Better Bridge in Barry County December 26 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East North/South 9♣

 

North   1NT 2♠	East Pass Pass Pass	South 1♠ 2♥ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

Today’s column takes a look at a smart declarer playing a part-score hand in a recent online tournament. With players at14 tables playing these exact cards, only this South declarer made the right play-of-the-hand decisions. First, however, let’s look at the bidding to see how the North/South team arrived at a part-score contract in spades.

The bidding went like this: after a pass from dealer East, South opened the bidding with 1♠, promising five spades and at least opening count of 13 high-card points. Described as a minimum hand in most books, South could not see much beyond a part-score for her team. When West passed, North responded with a 1NT Forcing bid. This forcing bid needs an explanation as the North/South pair was playing a Two-Over-One Forcing System. The idea is that when the occasion arises and North has 13 high card points, then a bid of a new suit at the two level is forcing to game. The major idea is that there are enough points between the two hands to make a game in no trump or one of the majors.

However, this time around, North did not have the requisite 13 high-card points to bid at the two-level and must use the 1NT bid in an expanded mode. Players who use a Two-Over-One bidding system have made the 1NT bid a forcing bid for one round, and they have expanded the high card point range from the normal 6-9 to a wider range of 6-12 high-card points. South had to bid again under this partnership agreement.

South did not dare rebid the spades even though she might have wanted to because she only had five of them. A bid of two spades from South would have promised six spades. Instead, South bid the heart suit, promising four hearts in her hand as well as the five spades originally bid.  North then knew the heart suit was not a good fit, and she took the partnership back to spades even though it was a 5-2 fit, not always the best fit for a trump suit. All passed, and the contract reached was the 2♠ bid.

The play-of-the-hand is crucial for success in the bridge world. The plan, of course, is always the first step as soon as the lead hits the table. The 9♣ was the lead, and South’s first question had to be: “Why did West lead the 9♣?” Once South saw the dummy hand from partner North, she had a good idea why West led the club. It had to be a singleton. South had to be careful to preserve her club in her hand as it was the only entry back to those beautiful clubs on the board. Accordingly, South won the club lead in her hand with the K♣.

South’s next three leads were crucial for the success of this hand. With opponents holding six of the trump suit, South could always hope that the spades would split 3-3. Unfortunately, most of the time, with six outstanding trumps, the split will be a 4-2 split. That was the case in today’s hand. West had four spades and East had two.

South proceeded with the A♠, the K♠, and then led the J♠ losing to West’s Q♠. While West still had one more trump, South had managed to keep control of the trump suit. She just had to be patient to get back in and draw West’s last trump.

West, after winning the Q♠ trick, led the A♦ from her hand, winning. A lead from West of another diamond put East in with a winning K♦. East next cashed the A♥ and the K♥. A smart defensive move would have been to return partner’s original lead. Remember the 9♣? Partners need to remember the leads as well as the declarer. In this case, however, East had forgotten what her partner had led on the first trick and led back, not a club, but a diamond.

South, with no more diamonds, trumped low with the 5♠ and won the trick. Then immediately, South played the 10♠, pulling the last spade trump from West. With the trumps all accounted for, South, who had played the hand patiently, led the 10♣ from her hand and overtook the ten with the A♣. Taking the Q♣ and the J♣ in order, South pulled off a top board by making the 2♠ contract with eight tricks for the North/South pair.

This was the only South player, who, with some luck and some help from the East defender, managed to make the 2♠ part-score contract out of 14 tables.  Eight of the fourteen went down two tricks for a -200 points, and the other five declarers went down three tricks for a -300 score.

The takeaways for today? Consider the lead as South did. She could count the clubs on the board and in her hand, and she knew that she must be patient and attack the clubs when the coast was clear. Another takeaway is for the defender East. Remember to return your partner’s lead when you get the chance. Not returning the club after seeing it as the opening lead allowed South a chance to get in with a diamond ruff, draw the last trump from West, and claim the final club tricks. What gifts we are given at Christmas time.

 

Gerald Stein

December 18, 2013

Number of words: 1043

 

Bridge Notes: Interested in learning about Two-Over-One Forcing System? Books at www.baronbarclay.com including another excellent book by Audrey Grant might be a good place to start. A class in Two-Over-One Forcing System is in the works for 2014. Watch for it.

 

Better Bridge in Barry County December 19 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Neither J♥

 

North   Pass 2♦ 3♣	East   Pass Pass Pass	South   2♣ 2♠ ?	West Pass Pass Pass

When today’s South picked up her hand in a recent duplicate game, she thought that Christmas had arrived early for her. With 25 high card points and a powerful hand, South knew that she had indeed been a good girl and that Santa had smiled down on her with such a gift. South knew that she had to make the most of this bridge hand, however. Not often does one receive such a wonderful present.

South gasped inwardly when she picked up today’s hand. Counting the high card points and the strong spade suit, she knew that game was a certainty, but was there more there than that? Bidding carefully and deliberately would be the path to follow. South opened with a strong 2♣ bid, promising at least 22 high card points and forcing to game in most partnership agreements. North inwardly shuddered at her hand, knowing there was little to offer her exuberant partner. Still, the partnership agreement is to respond and let partner describe her hand more fully. North bid 2♦, a waiting bid.

South bid her suit, the spade suit, and she knew that she had eleven tricks if the spades broke reasonably well. Would there be more in the Christmas stocking this year? Perhaps, even a slam? South bid 2♠.

North broke the bad news to South in this way: bidding because she must after the new bid by South, North bid the cheapest bid she could, 3♣, informing South that she had very little, even to the point of having fewer than four total points. With that information, South knew that the burden was on her shoulders, and that she would have to make the final bid or bids as there was little help in the North.

Here was the dilemma for South: should she go for a sure game in spades, or should she risk a shaky slam in spades? She could count eleven tricks in her own hand and knew there would be little help from North. What is your bid following all of the information exchanged between the North and the South players? Did you take the sure thing and bid 4♠? Did you jump to 6♠? Did you try using the Blackwood Convention when you already knew that it would be pointless?

Most South players took the sure gift of 4♠ as they understood what their partners were telling them. Still, when the lead came out and the dummy went down, South was pleased with her decision. North had described her hand correctly, and there was little to say except the sincere thank you to her partner.

Fearing a bad trump split, after winning the heart lead in her hand, South led a small spade to the J♠ on the board. When the spades behaved on a 3-2 split, South pondered her next major approach. Making a game in spades was easy. There were only two losers: the 8♦ and the 2♣. Duplicate players are always looking for that overtrick, that additional trick that will give them even the tiniest of edges against others playing the same cards that they are playing. How could South make it troublesome for the East/West defenders to save the right cards to keep South from taking extra tricks? Looking at the dummy proved to be of little source of information. It would have to be in hoping to save the right cards and discard non-winners. That is not an easy way to defend.

South chose the following path to try and make an overtrick: After pulling all of the outstanding trumps from East/West, South played all of the rest of her spades, one after another, forcing four discards for West and three discards for East. Next, South played her last two heart winners, again forcing more discards from East and West. Finally, South played the A♣ and the K♣. East and West had focused so much on the diamond suit that they had failed to save a club. South played her lowly 2♣, and it won the 12^th trick for two overtricks instead of just the one overtrick that was there all along. East/West took the last diamond trick together.

While no one bid the small slam in spades, it appeared that with the approach that South used that a small slam is possible on this hand. Not so fast. While some South players did use the long spades to squeeze the defenders and take twelve tricks, while looking at the possible leads and the percentages, it looks like bidding a small slam on this hand was a risky proposition. A sure game at 100% with making overtricks or a 50% slam-try based on the defender’s lead seems to be an easy choice. As it turned out, a lead of the J♥ could produce a small slam by playing all of the winners first and squeezing the defenders, hoping that they would throw away their clubs. Also, a spade lead of the 6♠ or the 5♠ would make a small slam in spades. However, the defenders would prevail if West chose the A♦ or the 3♣ as an opening lead. Both of those leads would have resulted in a set contract of 6♠ for South.

Today’s takeaway? Enjoy that beautiful Christmas gift when it is dealt to you. Take the certain game and try for the overtricks when the prospects of a small slam are slim or none. Happy Bridge playing at this wonderful Christmastime.

 

Gerald Stein

December 11, 2013

Number of words: 1020

Better Bridge in Barry County December 12 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East East/West 8♥

 

North   5♣ Pass Pass	East 3♥ Pass Pass Pass	South Dbl (1) Pass 5♦	West Pass Dbl (2) Pass

(1)   Takeout Double

(2)   Penalty Double

Today’s column has some interesting bidding as well as an example of using an end play near the end of the hand. Let’s take a look at the bidding first. As the opener, East had a solid heart suit with seven hearts and three of the top five honors and not a lot of points. Most of East’s points are in the heart suit where they should be, and this proved to be an excellent disruptive bid by East bidding 3♥.

South, sitting with a shortage in hearts as well as a shortage in clubs, chose a takeout double, telling partner North to bid her best suit. While South is stretching the takeout bid a bit, she still has a chance to bid the diamonds and/or the spades. South for a takeout double should be short only in the bid suit of hearts and not short in another suit. That could have caused partnership problems.

West passed the takeout double, and North soared to 5♣ with ten high card points and a decent five-card club suit. East passed as did South, but West with five clubs to the J♣ elected to broadcast her hand to those listening at the table and pulled out the double card. This gave a lot of information to the North/South team, and South, after a pass from North and East, pulled the 5♦ card out of the bidding box and bid 5♦, hopefully escaping from the penalty double. All passed, and the contract was placed at 5♦ in the South.

West chose the 8♥ as her lead, the top of a doubleton and her partner’s bid suit, and North duly placed her hand down on the table. South thanked her favorite partner as always and looked to see how she could make a 5♦ contract. The diamonds looked strong, a nice A♥ would help, and the clubs could be useful, especially since West had told everyone where all of the clubs were. Listening to the bidding is a huge advantage in bridge.

With her plan in place, South called for the A♥ and all followed. On the board, South called for the 10♦ intending to finesse if necessary, but East covered the honor with the K♦, and South won with the A♦. A play of the Q♦ next pulled the remaining trumps from West and East.

South next approached the club suit, playing from the short side and unblocking her A♣. She had figured that West had five clubs for her double and East with an opening preemptive bid had to be short somewhere. All played a club to the A♣, and next South led the 9♣ winning that trick by letting it ride through the dummy. East discarded a heart.

A small diamond from her hand and winning on the board put South in a position to play the K♣, the Q♣, pitching first the heart loser in her hand, then a small spade loser. Putting West on lead was South’s next move, the beginning of an end play where South would give up a loser card that she needed to lose anyway and put West in a position of having to lead to South in last position. South chose the 7♠ from the board, covered by East with the 9♠, and South covered that card with her own 10♠. West won the trick with the Q♠, and stuck for a lead, led the A♠, setting up the K♠ in the South hand. South claimed the rest of the tricks making 5♦.

Thinking back to last week’s column and the review of Audrey Grant’s new book on end plays, it is easy to see that this technique of the end play is one to rely on more often in the New Year. Here is a recap of the end play as executed by South: South cleared out the trump suit first, played all of the winning clubs, clearing away the heart loser and one spade loser in her hand, and then she exited near the end of the hand with a losing spade card from the dummy. South played it that way so that West would have to win the spade trick and would have to lead back to the good spade in the South hand.

 Listening to the bidding helped South on this hand as there would have been a surprise indeed for North playing in a 5♣ contract if West had passed smoothly instead of doubling for penalty. South with an opportunity to find another fit chose the diamond suit and brought home a game contract and 400 points for the North/South team.

Several other partnerships chose a different route after the takeout double. Two, in fact, passed the takeout double by South and turned it into a penalty double of 3♥. The contract was set one trick for -200 points for the East/West team, but this North/South team did a better job with the same cards. Happy bridge playing in 2014!

 

Gerald Stein

December 5, 2013

Number of words: 950

Better Bridge in Barry County December 5 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

Improve Your Declarer Play: Five Steps to Simplify the Endplay

By Audrey Grant

 $9.95 Softcover, 55 pages, Copyright 2013

 Published by and available from Baron Barclay Bridge Supply: www.baronbarclay.com

Rating: A

Reviewed by Gerald Stein

Are you looking for a stocking stuffer for your favorite bridge partner for this Christmas? Audrey Grant’s new little book on endplay strategies will be just the gift for your partner and for yourself as well. Published in 2013, Audrey Grant’s latest book with an easy-to-read and understandable approach to the endplay is a must for developing and unfamiliar bridge players who have always wondered how the experts manage to make more contracts than the average bridge player. The secret is out, thanks to Audrey Grant and her newest bridge book in the Audrey Grant Bookmark Series.

In Five Steps to Simplify the Endplay, Audrey Grant, Canadian bridge writer and an advocate for better bridge education, takes the reader through five easy-to-understand ways to improve your declarer play. Her first approach is to teach you how to recognize the endplay when you are the declarer. While that is an important first step, Audrey’s ultimate goal is to teach you how to put the endplay to your use when you and your partner are the declarers. You will be delighted at her straightforward prose and her many practice hands to perfect this new declarer strategy. You will look forward to using this new bridge method at the bridge table in 2014.

Step One of her five ways is called the ABC’s of Declarer’s Plan. Essentially, her approach is the same as other advocates for better bridge playing. Make a plan before you even draw one card from the dummy. Making a plan is always the most important first step for declarer. Make it your New Year’s resolution.

Step Two, once your plan has been made, teaches you to look for a suit or suits that would be better for you as declarer if the opponents led that suit for you. Let them do you a favor by leading to you, but you have to recognize that concept first, and then let your opponents lead to you. Step two is a recognition of your own hand and the inherent weakness there if you have to lead the suit yourself. Declarer, know thy hand.

Audrey’s Third Step is to find a loser card that you have to lose anyway and use it for a new purpose. Not only must you lose this trick anyway, but you now recognize that you have a new and better use for that loser card. That purpose is, of course, to exit that suit and force (hopefully) your opponents to lead back to you, allowing you as the one in fourth seat to take a winning trick through their help. How very thoughtful of them!

Step Four has to do with eliminating the defenders’ other options. This means eliminating trumps from their hands and at least one other suit so that you are in complete control of the hand. They will not like the situation, but they will marvel at your ability to put them into a predicament and force them to help you make your contract. Congratulations will flow to you from your partner as well as from your opponents.

Step Five puts it altogether in Audrey Grant’s excellent contribution to improving bridge players’ play of the hand. Putting the right defender on lead with your exit card, your losing card anyway, can be a satisfying moment when you realize that you are improving in your bridge strategy and declarer play. The inner satisfaction is well worth the small price of this little book. You and your partner will know that you have reached a new plateau in your bridge playing by reading and rereading Audrey Grant’s Five Steps to Simplify the Endplay.

 

Gerald Stein

November 29, 2013

Number of words: 772

Bridge Notes: Brent Manley, editor for the American Contract Bridge League, has written another review of Audrey Grant’s Improve Your Declarer Play: Five Steps to Simplify the Endplay in the November issue of the Bridge Bulletin for the American Contract Bridge League. Membership in the ACBL for 2014 is also a great Christmas gift for your partner and yourself. Contact www.acbl.org for membership applications for 2014.

Bridge Notes Two: For more information on other Audrey Grant books and products, visit her website at www.audreygrant.com.