Better Bridge in Barry County March 29 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

North

                                                                                     ª: A Q 8      

                                                                                     ©: A 9 8 7 3

                                                                                     ¨:  Q 10 5

                                                                                     §: K 6

West                                                                                                                   East

ª: 10 7 5 2                                                                                                          ª: J 4 3

©: Q 6 2                                                                                                               ©: K J 10 5

¨: J 9 8 3                                                                                                              ¨: K 6

§: 8 2                                                                                                                    §: Q 5 4 3

                                                                                  South

      ª: K 9 6

                                                                              ©: 4

                                                                              ¨: A 7 4 2

                                                                              §: A J 10 9 7

West                North               East               South

                                                                             1¨

Pass                 1©                   Pass                1NT

Pass                 3NT                  All Pass

Lead: 2ª

In today’s bridge hand, two aspects of bridge play are evident: the bidding is accurate, and the play of the hand is effective. Let’s look first at the bidding by the North-South team. Without any competition from the East-West team, they sailed to a solid 3NT game. How did they do it?

South as Dealer opened with a convenient minor diamond suit, planning ahead to bid the clubs at the next bid if necessary. North, her partner, knew from the opening bid that South had at least three diamonds and an opening bid of at least 12-13 points.

With that knowledge in hand, North as the responder and the Captain of the hand knows the most about the partnership points. North knows that with his 15 high card points and one for the length in hearts that the North-South partnership belongs at least in game. North confidently bid his major suit of hearts, hoping for a fit in the major suits.

South bypasses the spade suit, denying four cards in spades, and retreats to 1NT, keeping the auction at a low level and informing her partner that she has only a bare opening bid of 12-14 points.

North takes that new piece of information, and as Captain of the hand, bids the game-reaching contract of 3NT. The bridge adage of “The one who knows, goes!” is perfectly exemplified in North’s final bid. North has counted the points between the two hands, and he knows that there are at least 26 points in their combined hands, enough for a game try in no trump or the major suits of hearts and spades. The final contract is 3NT played by South.

Now it is time for South to take the bid contract and make use of another bridge adage: “Take your tricks and run!” South thanks her partner first and then prepares her plan. She knows that in no trump contracts that she needs high card points, and she counts both hands, reaching a total of 27 high card points. How many tricks does she have in hand, and how many does she have to work to set up?

South counts seven tricks right off the top: ªA, ªK, ªQ; ©A, ¨A; §A, §K. Two more tricks will have to come from somewhere. Hearts look particularly dangerous, and she will want to avoid hearts at all costs. With only one stopper in that suit, the East-West team would have a field day with hearts. The diamonds don’t look too much better, and so the only good suit to work on is clubs. Her plan is as follows: Win the first trick in spades in hand. Lead the small club to the dummy §K, and a small club back, planning to set up the remaining clubs in her hand.

With her plan made, South is ready to play the hand as bid. She takes the spade lead with the ªK, leads to the §K, and a small club back to the §J which wins. It is just a matter of time, with patience and continued leading of the clubs until the §Q is won by the East-West team. The good spades and the heart ace are available for finishing up the play of the hand, and North-South finish the hand with nine tricks, enough to make the 3NT contract.

With two components in each bridge hand, it is important to remember that in the bidding portion, the responder as the Captain of the team is the one who usually makes the decision on how high to put the contract. “The one who knows, goes!” to the right contract is a good bridge adage to remember.

Likewise, in the play of the hand, a good plan is important before even one trick has been played. Take the time to make the plan, and, if possible, take your tricks and run. Sometimes that is the best and only way that you can make your bid.

Bridge Question for this week: What do these bridge adages mean: “Get the kiddies off the street”? “Eight ever, nine never”? “Trump poor”? “Aces and spaces”?

Bridge Question answer from last week: James Bond and the villain Drax were the two bridge opponents in the James Bond movie “Moonraker.”

Gerald Stein

February 20, 2012

819 words

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