Better Bridge in Barry County March 6 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West North/South 6♣

 

North   Pass	East   Pass	South   ?	West 2♠

What happens when your left-hand opponent opens the bidding with a Weak Two spade bid? You have 15 high-card points as South, you have a solid heart suit, and you are the last to bid for the first round. You know from West’s 2♠ bid that she has six spades with most of her points in the spade suit. She has probably 5-10 high-card points in her hand, and she had hoped to disrupt your bid. She certainly has done that. What is your best bid?

You have a number of choices with the South hand: you could pass and try to set the East/West pair, but they are non-vulnerable so your gain will be minimal. You could double for take-out forcing partner to bid, but if she bids diamonds, what are you going to do? You could bid 3♥ on a wing and a prayer hoping that North has some help as you are vulnerable and at the three level. Your final option is to bid 2NT and see what happens. Which choice do you prefer?

In the actual tournament, this hand was played forty times with half of the tables making their bids and the other half not making the bids or bidding an inferior contract. Let’s look at the four options.

 Pass seems like a bad decision to use here. You would be allowing East/West to steal your chances of a good score. Scratch the Pass option.

Take-out double is choice number two: North is forced to bid, and she bids her longest suit, the ratty-looking club suit but five of them. What do you do? Pass and play in a part-score and regret it forever after? No, you must either bid three no trump or bid your five hearts at the three level. If you bid three hearts, partner will raise you to 4♥, and you will be the declarer in the South. If you bid 3NT, North will pass, and again you will be the declarer in the South. How do you like your chances in 4♥ or 3NT?

At least you have made the choice to play the hand at game level instead of playing in 3♣ which would give you a very bad score compared to the rest of the declarers. So let’s choose the 4♥ level since your partner has promised at least three-card heart support and some points. Will it be enough?

With West on lead, you are not surprised when the 6♣ is tabled from West. Knowing from experience that with a six-card weak two bid, you are bound to be short in another suit, you can almost predict that West’s lead of the 6♣ is a singleton. You win the first trick in your hand with the A♣ after East puts up the J♣. You approve of your partner’s bid by a simple thank you and prepare the rest of your plan. A small heart from your hand to the A♥ draws a trump from each opponent. The Q♥ from the board drops the J♥ from West. Now you have an accurate count of West’s hand. One club, two hearts, six spades, so West must have four diamonds as well.

After winning the Q♥ on the board, you play a small club through East and play the 10♣ winning the trick. As you had expected, West shows out of clubs and out of trump. You next play the K♣ winning that trick and then you draw the final trump from East with the K♥.

Giving up a trick now is the next part of your plan. You lead the K♠ losing, of course, to the A♠ in the West hand. Back came a small spade from West, and you let it ride all the way to your winning 8♠. You play the good Q♠ next winning that trick. Your A♦ is a winning trick as well as the two remaining tricks in trump for a total of 11 tricks in hearts. You will lose the A♠ and the K♦ for your two losers on this hand.

You have taken 11 tricks in hearts, and had you chosen 3NT, you would have been able to take 11 tricks there as well. Listening to the bidding helped you on your way to a top score in either 4♥ or 3NT. Passing or playing in 3♣ would have resulted in a bad score for your team.

The takeaways on this hand are two-fold: take the time to count the number of points in the opener’s hand. In this case, with a weak-two bid, there is a range of 5-10 high-card points. Knowing that most of the points will be in the bid suit, you can use that knowledge to successfully play the hand. With support from your partner North, you did not let the weak-two bid distract you too much. Instead, you used the knowledge gained to go on and bid the game whether that game was in hearts or in no trump. Well done, South, on your bidding and playing the hand following a disruptive pre-emptive bid from your opponents.

 

Gerald Stein

February 24, 2014

Number of words: 952

 

Better Bridge in Barry County February 27 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West K♦

 

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

Today’s column returns to an online duplicate bridge tournament where thirty tables vied for top honors. Of the thirty tables, only two tables managed to find the game with today’s cards for the North/South team. One team found a 3NT contract and made two overtricks. Today’s hand was played in 4♠. How well did the South declarer do with his opening bid of 4♠?

Learning from others is an important part of anyone’s education, and learning from bridge masters like Leo LaSota of Bridge Base Online fame is equally important to your bridge education. What would Leo do on a hand like this one? You guessed it. In third position, with two passes, not vulnerable, six good spades, and a good side suit in clubs, Leo would encourage you to bid 4♠ and see what happens. Many times, according to Leo, good things will happen to you and your score. Let’s take a look at today’s hand.

South took a look at his hand once he picked it up, and, realizing that he would be the third bidder, had in mind his bid even before the others had bid before him. With fourteen high card points, a singleton in hearts, and a hope that partner would have something, South bravely bid 4♠ shutting out everyone at the table. All passed, and the contract was 4♠ with South playing the hand.

West chose the K♦ as her lead, a strong lead from a sequence, planning to drive out the A♦ and establishing the Q♦ as a winner for the East/West team. With thanks to his partner North, South surveyed the North hand and liked what he saw. There was a bit of trump support, two valuable aces, one in diamonds and one in hearts, and three clubs which might come in handy later on in the play of the hand.

Nodding that he was ready, North called for the A♦ and played one of his two diamonds from his hand. South saw that he had to make an unorthodox move to make use of the hearts. What looked like three winners in hearts was deceiving. Playing a heart to his K♥ would leave South in a pickle. There would be no way or no entry back to the other two heart tricks. You can bet that East/West would not be helping South out by leading hearts to those good tricks. South realized the importance of using the hearts for two tricks if he was unable to use them for three.

South, on the second trick, played the A♥, a key play for his plan. He played the K♥ from his hand, and since he was still on the board, he promptly played the Q♥, using two good hearts immediately. From his hand, South pitched the losing diamond on the Q♥, feeling satisfied with that effective move. In his hand, there were now only clubs and spades with hearts and diamonds gone. South had made the diamond loser go away by that play.

Next, South led the 10♠, probably not best, but was trying to tempt East to play the K♠. East ducked smoothly, and South played the Q♠ winning the trick. The trouble with that play is that South used two honors to work the finesse. Another time, it might be a better move to play a low card from the dummy, planning the finesse with the Q♠ and using only one honor. As it turns out on this hand, it really did not matter, as South, after winning the Q♠, played the A♠ and dropped the K♠ from East. West would get one trump trick with the good J♠ later on.

Putting West on lead was part of South’s plan, and South led a small spade to West’s winning J♠. Remember West’s opening lead of the K♦ hoping to set up the Q♦? West played the Q♦ but was disappointed when South trumped with a small spade. Back in his hand, South began the second part of his plan: the club suit. With seven clubs in the North/South hands, it was South’s hope that the clubs would split 3-3 with the K♣ and the Q♣ outstanding. Accordingly, South first led the A♣ in case there was a bad club split. All played to the first trick. South next led the J♣ losing to West’s Q♣. Back came another diamond from West, an effective way to drive South out of trumps, but South trumped again. South led another round of clubs, the third round, and was delighted when all played to that trick, with East winning with the K♣. With a final trump in his hand and the thirteenth club, South would be able to trump any lead that East would attempt and would play the last good club for ten tricks taken for the North/South team.

With thirty tables playing these same cards, most South players opted for a 1♠ opening. With help from North, they would arrive at a contract of 2♠ and no more. All would make the bid plus two overtricks, but it was only this South player who bid the South hand with a 4♠ opening bid. With a score of 420, South ended up in second place on this hand with a terrific score of 96.3%. Leo LaSota would be proud of his bridge students who took the experiences that Leo had learned and shared them with others. Thank you, Leo.

 

Gerald Stein

February 20, 2014

Number of words: 1080

 

Bridge Notes: Learn Bridge in a Day? Class starts on Saturday, March 1^st, 2014 at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center at 9:30 AM. Call 269-948-4414 to see if there is still room to register.

Bridge Notes Two: An eight-week Beginning Bridge Course begins in Battle Creek on Monday morning, March 3^rd, 2014 at 10:00 AM. Call the Kellogg Community College Life Long Learning Center to register: 269-965-4134.

Better Bridge in Barry County: Learn Bridge in a Day? Flyer

LEARN BRIDGE IN A DAY? ™

 

Have all your friends started playing bridge?

Do you want to learn to play bridge?

Do you want to update the bridge you learned in college?

Do you want to learn bridge before you go to college?

Are you too busy to squeeze in time for six weeks of class?

Have you answered “YES!” to any of these questions?

 

Get Up to New Tricks!   

Come and learn the basics of bridge in a

concise, concentrated five-hour class.

 

Where: Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center

 

When: 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM on Saturday, March 1st, 2014

 

Cost: $30.00 (includes instructional booklet and lunch!)

 

Registration: Please register in person at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center.

Payment is due at the time of Registration

 

Instructor: Gerald Stein, ACBL Bridge Instructor

269-795-3713. Email: gastein@sbcglobal.net

 

Better Bridge in Barry County February 20 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

Learn Bridge in a Day? How is that possible? Many of you know and will acknowledge that it has taken you years to learn how to play bridge. The key, of course, is that no, you will not learn everything there is to know about playing bridge in a one-day class.  You will, however, learn in a five-hour seminar the basics about the three aspects of bridge: the bidding, the play of the hand, and the scoring. Once you have the basic building blocks of bridge and you can see the overall view of one of the most exciting and challenging of card games, you will know whether you want to continue playing and learning more about this wonderful game of bridge.

“Learn Bridge in a Day?” is a program for beginning bridge players, players who have never played bridge before, but who  have heard of bridge from others and would like to learn more before taking classes. They may have seen couples playing bridge on cruise ships, at home parties, online, or bridge columns in newspapers. They may know people who play and who have encouraged them to learn this fascinating game. Others who may have learned bridge many years ago may be interested in a refresher course, and “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is the perfect way to discover the new methods, terms, and innovations that have developed since those college days when students would rather play bridge than do homework or go to classes.

Whatever your status, beginner or experienced player, a one-day seminar of “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is coming to the Hastings area on March 1^st, 2014. This class was developed by two Atlanta, Georgia, bridge players, Patty Tucker and Melissa Bernhardt, in April of 2010. They formed a limited partnership called Whirlwind Bridge, an apt name for the intensity and the amount of information students gain after just a few hours of instruction. Both bridge instructors saw the need to introduce bridge to new players who had never played bridge before, players who needed or wanted refresher information, and young people in the Atlanta area who could benefit from the social as well as the mental aspects of this game we call bridge.

Since April 2010, numerous classes have been held in large and small cities around America. The first class had a total of 149 participants during the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. Georgia. Memphis, Tennessee hosted a class with twenty school teachers to take bridge to their classrooms as an after-school program. Over 300 students signed up for their classes. On college campuses, in late January 2012, an extension of “Learn Bridge in a Day?” was presented to 20 college students. Closer to Hastings and Barry County, the “Learn Bridge in a Day?” program has been offered three times in the past year and a half with over 50 participants, both students and adults, learning and enjoying this challenging game. Students have taken these classes in Kalamazoo at the Kalamazoo Bridge Club and have enjoyed the fun, the amount of information, and a solid introduction to bridge.

Barry County has long been a bridge-playing community. Meeting new friends, hosting bridge parties, and enjoying the game has brought our community together over the years. Encouraging new players to begin playing bridge is something that we who have played bridge and enjoyed it for years can give back to others. Encouraging students and retirees, working adults --- all are invited to come and learn some new card tricks at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center on March 1^st, 2014. This Saturday program will begin at 9:30 AM and finish at 2:30 PM in the afternoon. A lunch and instructional materials will be included in the $30 fee for those registering for the class. Sign up now by calling the office of the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center at 948-4414? to be sure that you will be ready to learn a wonderful, new, and exciting card game. You will have fun as you learn. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, March 1^st, 2014.

 

Gerald Stein

February 10, 2014

Number of words: 700

Better Bridge in Barry County February 13 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Both A♣

 

North   Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass	East   1NT 3♦ Pass 4♦ Rdbl	South   3♣ 4♣ Rdbl Dbl Pass	West 1♠ Pass Dbl Pass Pass Pass

In last week’s column, we took a look at contracts that are doubled and then redoubled for penalty. Today’s interesting hand takes the doubling and redoubling to a new height: two contracts doubled and redoubled. Let’s see what really happened with today’s hand.

With all hands extremely distributional, it was West who opened with a 1♠ bid. While she had strong spades, there was very little more in her hand, and she would be lucky to bid a second time. North had little in her hand. East, however, had nine diamonds in her hand, and South had a strong hand in clubs and hearts. This hand provided a most aggressive sequence of bidding choices.

It takes courage as a bridge player to use the redouble card, and there are warning signs when there is fierce competition in the bidding. The warning should be obvious to all: these cards are highly distributional with long suits and singletons and voids pretty much taken for granted. South was quite ambitious bidding to the 4♣ level and then after being doubled pulled out the redouble card and plunked it down on the table. The funny thing is that South with the powerful clubs and the strong hearts that fit nicely with partner North’s hand would have indeed made a 4♣ doubled contract for a plus score for the North/South team. There was no need for South to redouble the 4♣ contract. All it did was to open the door for East to bid again.

This time, however, East, taking advantage of South’s hasty redouble bid, with nine diamonds and a partner who had bid her spades twice was ready to bid her diamonds again. When South doubled that 4♦ contract, East promptly redoubled 4♦. With both sides vulnerable, it was a battle of wills on this hand. With diamonds being a bit higher on the bidding scale, East made a great bridge call by daring to redouble the 4♦ bid. The final contract was East playing 4♦ doubled and redoubled.

No matter what lead was chosen, South would only take the A♣, the A♥, and the K♥. East would surely pull trumps by leading the A♦ finding the K♦ in the South hand, and the lone 5♠ in her hand would find a safe place with West’s A♠. East could claim all of the remaining tricks, taking ten tricks and losing only the three tricks that South was able to take immediately.

While South was a daring bridge player, East was even more so. Making 4♦ doubled and redoubled gave the East/West team a fine score of 920 points on their side of the score sheet. It is not very often that a doubled and redoubled contract shows up in a round of bridge. But to see two examples of doubling and redoubling is extraordinary. Looking at the South hand, it is easy to see that South would have lost two spade tricks and one diamond trick and would have taken the rest for ten tricks for the South declarer. On the bidding ladder, however, the diamond suit is one rung up and on this hand, East picked the right time to bid to 4♦ doubled and redoubled and make her contract. Well done, East and West, on aggressive bidding and heads-up bridge playing.

 

Gerald Stein

February 5, 2014

Number of words: 776

Bridge Notes: Are you tired of winter and feel the need to get out and do something new and fun? Consider taking a bridge class offered at the Hastings Community Education and Recreation Center on March 1, 2014. It will be just the way to chase away the winter blahs and begin a new challenge. “Learn Bridge in a Day?” is a five-hour seminar on learning the basics of bridge so that you can see if this is a card game that you would like to pursue. Give the Hastings Community Education office a call at 948-4414. You will be ready to spring into action!