Better Bridge in Barry County November 27 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West North/South K♠

 

North   1♣ 3♥ Pass	East   Pass Pass Pass	South   2♥ 4♥	West Pass Pass Pass

Paul Soloway (1941-2007) was one of the leading bridge players of the past. With over 65,000 masterpoints given out by the American Contract Bridge League for his many wins in world-wide bridge tournaments and competitions, Paul Soloway gave much to the bridge community during his time as a bridge player. One of his best known contributions to the bridge world was the Soloway Jump Shift, aptly named after him. Once popular in the days of Charles Goren, the Soloway Jump Shift has disappeared from a lot of players’ bag of conventions. In today’s hand, however, three of the twenty-eight South players dusted off the Soloway Jump Shift and put it to good use.

After West passed as the opening bidder, North opened with 1♣, a promise of at least three clubs and a minimum of twelve points. With East passing, the opportunity for using the Soloway Jump Shift emerged for South. With 18 high card points, South was prepared to jump shift to the 2♥ level. Just what was South promising to his partner North?

As with all conventions, both partners needed to be on board to communicate in the bidding process. South had just promised North by jumping and shifting to the 2♥ level that he had five hearts, 17 or 18 total points, and that this was a forcing bid. North, with three hearts, promptly raised the hearts to 3♥, and South raised to 4♥. No mention was made of the club suit because a major fit had been found easily by South’s bid. Besides, North’s club suit could be just three cards as it turned out to be.

With a solid hand in the South, did North/South stop too soon? Did they miss out on a heart slam? Let’s see how the play of the hand turned out.

With West leading the K♠, it was evident that there was at least the Q♠ behind that lead. North tabled his twelve high card points, and South promptly thanked him and prepared to make a plan to take a minimum of ten tricks with hearts as trump. It was evident that there was a spade loser, no diamond losers, no club losers, but there were some gaps in the heart suit. South would play for a three-two split in the heart suit, his best hope for losing just one heart trick.

South called for the A♠ and won the first trick in the dummy. Two rounds of drawing trump saw the three-two split as expected with the J♥ as the outstanding trump. South had won the second heart trick in his hand with the K♥. He played the A♦ next and played the 6♦ from the dummy. He next led the Q♦ from his hand and overtook the Q♦ with the K♦. The J♦ was then led, and South discarded the losing spade from his hand, making that loser go away. With no more diamonds, West trumped with the J♥ winning the trick for East/West.

Leading the Q♠ was West’s next move, but it was too late, and South trumped with a small heart. He played the A♣, the K♣, and the Q♣ next. When the J♣ did not surface, South led the 5♣ anyway and trumped it with the last heart on the board. The final two tricks were won in the South hand with his two remaining trumps. South had just taken twelve of the thirteen tricks. Did the South declarer miss the small slam this time?

Indeed, South missed the small slam, but so did most of the field. Only three pairs found the small slam of 6♥ for a fine score of 1430 and a 96% game. The three pairs who found the 4♥ plus two scored next best with a score of 680 and an 84% game. Others played in no trump and several even attempted to try a grand slam of 7♥ only to go down to defeat.

The interesting thing about this hand is that only three South declarers of the 28 teams who played this hand made use of the Soloway Jump Shift convention. Today’s South made use of this convention to describe accurately his hand to his partner. While not reaching their full potential, still today’s North/South pair ended up ahead of most of the field for a fine performance.

 

Gerald Stein

November 22, 2014

Number of words: 830

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County November 20 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Both 5♥

 

North   Pass Pass Pass	East   2♦ 5♦ Pass	South   4♥ Dbl	West 1♦ Pass Pass

“Double, double, toil and trouble,” chant the three witches in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Their incantations spell gloom and doom for Macbeth and those around him. While bridge players do not rely on chants or incantations against their opponents, still they have a useful device at their disposal when they feel that their opponents have bid too high. The use of the penalty double can bring rewards to discerning bridge players.

In today’s hand, West opened the bidding with twelve high card points and bid the four-card diamond suit first. North with nothing passed. East with five good diamonds used the 2♦ bid as a forcing bid, promising five diamonds and ten-twelve total points. South with a long and strong heart suit pushed the bidding up quickly by bidding 4♥. East pushed back to 5♦. Here is where South heeded the witches’ advice as East had just put their partnership in hot water. South was wise to double 5♦, especially when he knew that East/West were vulnerable.

When North led the 5♥ as the opening lead, West as declarer knew, once she saw the dummy hand that East placed on the table, that she had a number of losers. While there would be no diamond losers, there looked to be one heart loser, one club loser, and two spade losers. That would be costly as down two doubled and vulnerable would yield a minus 500 points and a huge loss. Minus 500 points is never a winning score unless North/South as vulnerable can make a 4♥ contract. The question then becomes this: can North/South make 4♥ on this hand?

On this hand, if South steals the contract at 4♥, he will be unable to make the contract. He will lose one spade, two diamonds, and one club for down one. If East had been sharp, she would have doubled the contract of 4♥, and collected 200 points since North/South were also vulnerable. It would have been East/West who would have been doing the smiling with a nice 200 point gain since they cannot make 5♦ on this hand.

Bidding up to the four and five level in a competitive auction is dangerous stuff. While game is a worthy goal whenever possible, there has to be some caution at times; the bidder must not get carried away with the prospects of making a game. Remember to make a game in a minor suit, East/West would have needed 29 points together. While we can see by counting the points ourselves, East/West have 22 high card points between them while North/South have 18. Those are pretty telling numbers. Someone is going down on this hand.

South was lucky he was not doubled for a loss on this hand. East pushed too hard and should have put on the brakes. East should have doubled South for trying to interfere. Instead East was caught up in the auction and forgot to use two of her basic tools of bridge. She forgot to count the points, and she forgot to double.

The witches had it right even though each time they gave equivocal messages to Macbeth. He always misinterpreted the words that the witches were sending his way. The message here is clear. East had the count of the points. She knew that when West opened, West promised at least 12 high card points. East had 10 high card points. Combining the East and West hands, we see that the East/West team had the preponderance of points with 22. North/South can only have 18 of the total 40 points in a hand. East must make North/South pay by doubling and giving them all kinds of “toil and trouble.”

Gerald Stein

November 16, 2014

Number of words: 722

Better Bridge in Barry County November 13 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North Neither 2♠

 

North Pass Pass Pass	East 1♦ 3♥ Pass	South 1♠ 3♠ Pass	West 2♥ 4♥

As a bidder, when do you know when to hold and when do you know when to go? In today’s hand, East opened the bidding with 1♦, promising at least three diamonds and a total of 12 high card points. Did you notice East’s distribution? With a hand with 4-3-3-3 distribution, East might have thought twice about opening this hand. Certainly, 4♥ seemed a bit too much given what we see in the East/West hands. With 22 high card points in the East/West hands, and an overcall in spades by South, the obvious inference was that most of the North/South points were in the South hand. North was silent all three times with good use of the Pass card.

South with a solid spade suit and 15 high card points and hearing no encouragement from North wisely pulled back when the bidding started to become dangerously high. Even 3♠ was a tad too much without any help from North.

At any rate, East/West won the contract for 4♥. Why did South not double? Generally, the overcall had said it all but a double usually means a loss of one trick for the defense. In this case, both East and West knew that the points were in the South hand. Without any help from North, South would defend the hand as it was bid.

Were you surprised that East supported the heart suit with only three hearts? With a weak hand to open the bidding, there was not much more East could do. Running to 2NT looked to be a disaster, especially after South had just bid spades. East created his own pickle of a situation. Perhaps East should have passed the 2♥ bid and waited to see what South would do.

North dutifully led a small spade to the waiting A♠ in the South hand. South smartly continued with the K♠ and won a second trick. Losing nothing by leading the J♠, South plunked it down on the table fully expecting West to use one of her four or five trumps. On the third trick, West won the trick by trumping high with the J♥. A strange play happened next when West led the 9♦ and let it run all the way to the South J♦. Why would West give up a diamond trick when she had three stoppers in diamonds? Was West hoping to make the other diamond trick go away as well as the two losing clubs by taking a diamond finesse?

At any rate, now South led the Q♣, a singleton, to the A♣ in the West hand. West then led the 10♦ to the A♦ in the East hand, played the K♦ and threw away a small club, and then led the Q♦ and threw away the other club loser. Unfortunately for West, North with only one trump, the 9♥, was able to trump the Q♦. Even drawing one round of trumps would have been a better call for West than playing it as she did.

West would eventually lose the A♥ for down two tricks, and 100 points for the defenders, North and South. West lost two spade tricks, the J♦ trick, a trump trick by North, and the A♥ by South. Only two defenders found the right combination to beat the 4♥ contract by two tricks. For their efforts, they received top boards and an 87.9% rating. Fifteen other defenders allowed the East/West team to go down just one trick and scored considerably lower.

For those of you who were wondering if South can make 4♠ on this hand, it is not possible with the strong diamonds in the East hand. Interestingly, however, there were six South defenders who allowed West to make the 4♥ contract. What did they do wrong on defense? The lead was the same, the 2♠, so North did her part correctly. No, it was the South declarers who messed up on those six hands. South won the first spade and then shifted to the Q♣. This allowed West to go immediately to the diamonds and get rid of the two diamonds and the Q♠. South neglected to take the spade winner on the second trick and did not get it. The moral of the story? Take your tricks when you can to set the opponents. Continuing the spade suit also forced West to use up a trump. All in all, today’s South defender played his cards right and ended up celebrating with partner North even though North had little to offer. Having the right lead and the right time to trump, however, showed the strength of the North/South partnership. Well done, North and South, as good defenders on today’s hand.

 

Gerald Stein

November 7, 2014

Number of words: 891

Better Bridge in Barry County November 6 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West K♦

 

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

 Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” offers good advice not only for poker players but also for bridge players with his country western hit song. “You’ve got to know when to hold’em…Know when to fold’em…Know when to walk away.” Today’s South declarer heeded those words and walked away with a 2♠ contract.

North as dealer passed with six high card points and not much else. East also passed with an equally weak hand. South in third position had a medium hand with sixteen high card points but those diamonds looked precarious. Still with a five card major and a good suit in spades, South confidently bid 1♠. West with fourteen high card points did not have much to overcall after the 1♠ opening bid. West might have chosen a take out double, but being vulnerable and with her pretty ratty-looking clubs, West passed also.

North with three spades and the minimum six high card points raised the bid to 2♠. After East passed, South with a little bit of extra strength no doubt considered raising the bid to 3♠ as an invitational bid. Wisely, however, South chose to reconsider the bidding done around the table. With North as a passed hand, and everyone else passing, South no doubt drew the inference that high card points were distributed somewhat equally around the table. He gathered that North had just enough to answer and nothing more to say. South wisely passed and prepared to play the contract at 2♠ when all passed.

When West led the K♦ and North placed her hand down on the table, South was glad that he had passed instead of inviting higher in spades. With twenty-two points between North and South, South knew that the other 18 high card points would be shared with the East/West pair. With no hope in diamonds, South was convinced that 2♠ was not too high, and not too low, but just right.

Of course, West won the first two tricks with the A♦ and the K♦, and continued with a diamond to East’s Q♦. A shift of the singleton club in the East hand was won by South for their first trick. Drawing just two rounds of trump was South’s next move, and East would eventually win the 10♠ trump trick. South played the A♥, and trumped a heart loser with the 9♠. Hoping to use the K♣ to ditch another of his heart losers was in vain as East used the 10♠ to thwart that idea. South discarded a heart anyway, essentially playing a loser on a loser. So all was not lost on that play for South. He was destined to lose the spade trump anyway as well as a heart trick What could be better for South than to make two losers go away on the same trick?

East would take the Q♥ next for East/West’s fifth trick. South would win the final three tricks with the three remaining trumps in his hand, taking eight tricks altogether and making the 2♠ contract. So how well did South do on this hand by stopping and holding at a 2♠ contract? South did well as only two South declarers showed enough restraint to hold at 2♠. The other 16 players all moved upward in their bidding and downward in their scores, all being set by the East/West pairs.

For their good efforts, the two successful South declarers earned a 96.7% success rate for their team. The other sixteen scored poorly for reaching for extras. They failed to heed when the Gambler says, “Know when to hold’em.

 

Gerald Stein

November 1, 2014

Number of words: 701