Better Bridge in Barry County April 5 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

	North                          ª Q 6 5 2                          © A 9 4                          ¨ J 8                          § J 10 5 3
West                          ª ___                          © K Q 7 6 2                          ¨ K 6 5 3                          § Q 6 4 2		East                            ª K J 10 8 3                            © 8                            ¨ Q 10 7 4                            § K 8 7
	South                          ª A 9 7 4                          © J 10 5 3                          ¨ A 9 2                          § A 9

 

Lead: 8 of Diamonds with East-West vulnerable

As the USS: Barry County Bridge Barge pulled into the landing at the Tyden Pier in Hastings, Captain M. North announced to the bridge players on board, “I am sorry to have you go without your lunch today. Our galley is closed due to a boiler problem. Feel free to take a break and go to lunch in downtown Hastings. Our next session will start in one hour.”

As the bridge players filed off the USS: BCBB, the captain could not but notice that one pair had made no effort to leave. He wandered over to their table where they were deep in a post mortem on an apparently difficult hand. “Why so glum, chums?” Captain M. North offered as an ice breaker. One of the pair, Joe by name, muttered under his breath, “Things fall apart.” His partner Jim looked up and nodded in agreement. “Things fell apart all right on board number 25. What a ship wre….err…train wreck.” He had caught himself in the knick of time.

Here was the bidding with North as the Dealer:

North                    East                        South                    West

Pass                       Pass                       1 ¨                         1©

Double                 1ª                          Pass                       2©

All Pass

Captain M. North looked at the pair. “So? What happened and why?” Jim spoke up first. “I made a one heart overcall after South opened one diamond. I had five solid hearts, 10 high card points, and a void in spades. How can you go wrong at the one level?”

Joe spoke up next. “I heard North double after my partner’s heart overcall, but I did not take the time to understand her bid. That is, until after the damage had been done at the end of the hand. I was only thinking that as a partnership, we do not want to play in hearts having only one heart in my hand. I bid 1 spade with five spades and nine high card points How can you go wrong at the one level?

Jim picked up the conversation as the Captain looked on. “South passed smoothly, and with a spade void, I rebid the hearts. That was a bad decision on my part as the hand was passed out, and I was playing 2 Hearts vulnerable. You will soon see how we went so wrong!”

“With the 8 of Diamonds as the lead,” Jim continued, “I was able to take only five tricks in total, for down three tricks and a score of minus 300 points.  What a disaster we had on that hand.”

Joe spoke up again, “In retrospect, and finally understanding what a poor bid I had made with the one spade bid, I realized that North had told me with her negative double bid that she had four spades in her hand. That had gone right over my head because I was thinking of something else instead of listening to each bid and processing the information that was being given there. My bid should have been a pass, and North-South would have continued the bidding finding a spade fit. If they bid two spades, with my five spades, we can set them one trick, and we end up with a positive score of 50 points.”

The Captain spoke up finally, “Well, don’t beat yourselves up too much. The hand as I see it has a balance of points with North-South having 21 while your team had 19. Unfortunately, you were vulnerable and missed the golden fit in diamonds due to South’s opening diamond bid. Those things happen in bridge, and they happen in life. About the only thing that I can see that you missed on that hand,” and here Captain M. North stopped for a moment with a smile, “was your lunch. It’s time to get ready for our second session.” As the Captain walked away to greet the returning bridge-playing passengers, Jim and Joe looked at each other and shook their heads.

 (Answers from last week’s Bridge questions:  Bridge adages: what do they mean? “Get the kiddies off the street.” Draw trumps ASAP. “Eight ever, nine never.” When missing the queen of trump with an eight-card trump fit, finesse. If you have a nine-card trump fit, play for the drop. “Trump poor.” Too many trump and not enough other high cards in the other suits. “Aces and spaces.” Three or four aces in your hand and no other honor cards.)

This week’s Bridge Question: In this column, one of the characters mutters to himself, “Things fall apart.” What is the source of that quotation?

Gerald Stein March 20, 2012 847 words

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