Better Bridge in Barry County March 28 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  K Q 4 ♥  A Q 10 6 ♦  Q 9 6 4 ♣  Q 7
West ♠  8 6 5 3 ♥  9 ♦  10 8 7 5 2 ♣  J 9 4		East ♠  9 7 2 ♥  J 8 3 2 ♦  A 3   ♣  10 6 5 2
	South ♠  A J 10 ♥  K 7 5 4   ♦  K J ♣  A K 8 3

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

South East/West 5♦

 

North   3♣ 4♣ 6NT	East   Pass Pass Pass	South 2NT 3♥ 4♠ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass Pass

Today’s column completes our discussion of Commonly Played Conventions You Should Know. Today we will look at a convention that used to be played a lot more than it is today. The Gerber Convention, created by John Gerber (1906-1981) of Houston in 1938, has fallen out of favor with many modern bridge players. However, the Gerber Convention is still a useful convention to know, and it showed up in today’s hand, so let’s take a look at the Gerber Convention.

South opened a solid 19 point hand with 2NT. While some may think that that opening bid is a bit light, South’s balanced hand describes the hand perfectly with stoppers in all four suits. The danger, of course, is that North may pass that bid as a 2NT opening bid is not a forcing bid.

This time, however, North has a fistful of points and is ready to bid. With 15 high-card points, North is determined to reach slam for the partnership. First things first, however. North starts with a 3♣ bid, the Stayman Convention after two no trump, asking for a four-card major. South responds that she does indeed have a four-card major in hearts and bids 3♥.

North next bids 4♣, an artificial bid known as the Gerber Convention. This convention is used specifically after no trump openings and is a slam-looking-way to ask for aces at a lower bid than using Blackwood. North is interested in a no trump contract as her hand is balanced with stoppers in three of the four suits. A 6NT contract would be ideal.

The Gerber Convention asks for aces just as the Blackwood Convention asks for aces. The responses are similar but at a lower bid on the bidding ladder. Use 4♣ to ask for aces. A 4♦ response shows no aces or all four aces; 4♥ shows one ace; 4♠ shows two aces, and 4NT shows three aces. On this hand, South bids 4♠ showing two aces. With one ace in her hand, North pushes the contract to 6NT despite the fact that the North/South team is missing one ace. 6NT is the final contract.

West led the fourth card down from her longest and strongest: 5♦. East immediately took the trick with the A♦. To make the contract, all the rest of the tricks would have to be taken by North/South. What was South’s plan? South could count 11 tricks without giving up the lead: A♠, K♠, Q♠; K♦, Q♦; A♥, K♥, Q♥; A♣, K♣, and Q♣. Where would the last trick come from?

After taking the first trick, East dutifully returned a diamond to partner, but South took the K♦ in her hand. Taking the A♥ next, playing the Q♣, and a heart to the K♥ in her hand, South had four tricks in so far. A heart back to the Q♥, a spade to the A♠, the K♠, and the Q♠ gave her four more tricks. With four tricks to go, South next played the good Q♦ from the board, and she led the 7♣ from the board to her K♣ in her hand. The A♣ was played next, and the final trick was the good 8♣. Six no trump bid and made.

Looking at the hand as shown in today’s column, it is easy to see that no tricks can be earned by a finesse or a long suit. South played the hand beautifully, forcing East/West to hang on to their sure winners. Sure winners don’t always materialize, as in this case. Both of their setting tricks of the 10♦ and the J♥ fell on the 13^th club.

Using the Gerber Convention after no trump opening bids may not be as popular in the bridge-playing world as it used to be, but sometimes it might just be the right convention to pull out of your sleeve and win the day. Review the Gerber Convention and keep it handy. It may show up sooner than you expected.

 

Gerald Stein

March 21, 2013

Number of words: 849

 

Local Bridge Class News: Beginning on April 9^th, 2013, the second in a series of American Contract Bridge Classes, “The Play of the Hand in the 21^st Century” will begin at the Kellogg Community College Technology Building on Hill Brady Road in Battle Creek. This class will run from 6-8 PM. on Tuesday nights for eight weeks, finishing at the end of May. Call the Life Long Learning Program at KCC for further details and enrollment.

Better Bridge in Barry County March 21 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  5 ♥  Q 5 ♦  A 6 ♣  A K Q 10 9 6 3 2
West ♠  J 8 3 ♥  10 7 6 4 2 ♦  Q 10 9   ♣  5 4		East ♠  10 7 6 ♥  K J 9 3 ♦  7 5 3 ♣  J 8 7
	South ♠  A K Q 9 4 2 ♥  A 8   ♦  K J 8 4 2   ♣  ----

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North None 4♥

 

North 2♣ 3♣ 3NT 5♥ 6♦ Pass	East Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass	South 2♠ 3♠ 4NT 5NT 7?	West Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass

 

Today’s column takes a look at an extension of one of the Eight Common Conventions You Should Know. The Roman Keycard Blackwood Convention had been mentioned as a source of a future column, and here it is. The Roman Keycard Blackwood Convention, a fairly new convention publicized by Eddie Kantar, bridge author and expert player, is still developing and has a loyal following among modern bridge players. How does it work?

Based on the popular Blackwood Convention that all beginning bridge players are taught and use to reach a slam-going hand, Roman Keycard Blackwood Convention, often abbreviated as RKC, is a much more sophisticated convention. It works like this: instead of asking for the number of aces in a partner’s hand, with four being the sought-after number, Roman Keycard asks for a fifth card: the king of trump. This fifth card, once trump has been decided, along with the four aces helps the partnership tremendously. But there is more. Would you like to know if your partner has the queen of trump as well? There is a way in Roman Keycard to find out that piece of crucial information.

In today’s hand, North opened the bidding with the Artificial Two Club bid, promising 22+ points and determined to reach game and possibly slam. While the numbers for North are not quite there with 15 high card points and four length points in clubs, still with 19 total points and those eight spectacular clubs, can you blame North for opening with a strong bid? North has nine tricks in her hand alone. With a little help, three or four more tricks would place them in a small slam or even a grand slam.

As we have seen in an earlier column, the normal bid for South after a strong 2♣ bid is the 2♦ bid, a waiting bid. In this case, South is not waiting but is eager to tell partner North that she has five spades and at least 8+ high card points. North rebids the clubs, telling partner that her suit is clubs and that she has 5+ good ones. South rebids the spades, informing partner that she has six spades and that they are good ones as well. Being in a major suit is always a first priority in a partnership.

North bids the 3NT, as a game request, but South has bigger plans. Bidding 4NT begins the Roman Keycard Convention just as it did with the Blackwood Convention. Only this time, there is a request for five keycards, the four aces and the king of trump. Since spades was the last suit bid, the partnership is interested in setting the contract in spades unless something better comes up. The responses to Roman Keycard are as follows: 5♣ is three keycards or zero keycards; 5♦ is one keycard or four keycards; 5♥ is two keycards or 5 keycards without the queen of trump; and 5♠ is two keycards or five keycards with the queen of trump.

North duly responds that she has two key cards: two aces, one in clubs, and one in diamonds, without the spade queen of trump. South is happy with that news as she knows that together North and South have all five keycards, the four aces and the king of trump. South presses on to find out about kings and bids 5NT.

In the request for kings, Roman Keycard is the same as Blackwood with 6♣ showing no king, 6♦ showing one king, and so on. North bids 6♦ showing one king. It is time for action on South’s part. Where does South place the final contract? 7♣? 7♠? 7NT?

The best contract is 7NT with all of those beautiful clubs. With stoppers in every suit, it is easy to claim all thirteen tricks. If you chose 7♠ as your final bid, you would have had to be brave and hope for a three-three split in the trump suit. It so happens that the spades do split 3-3 and the contract is made at 7♠. If you chose 7♣, you would also have been rewarded with a grand slam in that suit. 7♣ makes easily with the eight clubs in the trump suit. All in all, the grand slam is reached by using the first cousin of the Blackwood Convention, the Roman Keycard Convention. Would you have been able to reach seven clubs, seven spades, or seven no trump without it? Probably some would have been able to reach that lofty goal. But isn’t it nice to know that there is a newer slam-going convention out there in the modern bridge world that would help you to reach one of bridge’s finest moments? Try learning Roman Keycard Convention. You may be very happy with your results.

 

Gerald Stein

March 7, 2013

Number of words: 991

Local Bridge Class News: Beginning on April 9^th, 2013, the second in a series of American Contract Bridge Classes, “The Play of the Hand in the 21^st Century” will begin at the Kellogg Community College Technology Building on Hill Brady Road in Battle Creek. This class will run from 6-8 PM. on Tuesday nights for eight weeks, finishing at the end of May. Call the Life Long Learning Program at KCC for further details and enrollment.

Better Bridge in Barry County March 14 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  A 10 4 ♥  10 9 7 ♦  K 6 3 ♣  A Q J 4
West ♠  Q 8 7 5 ♥  2 ♦  Q 8 2 ♣  K 9 6 5 3		East ♠  K J 9 2 ♥  8 6 5 4 ♦  A J 10 ♣  8 2
	South ♠  6 3 ♥  A K Q J 3 ♦  9 7 5 4   ♣  10 7

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East North/South 2♦

 

North   1♣ 1NT 3♥	East Pass Pass Pass Pass	South Pass 1♥ 2♦(1) Pass	West Pass Pass Pass Pass
(1)   Alert: New Minor Force

 

In today’s column, let us look at the eighth and final convention in our eight-week series The Eight Bridge Conventions You Should Know. Called New Minor Forcing, it is a modern convention that originated in two earlier conventions, Checkback Stayman, popular in the United States, and Crowhurst, developed by Eric Crowhurst, a popular convention used in the United Kingdom. What is New Minor Forcing? How do you use it in your bridge arsenal? Let’s take a look at today’s hand and the bidding that will shed some clues on New Minor Forcing.

With three passes around the table, North opted to open the bidding with 1♣, promising as we have seen numerous times, an opening hand of at least 13 points and at least three clubs. With South looking at a solid heart suit, it is easy to see that South had an easy bid of 1♥. Playing Standard American as most modern players now do, all North could be sure of was that South had at least four hearts and at least six points. That hardly tells the story here, however.

North’s hand is a minimum hand with no four-card major in spades. The only open bid for North, then, is 1NT, informing South that his hand is minimum. South, however, has two things to tell North at this next bid: “Partner, I have a five-card heart major, and I have at least 10-11 points in my hand. Support my hearts if you have three of them.” How will South convey that important message to her partner North?

Enter the New Minor Forcing Convention. It works like this: With at least 10-11 points in the Responder’s hand, and a five-card major, the Responder (South) bids the unbid minor. In this case, the unbid minor is diamonds, and it has become known as New Minor Forcing Convention. South bids 2♦. This tells Partner North that instead of four hearts and six points, she actually has at least five hearts and 10-11 points. What a difference in meaning!

Because this is a convention that not everyone plays and is familiar with, as it is a partnership agreement, North must announce to the East/West team that this bid is unusual. North does this by either announcing the word “Alert” as soon as South bid the 2♦, or, if using bidding boxes, to pull the Alert card out of the box, place it on the table, and verbally announce “Alert” to the opponents. The opponents have the right to ask what the 2♦ bid means. It has nothing to do with diamonds and has its own special meaning. North must explain the bid to the East/West opponents so that they have an understanding of the bid.

Once the opponents have passed, North’s responsibility is to bid the hearts if he has three of them. In today’s hand, North/South have found a Golden Fit in the heart suit, and that seems to be the best place to put the contract. With 14 high-card points, North readily bids the heart suit. Perhaps North was a bit too enthusiastic by bidding 3♥, but South is able to put the brakes on the bidding by passing and playing the contract at 3♥. Without the New Minor Forcing Convention, it is unlikely that the North/South team would have found the heart fit together. The NMF helps find a fit when the Responder has the five-card major and wants to find out if partner has at least three cards of trump support. In addition, there needs to be enough points, usually 10-11 or more, before New Minor Forcing is utilized.

What if North does not have three-heart support to go with the five hearts in the South hand? It could and does happen all the time. In that case, a retreat to 2NT handles the artificial bid of 2♦. Since the New Minor Forcing is a forcing bid, do not pass your partner when she bids 2♦. You will be looking for a new partner if you do so. Instead accept the fact that your partner has informed you of at least a five-card heart suit and at least 10-11 points in her hand.

In the play of the hand, with a diamond lead, it is easy to see that while North was enthusiastic and wanted to go on to game in hearts, it was the prudent South who had the requisite number of points but they are all in hearts and not much else to add to the partnership nor to the contract. As it turns out, 3♥ is just right, not too hot and not too cold, but just right. The Three Bears would like the New Minor Forcing Convention.

 

Gerald Stein

March 3, 2013

Number of words: 975

 

Local Bridge Class News: Beginning on April 9^th, 2013, the second in a series of American Contract Bridge Classes, “The Play of the Hand in the 21^st Century” will begin at the Kellogg Community College Technology Building on Hill Brady Road. This class will run from 6-8 PM. on Tuesday nights for eight weeks, finishing at the end of May. Call the Life Long Learning Program at KCC for further details and enrollment.

Better Bridge in Barry County March 7 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  7 6 2 ♥  Q J 8 2 ♦  ----- ♣  A K Q 9 7 3
West ♠  A 9 5 4 3 ♥  6 5 ♦  J 8 5 ♣  10 5 4		East ♠  Q J ♥  9 ♦  10 9 7 6 4 3 2 ♣  J 8 2
	South ♠  K 10 8 ♥  A K 10 7 4 3 ♦  A K Q ♣  6

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North None A♠

 

North 1♣ 3♥ 6♦ Pass	East Pass Pass Pass Pass	South 1♥ 4NT 6♥	West Pass Pass Pass

Today’s column takes a look at the Blackwood Convention, the seventh in our eight-part series on The Eight Bridge Conventions You Should Know. Next week the eighth and final convention will be New Minor Forcing, another useful convention for the modern bridge player. But for today, let us look at the Blackwood Convention and the situation when you have a void in your hand and are trying to use the Blackwood Convention. Is a void counted as an ace? How do you show the void if you use Blackwood? These are some of the points we will look at in this column.

With North opening the bidding in the club suit, South bid the heart suit at the one level. With no real hurry to get to slam, it is South who knows the most about the two hands. Adding the points from the 1♣ bid by North (12 high card points) and the 19 high card points in the South hand, it is easy to see that South will consider slam at her next bid. With length in both hands, a void in one hand, and a singleton in the other, this promises to be an excellent try for a slam.

North’s second bid of 3♥ is a strong invitation to game suggesting good heart support with the promised high card points of an opening bid. South now knows the trump suit has been established as hearts, and the Blackwood Convention asking for aces is the convention to use. South bids the 4NT, essentially asking, “Partner, how many aces do you have?” The established response of 5♣ for no aces or all four aces, 5♦ for one ace, 5♥ for two aces, and 5♠ for three aces has been around since Easley Blackwood began writing in the 1930’s and 1940’s about bridge experts using his convention to determine the number of aces and kings held in each hand. The convention is extremely popular and is relatively easy for both partners to learn and use on slam-going hands.

Bridge students often ask if they should count the void as an ace. A void is not an ace; a void is a void. Blackwood Convention is meant to tell your partner about aces. However, in the Blackwood Convention, there is a way to let your partner know that you have a void in your hand once she has asked you how many aces you have. In today’s hand, when South bid 4NT asking North for aces, did you notice North’s response? Instead of bidding 5♦ informing South that he had one ace, North bid 6♦. The jump bid bypassed the expected response and has this meaning: “Partner, I have one ace, and I have a void in my hand.” This part of Blackwood is something many bridge players do not know or have never learned. With the knowledge that North has one ace and a void, South is confident that there is enough strength to bid a small slam and places the contract at 6♥.

West with the lead dutifully led the A♠ winning the first trick. A second spade was taken by South, and South claimed, collecting the next eleven tricks and making a small slam in hearts. Failing to lead the A♠ by West would have allowed South to take all 13 tricks instead of the 12 that North/South were entitled to.

The interesting thing about using the Blackwood Convention is that it is useful to keep you out of a slam when missing more than one ace. While not the perfect convention, it is a handy tool to use and practice with your partner. With a void, there is a way for you to let your partner know about the void as well as any aces you might have. Try it and see if works for you.

Finally, if you are looking for a more sophisticated approach to slam bidding, most modern bridge players have discovered a step up to the Blackwood Convention. Called Roman Key Card Blackwood, this convention uses the four aces and the king of trump for a total of five key cards needed for a slam. Knowing that you have the king of trump as well as the four aces can enhance your slam bidding. Look for a column on Roman Key Card Blackwood in the future.

 

Local Bridge Class News: Another Learn Bridge in a Day Seminar will take place on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at the Kalamazoo Bridge Center in Kalamazoo from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM. If you know of those who have always wanted to play bridge, send them to the www.kzoobridge.com site for more information.

 

Gerald Stein

February 27, 2013

Number of words: 890