Better Bridge in Barry County May 7 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East North/South 10♥

 

North   2♣! 3NT	East Pass Pass Pass	South 1♣ 2NT Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

In today’s hand, it looks like North and South have a great fit in the club suit, but making a game in clubs with a 5♣ bid spells disaster almost immediately. Instead of trying for eleven tricks in the club suit, consider the possibility of a game in no trump. 3NT requires nine tricks instead of the eleven tricks, and the long clubs will be a most useful help in making this contract. Let’s take a look at the bidding and the play of the hand.

After a pass by East, South opened a rather weak hand with one club. There does not seem like there is a second bid available for South. Even 1NT looks scary with two jacks in the majors. North, however, used a 2♣ bid as an Inverted Minor bid, a forcing bid that promised clubs as well as points and forced South to bid 2NT. South complied, and North placed the final contract at 3NT.

West on lead had not much of a choice but elected to use the 10♥, the top of a three-card sequence, to see if he could reach his partner. Down came the dummy hand, and South began her plan, thanking her partner for the 15 high card points and the long clubs. There appeared to be six club winners, two diamond winners, and a heart winner or two as well as a possible spade winner. 3NT should be made easily if all went well.

South played the Q♥ on the 10♥ and saw East win the trick with the A♥. Back came a small heart, and South won with the K♥ in the dummy. The next six tricks were club tricks starting with the short side first with the A♣ and the Q♣ and finishing with the winners in the North hand. So far seven tricks had been accounted for, and the three remaining winners would bring the total up to ten tricks. Would there be another overtrick with the spade suit? Let’s see how South managed to play the remaining cards.

After playing the last club winner, South first played the K♦ from the North hand. Did it make a difference? You bet! A small diamond was then led to the A♦ in the South hand, and then South played the good J♥ for trick number ten. At this point, spades had not yet been played. Where was the A♠? This was the question in South’s mind. With nothing to lose as the contract had been made, South led the J♠ tempting West to take the trick and then West would have to lead a final spade to the waiting K♠ in the North hand. West did not cover the J♠, and then South was in a quandary. Was West being cagey? South decided to go up with the K♠, and it won the eleventh trick. The last trick would indeed go to West’s A♠.

For their efforts, North and South took eleven tricks, scoring well in an online tournament. Three NT was the contract of choice while those few who ventured into a 5♣ contract saw it go down to defeat with the loss of the A♥ and two spade losers. When your minor suits show up, always consider a 3NT contract before blasting off to a 5♣ or 5♦ contract. The long minor suits will be useful in no trump, and overtricks will pay big rewards when the final scores are tallied. Nine tricks most of the time are easier to take than eleven tricks. A useful way to remember this is to know that 3NT and 4H and 4S can make their games usually on 25-26 high card points. Games in the minors with 5♣ and 5♦ require 29 high card points and eleven tricks. With only 40 high card points in the deck, make your games in no trump and the majors. You will be a bridge winner!

 

Gerald Stein

April 25, 2015

Number of words: 811

 

Bridge Notes: A beginning bridge course has just started at Kellogg Community College’s Life Long Learning Program. The first class met this past Monday, but there is still time to join in for the next seven lessons. Call KCC at their office at 269-965-4134 for further information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County April 16 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Both Q♠

 

North   Pass 3NT	East   Pass Pass	South   1NT Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

Today’s hand presents another no trump contract with straightforward bidding. Did you notice the response bid from North? There was no mention of 2♣ for the Stayman convention, nor was there a transfer bid to either hearts or spades. What does that tell you and the defenders about the North hand? Once again, by not using standard conventions of Stayman and Jacoby transfers, astute defenders can learn a lot about the responder’s hand. In this case, without mentioning the Stayman convention or the transfers, East and West can be assured that North does not have the major suits. North must have help in the minor suits and with eleven high card points, easily bid the 3NT contract after South opened with a 1NT bid promising 15-17 high card points. Bridge is a matter of counting the points.

West, as the one to plan the defense, took her time to count what she knew. She knew this much:  North and South had at least 25-26 high card points out of the total of 40 in the hand. West herself had eight high card points. Her partner East had at best six high card points. It would be tough to beat this contract.

West, with her knowledge of North’s bid and the inference about no major suits, wisely chose the top of the spade sequence: the Q♠. Leading that card promised the J♠ and most likely the 10♠ as well. With five strong spades and a useful entry with the diamonds eventually, West was confident that she could make a strong defense with a spade lead. She would, of course, need help from her partner East with the defense.

Following the Q♠ lead, down came the dummy hand, and sure enough, the major suits only had three cards each. The long club suit would surely please South as declarer, especially since he needed help in that suit. South thanked his partner for the three tricks showing, as well as possible club tricks through promotion. South could count seven sure tricks with the three heart tricks, the three club tricks and the one diamond trick. Setting up two more tricks would be essential to making the 3NT contract. With seven cards in each of the minor suits, it looked like clubs might be the easier suit to establish for extra tricks.

South played low from the board on the first trick, and East with the A♠ knew that she must unblock her A♠ and then return a spade. Otherwise, there would be no way to return to the West hand. East took trick number one with the A♠ and promptly led her remaining spade. South had a decision to make at this point. Should he duck the second trick, holding up the K♠ to cut the communication between East and West? Hoping that when East played the A♠, that was a doubleton, South played the K♠, taking the second trick.

South promptly went to work on the club suit, playing from the short side first. He led his Q♣ and played small from the board with all following. A second club to the A♣ put him on the board, and again all followed. So far, eight of the clubs had been accounted for. South’s hope was that there would be one more in each of the defender’s hand as he was out of clubs as well. South led the K♣ and discarded a small diamond. West was forced to discard one of her spades. South then knew he must throw the lead to East with a club and must hope that East had no more spades. Not taking the heart tricks was smart as South needed to get back to the final club to make his contract. East won the club trick with the J♣ and then led a small heart hoping to make something happen with the J♥.

That is all that South needed to pull in the remaining needed tricks. He won the heart lead in the dummy with the A♥, and played the final good club. Then a heart back to his two good hearts and to the good A♦ gave South a solid 3NT game. All in all, South took one spade trick, three heart tricks, four club tricks and one diamond trick for his nine tricks and a good score.

Can you see how South can gain an overtrick and even do better than today’s declarer? At trick two, when South is trying to determine whether to duck or to take the K♠, one and only one South declarer decided to duck again, letting West win the second trick. Now West could have and should have continued a spade lead but did not. Instead, West tried to make something happen and led a top diamond, driving out the A♦ in the South hand. South then went to the dummy with the A♥ and then led a diamond back with East playing the 10♦, South the J♦, and West winning with the Q♦. A diamond came back to South who now had tricks to burn with the diamonds all set up. South made an overtrick, taking ten tricks by an alternate plan. South did not work the club suit except to take the top three tricks. Well done, North and South.

 

Gerald Stein

April 6, 2015

Number of words: 1033

 

Bridge notes: A beginning bridge class will start at Kellogg Community College’s Life Long Learning program beginning May 4 from 4:30 until 6:30 PM and running through eight Mondays except Memorial Day. Contact the Life Long Learning Center for more details at 1-269-965-4134.