Better Bridge in Barry County July 29 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East Both A♠

 

North   1♦ ?	East Pass 1♠	South 1♣ 3♣	West Pass Pass

Duplicate Bridge Scoring Part Two

 

In a recent duplicate bridge tournament held in Lansing, this hand came up and was played numerous times with varying degrees of success. In duplicate bridge, the object is always to make the best score with the cards that you have been dealt. Your opponents have also received the same cards as others so the element of luck is removed, and the true test is how well you can do with the cards that you hold in your hand.

In this particular hand, East as the dealer had ten  high card points; South had eleven; West had eight, and North had eleven. This was not a hand to get too excited about as everyone soon realized that the points had been distributed fairly evenly among the four hands. It was up to North/South with the preponderance of points to make something happen.

After East the dealer passed, South had a tough decision. Should she with eleven high card points and a void in spades open the bidding with 3♣’s? Some did exactly that, and the hand was passed out, and the contract was 3♣’s in the South. Today’s South, however, was a bit tournament-savvy, and so she opened 1♣ planning to jump her next bid. After West passed with his eight points, North bid 1♦ bidding up the line and promising at least four diamonds and at least six points. Perhaps, North should have bid differently, but who knows what to do in a tournament some times?

East wanted to let his partner know about his decent spades, so he overcalled 1♠. This gave his partner some kind of idea for a lead, and the bid was justified with five spades and ten points at the one level. South now jumped to 3♣’s as she had planned showing seven clubs and extra points, mainly with the new information about the spades being in the opponents’ hands. West wanted to bid but with the vulnerability status, 3♠ was too high. West passed.

Now it was up to North. He had promised at least six high card points, but now he knew more about his partner’s hand and that she had a lot of clubs. While he does not have much help in clubs, he does have two aces, one in hearts and one in diamonds. What should North have bid at this point? Should North pass and play the hand at 3♣’s? Should North name another suit? What would it be? Should North bid 3NT without a stopper in spades? Should North have bid 4NT asking for aces and a slam try?

In reality, North failed his partner by passing the jumped bid. The bid, of course, is the 4NT bid asking for aces. South would have responded 5♦ that she had one ace, and North would have placed the contract at 6♣. Does the contract make at 6♣’s? Of course it does, and North/South would have claimed the highest score on that hand by making a small slam and gathering in a first place finish by scoring 120 for the game score, 500 for the vulnerable game bonus, and 750 for the small slam in a minor suit for a score of 1370.

How did those who passed the jump bid do in comparison? Three teams did exactly that and scored five tricks for a score of 100 plus the part score of 50 for 150. Of course, it is easy to see that they failed to come even close to those who ventured on to the small slam. For their efforts, they were awarded the lowest score on this hand. They did very poorly.

For those who bid game and scored 620 or even 660, they were rewarded for their making more points than those who stopped short of game. They were near the top of the scores on this hand.

Some pairs worked hard to get an extra trick making six clubs even though they had not bid the game nor the slam. For making six without bidding game, they scored 170, a twenty-point gain which is better than those who made five and a 150 score. They scored in the middle of the group instead of the bottom level.

What are the takeaways about scoring in Duplicate Bridge? Bid the right contract and make it! This will give you the best chance on this particular hand. Of course, you need to do that consistently, as you will play 24 or 25 hands of bridge, and you hope to score at least 50% or better on the 24 or 25 hands. Secondly, even if you fail to bid the right contract, try to take as many tricks as you can to make up for failing to bid the right contract. Sometimes, an extra trick or two will propel you into a better score than just taking the apparent tricks. Of course, you must also realize that you will defend half of the time as well as declare. So you have twelve boards to make things happen for your team.

Try playing Duplicate Bridge as a chance to see how you can be competitive in the bridge world. You will soon find that you are looking for the best contracts and the best ways to take all the tricks that you can. You will find that you will become a better bridge player and not just a lucky bridge player. Best wishes.

 

Gerald Stein

July 25, 2015

Number of words: 1016

Better Bridge in Barry County July 9 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

Duplicate Bridge: Part One

If you have played Rubber Bridge for a long time, you have certainly felt that sometimes you have been sitting in the wrong seat all night. Your opponents have been dealt all of the high cards in the deck; they have made game after game, scoring 700 rubbers while you and your partner complain about getting such lousy cards. After twenty hands, you are ready to go home and have a cold glass of root beer. If any of this sounds familiar to you, perhaps you should investigate Duplicate Bridge and see how if differs from Rubber Bridge.

Because bridge is such a popular game, many variations on how to play have been developed. One such popular variation is called Duplicate Bridge. It gets its name from the fact that each hand of bridge is dealt and placed in metal or plastic boards. These boards are essentially cardholders and are passed around to the other tables so that each hand is duplicated many times throughout the evening. The object of Duplicate Bridge is for the players to do the best that they can with each hand. The cards are not thrown into the center of the table as is the common method with Rubber Bridge, but rather they are placed in front of each player. Winning tricks are pointed toward the winning pair; losing tricks are pointed away from the losing pair. At a glance, you can tell how many tricks have been won by each side. All four players keep the same method of scoring tricks. At the end of the hand, before they are returned to the board, everyone must agree to the number of tricks won and lost by each side. Only then are the cards returned to the exact location from which they were taken. Scoring follows immediately on just that hand.

What is the purpose of this kind of play? Because the boards are individually played and scored, the object is for each pair to do the very best against all of the other teams who will play the same hands later in the evening. The element of luck is now taken away, and skill becomes more of a factor. For example, if you have been having one of those horrific nights of not getting cards and you have been sitting East/West all night with your partner, there is some satisfaction knowing that every other East/West pair in the room will also have to play those same cards. The way to do well in Duplicate Bridge is to take the cards that you have been dealt, good or bad, and make the best of the situation. If you and your partner score better than all of the other East/West teams despite the bad cards, you will do well in Duplicate Bridge. Your real opponents at each table, then, are not the North/South pair, but all of the other East/West pairs that will play the same cards that you have just played. You have to beat all of the teams who will play the same cards that you played earlier.

In a typical duplicate game, twenty or more hands are played each session. Consequently, there needs to be at least twenty duplicate boards and twenty decks of cards. Bridge suppliers like Baron Barclay sell duplicate kits for home and club play with 32 boards, scoring materials, and the 32 decks of cards in a nice carrying case. See www.baronbarclay.com for details. Duplicate games need at least two tables to compare scores with others, but typically, there are 4-12 or more tables of duplicate bridge played in a session. Each table receives two or three or four boards at a time. These are played, returned to their rightful location, and scored. When all of the boards are finished, the director, a type of referee or the host of the evening, will move the boards from your table and give you more new boards to play. No shuffling is needed as this was done earlier by the director. Play more bridge is the duplicate player’s motto.

At the end of the evening, it is the director’s responsibility to determine how well each pair did against every other pair. For every pair that you have beaten on each hand, you will receive one point; for every pair that you have tied, you will receive a half point; for every pair that beats you, you will receive zero points. All of your points earned will be tallied, and the ultimate winners of the evening are those teams who have accumulated the most points. Usually, the top three places are determined as the winners of the session. In large games, there could be top winners for the North/South team as well as winners for the East/West team.

For a variation on Rubber Bridge, try a home game with duplicate boards. You will find that getting bad cards all evening will not be as trying if you know others have to play the same cards that you had earlier. Because the cards are returned to the boards, it is also possible to look at a particular hand at the end of the evening, and see how others played the same cards. Duplicate bridge in a fun and challenging alternative to Rubber Bridge. Give it a try and see if you might discover a new way to play bridge.

 

Gerald Stein

July 4, 2015

Number of words: 979

 

Bridge Notes: Next time, in Part two, learn how to score each hand in a duplicate bridge game. Slips of paper called travelers go with each board as they travel around the tables. Do not peek at the scores until you have played the hand, and then you will score your hand with all of the others who have played that same hand.

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County June 18 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West Both A♣

 

North   7♦! Pass	East   7♥! Pass	South   7♠!	West 7♣! Pass

Scoring the Rubber Bridge Contract: Part 2

 

What bridge player would not want to have a hand like this? But because of the idiosyncrasies of bridge, it is South with the spade suit that will be the lucky winner of the contract and play it at 7♠, bidding and making. But bridge is made of three parts: Bidding, Playing/Defending, and Scoring. In this second of a two-part series, let’s examine how scoring in bridge is often overlooked and not easily understood, not only by beginning players but by players who have played many years. They sometimes allow others to keep score and seem to be missing out on an important part of the game. Part one of this series focused on Rubber Bridge scoring for games and part scores. Part Two will focus on slam scoring, doubles and redoubles.  

While Rubber Bridge is the technical name for the kind of bridge that most players enjoy either at homes of friends or relatives, it often has other names as well. Often called Social bridge, Kitchen bridge,  Contract Bridge, or other names, Rubber Bridge is the form of bridge that is easily picked up anywhere with as little as one table of four players. Scoring Rubber Bridge at the slam level is the purpose of this column.

Some basic reminders are in order for those who are new to the game of bridge and want to know about the scoring aspects. While we do use all 52 cards in the deck, we know that they are divided into four equal hands of 13 cards each. Each player receives her 13 cards and sorts them into the suits. In today’s hand, imagine the surprise and the laughter when the Bridge instructor arranged this artificial hand. Each one thought that they would be the winning hand, but because our four suits are ranked in order, it is the lowly clubs that bids first, then the diamonds, and then the hearts, and the ultimate winner is the spade suit. Of course, an easy way to remember the ranking of the suits is by their alphabetical order: C, D, H, and S.

While there are thirteen tricks to be taken in each hand of bridge, we know that the first six are a basic requirement. Called Book, before we can make a bid, we know and understand that we must take the first six tricks and then our numerical bid. Thus, the highest bid that we can make to take all 13 tricks is not 13, but Book plus 7 which equal the 13 tricks bid and won. In today’s hand, no matter what the lead from West, and no matter how impressive dummy’s diamonds are, they will never be used. South will trump the opening A♣ lead and play one spade after another claiming all 13 tricks and making a grand slam in bridge.

The bidding and the playing and defending are over. Now for the scoring of today’s hand. Wherever do we start? Rubber Bridge and other forms of bridge basically use the same format for scoring tricks bid and made. The major suits of hearts and spades, the minor suits of diamonds and clubs, and the no trump hands all are assigned points to be used in reaching the score of 100 for a game. Tricks above our Book of Six bid and made for the majors of hearts and spades are worth 30 points each. We therefore need Book plus four more tricks to reach 100 or over. Tricks above our Book of Six bid and made for the minors of clubs and diamonds are worth 20 points each. We therefore need Book plus five more tricks to reach 100. In No Trump, the points are set as follows: the first trick above our Book of Six bid and made in No Trump is worth 40 points. The second, third and so on are each worth 30 points. So a 3NT contract of Book plus 3 tricks bid and made will score 100 points and make game.

In Rubber Bridge, a rubber is completed when one team has won two games. If the opponents have won one game, and your team has won one game, then it goes to the best of three. The winner of the two games is generally the winner of the rubber as extra points are added to the score card for winning in the form of bonuses. If your side wins a two-game rubber, your side adds 700 bonus points to your side of the ledger. If it is a three-game rubber, then the winner of the two games will receive a 500 point bonus.

Finally, scoring a small slam, or in today’s case, scoring a grand slam for the North/South team, there are additional bonus points to add to your side of the scorecard. If you are vulnerable which means your side has won one game towards rubber, then you can expect to receive an additional 1500 points on your side if you bid and make the grand slam. If you make a small slam, then you can expect to receive 750 points. If you are not vulnerable and make a small slam, you will receive 500 points and if you are non vulnerable and make a grand slam, you will receive 1000 points.

So, to score today’s hand and see how many points they have earned, let’s do the math. We know that both sides are vulnerable, so expect the most points possible on this hand. South bid and made, which is always the key element, bid and made, and took 7 tricks above the Book of Six. Seven times 30 points for each spade trick equals 210 points. Since both sides are vulnerable, we know that both sides have won one game each of the three-set rubber. So for making two out of three games, North South will receive a bonus of 500 points. Now we are up to 710 points. For the grand slam bonus, bid and made, vulnerable to boot, North/South will receive 1500 additional points.

In addition, in Rubber Bridge, honor points are counted if they are claimed! For having all of the top five trump honors, claim an extra 150 points. Today’s South remembered to claim the honors, and she added the 150 to all of the bonus points. The grand total for North South as they complete this hand: 2360 plus whatever they earned on the previous game bid and won. East/West will also add up their paltry points, but they will be nowhere near to compete with North/South.

Double and redouble are also important parts of the bridge scoring. Easily understood, a business double or a penalty double from the defenders announces that they think you will not make your contract. If they, in fact, do set your contract, expect to pay twice the penalty as you would have. If you feel confident that they are wrong, you may redouble and then the penalties and/or rewards are figured at four times the normal result. Other uses have been developed by bridge gurus who use them with some unusual meanings since penalty doubles are not common. Redoubles are even less common.

Now if you are playing for money, and you are East and West, you might think that a penny a point might be a bit steep. Fortunately most bridge players play for fun and not for money. Learn the scoring and keep an eye on the scorecard if you have always allowed others to score for you. You will improve your game and keep your partner happy.

 

Gerald Stein

Number of words: 1387

June 12, 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County May 28 2015 Part Two

Bids
		Rubber Bridge Scoring
	We			They			Vulnerable:  Won 1 game
							Not Vulnerable: No games won.
							Penalties for not making bid.
							Not Vul	50pts/trick
							Vulnerable 100pts/Trick
							Overtricks are scored above line.
							Extra tricks made above bid.
							Honors: A,K,Q,J,10
							4 Honors in Trump: 100 pts
							5 Honors in Trump 150 pts
							Honors in NT: 4 Aces 150 pts
							A Rubber is 2 out of 3 games.
							Rubber: 2 successive games=700
							2 games to 1 game=500
					The Line!
							Scoring
							Book	First 6 tricks
							C and D	20 pts/trick
							H and S	30 pts/trick
							NT	40 pts 1st trick; then 30pts/trick
							Game	Tricks Needed
							C and D	11	6+5	100
							H and S	10	6+4	120
							NT	9	6+3	100
							Bid and Made
							1C or D	20
							1 H or S		30
							1NT			40
							2 C or D	40
							2 H or S		60
							2NT			70
							3 C or D	60
							3 H or S		90
							3 NT	Game		100
							4 C or D	80
Total Points			Total Points				4 H or S	Game	120
							5 C or D Game:       100