Better Bridge in Barry County May 3 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

	North ♠  K863 ♥ 1095 ♦ Q98 ♣ 875
West ♠ Q107 ♥ AJ862 ♦ K4 ♣ KJ10		East ♠ 54 ♥ 74 ♦ J652 ♣ AQ963
	South ♠ AJ92 ♥ KQ3 ♦ A1073 ♣ 42

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

South None 7S

North	East	South	West
		1D	1H
Pass	Pass	1S	Pass
2S	Pass	Pass	Pass

“Playing up,” or “Playing up a level” are terms that bridge teachers and bridge directors use to encourage beginner and intermediate bridge players who want to improve their game to do so. What it means is that when given the opportunity to play with more advanced and better bridge players, take that opportunity and try to play up to the level of the advanced players. Although it may mean taking considerable risk and may often be a humiliating experience, at other times, it can be satisfying and successful. Learning how expert bridge players bid and play their hands is an eye-opening experience. In a recent bridge outing, the North and South team encountered a team of East-West players who were considered successful and advanced bridge players. Did the North-South team “play up”?

In today’s hand, South opened a convenient minor by bidding one diamond showing at least three diamonds and an opening count for his bid. West, one of the experts, overcalled one heart with five hearts and 14 high card points and one point for length in the heart suit for 15 points. North with only five points used good judgment and passed. Likewise, East passed with little support for his partner’s overcall bid.

Undeterred by his partner’s pass and the overcall bid by West, Brave South bid again, this time bidding one spade showing four spades in his minimum hand. West passed, and this time, North liked what she had heard, and, knowing that her partner had four spades, she confidently bid two spades. The contract was placed at two spades with South as the declarer when all passed.

This was one of those hands where the high card points were equally distributed in the hands. North-South had 19 high card points while East-West had the remaining 21 points. This was one of those times when a bit of aggressive bidding by the North-South partnership resulted in a plus score for them.

Even though North had only five high card points, she realized that there was a Golden Fit in the spade suit. Bidding at the two level in spades put pressure on the East-West team to find a fit at the three level. This was something the East-West team was not prepared to do. While they had a fit in the club suit, they were not going to find it on this hand due to the raise by the North partner. East-West can make three clubs with a fine eight-card fit in clubs.

With a lead of the seven of spades, (West was marked with most of the points based on his bidding of hearts) South surveyed the dummy and made his plan. He would lose no spade tricks and with the good hearts in both hands was able to take two heart tricks, trump a losing club in the dummy, and, with the Ace of diamonds,  take eight tricks for a plus score.

While bidding with fewer than six points is not recommended, still there is a time and a need to listen to the bidding, assess the situation, and bid confidently. With five high card points and four spades, North was happy with her bid, and South was smiling inwardly that he had such a competent partner.

“Playing up a level” can be one good path to improving your bridge game. While not for the faint-of-heart, at times you will be rewarded with a top score by “playing up a level.”

Gerald Stein

685 words

April 20 2012