Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
|
|
North
♠ A J 7
♥ A J 7 3 2
♦ 7 6 4
♣ 9 8
|
|
|
West
♠ Q 10 8 5 2
♥ Q 10 4
♦ 3
♣ A Q 7 6
|
|
East
♠ K 9 6 3
♥ K 8 5
♦ Q 9 5
♣ K 10 2
|
|
|
South
♠ 4
♥ 9 6
♦ A K J 10 8 2
♣ J 5 4 3
|
|
|
Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
|
West
North/South
Pick it
|
|
North
Pass
|
East
Pass
|
South
?
|
West
Pass
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Last week we looked at the spade suit. The pair who
controls the spade suit has the boss suit in the game of bridge. Let’s see what
happened in a weekly duplicate game at a local club. The bidding was fairly
uniform until it came around to South. With not quite enough total points to
open the bidding in the West, the North, and the East, it was up to South to
determine the fate of this hand. How would you have bid this hand? Are there
any guidelines or rules to help you out of this particular pickle? Let’s take a
look.
Sitting in fourth seat in a game of bridge is a
particularly hot seat. You determine the fate of the hands and your decision,
right or wrong, can influence the way the hand is played. South looked at her
beautiful diamonds and became attached to them. With only nine high card points
and some length points in diamonds, she thought she would have no trouble
winning the bid. It was evident to her that the other three players had
something but what she failed to realize is that she did not have the boss
suit. The boss suit is, of course, the spade suit. With only one spade in her
hand, that should have sent a warning shot across the bow of her bridge ship.
South’s bid? Did you guess one diamond or two diamonds? A two diamond bid would
be construed in the North/South partnership as a weak two diamond bid, promising
at least six diamonds with most of her points in the diamond suit. That
appeared to be South’s thinking on her bid of either one diamond or two
diamonds. The problem with weak two bids is, of course, is that they are
preemptive and weak by nature, and all know that. Weak two bids are better used
in first, second, or third position rather than broadcasting your weak hand to
the table in fourth seat. There does not seem to be a reason to preempt when
you are the last bidder. Buy the contract as cheaply as you can or pass out the
hand.
Once the door was opened, however, it was not long
before East/West found their fit in spades. They had been given an opportunity
to enter the bidding that they should not have had and they took full advantage
of the mistake that South had made. East/West easily bid the spades to the two
or three level and easily expected to make that bid, especially when West knew
that her singleton diamond would be very useful on this hand. The bidding
information given out by South on her disastrous bid gave away lots of useful information
to the East/West pair.
Perhaps, North should have recognized his partner’s
predicament and supported the diamond suit immediately, pushing the East/West
to an unmakeable contract. North knew that North and South had nine diamonds
between them, but, alas, that did not happen either. North/South ended up with
a bad score on this hand, and the East/West
team who had been granted a gift took top scoring honors on this hand. What
could South have done to reverse that situation so that it would not happen
again in the future? Bridge is always about learning from our past mistakes.
What is the lesson to learn here?
Today’s hand illustrates the need to know and apply
a useful rule or guideline of bridge. Called the Rule of Fifteen, it simply
states the following: The Rule of Fifteen allows the bridge player in the
Fourth Seat, after three passes, to determine whether or not she should open
the bidding. The Rule of Fifteen states that the Fourth Hand should only open
the auction if the number of high card points and the number of SPADES equal
the sum of 15 or more.
Also called Pearson Points, the Rule of Fifteen’s
logic and reasoning is as follows: with the high cards most likely spread
evenly around the table, as evidenced by today’s hand, the Fourth Seat should
only open with a preponderance of spades, implying that she has the boss suit
of spades. Having the spade suit prevents the opposition, as happened in
today’s hand, from getting into the auction and stealing the bid away. So…what
should South have done with today’s hand?
Using the Rule of Fifteen, she should have counted
her high card points and her spade(s). Counting South’s high card points, we
can see that she only had nine high card points. Counting the singleton spade
and adding it to the nine high card points, South easily can see that she had
only ten points, not even close to the needed fifteen required by the Rule of
Fifteen. South’s choice at this point? A quick and decisive use of the Pass
card! She would have saved her partnership from a bottom score and vaulted them
into a top score. East/West might have reached the spade contract on some very
light bidding on their own before it reached the Fourth Seat, but why help the
opposition? Using the Rule of Fifteen is an effective and useful rule or
guideline to have. Once again, this is something that partnerships must be
aware of and help each other, reviewing such strategies from time to time. Use
fifteen minutes together and review the Rule of Fifteen.
Gerald Stein
Number of words: 1000
November 6, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment