WEAK OPENINGS

"Watson!" The famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, was clearly in a bate. "Come over here at once."

"Of course, Holmes, of course. Whatever you say," I obliged.

"Look at this hand - go on look at it."

x

Qxx

AQxxxx

Qxx

"Er ye-es, I remember. I opened 1D did I not. Was I remiss in some respect, Holmes?"

"Not at all Watson. The 1 D opening is mandatory. But what exactly was your plan, assuming I made a normal response below 2D?"

"Well, er naturally, I was going to re-bid 2D: weak-ish with a 5+ suit."

"Capital, Watson, capital." His eyes turned to me and glinted steel. "But you didn't Watson. Did you?" There was a soft breath of menace in the air. "You re-bid 3D. Didn't you? Very naughty."

"But the opponents bid, er, it got too high, oh Holmes I had to do something!" I sat heavily on a chair in misery. What had l done to deserve his opprobrium this time?

"The bidding was thus, Watson, was it not?

1D - 1S - 1NT - 2S - ???

At which point you rebid 3D. Not 2D, which, as you have previously pointed out, is the limit of the hand in bidding terms from your point of view."

"But Holmes" I went on the attack: "They bid 2S! I couldn't bid 2D! You see?" I felt pretty dam pleased with myself I can tell you. His voice was soft, silky and precise:

"I believe Watson, that you just admitted to me that you couldn't bid 2D in the auction as that spot had been bypassed by aggressive opponents. In which case - as you were unable to bid 2D - can you please tell me why in heaven's name you felt able to bid AT ALL?" His gimlet eyes pierced mine from two inches.

"If as you say you can't bid 2D then you can't bid. Your bid has been taken away. So just PASS! Why make up bids out of thin air? Why pretend to values you do not possess? And most crucially, why mislead partner? Why cause partner to make unwise bids based on incorrect information that result in -800? Hmm?"

I now saw that Holmes was right. He usually was…

Plan your re-bid. If events overtake your plans - PASS. Never ever forget that you have a partner and do not try and bid for them: just bid your hand. At the right level. Then partner will know what to do.

RISING DAMP

“Why do we play this impossible game, Miss Jones?”

“Oh but Mr Rigsby, I thought you enjoyed the gentle intellectual tussle and the meeting of minds?”

“Oh I do Miss Jones, indeed I do, most certainly. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a meeting and a tussle.”

“It’s so much about margins, Mr Rigsby. You mustn’t let Alan and Philip wind you up so. Look at the board where you played in 2S and made 11 tricks. They laughed at you for not even being in game, didn’t they?”

“It doesn’t affect me Miss Jones, oh no. Water off a duck’s back. Anyway there was nothing else I could do, and you couldn’t bid.”

“Well, actually, there was something else you could have done…”
“Oh? Really, Miss Jones? And what was that then?”

“Well, you see, Alan opened 1N, you bid 2S then All Pass. It could have been so different:

AQ863

AQJ8

A

J73

754                                                J92

K2                                                653

QJ86                                                K93

AK86                                                T942

                        KT

                        T974

T7542

Q5

You made +200 for 11 tricks. But see what happens if – instead of bidding 2S – you Double.”

“But why would I do that Miss Jones?”

“So that your partner can tell you have a good hand. So you can possibly take them for a nice juicy penalty. You’d like that wouldn’t you Mr Rigsby.”

“I certainly would Miss Jones, oh yes, I certainly would. Please continue.”

“After 1NT all simple overcalls of a suit promise LESS than 15 HCP, let’s say about 8 -14; and all Doubles in that position promise 15 or MORE. The Double of 1NT is not like a Take-out double of a suit. It is primarily suggestive of penalties. If you start with a double, Philip, in the East seat, has really no good bid to make. (Unless they’ve agreed some sophisticated defence to your double). I should probably pass and then Alan also has no sensible bid now. You lead a low Spade, I win with the K and then I have to think. Instead of lamely returning a S at trick 2, I look at dummy and see the H suit looks empty. I’m probably never getting the lead again so I must make my move now.”

“Oh yes, please do Miss Jones..”

“I return the HT, trapping Alan’s HK under your AQJ8, you cash the rest of the Spades and the DA giving us 10 Tricks. Doubled! Alan is now 4 Down Doubled for 800! Better than 200. Better even than if we had bid the game for 450.”

“But what if they do start bidding something? They might end up in 2C?”

“In which case with your big hand you Double again. This time they only go 3 off for 500. Still better than any game we make.”

“But what if the Vulnerability’s different?”

“If they are Vulnerable we now get 1100 or 800. Even better!”

Miss Jones is right – as usual. And even if you’re Vulnerable and they’re NV you still do better getting 800. Remember: after 1NT: – X shows any hand 15+.

BREAKING TRANSFER - NOT BAD!

Eeyore was beside himself with rage. Not that you'd have noticed. He stood silently alone in the sun-dappled clearing, his head droopt, his tail slightly swishing. It was this swishing that alerted a passing Christopher Robin to the fact Eeyore was disconsolate. After the usual pleasantries, the boy enquired of the donkey the reason for his anger.

"Everybody was in 4S making 10 tricks. Only I, Christopher Robin, I, Eeyore, made 11 tricks!"

"But Eeyore that's brilliant! How clever of you!"

"Yes, I found a rare inverted Double Squeeze operated at trick 11, after they failed to attack dummy's entry to the Menace at trick 3." Eeyore intoned morosely.

"Really?" said Christopher Robin, seriously none the wiser. "But didn't that overtrick give you a Top?"

"It would have done, it would have done." Agreed the donkey solemnly. "Were it not for one vital fact you have overlooked Christopher Robin."

The boy scratched his head. "And, er, what was that?"

Eeyore fixed Christopher Robin with a baleful glare - "We were only in 2 Spades!!!" The boy sank to the ground, crossed his legs and said comfortingly: "Ok, tell me what happened."

"I opened 1NT, Owl transferred with 2H, I bid 2S and then he passed, quite reasonably, with this:

AJxxx

x

Qxxx

Qxx

I had 14 HCP and 4S with him, no wasted H values and the game is cold for 10 tricks. What did we do wrong?"

"Well, nothing really, I suppose. But there is something to be considered. When - and ONLY when - you, as the NT bidder have 14HCP and 4 card support, instead of lamely bidding 2S, you can BREAK THE TRANSFER by bidding 3S! Now partner can re-value their hand in the light of this important information and bid on if it's right to do so."

"But what if partner has a pile of rubbish and was only transferring to get out of 1NT? Aren't we now too high?"

"Possibly. But rest assured that if partner does have rubbish, then the opponents have something on; and, whatever it is, they're going to find it mighty difficult to either double you or suddenly bid a minor at the 4 level out of nowhere. Yes, maybe 5 times out of a 100 it'll go Paridiae up, but that's nothing."

"Well, very interesting. I must remember that in future. Oh, and - Christopher Robin - thanks for pointing out it was all my fault. I do feel sooo much better now. When you start in the depths of despair how good to plummet further. Do you know a tall cliff nearby? Maybe I could toss myself off..."

LEBENSOHL

When partner opens 1NT and RHO bids a suit you may just want to play in a 6 card minor at the 3 level. The only problem is that if you bid 3 of a minor directly it is FORCING. So what's to do? The secret is to use 2NT as an intermediate bid (sometimes known as a "puppet"). This warns partner you have no interest in game. Partner MUST first bid 3C (like a transfer) which you can then either pass or CORRECT to your suit. Partner should then Pass.
This is the basis of the LEBENSOHL convention. It is a system for dealing with intervention after 1NT when you have no interest in Game. It follows then that you can use direct 3 level bids to force partner to bid on.
This is only part of the system, but you should be aware of it as it is very common in club bridge. It also has other uses which are far more complex and should only be used in a practised partnership!
There are also other situations where 2NT no longer has its normal meaning. This is because in competitive auctions, 2NT is rarely a useful bid, as the key is usually to locate a sensible suit fit, and if you have a 2NT (10 - 12 balanced) hand you should probably be doubling for penalties. For instance, after a weak 2 opening, there is a difference between
2S (weak) - X - Pass - 3H

and

2S (weak) - X - Pass - 2NT
Pass - 3C  -  Pass - 3H

The second sequence shows no interest in Game (0 - 8), while the first is a decent (ish) hand and suit. The reason is that the Weak 2 has deprived your side of bidding space. If the opening bids had been 1S - X - Pass, you have room to show a good hand (9+) by jumping to 3? and bidding 2? with anything else (0-8).
This kind of differentiation makes life much easier for partner to make further, correct, decisions later in the auction. And it is of course our prime duty to keep partner well informed and very happy. We cannot play Bridge alone, so we must communicate accurately if partner is to succeed. For partner's success is also our success.

Enjoy

Kit

Monster Mash

We had this  - very rare - monster the other day at the Gazette in Balham:

----
----
AKx
AKQJ9xxxxx

Feast your eyes because you won't see this kind of hand very often. However, you well might, and you should have some idea of how to deal with it. You'll probably find nothing in textbooks, so here goes...
At the table (Both Vul) it was opened 6C! Perfectly reasonable: one loser, 12 top tricks in Clubs.... But the auction then went...
6C - 6S - P - P
7C - P  - 7S - X!
7SX  duly went off 3 for 800 a fabulous save as 7C actually makes (partner having the Q D's!), which would have been 2140! Even 7 off doubled (2000) would have been good for them. So how can we improve on this measly +800?
Looking at the hand again we can see that despite 6 C being cold it only has 17 HCP, thereby disproving that all slams need to have a combined 32+ count! It follows that there are another 23 points dotted around the other three hands. It is also true that if you have a 10 card suit, your opponents may well both have fairly silly hands themselves. They are therefore almost certainly going to join in the bidding themselves. Opening 6C - while perfectly reasonable - does let a rather massive lioness out of the bag. You could try opening 2C - on the grounds that Game is a certainty (!) but they will still be getting into the auction somewhere if they have any blood in their veins. So - what's to do? How can we improve this outcome?
As I said, you only actually have 17 points plus 2 voids. So where are the other points and suits? If partner has them we could get to a possible 7NT. If the opponents have them we don't really want to disclose our full potential too early, do we? What about opening 1C? Will that be passed out? Extremely unlikely. The bidding will come back to you. They WILL be bidding. You will get another chance. By then you should have some idea of what's going on. Plus your softly softly approach opens up the possibility to, as they say, catchee monkey. Take a look at the back of the 7C card. Making is 2140. Doubled and making it's 2330. Redoubled and making it's 2660. Any of these are miles better than 800. Your strategy should be to bid as if YOU are sacrificing against THEM!
1C - 1S - X - 4S
5C - 5S - P - P
6C....
Almost whatever happens now is to your advantage. They pass, you get 1370. They double, you get 1540. (DON'T Redouble!) Most of the time - I venture to suggest - they'll bid again - 6S. Now is the time to hold your nerve. Bid 7C. They might be making 6S. Who can tell? More importantly, you might make 7C. Now - hopefully - you have them. You have sprung the trap. Good opposition may well now bid 7S, and you are back to square one. But there's always the chance you will now be doubled. Still do NOT re-double. It will be impossible for them to visualise that you have such an extraordinary and incredibly rare hand. But if you re-Double you make it a certainty they will bid to 7S because you just told them to. Just make the doubled Grand Slam and quietly write in the score.
This method of bidding weird hands is known as Creeping. It is a standard ploy to get the opponents to feel they have pushed you too far. Instead, you are just where you always wanted to be.

Part Scores At Rubber Bridge – A Few Words on Tactics - 14 Jan 2010

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!