Better Bridge in Barry County October 3 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East Both 4♠

 

North   1♠ 4NT 6♥	East Pass Pass Pass Pass	South 1♥ 3♥ 5♠ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass Pass

In a recent club game in Kalamazoo, today’s North/South pair reached a solid 6♥ contract after South opened 1♥. While this hand was played twelve different times, only two teams reached the small slam in hearts. One daring pair reached a small slam elsewhere. Can you guess where they ended up?

The question of the day is this: how is it that of twelve attempts, only two pairs reached the 6♥ contract? The other team who made a small slam made it, of course, in 6NT. What was the road map for three pairs to reach the small slam status? Let’s take a look.

With six strong hearts and five strong clubs, it was South’s turn to shine. The old bridge adage of “Six-Five Come Alive!” aptly fits South’s hand. With 17 total points, South was prepared from his first bid to reach game at the very minimum. Aspirations of slam danced merrily in his head.

North, with a strong hand as well with 18 total points, bid her spades without a jump bid, choosing instead to bid up the line and taking a slow-but-sure approach to see what South would do. With North’s hand as undetermined and an un-passed hand, South was forced to bid again, and South promptly jumped in hearts, his suit of choice. There was no need to mention the clubs. He wanted North to know he had good hearts and a strong hand as well.

Now North came alive, using the Roman Key Card convention to ask for key cards. “How many of the five key cards do you hold?” was her message to South. Many bridge players now have given up the regular Blackwood Convention in favor of the Roman Key Card convention where the four aces and the king of trump constitute the five key cards. The advantages seem to be extra information, including whether there is a concern about the missing trump cards.

In this case, South had two key cards: the K♥, the agreed-upon trump suit, and the A♣. But there is more to Roman Key Card convention than that. South has two ways to show how strong his hand is by his response to the question of key cards from North. The two choices are as follows: a bid of 5♥ would have shown two key cards without the Queen of trump. The other choice was 5♠, the showing of two key cards and the Queen of trump. South bid 5♠ showing two key cards and the Q♥. North as Captain of the Hand placed the contract at 6♥.

The lead from West was the 4♠, and North tabled her cards, much to the delight of partner South. With a “Thank you, Partner,” South began to make his plan. Twelve tricks were needed, and it was easy to figure out that the A♥ was going to be a definite loser. The club suit would take care of the rest of the losers once the trumps were drawn.

South won the first trick with the A♠, promptly led a small heart from the board, and played an honor card from his hand. When West ducked the first time, South persisted with another honor card, and West took her A♥. A spade return or a club return would not hurt South nor a diamond return as South never had any plan to take a finesse. There was no need to jeopardize the contract with a finesse when the clubs were so strong. It was just a matter of unblocking the K♣ and returning to the South hand.

South drew East’s last small trump and claimed with the good clubs taking the rest of the tricks. The only loser was the A♥ as South had realized immediately. North and South claimed a fine score of 1430 for making 6♥ vulnerable. Only one other North/South pair made that contract as well.

What about that daring pair who reached 6NT? While it makes twelve tricks as well with the loss of the A♥, it seems that this is a dangerous bid with two singletons in the South hand and one singleton in the North hand. Still it is hard to argue with success as that extra ten points for bidding 6NT and making 1440 vaulted them into first place and top board on that hand. So three of the twelve times the hand was played only resulted in three slam bids when all of those points were there for the taking.

Where did most of the other nine pairs play? Most opted to play in 3NT usually making six for 690, far below the points for small slam. Others chose 4♥ making six as well for a score of 680. The takeaways today seem to be quite evident. Counting the points in both hands is crucial to reaching slam level. Remember that usually 33 points are needed for a small slam while 37 will usually be enough for a grand slam. Using Roman Key Card convention adds additional information for the bidders in a slam situation. Consider upgrading your Blackwood Convention to Roman Key Card. As always, enjoy playing and bidding the big hands when they show up. You will remember them a lot longer than those part score bids of 1NT or 2♥. Enjoy playing bridge in Barry County.

 

Gerald Stein

September 27, 2015

Number of words: 999

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County September 10 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  10 x x x       ♥   x x  ♦  A Q J x x  ♣  A x
West ♠  x x     ♥  6  ♦  10 x x x    ♣  x x x x x x		East ♠  Q x x  ♥  10 x x x ♦  x x ♣  x x x x
	South ♠  A K J x ♥  A K Q J x x    ♦  K x    ♣  8

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North Neither 6♥

 

North 1♦ 1♠ 5♥ Pass	East Pass Pass Pass Pass	South 1♥ 4NT 7♥	West Pass Pass Pass

One of the highlights of going to major bridge tournaments is the chance to play with other players. Many have traveled great distances to play bridge at a huge tournament. At the National American Contract Bridge League Summer Tournament held in downtown Chicago a few weeks ago, this hand came up in a team game. North, my favorite partner, opened with 1♦, promising at least 12 or 13 high card points and in our system agreement promised at least 4 diamonds. I had a blockbuster hand as the South player. Slam was in the realm of a real possibility. Just put the two hands together, and you will see what I mean. Which slam would it be and how high were, of course, the leading questions in my mind.

I bid my heart suit knowing that it would be a source of at least six tricks and with the two top spades two more tricks for eight tricks in my own hand. When my partner bid 1♠, bidding up the line, I knew that her hand was limited, but that she probably had five diamonds and four spades. What I did not know was this: did she have any aces?

My jump to 4NT was Standard Blackwood, asking for aces. The normal response is 5♣ for all or no aces; 5♦ for 1 ace; and 5♥ for two aces. When she bid 5♥, my heart gave a jump, and I knew we had all of the aces. I placed the contract at 7♥. Our opponents let out low whistles, and my partner prepared to place her cards on the table.

The lead was the 6♥, a singleton, and a good lead for me as the declarer. My partner placed her cards down, and I looked at the wonderful diamond suit and the A♣ and nodded my approval and thanked her for her hand. Playing small from the board, I saw East play the 10♥, and I pulled in the first heart trick with the J♥. Drawing three more rounds of trump finished off the East player.

I next played the K♦ from my hand and a small diamond from the board. I then led my remaining small diamond from my hand to the A♦, played the Q♦, the J♦, and dropped the 10♦ from the West hand. I still had the A♠, the K♠, and the A♣ plus two trumps left over for a 7♥ contract bid and made. We scored 1510 points for our team. When we compared scores, our opponents who played the exact same cards as we had just played only managed to get to 6♥. We picked up 500 points on just the one hand. What a thrilling experience for us at a National Tournament.

While bidding and playing a Grand Slam is a relatively rare occurrence, when it happens at a National Tournament where there are 10 days of competitive bridge from 9 AM in the morning until the last game starts at 11:00 PM each night, you remember that hand and that success. Of course, you also try to forget the hands where there were missteps along the way.

 At a National Tournament, you can play as much bridge as you can stand or in this case, sit. Over 12, 000 tables of bridge were played at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago during this tournament in early August, 2015.

We were part of a bridge bus trip that picked up bridge players in Grand Rapids, swung down to Kalamazoo to pick up others, and motored into the Windy City on a Monday morning. On Friday evening as we prepared to leave after four nights and five days of bridge, most of us recounted that we had played over 175 hands of bridge. Some of us wisely took a day off to enjoy the sights and the sites of downtown Chicago. All in all, this was a wonderful experience to ride in a coach where someone does the driving for you, drops you off at your hotel, and five days later, returns to take you back to your car. Traveling and bridge playing! Now that sounds like a winning hand.

 

Gerald Stein

Number of words: 811

September 3, 2015

 

 

Better Bridge in Barry County August 20 2015

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

South North/South A♥

 

North   Pass 2♥ Dbl.	East   1♦ 2♠ Pass	South Pass 1♥ 4♥ Pass	West 1♣ 1♠ 4♠ Pass

In a recent hand taken from an American Contract Bridge League tournament in Lansing, there was fierce competition for the final contract. With East/West not vulnerable, it seemed a smart move on their part to push on to 4♠. After all, East/West had 23 high card points between them and had a fit in a major suit. North/South with only 17 high card points also made a valiant attempt to reach a game in hearts. With two singletons in the South hand and one in the North hand, they were fairly assured of making the 4♥ contract. East/West did not allow the North/South pair to steal the contract and take away a 620 point gain. Instead, they were willing to go set one or two tricks as a sacrifice bid.

It did not take North/South to realize that knocking out the trump suit might be the best defensive move. According, after North took the first two heart tricks with the A♥ and the K♥, there was no reason to lead another heart and let West use one of his eight trumps and throw away a loser card. However, wisely North shifted to his singleton diamond on the third trick instead of leading a spade. South put up the 7♦, and West won the trick with the Q♦. It was obvious to South that North had led his singleton diamond after winning the first two heart tricks. North wanted a diamond return for a ruff and down at least one trick.

West was in a dilemma now with the trump suit. Should she lead out trumps or play off the minor suits. West chose to lead a small trump to the 10♠ on the board. South took her A♠ and promptly led a diamond back to North. North trumped with the 4♠ for down one. North led a club and let West work the minor suits. It did not take West long to realize that North would also win another trump suit with either the 9♠ or the Q♠ for down two doubled.

In competitive auctions in duplicate bridge, there is often the opportunity to sacrifice going down two tricks not vulnerable for a minus 300 points for East/West. They did well to compete to 4♠, even at a doubled contract as they gave up 300 points in going down, but had they allowed North/South to play their contract in 4♥, they would have been sorry to have given up 620 points to North/South when North/South brought home the contract. Of course, the singletons in the North/South hands would have given them the advantage of making the 4♥ contract.

All in all, duplicate bridge is an exciting and pleasurable way to play bridge. Because each hand is scored independently, it is easy to see that if one board does not go your way, just wait until the next board arrives shortly. You can start afresh every eight minutes, the average time it takes to play a hand of duplicate bridge.

Gerald Stein

August 2, 2015

Number of words: 748

 

Bridge Notes: Are you interested in learning about duplicate bridge and playing it either at home or in a club? Nearby clubs include clubs in Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Kalamazoo. Most of the clubs offer a variety of times for players to enjoy competitive bridge, with most of the games in the daylight hours. Club games are not the only ways to play duplicate bridge: Tournaments called Sectionals, Regionals, and National Tournaments are held in cities around the United States. Many players make these tournaments as vacation destinations, playing bridge as well as site seeing or even fishing for walleye in Lake of the Woods, Ontario. If interested or if you would like more information, visit the Home Page for the American Contract Bridge League website: www.acbl.org for lots of information and free downloads.

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