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Social Bridge 2012 “Don’t forget that bridge is a
game to be enjoyed and it’s more important that you do this than anything
else!” ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ I have some great plans
for In the pipeline are plans
for some fun and adventurous holidays.
China, Vietnam, I have not been able to
replicate our wonderful local “Bridge Breakaways” at Bribie
to date, since they closed their venue.
However Trevor Strickland has proposed some whale watching at ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ “I’ve always believed that your attitude
toward your partner is as important as your technical skill at the game.” Rixi Markus, one of the all-time great players ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ Bridge Ethics & Etiquette Bridge enjoys immense
popularity partly because of the high standards of ethics and etiquette,
which are observed by the players who are expected to conduct themselves in a
highly civilized manner. Violations of
proper etiquette are quite common from inexperienced players, either through
ignorance or inadvertence. A well-mannered opponent
who is the victim of a violation by such a novice player will, if comment is
considered necessary, be at pains to make it clear that the comment is
intended to be helpful and will never make a newcomer feel ill-at-ease. Bridge is an extremely
ethical game. All good players strive
to ensure that their bridge ethics are impeccable and no more serious charge,
other than outright cheating, can be made than to accuse a player of bad ethics. Unlike poker in which all sorts of
mannerisms, misleading statements and bluff tactics are part and parcel of
the game, bridge is played with a “pokerface”! Beginners are, of course, excused for their
lapses and in social games nobody minds very much. However, in serious competition your bridge
demeanor must be beyond approach. When dummy, do not look at
either opponent’s hand or at declarer’s.
If you do, you lose your rights as dummy. Do not stand behind declarer to see how you
would play. One always plays better when
one is not playing! And finally, by all means
meet and greet your opponents when you move to a new table. However, when you pick up your cards you
are in “session time” and further chat is not considered good form. Chatting
to each other during bidding is really not on, especially about what you
should bid! Give up this habit if you
have it – there are more interesting habits to cultivate! ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ Always lead partner’s suit. It may not be right, but it can never be
wrong! ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ Lead direction. A pre-emptive opening or
overcall is often the only chance you will get to show partner the suit you
want led. Don’t bid it and you won’t get it! The
art of the pre-empt byGeorge Cuppaidge Nov
2011 Simple logic
lies behind effective pre-empting. Come to grips with it and amazing scores
will appear out of nowhere. Can there be any more satisfying result than bustling your opponents into a high-level contract which
goes badly astray when they have an even higher level one in another strain
which is stone cold? These are
the fundamentals, with the logical justification for each.
·
Any pre-emptive action shows a hand too
weak for a cheaper action. A pre-emptive opening bid denies, after
distributional points have been added, a hand which qualifies for an opening
one-bid. It follows that most of your “points” must be in your suit. There
are big down-sides to ignoring this. If your hand is defensive in nature, you
may find yourself going for a large penalty with defence
to any contract by your opponents. Your partner will not play you for
strength, leading to missed games or slams. The bidding space you have wasted
may preclude an orderly slam investigation. It is you, not your opponents,
who play in the wrong denomination. Partner may not realize that it is the
opponents to who are saving, and allow them to escape un-doubled. ·
The rule of “two and three.” In general you should try to be within
two tricks of your bid when vulnerable and three when not vulnerable. The
five hundred point penalty you might suffer will usually be balanced out by
the fact that the opponents can make game. The basic rule is sometimes
modified slightly to the rule of one, two, three and four, with one applying
at unfavourable vulnerability and four at favourable. ·
Ten points is the dividing line between a simple overcall and a
pre-emptive jump overcall. It is very important that partner can raise a
simple overcall with confidence. ·
Pre-empt as often as you reasonably can. How can your opponents
possibly bid accurately when you have taken a large lump of bidding space
from them? For every time the opponents can successfully extract a penalty,
there are many more when one opponent will simply get in the way of the
other, striving to make up the lost ground. ·
Lead direction. A pre-emptive opening or overcall is often the only
chance you will get to show partner the suit you want led. Don’t bid it and
you won’t get it. ·
Take away the opponents’ bidding space, not your own. If you have a good
hand, don’t waste it by pre-empting. Any bid you make which consumes a lot of
your own bidding space must be strictly limited in strength, shape and honour disposition. ·
There is degree of safety in the two-level and the three-level. Very
often, rather than risk doubling you into game, your opponents will come to
your rescue, going minus themselves with defence to
your contract. ·
The good five-card suit weak-two is a big winner, it is hard to catch,
it directs a lead and consumes bidding space. It is
also defensive, when your opponents, as they often do after a pre-empt, go overboard. ·
Having pre-empted, hold your peace unless forced to bid by your
partner. Make your initial action as high as you consider sensible and then
stay out. Your object was to steal opponents’ bidding space and you have done
that. Often your opponents have made a dreadful misjudgment. You cannot know.
You have made your bed, lie in it. By bidding again, you surrender the
initiative. ·
Be wary of making a penalty double following partner’s pre-empt, based
on trump tricks alone. If your opponents rescue themselves into a making, or
a far superior contract, shame on you. This type of action falls into the
same category as doubling a contract which is made only because your double
has pin-pointed your defensive holdings.
·
Raise a pre-empt but raise judiciously. A fit and a shortage
invariably add to the playing strength that your partner has already
calculated. But beware of the raise with the weak hand and a big fit. With this
type of hand it is often better simply to pass. You might consider a
lead-directing, or a psychic, response, but be careful if the suit chosen is
higher ranking. Ask yourself, before you bid, what defence
do you have to six or seven level opposing contracts? If you have your
opponents at the five-level, be satisfied! The law of total tricks is very
useful here. A save above the level of your fit is almost invariably wrong. Here is a
vivid illustration of the final point, the culprit
was one of those bbo “world champs,” a synonym for
bloody idiot. ♠986 ♥102 ♦KJ1096 ♣A62 ♠KQJ102 ♠A75 ♥AKQ75 ♥J8643 ♦85 ♦Q72 ♣3 ♣KJ ♠43 ♥9 ♦A43 ♣Q1098754 Dlr W/ EW Vul The bidding W N E S 1S P 2H 4C (1) 4H 5C (2) 5H (3) P P 6C (3) Dbl All
pass. 1. 3C here would
be wrong, it would suggest, the opponents’ bidding notwithstanding, a
stronger hand. 2.
This is exactly right. There is sufficient defence
not to fear an opposing slam contract, 4H is a very likely make and to play
5C doubled is unlikely to be expensive. A nice bid from the WC. 3.
With KJ of clubs, East has a mandatory
double. These cards, on this bidding, are useful only in defence.
It is unlikely to be rewarding but, surely, a far more likely plus score than
5H. Unfavourable vulnerability leads to some very
strange decisions. This is exactly what pre-emptive bidding is about. 4.
S. J. Simon would call this a “Futile Willie” bid. Clearly there is no
hope of it making and just as clearly there is no reason to assume that 5H
will make. The chance of pushing them further lies somewhere between zero and
non-existent. The “no upside” out and out sacrifice has no place in good
bridge After a
heart lead and continuation, I ruffed and laid down the CA, noting the jack. Without
giving a lot of attention to the play I took a losing
diamond finesse and went four down. I got a
message from my WC during the play “They make 5H.” This is
hard to imagine, a club lead to the ace seems automatic, and just as
automatic, a switch to the ♦J.
The defence, surely, will take the first three
tricks. I moved
on to another table, passing up the opportunity to continue with my WC. A
little more of his WC analysis followed me. “You should run the ♦J (which must be the very next play after
laying down the CA.) and you are only two down.” Really?
Further confirmation that this particular WC conforms to the stereotype. ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ CAPPELLETTI A convention to be used
over the opponent’s 1NT opening It’s not much fun always defending
an opponent’s notrump contract. We have to find the right opening lead;
declarer’s side typically holds the majority of strength; and we can’t see
the cards in our partner’s hand! Consider this deal where
we are sitting in the West position. South
is Dealer and opens the bidding 1NT and all pass. North ♠J95 ♥82 ♦K83 ♣Q10754 West East 742
♠AK63 ♥KJ10943 ♥75 ♦76 ♦QJ94 ♣A2 ♣983 South ♠Q108 ♥AQ6 ♦A1052 ♣KJ6 That puts us on lead. With no help from the auction, we make the
standard lead of the ♥J, top of the
broken (interior) sequence in our longest suit. Unfortunately, this leads to a very
disappointing result. When we review the hand at
the end of the session, we realise we could have
done much better. If we could have
seen all the missing cards, we would have initially led a spade to partner’s
king. Partner – possessing the same
ability to see all the cards – would return the ♥7,
trapping declarer’s queen. When we win
with the ♥K, we play a spade to the ♠A
and back comes another heart. In total we would get two spades, five
hearts, and a club, defeating 1NT by two tricks! Sadly, we can’t see
through the backs of cards when defending, so it seems we may be forever
destined to get the worst of it when an opponent opens 1NT. We can’t see partner’s
hand when we are defending, but we can when we are declaring! If we reached a contract
of 2♥ on this hand, we’d have little
trouble making it. We’d use the ♠K
as an entry to take a finesse against South’s queen
and use the ♠A as another entry to repeat the finesse. We get the same eight tricks: two spades, five hearts and a club. It’s so much easier to get all the tricks
to which we are entitled when we are the declarer. Experienced players realise
it is often better to compete over a 1NT opening than to sit back and defend
all the time. Often
doesn’t mean always. Experience has also shown - it is
relatively safe to compete with one-suited or two-suited hands, but NOT WITH
BALANCED HANDS. Pass and defend with big balanced hands. It’s distribution that is
important, not high cards. When an opponent opens
1NT, it’s unlikely our side has enough for game. So the partnership should agree that most
competitive actions are simply designed to get into the auction and compete
for a part-score, or interfere. So
partner shouldn’t expect our overcall to show a good hand, only a good suit/s. With a good balanced hand, we should keep
quiet and defend. One frequently used convention
over 1NT is CAPPELLETTI, named after its designers, Michael Cappelletti. It is
also known as After our right hand
opponent opens 1NT (or in the
balancing seat) the following bids mean: After a 1NT opening by right hand
OPPONENT: 2NT = Diamonds
& Clubs (at least
5-5)
2S = Spades
& a minor (ditto) 2H = Hearts
& a minor (ditto) 2D = Spades
& Hearts (ditto) 2C = One-suiter (any
6-card suit) Advancing the 2♣ Overcall Let’s return to the
earlier hand we held as West.
Reproduced below for your convenience. Now the auction would be: S W N E 1NT 2♣ P 2♦! P 2♥! North ♠J95 ♥82 ♦K83 ♣Q10754 West East 743
♠AK63 ♥KJ10943 ♥75 ♦76 ♦QJ94 ♣A2 ♣983 South ♠Q108 ♥AQ6 ♦A1052 ♣KJ6 Our 2♣ overcall is
artificial, showing a one-suited hand.
Partner would have to alert the opponents. Partner’s 2♦
is also artificial, asking for our suit.
We would alert this bid. Then
we bid 2♥, showing our suit. A lot of bidding, but certainly more fun
than passing! If our suit really is
clubs, then over partner’s relay of 2♦,
we simply bid 3♣. Why couldn’t we just bid 2♥? Because 2♥
would show that suit and a minor. See
above. Advancing the 2♦ Overcall Since this specifically
shows both major suits, advancer simply picks the
preferred major. Advancing the 2NT Overcall Since this specifically
shows both minor suits, advancer simply picks the
preferred minor. Advancing the 2♥
or 2♠ Overcall To play in the major suit,
advancer simply passes partner’s overcall.
To play in overcaller’s minor, however,
advancer bids 2NT, asking overcaller to bid the
minor suit. Consider this deal. Again we are West and South opens 1NT. North ♠K85 ♥K1093 ♦94 ♣10986 West East ♠9 ♠Q10642 ♥AQ862 ♥5 ♦QJ752 ♦K1063 73
♣A42 South ♠AJ73 ♥J74 ♦A8 ♣KQJ5 If we pass and lead the ♥6 (fourth from longest and strongest) we are
headed for a poor result. Declarer
wins and drives out East’s ♣A.
Even if East guesses to switch to a diamond, declarer has seven
tricks: two spades, a heart, a
diamond, and three clubs. Declarer can
make an overtrick by taking the spade finesse. Declarer will do even better if East
switches to a spade after winning the ♣A. If we have no system over
opponent’s 1NT opening and “guess” to overcall 2♥,
it’s even worse. North might
even choose to double. However, if we have agreed
to use CAPPELLETTI, the
auction would go: South West North East 1NT 2♥* Pass 2NT! (relay) Pass 3♦ all
pass * hearts
& a minor Our 2♥ overcall shows a two-suiter, hearts and a minor. Partner must alert the opponents. With no tolerance for hearts, East bids 2NT
– which we alert – asking which minor suit we have. We bid 3♦
and have landed in a contract we are likely to make. Enjoy Cappelletti. With the right shape, it beats defending
1NT all the time. Be careful, however,
not to enter the auction with a BIG BALANCED hand - especially with a double
- as you will find yourself on lead a lot of the time leading into declarer’s
tenaces (A-Q; K-J; etc). Often declarer will make 1NT (doubled) even
though you have more points. ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ BRIDGE SCORING (or Match Point Scoring) Although we have covered
this subject in the past, there still seems to be some confusion about how
the score we write down on the traveller actually works. Scoring will be one of the
10 top subjects I will be concentrating on in the 2011 monthly Advancing
Classes. Here are a few points to
think about until then.
Number of tables Match points per board 2
2 3
4 4
6 5
8 6
10 7
12 8
14 9
16 10
18 11
20 12
22 13
24 etc etc Here’s a quick
example. 4 tables = 6 match points per
board. 6 points are divided amongst
the 2 pairs on each table. Be
aware that a positive score for one side is a negative score for the
opposition. A score of 400 for NS is a
score of minus 400 for EW. The
negative scores are not recorded on the score sheet. Remember, Pairs does not reward the SIZE of
your score, but how many scores you beat. Board 1 Contract by
Tricks made NS score
EW score NS Mps EW Mps 3NT NS 1 9 +400 (-400) 4 2 3NT NS 2 10 +430 (-430) 6 0 2NT NS 3 10 +150 (-150) 2 4 3NT NS 4 8 (-50) +50 0 6 In the example above,
although NS are -50, it is only shown as a +50 for EW. More to
follow……………………………..
Give more, enjoy life, love bridge |
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When partner leads a
Nine” When partnering novices I ask them
not to lead nines (this is hard as they seem to love leading them). They ask,
“but what if it’s my fourth highest?” Did
you know there is no holding from which nine is fourth highest? Partner would lead an honour from any
of these holdings when defending no-trumps *A-J-10-9, K-Q-10-9, K-Q-J-9, and the last two examples against a suit
contract. Usually a nine indicates a
doubleton, singleton or top of nothing
9-8-3. With Why would partner lead the top
card from a suit without an honour? It’s to warn us we shouldn’t automatically
return the suit. Partner might be
leading a short suit because the opponents bid partner’s long suit. Or partner may he hoping to find your longest suit. * Lead the ace if you are defending a
suit contract. On the
other hand, if you have raised partner’s opening major and you hold 9, 4, 2, you may lead the nine
showing no honour.
Partner can’t take it for a doubleton, as you have raised the suit! |
All this means is that when you
have a nine-card fit missing the queen, you should play the ace and king
first, hoping to drop the missing honour. DUMMY KJ92 DECLARER A10872 Play the ace and the king (or King
and Ace) and hope for the best! If, however, there are inferences from the
bidding (say your left hand opponent preempted 3♣,
and you found yourself in a contract of 4♠
with the above trumps, then you would disregard the adage “Eight ever, nine
never” as the chances are your left hand opponent will be short in this
suit. You should cash the king first
and “run” the jack on the next round. Lose Your Losers Early! Fast
start, sad finish. L
Don’t just cash Aces and Kings. When playing no-trumps – before you
play a single card - count your winners, if you don’t have enough, set up
YOUR combined longest suit without delay, even if this means giving up the
lead. Lose tricks to gain tricks. See me
about the award winning book, “Planning
the Play of a Bridge Hand” by Seagram & Bird. |
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“If you intend passing your partner’s forcing bid (2C), it’s
best to drive to the bridge game in separate cars”. (Audrey Grant) |
“More points are
lost at the bridge table through bad or pointless overcalls than any other
way.” Helen Sobel Smith Universally ranked as
probably the greatest woman bridge player of all times. |
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Distinguishing
Penalty Doubles from Takeout Doubles
♠A95 ♥KQJ109 ♦AK8 ♣K3 If the
opposition opens 1NT in front of you, DOUBLE.
Since there are four unbid suits when the
opening bid is 1NT, using a double as takeout isn’t very practical. To have support for all four suits, you
would need a balanced hand and would be coming into an auction when the
opposition has already announced a strong balanced hand. On this hand a penalty double is a better
choice than overcalling 2H. You should
expect to defeat the contract at least one or two tricks after leading the
HK. The penalty should be more than
the score for making a partscore contract of 2H. |
If the
opponents bid 2S pass
4S ? and you hold: ♠KQ ♥AK6 ♦A1052 ♣AJ73 DOUBLE. One opponent has opened with a weak two bid
and based on your cards, it would appear his partner has bid 4S as a likely
preemptive raise, trying to make it difficult for you and your partner to
enter the auction. Since the
opponents are at the game level, your double is for penalties and you would
expect to take at least four or five tricks on defense. Partner would not “pull” the double by the
way. He would realise
this bid is for penalties, no matter how weak his hand. Extract from Audrey Grant’s Bridge Basics 2, “Competitive Bidding”. |
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