Better Bridge in Barry County February 6 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West 8♥

 

North Pass Pass Pass	East Pass Pass Pass	South 4♠! Rdbl!	West Dbl Pass

A redouble bid is a bid that is not used very often in a bridge game. Can you remember the last time you redoubled an opponent who had dared to double your first bid? It does not happen often, but it happened in today’s hand. Let’s see how things worked out.

After North and East had both passed, South with seven strong spades, a void in diamonds, three weak hearts and a doubleton king-queen club combination, and sitting in third seat knew just the bid to shut out the opponents. South bid 4♠ as recommended by one of the top bridge players on the Bridge Base Online website. Leo LaSota has accumulated over 10,000 master points by playing bridge online in bridge tournaments. His recommendation when sitting in third seat, a long major suit, and two passes before your bid? Bid four of the major and see what happens. That is what South did today.

Not content to sit back silently, West, with a strong hand, elected to double, probably for penalty but possibly for a takeout double with the strong hearts. Why West with the heart suit and knowing that South had at least seven or eight spades did not bid the heart suit herself is a mystery. Bidding 5♥ would have definitely been a sacrifice, and even doubled down a trick would have been only a minus 200. At any rate, North and East passed with East probably thinking that East/West were playing the double as a penalty. They need to talk about the double at the four level: is it takeout or is it penalty?

South must have eaten his Wheaties for breakfast that morning, as he sat up straight in his chair and promptly redoubled the bid. West had time to bail out of the bid, but she passed and so did the rest of the table. The contract was 4♠ in the South, doubled and redoubled.

West led the 8♥, a questionable lead for any good bridge defender. Underleading an ace when in a trump contract defies logic. While this is perfectly legitimate when in a no trump contract, there are two opponents who might have the missing king, and only one partner. If you need to lead your suit, do not underlead the ace. Lead the ace and expect to see low cards drop all around. Aces and kings were meant to take high cards, not low spots.

This time it worked for the East/West pair when East provided the K♥ for their first trick. A heart return would surely win after that lead, but East elected to lead a small spade to remove the opportunity for South to trump a heart with the lowly 2♠. South won the trick with the A♠ with all following. South played the K♠ next and was not surprised to see that West was out and that the Q♠ would be a winner for the East/West team.

Knowing that giving up the lead would result in two more heart losers and one spade loser for down one doubled and redoubled, South had to find a way to make one heart loser go away. Here is how South continued the play of the hand: South played the K♣ first and all followed. Then South played the Q♣ from his hand, and when he reached the dummy hand, he called for the A♣ to overtake the Q♣. East had to play her final club. South then played the J♣ from the dummy. East needed to do something and used the Q♠ to trump the good J♣. South smoothly pitched a losing heart on the losing trick achieving what is called in bridge parlance “a loser-on-a-loser” situation. Both of South’s losers, the Q♠ and the losing heart, disappeared on the same trick. East returned a heart to West winning their third and final trick.

With only trump left in his hand, South claimed the last six tricks. The score for making a game contract doubled and redoubled? How about a hefty 880 points to the North/South team?  In the replay with another team playing the exact same cards, West wisely passed, and North/South accomplished the same results as today’s South with this exception. The second pair received 420 points for making their major game in spades without any interruption from the opponents. West’s double of 4♠ and the subsequent redouble by South resulted in a 460 point gain with exactly the same cards. Could or should East/West have sacrificed at the five level when the redouble showed up? Let’s see what that would look like.

It appeared as if a spade were led by North, and won by South, a continuation of the spade would result in an overtrump by North. A diamond lead would result in a trump by South and two club tricks for down three, vulnerable. Down three vulnerable is still a minus 800 points for East/West, almost the same score as the redoubled contract of minus 880.What was the best solution for East/West? Pass smoothly and play the hand at 4♠ and hope that the next hand will be an East/West hand.

 

Gerald Stein

January 28, 2014

Number of words: 1000

 

Bridge notes: Interested in finding out about Leo LaSota’s great success on Bridge Base Online? Go to www.bridgebase.com for online bridge tournaments. Some games are free, so look around and see what you can discover.

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County January 30 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North North/South 5♦

 

North Pass 3♦ (1) 3NT   (1)   Transfer to Hearts	East Pass Pass Pass	South 2NT 3♥ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

In most online bridge tournaments, there are many, many tables of bridge players, vying for the top scores. On today’s hand, there was an unusually small number of tables. Only five tables signed up to play this particular tournament. To do well in this kind of situation, you need to make your best bridge moves. Let’s see how South fared against four strong contenders.

Today’s South opened the bidding with a 2NT bid even though their partnership agreement required at least 20 high-card points for that particular bid. With 19 high-card points, three suits stopped and good cards in the three suits, South chose the 2NT opening bid. While not a forcing bid in most players’ agreement, North chose the Jacoby Transfer Convention as his way of showing five hearts for partner South. Bidding 3♦ would force South to bid 3♥. The advantage is that the South player has the hand with the most points as the closed hand, and he can be the declarer instead of North with the weaker hand. North then gave South a choice: 3NT or 4♥? South easily chose the 3NT contract as he had stoppers in the other three suits, North had promised five hearts, and nine tricks in no trump is easier than ten tricks in a major suit. South passed, and the contract was 3NT.

West tabled the 5♦ as the lead. Down came the dummy, and South surveyed his partner’s cards. Grateful as always, South prepared his plan; he had five sure tricks: A♥, A♠, K♠, A♦, and A♣. Four more tricks would need to be promoted to make the 3NT contract. Nodding that he was ready, South called for the 6♦, the K♦ came from East, and South took the first trick with the A♦. Next, South led the A♣ with all playing low. South was preparing to unblock the club suit and secure another entry to the dummy. South on the third trick played the Q♣ from his hand. West took the trick with the K♣; South played low from the dummy, and East played the 4♣. South had just succeeded in setting up two club tricks in the dummy, and he still had a small club in his hand to get to them.

West continued with a diamond lead, the 8♦, with South discarding a small heart from the board, East played a small diamond, and South won with the J♦. With no time like the present, South led his small club to the waiting two club winners on the board. South discarded a small heart on the second club winner. The A♥ was South’s next play, and all played a heart.

Leading the 10♠ from the board, South let it ride all the way to West. West won with the Q♠, took the K♥ and the Q♦, but at that point, South was in control. The J♥ on the board was good once the Q♥ had dropped from the East hand. West chose to lead a final diamond, the 7♦, but South won with the 10♦. The final two tricks needed to make the 3NT contract were the top spades in the South hand.

All in all, South took three diamond tricks, three club tricks, one heart trick, and two spade tricks for his nine tricks. The other four tournament players all went set by one trick with one player in 3NT, one in 4♥, and two in 4♠ contracts. Only today’s South found the winning combination in no trump by carefully setting up the diamonds and the clubs. True, if South had played the top spades from the top, he might have made an overtrick, but that is a moot point. Beating the other four players with a top score of 600 points gave him a commanding lead in the tournament.

The takeaway for today? When given a choice by your partner as to the choice of games, in this case, either 3NT or four of a major, look carefully at your hand. If your hand is a balanced hand, you might want to consider staying in no trump where you need only take nine tricks to make game as opposed to needing ten tricks in a major. Some bridge players do not like to play in no trump, but, the fact is, it is sometimes the easiest way to make a game. Do not say, “No more no trump.”  Say instead, “Try no trump more in Two Thousand One Four!”

 

Gerald Stein

January 22, 2014

Number of words: 919

 

Bridge Notes: Interested in the “Learn Bridge in a Day?” seminar to be held on March 1^st at Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center? Wondering about the question mark at the end of the title? Watch for a future bridge column that will address some of these thoughts. Meanwhile, sign up at the Community Education office at 948-4414.

Better Bridge in Barry County January 23 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North Neither 4♠

 

North Pass Pass	East 1♦	South Pass	West Pass

Would you rather defend a bridge hand, or would you rather play a bridge hand? Today’s South had to make that decision on the third bid of today’s hand. A pass from North, a minor suit opening of 1♦ from East, and it was South’s time for a decision. What would you have done with 16 high-card points and a respectable five-card club suit? Would you have bid one no-trump? Two clubs? Double? Or Pass?

South chose to pass this hand. Was it a wise decision, or did the North/South pair miss a game? Let’s take a look. With all passing, South was on lead. The only safe lead appeared to be the top of the doubleton: 4♠. The 9♠ came from the dummy, the Q♠ from North, and East won their first trick with the A♠. A spade was led from the East hand to the K♠ on the board. A small heart was then led from the dummy to the A♥ in the East hand. That was it. East had taken all of the tricks that East/West would take. North/South took the next ten tricks in a row setting East/West four tricks for a minus 200 points.

While a score of 200 is nothing to sneeze about on the North/South side of the ledger, still they might have done better by being proactive instead of sitting back with a solid bank of points, especially in the South hand. What could and what should South have done in this situation?

South’s hand is too strong to sit back and wait for his partner North. North had already announced through his pass bid that he did not have opening count. East opened 1♦ with 13 high-card points, and as it appeared in the post mortem, it was a Convenient Minor opening with three diamonds but two four-card majors. East was waiting for West to respond. Although West had two four-card majors, she had only four high-card points, so she passed. North with seven high-card points had nowhere to go either, and North passed.

The North/South hands had 23 high-card points while the East/West hands had17 high-card points. As a bidder, it is unusual to try for a game with fewer than the 25 or 26 high-card points recommended for a game in no trump or in one of the majors. Yet, this time, as we have seen, the North/South team took ten tricks. Should the North/South team have bid a game in No Trump, making not just three no trump but an overtrick for a plus score of 430?

The answer is yes if you are an aggressive bridge player. With South having East on his right, it would seem that he would know where all of the points would be. An overcall of 2♣ would certainly be justified; a 1 no trump overcall would be a reasonable bid as well. Getting to 3NT might be a difficult challenge, however, and, as it turned out, only one North/South pair dared to go for the gold bidding and making the 3NT bid and pulling in the top score of 430.

Who was the second place winner on this hand? Yes, you guessed it. It was the North/South pair who passed the 1♦ bid and set the East/West pair four tricks down for a 200 score for North/South. Playing it safe on this hand worked out for North/South this time, but the game of bridge is not a game of playing it safe. Allowing any pair to play in a one-level contract seems to be a questionable practice. Going a step further, even allowing a pair to bid to the two-level and play it there is something that seems not quite right. The point is that bridge players are bidders. It is important to bid your hand to the best of your ability and see what happens. In this case, South made a lucky decision, and it turned out well. Making a game, however, would have been more satisfying to most bridge players. Make sure that you bid when you know that bidding is the right thing to do. It will work out as the right thing to do most often.

As an afterthought: how did the one North/South team reach the 3NT contract? Here is the sequence: North: Pass; East: 1♦; South: 2♣; West: Pass;

                 North: Pass; East: Dbl; South: Pass; West: 2♥;

                 North: Pass; East: Pass; South: 2NT; West: Pass

                 North: 3NT; East: Pass; South: Pass; West: Pass

 

Gerald Stein

January 13, 2014

Number of Words: 913

 

Bridge Notes: Your New Year’s Resolution? Learn to play bridge this year? Teach someone how to play bridge this year? Teach a grandchild the fun of knowing how to play bridge? There is good news as a one-day seminar “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is set for March 1, 2014 at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center. Sign up today.

Learn Bridge in a Day? Seminar

Bridge in a Day at Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center

 

 

For: Adults & High School Students

Date: Saturday, March 1st, 2014

 

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Location:

CERC | Room C

Cost: $30 –

Lunch and a notebook are provided.

Instructor: Jerry Stein

Learn bridge in a day – FUN, FAST, FUNDAMENTALS

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9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – Instruction and Play

12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. – Lunch

12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. – Instruction and Play

Learn Bridge in a Day? Seminar

Hastings Community Education

with

&

Whirlwind Bridge

 

Present

 

“Learn Bridge in a Day?”

 

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County January 16 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

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

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East Both K♣

North 1♠ 2♥	East Pass 2♣ Pass	South 1♥ 2♦ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

Today’s column returns to that kind of hand when the trump suit is not ideal. In today’s hand North/South reached a 2♥ contract but did not have the golden fit in the trump suit. Eight is always a good number to shoot for in the trump suit, but sometimes a seven-card trump suit can bring home the contract. That is what happened in today’s hand. Played online in a thirty-table tournament, South found himself in a Moysian fit, a fit when the declarer has five trumps but the declarer’s partner has only two. There can be some problems, but this South found the right path to success. Let’s take a look.

South opened the bidding with twelve high-card points and two five-card suits, hearts and diamonds. Bidding the higher of the two suits is the way to proceed, allowing you to bid the second suit later without getting too high in the bidding. With nine high-card points and a five-card spade suit, North bid 1♠. East with six clubs, nine high-card points, and a chance to let partner know about a possible club lead, bid 2♣. At this point, South easily was able to bid 2♦, and North, not knowing that South had five diamonds, returned South to 2♥ even with the two small hearts. The contract was placed at 2♥.

Heeding the overcall bid of partner East, West chose a club lead. Leading the higher of a doubleton in partner’s suit informed her that she had two cards in that suit. That is a very useful defensive signal. Called high-low, most bridge players find this a most effective way to communicate with their partner. West led the K♣.

South looked at the dummy, thanked his partner as always, and began his plan. The hearts and diamonds looked the best to him, but a shortage of trumps is always a concern. South, knowing that the trump split will seldom be 3-3 and most often 4-2 for the opponents,  realized from the bidding that most of the points for the defenders should be in the East hand. South had seen the K♣ as the lead, took the A♣ from the dummy, and he now knew where the rest of the clubs were. Declarers also know about the high-low signal, and so South knew that West only had one more club in her hand. Time to get the kiddies off the street!

Trusting that East had points, South led the 2♥ from the board. East ducked smoothly, and South played the J♥, winning the trick. Here is where South made a key play. Most of the other 29 declarers tried to set up a side suit first, but not this South. South led the A♥ next, pulling a trump from both West and East. Only then did this South lead the A♦ from the South hand with all following.

On the fifth trick, South led a small diamond from his hand toward the Q♦ on the board, but West intervened and took the K♦. South discarded the Q♦ from the board to unblock the diamond suit. East discarded the 9♣ for an obvious request to return a diamond for a ruff.  West complied by returning a diamond, small from the board, and trumped by East with a small heart. East then led the Q♣ and South followed with the 10♣. East then played the K♥ drawing yet another of South’s trumps, but now South was in control of the trump suit.

East led the J♣, but South trumped with the 4♥ and then to  make sure that all hearts were out, next played the Q♥ with no hearts remaining out. With the top diamonds gone and all trump out, South confidently played the 10♦ and the 9♦ for the seventh and eighth trick of the contract. South lost the last spade to the A♠ in the West hand.

The takeaways for today’s hand? With a Moysian fit, drawing trump early as South did in this hand prevented West from trumping in on a club return. Listening to the bidding also helped South to place East with high-card points although if you look at the East and West hands, they appear to have an equal number of high-card points. Unblocking the Q♦ also was a savvy plan for South as he was able to play the good diamonds from his hand at the end once the trump was out. Out of the 30 tables playing these cards, only one declarer found the right solution. Moysian fits need not give you fits!

Gerald Stein

January 11, 2014

Number of words: 927

Bridge Notes: A Learn Bridge in a Day Seminar will be held on Saturday, March 1^st, 2014 at the Hastings Community and Recreation Center. See the online posting or consult your recent catalog of classes. Open to high school students and adults, this five-hour bridge class will give you the basics of bridge by the end of the day.