens the bidding they start a Quest and you become their helper. Your job is now to help partner in the never-ending quest for the right contract. Accordingly, there are all sorts of bidding gadgets, understandings and conventions to light your path to the mythical mount of Everlasting Bridge Happiness.

On a simpler level though it is important to start on the right path and make sure your first bid is accurate as can be. There’s no point in plucking a bid from thin air and then er, wondering what er, to do next. So …

Responses to 1 of a Suit: The Limit Bids

Assuming no opposition bidding, Limit Bids tell your partner your support - or lack - and your point count in accurate well defined limits. Opener’s bid has promised at least 4 cards in the suit bid: so support from you normally means another 4 cards. If you make a support bid, do it at the right level and hopefully this quickly gives all the ammunition partner needs to make further decisions.

MAJORS: (Hearts & Spades):

1H - 1NT .... = .... 6 - 9 hcp, any shape, no immediate support (less than 4).
1H - 2H ..... = .... 6 - 9 hcp, 4 card support.*
1H - 3H ..... = .... 10 - 12 hcp, 4 card support.
1H - 4H ..... = .... weak at least 5 card support. (This is a pre-empt.)

*1H - 2H can be made on only 3 card support if 1NT looks silly because you have a short suit somewhere else.

These limit bids are pretty absolute. If your hand doesn’t fit these parameters you just have to do something else (more anon). These bids allow you to express support and values simply, quickly and accurately in one bid. As a general rule if one bid says it all – make it.

MINORS: (Clubs & Diamonds)

1C - 1NT .... = .... not a possible bid. You either have 4-card support or a 4-card suit of your own.
1D - 1NT .... = .... 6 - 9 hcp, no 4-card major, no immediate support (less than 4).
1C - 3C ..... = .... 10 - 12 hcp, no 4-card major, 4 card support.
1C - 5C ..... = .... weak pre-empt.

This looks the same as for majors BUT BUT BUT BUT … even if you have 4-card support for partner’s minor if you also have a 4 card major BID IT! All the above minor suit limit bids expressly deny a 4 card – or better – major. Never ever bypass a 4 card major – even if it’s 2345. I don’t care. Bid it.

Keeper of the runes he say:
Ne’er wilt nor waver,
Always bid your 4 card major.

Poetry pedant he say:
Never gamble, never wager,
Always bid the 4 card major

Take your pick …

New Suit Responses

All 1 level responses in a new suit can be made on 6+ hcp. But if the order of the suits obliges you to bid your suit at the 2-level you are pushing the boat out a bit and need 10+ hcp
If you have between 6 and 9 hcp and can’t bid your long suit at the 1-level then bid 1NT as above.

Now together you have set off on your Quest, along the path of Righteous Bidding. But like all Great Quests, lo! there comes an adversary. With crooked beaks and bloodshot eyes they tear their talons into your delicate constructive conversation – they OVERCALL!! Now what? O wise wizard of whist, now what? Are we … doomed?

Aha.
More next week folks…

Kit

Get Yer Retaliation in First – The Case For Playing Weak Twos – 21 Jan 2010

2010-05-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hi All
Great to see you all back in the swing of things. And welcome to the new faces – hope you enjoyed yourselves.

As you know last week the POW’s played their first ever teams match in the Newcomers Division of the London Metrpolitan Bridge Association’s London League. The opposition were the Slammers from the Robson club, who sadly won, but everyone enjoyed themselves, which is the main aim. Next match in two weeks, so watch this space …

A basic tenet of what I teach is that it - usually - pays to be aggressive. Get yer retaliation in first. This is the reason I like Weak Two’s as an opening bid.

Weak Two’s

In the far far distant past, many many aeons ago, in a stone age of bridge, a bid oozed from the mire and was sledgehammer to smash a raspberry - ACOL (or STRONG) TWOS. This forcing bid was defined as a hand worth around eight or more tricks by itself. Typically this would be around 16-22 HCP with a 6-card+ suit or two strong suits of 5+. The reason for opening with a strong and forcing Two Bid is that you didn’t quite have a game by yourself – you’d open 2C if you did – but you were worried that if partner passed with less than 6 points, you’d miss a game together. So you forced partner to make at least one response, and then next time round partner could pass if they had to with a really bad hand – I mean really bad.

Using Acol Twos, 2 Spades could be something like:

AKQxxx
AQ
KQxx
x

Apart from the fact that such a hand might reasonably be opened 2C anyway, and that without the Queen of hearts (18HCP) you could show that hand by opening 1S and rebidding 3S there is also the matter of frequency to consider. How often do these Acol Two hands occur? And can’t be handled by opening 1, or upgrading to 2C? The answer is: not much, old bean.

Accordingly, about 60 years ago, someone had the bright idea of extending the nuisance value of the weak 3 pre-empt (7 card suits 6-9 HCP) to weak 2 pre-empts with 6-card suits and 6 - 9 HCP. Now 2 Spades looks something like:

KQxxxx
x
Kxx
xxx

It rapidly became apparent these hands occur hugely more often than strong 2 hands. This is, therefore, a much better use of 2 level opening bids. You get in the auction more often and you create much more nuisance value to the opponents who are going to be squeezed out of more auctions than before. All this is a GOOD THING. (These are also the hands that make weak jump overcalls)

3 x WEAK 2’s

In the system we teach 2D, 2H & 2S are all weak openings: 6 card suits with about 6 - 9 points. They happen often. Use them freely and without fear. “Aha,” you mutter conspiratorially, “but what about partner? What does partner do with a good hand? It’s all very well mucking up the opponents, but it’s no good mucking up us as well, is it?” But the funny thing is, that it doesn’t. You have given partner so much information about your hand and such accurate information, that partner can decide where the combined hands belong. So:

Responses to Weak Two’s

All raises are designed to continue being obstructive and difficult. 2S - 3S is just getting in the way promising nothing. OTOH 2S - 4S is a two way bid. It could be either more of the same with 4 card support OR it can say: “I am bidding this to make, but if we don’t we may have talked them out of a making contract into the bargain.”

A problem only really arises with responding hands - with a fit - where game MIGHT make if opener is maximum, but not otherwise. With a fit and say 14 -17 HCP responder asks opener to say if they’re minimum or maximum with : 2NT!

Opener now bids a feature in a side suit if maximum (8 or 9 HCP) OR signs off in 3 of their suit if not. So …

2H - 2NT
3H

= Sorry, not much here.

While
2H - 2NT
3C

= Yes, I’m maximum AND I have either the A or K of Clubs if that helps you decide what to do.

There are other more complicated systems of responses to 2NT you’ll find in books but this is the simplest and the least likely to get you into trouble. A key point to realise is that any change of suit response (2H - 3C, say) is unconditionally forcing for one round. You cannot rescue a partner who may have plumped for a suit you do not hold. The only weakness bid is PASS; only raises are not forcing.

Here now we stand on the precipice of the modern era: stone age bids banished to history. The system is: ACOL, WEAK NT, 3 WEAK 2'S, STAYMAN, TRANSFERS & BLACKWOOD. This is the basis of modern Bridge – no more grunting in muddy caves but “Silent, upon a peak in Darien.” (Keats)

All the best
Kit

PS: “Announcing”: When you use bids about which you have made an advance agreement with partner, the opponents are entitled to know what is going on. The idea is that they should have available the same inferences as your partner. It’s not poker: bridge is intellectual, don’t you know! So when partner opens with a Two Bid you are nowadays required by the rules of tournament bridge to “announce” the strength of the bid, so the undeserving opponents are fully in the picture. You just say “weak” when partner bids a Weak Two, just as when partner opens 1NT you say “12 to 14”.

To be even pickier you should also announce Stayman and transfers too!

Part Scores At Rubber Bridge – A Few Words on Tactics - 14 Jan 2010

2010-05-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

The basement was snug and warm after the Christmas break – as was the bridge. Lovely to see so many of you all again and look forward to seeing the rest of you over the coming weeks.

Tomorrow night sees the start of the Pow’s campaign in the Newcomers Division of the London League. They play the Slammers at the Young Chelsea. This is a bit of a step up but a really good way to get the hang of competitive bridge in a friendly environment so we wish them all the very best of luck - and good cards.

Tonight we played rubber bridge – as I didn’t have the Chicago scorecards – and an interesting point about rubber tactics came up. Rubber is unlike either Teams or Duplicate. In competition bridge each single hand stands alone as a separate entity. How well you do on a particular hand makes no difference to any other hand you play that night. But in rubber there is the added extra of the part score. This can radically alter your approach to bidding and it’s best to be aware of this.

At love all, no part scores, a sequence like this has its classic meaning:

1D - 1S
3S

i.e. opener has 16 - 18 high card points (hcp) and 4-card support for partner. Responder will bid 4S with maybe only 8 points and some shape.

But … if the opening side has a part score of 60 then this same sequence can have a very different meaning. Obviously, now you only need a score of 40 or more to make the 100 you require for game. so this is enough:

1D - 1S
2S

This will give you your game. Therefore the original sequence – at this score – must have a different meaning as it goes past what you need for game. Now

1D - 1S
3S

is a mild slam try. Partner can freely pass with anything up to about 12 points.

Similarly, when you're 60 on and 3rd in hand playing a weak NT (12-14) you can bid 1NT with anything from about 10 - 20 points. You won’t have missed slam, you’ve deluded the opposition, and anyway it might make!

Cue Bids – A Touch of Savile Row – 10 Dec 2009

2010-05-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

A cue-bid is a definition of when you make a bid in suit that you do not necessarily hold. Obviously, most of the time (95%) you’ll be bidding merrily away in suits you do hold, happily telling partner how many points you’ve got, how long the suit is, how suitable your hand is for a No Trump contract - ie all the usual good stuff we’ve been working on.

But…

Sometimes there just aren’t enough suits. Quick, I say! Send out the Butler for more suits! Down to Saville Row with the chap immediately!

Partner opens One Heart and the devilish fiend on your right overcalls One Spade. In a sense, the problem now is not when you don’t have a fit, but when you DO. If you don’t have a fit the options are usually, PASS, 1NT or 2C or 2D. But what if you’ve got a fit and one of these hands?

xxx ............. xx ............... x
QJxx .......... QJxx ........... KQxx
xx ............... Kx .............. Axx
Qxxx .......... Jxxxx .......... xxxxx

With the first hand there’d be nothing wrong with dredging up a bid of 2H. Because of the 1S overcall we’re now in a competitive situation. The polite niceties of what we might/should do in an uncontested auction kind of no longer apply in quite the same rigid way. We have to be more flexible. Our job is now to assist partner in every way we can to find the right level for the contract. At the same time we also have to get in the opponent's way all we can. We might even – occasionally – tell little white lies.

The second hand has better shape and better points. 2H – probably right without the overcall – would now be an underbid in a contested auction, so we have to find another bid and just about all that is left is 3H!

So what about the third hand? 4H might be sound, but you’re relying on partner always having a good opening bid instead of the ghastly mess they usually open with, so what can we do? Bids in Clubs and Diamonds don’t look right and, importantly, would kind of deny the great Heart fit - which is the number one most crucial bit of information you want to get over. Aaagh. We’ve run out of suits! It’s time for that Saville Row moment - the cue-bid!

When the bidding goes 1H - 1S - 2S! the message is this: “I have good support in your suit AND points partner so if you’re rubbish, bid 3H, otherwise bid game.”

The cue bid is the Saville Row bid; it's the posh bid; it’s the extra suit in the wardrobe; it’s tailored; as the Butler says: “It’s all about the fit, sir!”

The Dark Art of Defending 1NT - Introduction to the Landy Convention - 3 Dec. 2009

2010-04-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

After a couple of weeks of basic bidding, here are some new ideas to sharpen your wits on over Christmas!

Defence to 1NT

When the opponent on your right opens 1NT it can be fairly annoying. Especially if you have a hand that, while not containing masses of points, nevertheless still has a demure yet shapely attractiveness.

Of course, if you do have 15 or more points, 95% of the time you’ll just Double to alert partner to the fact you’ve got a decent point count. It’s right to try to attack the 1NT opening, especially if you’re not Vulnerable. If you’ve got a decentish suit and about 8 - 14 HCP you’ll just bid the suit and hope to steal the auction or at the very least disrupt opponents’ communications. But what if you have a shapely 2 suiter? Something like:

Kxxxx
KQxx
x
AJx

Either of the two major suits might present a place to play, depending on partner’s holding. But you don’t want to dive in with the spade suit only to discover when dummy goes down that partner has a singleton spade but four hearts, do you?

So what can be done? Luckily there are a host of different conventions to deal with exactly this situation. They centre round the useful concept of using one bid to show two suits at the same time. Probably the simplest of these conventions is called LANDY. (You must agree with your partner before the game starts that you are playing this convention!) It goes like this in simple form:

With at least 5/4 in the majors and enough to overcall, bid 2C! The better the shape the fewer the points needed, say 8 - 15 HCP. 2C is forcing so with a limited hand responder shows his better major or, with equal length, bids 2D, inviting the overcaller to choose between the majors. With a good fit - 4 card support and 11+ points responder can start jumping around to 3H, 3S, or even 4H or 4S with a bit more and some extra shape.

Using Landy like this does mean you can no longer bid 2C naturally but hey! you win some you lose some. It’s always better to get major suits into the auction whenever you can.

Now for a bonus tip on …

Defensive Carding

When you have a sequence (KQJ etc) and you are on lead, you play the TOP card (K) This promises the card(s) below.

BUT …

When you are following suit to either your partner or declarer and you are going to play a c ard from the same sequence you play the LOWEST card in the sequence. This denies the card below, and partner should be able to work out by noticing what declarer plays whether you have the card(s) above.

Simply put: Lead top, follow bottom …

(This is not how to behave at parties …)

Back to Basics - Again! - 26 Nov 2009

2010-04-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here’s something a bit more basic than normal for all you beginners out there who need a reminder or two!

Safe in the vaults of the British Museum lies an ancient runic inscription, scratched in granite, which in translation reads:

12 must open
6 must respond
25 must rule them all …

At first this seemed to scholars completely cryptic, and headscratchingly obtuse, but research established it could only be ancient rules for what we know today as the game of Bridge. The first line is self-explanatory: when a bidder comes to their turn and no-one has bid before them, they may “open” the bidding. In the rune, if they have 12 or more points they MUST open. We’ll just imagine the antique penalty for not doing so, but loss of livestock cannot be excluded.

In the second line, the rune instructs opener’s partner what to do when they have 6 or more points - they MUST respond. The penalty for not doing so is lost in the mists of time, but loss of limb could well have been included.

The third line reminds us that the “holy grail”, is the magical combined point count of 25 between the two hands that will, most of the time, give us a game score of either 3NT, 4H, 4S, 5C or 5D.

It follows from this runic wisdom that all bidding makes this unceasing quest - to discover whether or not the partnership between them has 25 points or not. When the magic figure is discovered then game MUST be bid, must rule them all …

When we open the bidding we do so in the hope that we can find game with partner’s help. The game on our quest is the major suit game (4H or 4S), based on an 8 card fit between you both. If an 8 card fit doesn’t exist then we can settle on the lesser game in NT. If there are problems with NT then we can finally, reluctantly, tired but happy, fall back on the dangerous minor suit game (5C or 5D.) And if we find no grail exists - that we have less than 25 points between us - then we STOP! As soon as we can, in the safest part-score we can find. So always tell your partner how many points you have and ALWAYS bid game if you can!

You know it makes sense...

“It’s a Thinking Game”: Good Defence Starts Before Trick 1 - 13 Nov 2009

2010-04-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Defence is the hardest part of the game. You sit silently through the opponent’s auction, pausing only occasionally to drop a green PASS card on the table. Your mind wanders, you start thinking about whether Toilet Duck is harmful to the environment and then proceed to put cards down on the table, following suit when you remember, as declarer racks up 11 tricks in 3NT. Then, partner has to go and spoil it all by asking you why you didn’t return a heart at trick 5? Flummoxed, you shrug and deal the next hand quickly.

This is a problem. What can you do about it?

1) Listen to the bidding carefully. If the person on your right bids two suits - say hearts and clubs - this probably shows at least 5-4 in those two suits. That means this player has another four cards in the other two suits, distributed 2-2, 3-1 or 4-0. Your job is to watch partner’s discards so you get some idea of how those cards lie, and ALSO to tell your partner your distribution so partner can also work out what’s happening.

2) Listen to the bidding carefully. If the person on your right rebids a 1NT at any stage (or 2NT or 3NT) then you and your partner know pretty exactly how many points that person has. As declarer plays high cards, mentally add up how many of these points have been shown or implied.

3) When dummy goes down - stop. Think. Plan. Count dummy’s points. Does the hand match the bidding? Does declarer look smug or scared? Add dummy’s points to your points, add in declarer’s “probable” points, subtract from 40 and the answer is how many points your partner has.

4) When dummy goes down - stop. Think. Plan. What is partner’s lead? Singleton? Doubleton? Top of a sequence? 4th best from an honour? Middle of 3 small? What is partner trying to do? How can you help? Do you need to find a new partner rapidly?

OK, so that’s trick 1. Next week all the other 12 tricks! Then we can start to look at Count, Attitude, Discards and Suit Preference Signals. I promise you, youll never have time to think about Toilet Duck again …

Negative Doubles Pt 2 - Working with Partner To Penalise Opponents - 13 Nov 2009

2010-04-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

Having given you Pt 1. of Negative Doubles last week - here’s part 2! What do you do on the rare occasion when you DO have their suit? And you want to punish them for being over-aggressive? Say, you have this hand and hear the following auction:

xx
QJx
AJxxx
Kxx

1S - (2D) - ?

Now, because of negative doubles, if you try and double 2D, partner will assume - rightly - that you’ve got hearts and clubs. Now the auction is beginning to sound doomed to massive terminal mis-understandings. You'll keep trying to sign off in NT and before you know where you are you’ll be in 6NT missing the AK of hearts, partner starts blinking with rage and looks up “assassination” on the iPhone.

I expect a lot of you will think the only bid you have is 2NT, showing 11 - 12 HCP and a diamond stop or two. It’s true it would express the hand and partner can’t really complain about that can they? Can they? Hmmm. Let's say partner passes 2NT and it makes: you score 120. (70 + 50) How’s about, guys and gals, if I told you you could get a possible 500 out of this hand? Stop muttering “man’s mad ...” and have a look at this auction:

1S - (2D) - PASS! - (pass)
X! - (pass) - PASS! - (pass)

Yes, you PASS! their 2D bid. Then, assuming partner co-operates by making a re-opening Double, you simply PASS! again. Now you’ve converted the re-opening double into a penalty double. Three down, doubled not vulnerable is 500. Even two down vulnerable is 500 as well. (Three down is 800, but let’s not get over-excited here.)

The point to remember is to work together with partner to get the best result. Don’t try and do it all on your own. It’s a partnership game.

No Trumps & Negative Doubles - 5 Nov. 2009

2010-04-11T00:43:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the upcoming series of teams matches the new Princess of Wales league team faces we played a series of 4 board matches last night just to get used to the scoring and the way a match works. There then followed some of the dullest hands I have ever seen in my life so I shall not be discussing any of them. Naturally, we still had LOTS of fun …

One of the key aspects of the Acol system I teach is the range for NT openings and rebids. These are well worth memorising while decorating the loo or washing the car. (“Make those dull jobs sparkle with shiny new, improved bridge lessons …”) SO …

When you have a Balanced hand your shape will be 4333, 4432 or 5332. You will most probably at some time in the auction want to bid NT, unless a 4-4 or 5-3 major suit fit appears before then. The way to deal with these hands depends on your point count. Remember – game is on when the partnership has about 25 hcp.

12 - 14 = open 1NT
15 - 16 = open 1 of a suit and ReBid 1NT
17 - 18 = open 1 of a suit and ReBid 2NT
19 - 20 = open 1 of a suit and ReBid 3NT
21 - 22 = open 2NT
23 - 24 = open 2C and ReBid 2NT
25 + = open 2C and ReBid 3NT

With this system you can tell partner about a whole variety of differing point counts in just two bids. When you limit your hand in this way partner has a much better idea of whether game is on or not.

Kxxx
Qxx
Kxxx
xx

This hand has no intention of being in game after the sequences:

1) ... 1NT - ? ............................ (14 + 8 = 22) No game - you pass.

2) ... 1H - 1S
...... 1NT - ? ............................ (16 + 8 = 24) No game - you pass.

But after

3) ... 1H - 1S
...... 2NT - 3NT! . you are happy to give partner the raise to game. (17 + 8 = 25!)

4) ... Just remember to close the windows before you hose down the car...

Negative Doubles (pt 1)

It’s extremely unlikely you’ll want to make a penalty double of an opposition contract in the early rounds of bidding. But Double is a legitimate bid you can make at any time in a competitive auction.

Fair enough. But ... if it’s not a PENALTY double – what does it mean and when can I use it? If you have a hand like this and you get the auction below:

xx
KQxx
QJxx
xxx

1C - 1S - ?

you’re a bit stuffed for a natural bid, aren’t you? 1NT is possible but you don’t actually have the spade stop it would promise your beloved partner. Nor, as you don't have 10HCP, can you bid at the 2 level with 2D. Nor even can you bid 2H, as not only do you not have 10HCP, you also don’t have the 5 card heart suit you’d be promising. But you want to bid, don’t you? The 1S overcall has annoyingly done just what it set out to do – destroy your peaceful constructive conversation.

This is where the red Double card comes into its own. When you plonk it on the baize it says: “Thanks for opening, partner and I would like to assist you in your search for a suitable contract, but as you can see the opponents have stuck a wrench in the mangle and I can’t now make a natural bid. HOWEVER – I do have some points and what is more I have the two so far unbid suits Hearts & Diamonds, so if there’s anything you can do with that information to extract the wrench, good luck! Phew!”

It’s called a negative double because you don’t have support for partner and you don't have a NT stop in the opponent’s suit either. Doubles like this carry the message “I want to compete but I’m not sure where.” Normally negative doubles apply up to 3S, but do NOT apply after 1NT has been bid, nor when you and partner have agreed a suit.

See you next week

Kit

The Weird World of Cue Bids - 29 Oct. 2009

2010-04-09T00:49:00.000-07:00

I often get asked “So exactly what is a cue-bid?” So, here’s a little run-down of some of the more normal uses of the cue-bid with a short explanation.

To be totally honest with you there are lots of different forms of cue-bids which all have exotic names but I’m not going down that convoluted garden path. Normally when you make a bid it's:

(a) a suit you have, and
(b) is at least 4 cards long.

A cue bid is a bid in a suit that you DON'T necessarily have. Weird, huh? As we’ll see a cue bid can be in a suit you don't have any of AT ALL! Dangerous stuff, I know. So, I hear you shout “how do we know it’s a cue bid and not a real suit?” Well start with the obvious one:

Cue Bidding The Opponent's Suit (Also Known As: “Fit-Showing Cue Bids”)

When partner bids a suit, and your right hand opponent (RHO) overcalls, how can you tell partner the difference between a hand that just wants to get in the way and a hand that has some genuine support and strength?

1S - 2C - ?

1) xxxxx ..............................2) KJxx
... QJx .................................... KQx
... Kxxx .................................. Kxxx
... x ......................................... xx

On the first hand you want to raise the level of the bidding with a pre-empt so as to mess up the opponent's attack, so you bid 3S, weak but supportive. Fine. But next time you get the same auction you are lumbered with hand 2). This time you want to raise partner because you have points and support - so can you bid 3S? Ah, No. ’Fraid not. We just said that 3S was going to be used as a pre-emptive manoeuvre for hand 1), didn’t we? so how can we tell partner the difference?

You’ve seen it coming, I know you have... yes it’s a cue bid of the opponent’s suit - 3C!! Here is a situation where the opponent’s bid, far from making your life difficult, has actually increased your options: you can turn their intervention to your own benefit. In this way when they venture into the auction’s murky waters, the opponents in effect create for you a handy stepping stone that was not previously there.

This “stepping stone” principle has many uses:

“Control Asking Cue Bids”

1D - 1H - 2H?

In this auction your 2H cue-bid not only tells partner you have values (probably 10+) but also asks if partner can stop the hearts suit well enough to bid No Trumps. Now the stepping stone is practically a full-blown bridge with 2-way traffic: you just told partner something AND asked a question all in one bid. 2H could mean a number of things but it is FORCING and asks partner to explain their hand further.

Clearly, in these situations when you bid the opponent’s suit, it’s a suit in all probability you don’t have. But it’s nevertheless a bid packed with extra illumination and intent like an information super highway. It also has the added value of freeing up all the direct raises of partner’s suit (1S - ? - 2/3/4S) as annoying defensive measures designed to clog up the opponents’ exchange and force them down an information cul-de-sac.

There’s more....

“Control Showing Cue Bids”

1S -PASS - 3S - PASS
4C?

Why is partner suddenly bidding this Club suit? Has partner pulled out the wrong card? Is partner having a stroke? We’ve agreed spades. So why doesn’t partner just bid game or slam or whatever? Unless ..... it’s a cue-bid!

This time there’s no opposition bidding but now partner wants to tell you something more. A trump suit has been agreed and a new suit has been introduced below game level. What’s the message? The only reason for this bid is that partner has sights set on the possibility of a slam and is giving you information in the hope that you can reciprocate; it’s a control showing cue bid ie thpartner is saying I have “control” of the club suit, that is to say the ace of clubs. The hand could be something like

AKxxxx ................ QJxx
Ax ........................ Kxx
Kxxx .................... AJxx
A .......................... xx

Now, if you’re lucky enough to hold the ace of diamonds, you can cue-bid that as well and suddenly slam looks a pretty good prospect and the auction could go something like:

1S .............. 3S
4C ............. 4D
4H ............. 5H
6S

4C, 4D & 4H all show first round control of the suits mentioned (i.e. aces or voids) while, as the ace has already been shown, 5H must be a second round control (ie king or singleton). So just as you can get quite specific about not only the number of points in a hand or the length of a particular suit, you can also tell partner about specific individual cards (normally only once a suit has been agreed, so be careful!)

The other basic thing to remember about all these Cue bids is that they are unconditionally forcing. That is, partner CANNOT pass. Under any circumstances. Whatever they’ve got. Whoever they are. Claiming to be of royal descent will not suffice. Remember the graffiti in the 3rd level dungeon at the Tower of London? It says it all:

“Who passeth fawcing byd
soonest be sans hyd”

As AJP Taylor so memorably said in his book Really Bad Mistakes by Royalty: “Without that erroneous PASS, the Queen would have lived; our Nation’s history radically altered.”

Those who yearn for more rarified stuff can look up Michaels Cue-bids, Fourth Suit Forcing cue bids, Western Cue bids, Eastern Cue bids, and that old favourite - Invisible cue bids. (I promise you these all exist!)

Enjoy!

PoWs Downed by Putney Pirates - News Interlude

2010-04-09T00:40:00.000-07:00

There was match bridge at the Princess of Wales last night (April 8 2010) as the PoW team in the London League Newcomers division hosted the Putney Pirates from Ned Paul's other club, Putney BC. It was a close match with Putney 4 imps up at half time, and extending this by another 8 imps in the second half.

A non-vulnerable game swing (7 imps) occured when West held 9754 2 964 KQ1042 and heard East open 2NT. West tried 3C Stayman at both tables but after a 3D response, the PoW West became worried about the apparent lack of hearts. He tried 4C and then passed partner's 4D, exactly making. The Putney West made the practical bid of 3NT, trusting that partner's 20 hcp contained a heart stop. It did and Putney wrapped up 10 tricks for a score of 430 and a 300 point swing. The final hand was a slam hand, 6S being bid in both rooms. The trumps broke 4-0 and both declarers went down 2, ending any chance of a match saving swing.

PoWs now stand at 2-3, with one match to go, in a creditable first season.

Taking On The World - First Steps - 22nd Oct 2009

2010-04-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

I hope that sooner or later most of you will feel ready for some form of competitive bridge. This will either take the form of going to a club to play duplicate pairs, or else playing Teams matches in your own home in one of the many leagues organised by the LMBA (London Metropolitan Bridge Association - http://www.metrobridge.co.uk/).

With this in mind and after chatting to some of you about it we have entered a team into the London League Newcomer's Division. I've arbitrarily appointed John Cox as team captain and he has rounded up some others already to join in. The team can be up to 8 people so if you're interested let John know. Home matches will be hopefully played at the Princess of Wales.

A team consists of 4 people. In a match, a pair from Team A sit N/S & a pair from Team B sit E/W at one table. At the other table these positions are reversed. All the boards (hands) are then played at both tables and the difference in the scores by each team is calculated. If Team A N/S make 3S + 1 they score 170 [120 tricks and 50 bonus for the partscore]. If Team B N/S, however, bid the game and make it they score 420 (non-vulnerable) [120 for the tricks but 300 bonus because they bid and made game]. The difference is +250 to team B. And so on.

The newcomer's division is specifically designed for those who've never played any competitive bridge before, so is a great way to have some fun and learn at the same time.

In a recent Team match this hand occurred:

Board 6: Dealer: East, EW vulnerable(!)

....................... A652
....................... K9873
....................... A6
....................... K2
Q107................................ 8 43
QJ54 ............................... A6
Q1097 ............................. J432
6 ...................................... AJ974
....................... KJ9
....................... 102
....................... K85
....................... Q10853

West .... North .... East .... South
................................pass .... pass
pass ...... 1H ......... pass .... 1NT
all pass

This looks like the "right" auction at table 1 and made with an overtrick after a spade lead (+120 to N/S "A"), but at table 2 it went:

West .... North .... East .... South
................................pass .... pass
pass ...... 1H ......... 2C! .... all pass

2C (not doubled!) went 3 off for -300 to N/S "B" so on the hand "B" were 180 to the good on what looks on the face of it like a fairly uneventful hand. 2C here is a bit of a "cappucino" bid - all frothy with no substance. Vulnerable you want a double shot espresso. Actually East was lucky to "only" go down 3 for -300. It could have been more and it probably should have been doubled (-800). The North hand should nearly always re-open with a double IN CASE partner can pass it for penalties.

Compete like a shark in a sardine tin. This is a classic example of why, when we are vulnerable, we like to be better protected when we overcall, especially at the two level. 3 down NOT vulnerable is only 150 to NS who had 120 anyway in 1NT +1, not so terrible. Here vulnerability is all. Vulnerable, you are under a desert sun with no sun-block. Be careful when you venture into the glare. Take extra protection. Make your hat a big floppy one.

If you like we could have practice team matches on occasional wednesdays if you feel ready, just to get you in the swing of it all?

Responding to One of a Suit Opening - 15 Oct 2009

2010-04-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

Partner has opened the bidding, shock, horror… Don’t panic, look at your hand! The generally accepted range for a suit opening bid of One is 12-19 high card points (hcp), a little less with nice shape, and the idea as a partnership is that you will primarily seek either an 8-card major suit fit, or, failing that, enough coverage for a No Trump contract.

You, as partner of the opener, will need a minimum of 6 hcp (high card points) to respond. But - if you do have 6HCP you MUST respond. If you have 6 hcp it is your bounden duty to respond. There is a special cordoned-off section of the Underworld reserved for people who pass with 6 hcp, so terrible that other inmates pass by with averted eyes and muffled ears.

Because we always seek a major suit fit, if partner hasn’t already bid a major suit that you like, then you can introduce one yourself. Even if you have only 6 hcp, if you have a 4 card major that you can bid at the one level - BID IT. Of whatever quality! If it's 2345, I don't care - BID IT. The reasons are that

a) partner may have AKQJ with 19 points
b) if you end up playing in 3NT the player to your left may be put off leading that suit when it would defeat the contract. Both of these are Good Things.

Of course you are not limited to having a weak hand (6-9 hcp). You might have a better hand (10-12 hcp) or a good hand (13 hcp) where you already know that together you hold the 25+ hcp needed to bid game. Here are some things you can do with each of those ranges.

6 - 9 HCP:

you can single raise partner's suit (4 card support)
1H - pass - 2H
you can (must) bid a new suit at the one level
1C - pass - 1(D,H,S)
with FIVE card support and interesting distribution, jump!
1H - 4H (!)
This is a pre-empt, not a slam enquiry...
1NT: (any distribution at all)
1S - 1NT
At a pinch if 1NT looks silly because of singletons etc you can raise partner’s suit with only 3-card support

10 - 12 HCP:

double raise partner's suit (4 card support)
1H - 3H
bid a new suit at the 1 level and wait for partner’s rebid
1H- 1S
introduce a new suit, lower-ranking than partner’s, at the two level and ditto
1H - 2(C,D)

13+ HCP:

Make sure you get to game any way you can. But do go gently until you find an 8+ card suit fit or settle for NT. You could just change suit as before and wait for partner’s rebid but here are some

Less Basic Ways To Respond
1) A jump in a new suit is strong and forcing. It tends to show a long, very good suit and a hand that is interested in slam:

x
AKQxxxx
AQx
Ax

1C - pass - 2H

2) "Splinter" bids are a good way of responding when you have enough for game, a fit and a singleton or void:

KJxx
Kxx
AQJxx
x

1S - pass – 4C!

4C says you have 4 spades, points for game and a club singleton. All that in one bid. Not bad eh?

3) But what about - I hear you cry - a game going hand that doesn't have a singleton? Luckily there are two things you can do. The first is the so-called pudding raise of 3NT. It only applies after a MAJOR suit opening. It shows 13- 15, THREE card support and no singleton or void. After 1H you could pudding raise to 3NT with :

KQ
QJx
Axxx
Qxxx

4) All stronger flat hands, after majors or minors, are best shown with a jump to 2NT. This is any flattish 16+ point hand. I'm sure some of you will have learnt that this bid shows 11-12 HCP. I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to "unlearn" that, for which I apologise. Personally I think that 2NT to show only 11-12 points is a criminal waste of bidding space and frequently takes the bidding a level too high when partner has (correctly) opened a bit light. So try to remember this new version : in response to a one level opening bid, 2NT = 16+, balanced.

Tha - tha - tha - that's all folks...

The Magic of 25 Points - 8 Oct 2009

2010-04-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

It is a probability - not a certainty - that if you and your partner have a combined point count of 25 high card points (hcp) then you can make "game". Game is either, 3NT, 4 Hearts or 4 Spades. If we are balanced we choose 3NT; if we have eight hearts or eight spades between the two hands, we choose the trump game. Game is also 5 Clubs or 5 Diamonds, but because that is 11 tricks, you'll need another 3-4 hcp or longer trumps.

The reason we like to be in game if we can is that - if you make the contract - you will receive a BONUS! Sadly this does not mean you will get a tax-free 6-figure lump sum into your offshore banking account, but merely a few hundred extra points added to your score. To be precise: 300 if you are not vulnerable and 500 if you are.

But how can we tell? I hear you cry. Well this is why you have to try to tell your partner not only what suits you like, but also what the approximate strength of your hand is. When you open 1NT partner knows you have 12 - 14 hcp. Now partner can do a quick, (or even slow), bit of mental arithmetic and will know either:

game is NOT on 10 or less
game MIGHT be on 11 - 12
game IS on 13+

The same is true when partner opens one of a suit and then re-bids 1NT. Now partner has 15 - 16 hcp and game might be on opposite 9 or 10 hcp. Likewise when partner opens one of a suit and re-bids 2NT, this shows 17 - 18 hcp and game might be on opposite 7 or 8 hcp.

You will see that if partner doesn't open 1NT, it will be the second bid that tries to give you a more accurate picture of their hand. By the time partner has made this second bid you will probably have a fair inkling of what is going on. You will have added partner's probable points to your known points. Now, with less than 25, you know game is unlikely, but with 25+ - Go for it!

The same is true of responses to the one level suit opening bid. A one level response promises anything from 6 - 19 hcp. If opener merely repeats the first-bid suit at the two level (showing a 5+ suit and 11 - 15 hcp), responder now knows that game may not be on if they hold 6 - 9 hcp. But if opener jumps a level at the second bid, (16 - 20 hcp), responder knows that game might be on with as little as 6 points!

If the first response to a one level opening bid is at the two level (10+ hcp), opener knows that game might be on with 15 hcp.

REMEMBER :
If the combined total is 25 points - go for game.
If the combined total is less than 25, stop in a sensible part-score as soon as you can.

Overcalling
As the above shows, it is quite possible to be accurate in the bidding and safely arrive unmolested at all sorts of different "perfect" contracts. This why, when the opposition start bidding, WE GET IN THE WAY! We overcall, we double, we jump to the three level - in short anything at all we can do by fair means or foul to mess up this cosy little fireside chat our opponents would like to indulge in - we do it. We are the terrorists in the stately home. As the crumpet warms by the fire, there we are, smashing the brittle crockery of constructive bidding to smithereens.

The bidding starts (1C)-pass-( 1D)- ?? and you hold:

KQJxxxx
x
Kx
xxx

You can bid 1S. You could even bid 2S as a weak jump overcall. But what's happening in hearts? partner could have bid them but didn't. So there is a strong possibility that between them the opponents have an as yet undiscovered bounty - a heart fit. Maybe enough for game, who knows? Well as yet, more importantly, they don't know either. So now is the time to get nasty and stage that palace coup. Bid 3 S!

From here on in anything might happen: you could be doubled and go down - horribly. You could actually make it. They might bid 4H and go one off. They might make 4H. On a really good day they bid and make 4H +2. They made a slam. So what? They didn't bid it! See how there are so many possible outcomes and if you think about it only one of them is bad - that you go down doubled. And even that may not be too bad if they could have made game (420) and you only went down 2 (300).

And this is what you will enjoy about duplicate - the extra parameter of the score. You've got to get that inner terrorist out …

Responding With A Minimum Hand - And Overcalling: 1 Oct 2009

2010-04-02T04:28:00.000-07:00

Basics: Responding With A Minimum Hand

When partner opens one of a suit they promise something in the region of 12 - 20 HCP (high card points) Their second bid (a re-bid) will attempt to define more fully exactly where they stand both in terms of their overall shape and point count.

This means that you, as "responder" must keep the bidding alive with any hand worth 6 or more HCP. This is because if - as you wish, hope and pray - partner has the magical 20 HCP, then the partnership will have between both of you the even more magical 26 HCP and this should be enough to make game likely. If, on the other hand, partner has some grisly 12 count, then you will let the bidding die in a safe - you trust! - part-score you mutually arrive at.

BUT

When partner opens one NT they promise exactly 12 - 14 HCP, no more, no less. Now you as responder have a much clearer idea of what the partnership can achieve. Consequently, you know that unless you have at least 11 HCP, game will not be likely (14 + 11 = 25) So, if you have less than 11 HCP, knowing game is not on, you can pass. At the same time, you are also able to judge whether or not 1NT is a "good" contract. This will happen when you have 0 - 10 HCP (game not on) but your shape is such that you need to tell partner of your fears. Because you can't easily tell partner about an unbalanced hand with a minor suit (2C=Stayman; 2D =Transfer!), you should forget it and still pass, but if you are unbalanced with a long (5+) major suit you should first transfer (2D or 2H), then pass and trust the partnership is in a better place.

If your hand really, really is pretty dire but contains 6+ minor then you can get out of the mire by bidding 2S! this is a transfer to 3C which you can correct to 3D if that is your suit.

Not So Basic: Overcalling

When the opposition "open" the bidding, the bid you make will be an "overcall". Overcall bids have more than one function: They might:

Tell your partner your suit
Suggest a lead
Disrupt the opposition bidding
Find a sacrifice

As such, the requirements for an overcall are less than those for an opening bid. It is usually right to compete, even with pretty thin values, especially if you are Not Vulnerable. The bidding goes:

(1D)-pass-(1S)- ?? and you hold:

xx
KQJxx
Kxx
Axx

To bid or not to bid: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, overcalling, end them?

Your instinct should probably veer you towards overcalling but there are traps for the unwary here. It’s not just about the points – but where they are. The king of diamonds looks dead and you have no surprises in the spade suit. Suddenly the 13 count doesn’t look quite as good as it did – let’s call it 10 in reality. And it’s flat as a pancake. Added to that both opponents are as yet unlimited - ie partner could have a round zero over there and all you do by overcalling is tell the opposition exactly how to play the hand. That said, there’s nothing "wrong" with a bid of 2H (it gets in their way & suggests a lead), but, vulnerable, it looks an iffy prospect.

Now look at this:

AKxx
KQJxx
x
xxx

This hand, in contrast to the one above, has exactly the same high cards but in different places. Now that king is working; the ace, too - 'connected honours' reinforce each other. The singleton gives the hand extra possibilities as well. Now an overcall of 2H looks practically mandatory at any vulnerability. Of course it could still all go alarmingly haywire, but at least this time you had better reason to get involved and you may even get a plus score:

…'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd…

Fourth Suit Forcing - 25 September 2009

2010-04-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

As you're all getting more efficient at the basic system (Acol, Weak No Trump, Stayman, Transfers, Blackwood, three Weak Two's, Weak Jump Overcalls) we could add in a few more wrinkles - or conventions as they're known.

FOURTH SUIT FORCING (FSF)

There comes a time in an auction when you are lucky enough to know that game is definitely on but you're just not sure which one: 3NT, 4H or 4S, 5C or 5D. You can gamble and you might get it right if you're lucky, but on the other hand why not find out for certain? When 3 suits have been bid by you and your partner (no opposition bidding) and you judge game to be on then you can ask partner for further clarification of their hand by bidding the fourth suit.

This bid of the fourth suit says nothing about that suit and is used only as an enquiry for information. As it is game forcing you and your partner can now swap useful bits of information below game level secure in the knowledge that bidding cannot die below game level. As you can also see, this will be a useful tool when deciding whether slam might be on or not, as well as simply deciding which game to investigate.

you ..... partner
1H .......... 1S
2D .......... ??

Assuming partner knows game is likely, what information will he most need to know? Do you have a club stop for NT? Do you have 3 S? have you got 6 H? Luckily all these questions will be answered easily because now partner bids 3C! Initially this says nothing about the club suit and is a device (convention) designed to elicit further information in a relaxed and happy setting, secure in the knowledge the bidding won't unexpectedly stop.

you ..... partner
1H .......... 1S
2D .......... 3C! (FSF)

Now the bids below, by you, can carry these meanings:
- 3D = 5+ Hearts & 5 Diamonds
- 3H = 6 Hearts
- 3S = 3 Spades (partner may have 5 of them, after all)
- 3NT = Club stop

After any of the above bids partner should (!) now know what to do. If partner bids on past 3NT but below 4H - DON'T PASS! FSF is unconditionally forcing to game in any denomination and no-one can pass until then. I have it on very good authority that many unexplained ritual bronze age burials may have been the result of someone passing a forcing bid...

RESPONDING TO ONE OF A SUIT

As we all know now, in order to respond you need at least 6 HCP (High Card Points), maybe a tad less if you have unusual shape, or a 6 card suit. There is no upper limit for suit responses. A response of 1NT to partner's opening bid shows exactly 6 - 9 HCP. and is therefore limited, as are most 1NT bids, either as an opening, response or re-bid. Sometimes we have to use a response of 1NT when we just don't have any other bid, even though the hand is not flat or balanced.

Partner opens 1 Spade and you hold:

x
Kxx
Axxxxx
xxx

To respond 2D would show a hand worth about 10+ points. Even though you don't like it, you have to say something, so your only bid is 1NT. Whatever you do, don't pass just because the spade suit is rubbish and you can't see where the auction is going. You MUST respond - you have 6 - 9 points and it is your bounden duty to tell partner this, however much you don't like it. After all, partner is unlimited and could have 19 HCP: 3NT might be cold and partner won't thank you for passing on a whim, however polite they struggle to be.

On the other hand, don't bid 1NT just because you have 6-9 HCP and you want to limit your hand early on. If you have room for a natural suit response - make it. Always. Whatever the suit is like. Don't worry about what partner will think - that's partner's problem. Your duty is to tell partner what you've got so they can make informed decisions. Partner can't do that if you lie, however honourable your intentions.

What about this pile of garbage?

xxxx
xxxx
Ax
QJx

Partner opens 1D. Of course your partners do. It's like toast butter side down, partner always has the suit you don't. But now is not the time to mentally berate partner's contrariness. Now is the time to bid in an informative, helpful and above all constructive fashion. What would partner most like to know?

Constructive bidding is primarily an exercise in finding an 8 card or better suit fit and then deciding at what level to play that fit. If no apparent fit exists you can decide that a NT contract is better at a later stage of the auction.

If you respond 1NT because you don't fancy the two 4 card major suits much, partner may never, ever know about them. Partner MIGHT hold AKQJ in one of the majors and you've just made it impossible to discover this nugget of Anglo-Saxon gold in the muddy field of bidding. There are very very few absolute rules in bridge. There are various "guidelines" to help us make sense of what fate has dealt us, but possibly the most unbreakable guideline in the book is this:

If you can respond with a 4 card major at the one level - DO SO! ALWAYS!! IN YOUR SLEEP!!!

On the hand above you respond 1H (bidding 4 card suits up the line) even if the pips are 9752. Now partner can describe their hand with a variety of choices:- 1S, 1NT, 2C, 2D, or even 2H! All of which will, probably, turn out better than you playing in 1NT. After a response of 1NT partner has very few options, but by bidding a heart you let the auction take its natural course.

If partner can jump to 4H, you will certainly have found the garnet encrusted golden cross you so richly deserve.

The Wonderful World of Scoring - 10 September 2009

2010-04-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure a lot of you know all this anyway but I just wanted to make it clear for everyone so we're all in the same place. I'm assuming either Duplicate or Chicago scoring. It might be an idea to have a clearer idea of just exactly what you'll score when you're in a contract, rather than being pleased - or horrified - after the event. So here's a small resume of what goes on.

You get the trick value PLUS a part-score bonus of 50; a game bonus of 300 or 500 and slam bonuses of 500 & 1000 NV and 750 & 1500 Vul.

You need to win the first six tricks before yyou score anything and after that the trick values are:
- minors (clubs & diamonds) - 20 per trick
- majors (hearts & spades) - 30 per trick
- no trumps - 40 for the first scoring trick, 30 thereafter

so:
- 3 Clubs bid and made (nine tricks) is 110. This is composed of 60 (3x20) for tricks and 50 bonus for a successful part score.
- 2 Spades bid and made (eight tricks) is 110 - 60 (2x30) +50. An example of why we prefer Majors to Minors.
- 3NT not vulnerable making exactly (nine tricks) is 400 - 100 (40+30+30) +300 bonus for the non-vulnerable game.
- 3NT Vulnerable (same nine tricks) is 600 - 100 (40+30+30) + 500 bonus for the vulnerablel game. An example of why we take the odd risk to bid a vulnerable game - it's worth more.

You don't always succeed however. Sometimes the horrible opponents defeat you and then they score points instead of you. If you are not vulnerable they score 50 for each trick by which you fall short, while if you are vulnerable this penalty is increased to 100 points an 'undertrick'.

Sometimes the smart alec opponents smugly think in advance that they are going to defeat you and have the temerity to 'double' your contract. If you make it you score double trick points AND you get an additional 50 'for the insult'. I won't bother with all the doubled and making scores as it's not the most exciting bed-time read you'll ever have. Just know that making a doubled contract is ALWAYS good.

However when the opponents have made a wise double, the penalty scale goes up - and well, if you have been rash, the scale gets horrendous. The first undertrick is just doubled in value of the penalty but then the subsequent undertricks cost more and more. The main thing to note is that if you go down two doubled when they can make game the vulnerability is crucial. If nobody's vulnerable you lose 300. That would be a bargain as they can make 400 or 420 for their game. You have a net gain. If they are vulnerable and you are not, you lose 300 against 600/620. An even bigger net gain. (In fact now you can afford to go 3 down for 500 and still gain!). BUT if you are vulnerable and they are not and you go 2 off doubled, you will lose 500 to save 400 or 420 - a net loss. On the other and, if everyone's vulnerable then 2 down doubled for 500 is OK against their possible 600/620.

At the part score level vulnerability is again crucial. If you're doubled, vulnerable and go 1 down losing 200 to save 140, it's obviously bad business.

The rule is "Always Know the Vulnerability!"

Declarer Play - 20 Aug 2009

2010-04-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

You will often be in contracts you and your partner bid perfectly; you're at the right level in the right denomination; but the contract fails. Have you made a mistake by being in this contract? Not at all. The fact that a particular contract fails does not mean that you should necessarily have been in a different contract. All it means is that the cards were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 'Tis unfair and unkind I know but it's the nature of the beast I'm afraid.

Most times, I can tell you what contract you SHOULD be in, but I can't possibly tell you whether that contract WILL make or not - because I don't know how the suits are split, or where the outstanding honours are. This is exactly why the game is so fascinating: nothing is certain. The likelihood of making various contracts is not cast-iron but dependent on numerous factors outside your control. All you are trying to do is make some sense of the random deals you are dealt. If 30% of the contracts you bid fail to make, this is not because you are a bad player, but because the game is only about possibilities. And if you are making 70% of your contracts, you're either very good or you're not bidding high enough!

If you play in a suit contract with an 8 card fit between you and your partner, then opponents hold 5 cards of your suit. Let's say that you can make the contract, whatever else happens, if those 5 cards split 3- 2. Well bid, well played.

But now assume those cards are split 4 - 1. Now in order to make the contract you might need certain cards to be well placed, for finesses to work, for endplays to be carried out, or failing all else, for the defenders to get it wrong and let you make it when you shouldn't. Now, well bid and even better played. OK.

What if the cards are now split 5 - 0? Ouch, I hear you proclaim. Now your contract is almost certainly doomed. You can't control the trump suit and you probably can't establish a side suit without them trumping your winners. How unkind, how unfair. But nothing has changed about the nature of you and your partner's hands, or your bidding. It's just that every now and then it will all go tits up - guaranteed. 100% certainty.

It helps to have a couple of little gadgets up your sleeve as well. Here we have the HOLD UP and the DANGER HAND. You're in 3NT (everyone's favourite contract!):

KQxx
xx
AJxx
Kxx

Ax
Axx
K10xx
Axxx

The bidding goes 1D-1S-1NT-3NT.

West leads the king of hearts. If you take this with the ace you are in serious danger of going down when you get the diamond finesse wrong and lose four or five hearts and the queen of diamonds. So you must NOT win the ace. Yet.

You can see 3 spade tricks, 1 heart, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs - 8 tricks. You need one more and that can only come from the diamond suit. You can guess to finesse the queen either way. You get lucky, you make maybe ten tricks. But if you guess wrong, you're down. So don't guess. Think.

You must HOLD UP the ace until forced to play it at the third trick. On this trick East, on your right, discards a club. This means that he had two hearts and that therefore West started with six hearts. If West gets back in you will lose three more tricks in this suit to add to the two the opponents already have. West is the DANGER HAND! You must not let West back on lead so you cannot, must not finesse the ten of diamonds.

Now there is no guess. You win the ace of hearts at Trick 3, cash the king of diamonds in the unlikely - but possible - event of the queen of diamonds being single, and play a low diamond to the jack. If it wins you're home and dry. If it loses you're still home and dry. Why? Because East hasn't got any more Hearts. Nor, on this layout, can East put his partner back on lead quickly enough to damage your contract.

There's a lot of versions of both these fairly simple ploys, so keep an eye out for them,