Seriously Social Bridge in 2010

 

“Don’t forget that bridge is a game to be enjoyed and it is more important that you do this than anything else!”

 

June/July 2010 Newsletter (to be continued)

 

On Tuesday 13th July, Seriously Social Bridge hosted the second charity fundraiser for the year – this time for CARE Australia (see below) and  $810 was raised.  I think it says a lot about bridge players – they are prepared to take on a new skill, turn up week after week (no matter how indifferent their scores!) and still find time to give to others.  Thanks to everyone who participated in such a joyful and worthwhile occasion.

 

 

Combining your chances                                                            George Cuppaidge July 2010

 

Getting the most out of your cards is what bridge is all about, and finding the best way to combine several chances to establish that often elusive contract making trick, is a skill to work on. Ralph Parker, on the hand which follows, demonstrated that this is a skill he is entirely familiar with in a quite unusual way.

 

♠86432

♥J104

♦KJ

♣A83

♠K                   Q1095

♥K7652          A98

♦642               Q1095

♣Q974            J6

                                    AJ7

                                    Q3      

                                    A873  

                                    K1052

The bidding

S         N

1C(1)  1S

1NT                opening lead by West, H5

 

(1)   Why so many people bid 1D with this shape continues to bemuse me. Why waste your own bidding space? What response to 1C will give you a problem? 

The opening lead was the H5 which East won with his ace to return the nine. West won and cleared the suit with his two. This was not good play by West. The layout of the heart suit is transparent to him at trick two so he should duck to preserve communications.

Declarer has six winners and four certain losers in hearts, if West ever gets in. Superficially you either play on diamonds or clubs for the seventh trick and, essentially if you go for the wrong one, you will go down. In this hand both plays fail.

 

The correct play here, in the club suit, is to play the CK followed by a club to the ace. You are in the right hand to play a club towards your ten if East began with your hoped for, and likely on the play to date, Jxxx or Qxxx.  Without the C10 the diamond suit might be a better shot.  With five hearts on your left, however, that diamond finesse looks worse than fifty-fifty.

 

But Ralph saw something else. At trick four he led a spade off dummy going up with the ace. Bingo! Of course this could have been KQ doubleton but “Restricted Choice” decrees that it will be singleton. Note also, that East with KQx may have been tempted to split his honours. Had nothing good happened, Ralph would most probably have gone for clubs as offering the best chance and with the reasonable expectation that the defenders could not untangle two spade tricks for themselves and cash the hearts as well.

 

As it was, he was able to play a diamond to the jack, looking for an over trick. It lost of course but in the fullness of time he was able to lead towards his SJ for that seventh trick.

 

 

Risky? Your call.  When someone goes on holidays or is not available for a while, his/her partner often decides not to play.  This is such a pity as there are so many people in the same boat.  Don’t be a wuss.  Take a chance.

 

Sometimes partnerships just don’t work.  Some feign illness, declare that a close relative (including the family pet) is ill, stop playing bridge altogether or for months at a time, or proffer endless excuses that would test the patience of Job.  Apologies to anyone who does have a sick pet.

 

An honest “I don’t think we are on the same wave length” or “this is not working for me”, is a more respectful approach. Talk to me if you need a bridge partner.  It is just a game of cards, after all.

 

Don’t worry about what people think, they don’t do it very often.

Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

You should not confuse your career with your life.

 

.

 

You may have heard something of our amazing trip to China.  It is one I have wanted to do for a long, long time and it is always satisfying to achieve a long held desire.  See comments on ‘Testimonials’.  Lots of pics to be posted soon.

 

The only words I can think of as we walked the Great Wall (besides the obvious “stupid idea”, “I can’t go another step”) were that this was almost a spiritual journey.  You might ask?  Well there are walls and there are walls.  This one was built 2,000 years ago and when you walk it, something happens.  You cannot access the scale and beauty of this creation second hand.  You have to experience it.  And we did.

 

Also, you cannot see China properly without an experienced, English-speaking guide.  We were very lucky to have Julie who entertained us with jokes and stories, told us about her early years, gave us so much factual and cultural information, helped us bargain for our “Knock Offs” (copies of grand handbags & shoes) and was always gracious and charming. A guide can make or break a tour.

 

This pic of Julie and I was not taken after the Great Walk but after the Great Shop!  Thank you Julie.

 

 

 

Special fund-raising Event for CARE Australia 

 

 

Why CARE Australia?

In developing countries there are more girls than boys out of school, more women than men out of work, and women die needlessly from pregnancy related diseases.

 

Yet women and girls are part of the solution to overcoming poverty and injustice. Women, more than men, transfer improvements in their own lives into the lives of their children, families and communities.  If they have the opportunity to gain an education, access health services, generate an income, and take a lead in their community, women and girls will reinvest into their community, creating lasting change. CARE Australia is working with women and girls around the world every day to bring about this change.  

 

 

 

 

Give more, enjoy life, love bridge

Denise

 

 

 

When partner leads a “Nine”

 

When partnering novices I ask them not to lead nines (this is hard for them as they seem to love leading nines). They ask, “but what if it’s my fourth highest?”  Did you know there is no holding from which a nine is fourth highest?

 

Partner would lead an honour from any of these holdings when defending no-trumps or a suit contract:*A-J-10-9,  K-Q-10-9, K-Q-J-9. Usually a nine indicates a doubleton, singleton or top of nothing   9-8-3. 

 

Why would partner lead the top card from a suit without an honour?  It’s to warn us we shouldn’t automatically be returning 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.

 

 

HOT TIP! Eight Ever, Nine Never

 

All this adage 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 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. 

 

 

 

Distinguishing Penalty Doubles from Takeout Doubles

 

  • Doubles of the opponents’ 1NT or 2NT opening bids are for penalty
  • Doubles of the opponents’ bids at the game level or higher are for penalty

 

♠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”. See lessons to be held on this and other topics during the month of July 2010

 

A young George, left, playing against Omar Shariff & his team

Bidding at bridge by George Cuppaidge, January 2010

“Bridge is a remarkable game and the sophisticated bidding phase is the aspect that separates

it from all other card games”

 

The Positive Double, by George Cuppaidge                  May 2010

 

George  wants to do away with “negative” doubles and has invested a considerable amount of time in creating “positive” doubles. In his opinion, the negative double does not describe, it does not ask and it does not limit the user’s strength.  Effectively it does nothing.

 

A positive double?  George thinks this double is such a useful, efficient tool of bidding space that it should be used whenever possible.  He proposes three basic situations:

 

  • When partner’s opening bid – including 1NT – is overcalled
  • When there is intervention over partner’s overcall
  • When there is intervention over partner’s take-out double or take-out bid

 

Read on, you will be surprised at how quickly you feel you can abandon “negative doubles”.

 

Does the emperor have clothes? More specifically, does the universally played negative double make any sense at all? Read what follows and make up your own mind.

 

The negative double is the double of an overcall of an opening bid, announcing to partner that the doubler has “something” and accordingly that the opener should bid “something.”

 

Does the negative double tell or ask?  Well let us examine, first what it tells.

 

High card strength.

I have seen it made on as few as 4 points, but no doubt competitive players from time to time will invoke it with fewer, but let’s say 4+ points with no upper limit. That’s a very unhelpful point range. Does the level of interference make any difference? Well clearly it should but it seems, in general, that it does not. If the bid is going to commit the partnership to the three-level or above, surely the bid should promise game going values but experience shows that it does no more than say that the partnership may have a playable contract somewhere, albeit at the two-level or lower, especially if there is no good fit.

 

Fit.

The negative double says nothing on this score. It may be made on any hand with a void in partner’s suit or huge fit with a four–card suit on the side that the doubler wants to find four-card support for.

 

Does a retreat by the doubler, from the second, forced, suit bid by opener back to his original suit show a big fit or simply an intolerance for that second suit?

No doubt established partnerships have agreements here but in general the answer is moot.

 

Length in unbid suits.

Ostensibly the negative doubler promises four cards in the major if only one is unbid and 4-4 or 3-4 at worst if they are both unbid. This is not a guarantee at all. Negative doublers happily use the bid with any balanced shape, no stopper in the overcalled suit and no four-card unbid major, paving the way to the 3-3 fit, and see immediately below.

 

Could the negative doubler simply hold a long suit of his own, not necessarily a major, in a hand where he wants to be in the bidding but does not have the requisite strength to introduce this suit, at the prevailing level, the two-level or higher?

Yes he could. This is how players of negative double/forcing free-bids play. They are not strong enough to bid this suit, forcing, so they negative double in the hope that the opportunity to show it, not forcing, will arise. Quite clearly this negates the stipulation that a negative doubler shows support for unbid major(s)

 

Does the negative doubler deny five cards or more in a higher ranking suit?

No. So opener must use a little clairvoyance from time to time and introduce a three-card higher ranking suit which of course the doubler will assume to be a four-card suit.

 

Does the negative doubler promise another bid?

Well in certain circumstances he should, but the reality is that he never does. When an overcall is 2S or above, what does opener do with significant extra values, a stopper and a four-card suit that he would like to offer? If he simply bids the suit or 2NT, he is likely to be dropped, with game cold. A jump to 3NT by opener may miss the only making game, in the other major, and vice-versa.

 

When can the negative doubler’s partner pass for penalty? Never. No matter how good his trump holding, he cannot assume that partner does not have a huge fit for his initial suit and that all his quick tricks in that suit will be wasted.

 

What does it ask?

It forces opener to bid again, the popular wisdom is to show a four-card major at any cost. Any forced bid is virtually meaningless, both as to strength and distribution. A 2H “reverse” might be made on, say a 3433 shape following a better minor opening and a 1S overcall, or the same bid might be made on, say, a 2-4-1-6 shape.  This action will be singularly unhelpful to the doubler when he does not hold four cards in that suit and wishes to introduce a lower-ranking long suit of  his own or wants to know how long opener’s “better minor” is.

 

In summary. The negative double does not describe, it does not ask and it does not limit the user’s strength. Effectively it does nothing. Both partners are, in general, at sea.

 

Is there a better way?

Of course there is, and as ever the better way is the simpler way. The first and most important point to realize is that almost invariably the opening bidder will re-open. He must. Why? Because unless the partnership is playing penalty doubles, responder must be free to pass, without the slightest pause for thought, any hand with which he would wish to make a penalty double.  The only time opening bidder is allowed to pass out an overcall which is passed back to him is when he holds a minimum hand with three cards or more in the overcaller’s suit. He is not allowed to guess or try to read the table “vibes.” Good players simply will not give them. It follows, as night does day, that responder will not be dropped whenever it matters. Assuming responder will take no action with no clear bid and with fewer than 12 points, the hand will be passed out only when your opponents are in a terrible fit and you have nothing significant on your way.

 

What should double mean? The positive double is the answer. A positive double, or redouble, announces no more than the fact that responder has 12+ points, 9+ when the opening bid was 1NT, 15-17. It is also used to show a 10-12 three-card raise for opener’s major, but nothing else. Opener has begun to describe his hand, this double, the cheapest of all actions, allows him to continue with the most descriptive bid possible and simultaneously allows the partnership to explore at leisure for their best spot. A bid in a new suit will, unequivocally show shape, not some 4-3-3-3 hand, and there is no need to jump, just to show a good hand.* After the positive double, passes are forcing and doubles for penalty.  Suddenly double means something, what a difference that makes!

 

Free bids, forcing or not forcing? Every action, except double, is limited to 11 points, similar to bidding opposite a passed, hand. It follows that a new suit, even at the one-level, can be played as non-forcing, and this is the recommended way. If, within a partnership, it is decided to play free-bids as forcing this will certainly work but it seems a pity to give the opponents a free turn when you have good suit that you want led or raised but not enough high-card strength to commit partner, with minimum values, to find another bid.

 

When is double positive? The positive double is such a useful, efficient of bidding space, tool that it is used whenever it reasonably can be. The three basic situations are.

 

·             When partner’s opening bid, including 1NT is overcalled

·            When there is intervention over partner’s overcall

·             When there is intervention over partner’s take-out double or take-out bid.

It should be clear, already, that the positive double can be used to distinguish a strong raise from a merely competitive raise in contested auctions.

 

 

Using the positive double, these are the meanings of responder’s actions, after 1H or 1S and intervention.

 

Double, any 12+ or the 10-12 three-card raise

Simple raise, 6-9 points, three-card or occasionally two-card support.

Double followed by a minimum raise or simple preference, 10-12 points, three-card support.

New suit at the one-level. Four cards or longer, 6-11 points, not forcing. With big support for opener’s minor, and only four cards in a major, it is preferable to support immediately, allowing opener, with extra-values, to introduce a major.

New suit at the two level or higher, non-jump. Five cards or more, denies three-card or better support for opener’s major, 6-11 points, not forcing.

      2NT Four card or better support, 10-12 points.

      Jump raise to three. Four-card or better support, no singleton, pre-emptive.

      Jump raise to four. Four card or better support, a singleton or void somewhere, maximum of one ace or two kings, 0-11 points.

       In the 6-11 point range, responder will pass, only if he simply cannot find a bid. Some of the bids he can make, in this range, are, a new four-card       suit at the one-level, a simple raise of one-of-a major with a doubleton, 1NT with a stopper, a new, five-card or longer suit at the two- or three-level.

 

*The book, “The Jorj Relay System” http://db.tt/vCxHjG  is far more comprehensive here and readers may care to carefully consider these ideas and to what extent to incorporate them.

 

More Bridge Base Online  adventures with George Cuppaidge June 2010

 

As suggested in earlier columns, one benefit you can get from playing bridge in this bizarre medium is to put your ideas to the test, keeping statistics mentally as you go. If something you try does not work, examine in objectively to determine whether it was the action or the luck that was bad. Do not limit yourself to your own actions, examine those of your opponents too and apply the same criteria. You must be objective. Opening nearly all ten-pointers and some hands of lesser strength as I do is a harrowing activity. Invariably if the hand goes wrong, or appears to go wrong, partner’s objectivity is put aside. By, “appears to go wrong” I mean that we go minus and an objective analysis shows that in this particular case a small minus was a good score.

Sometimes you can only stand impressed by other people’s actions. They do something which would not have entered your head and it works. Witness the following, I sat south with dealer west and only our side vulnerable. My partner was marked as a friend, which means to me, only, that those times we have played together he has not done anything beyond the pale. Examine all the bids and see which ones you approve of, there were not many in my opinion, but some, in a sense, “worked.”

 

                                        104

                                        Q8

                                        K10876

                                        10754

                                       7                               Q53

                                       AJ9765                      K10432

                                       954                            J2

                                       Q32                           AK8

                                         AKJ9862

                                             --

                                         AQ3

                                         J96

 

W        N         E          S

2H       P          4H       4S

P          P          Dbl(1)  P

5H(2)   5S(3)   Dbl(4)  All pass

 

(1)   On a good day, I see two tricks here. The SQ appears to be dead and will my partner have a single defensive trick outside his heart suit?  In a word, ridiculous. To bid 5H is acceptable but not for me. We have cramped the bidding, let’s take our chances.

(2)   The golden rule of pre-emptive bidding is get it all off your chest at once and do not get in partner’s way thereafter. There are exceptions but they are rare indeed. The singleton spade here is not a reason to rip. The opponents have been bustled into four spades, why should not partner have what his bid promises, trump tricks?

(3)   This man remains on my list of friends for his show of confidence. It is not a bid I would have found, even with a gun to my head. The heart holding is the worst possible and partner, under pressure, may hold the spade suit that East’s bidding suggests.

(4)   With such a poor double in the first place, a sensitive East would pass, leaving it to partner, following the principle, not showing the same values twice. The bidding should make it clear that this double is unlikely to reap much in the way of a dividend.

I trust that readers will consider my bidding unexceptionable.

 

I ruffed the heart lead.

 

Without such revealing bidding the play is automatic. Cash SAK and run the diamonds, cursing inwardly when the SQ does not drop. Has East doubled, twice, holding SQx? I thought not, more likely Q753 I felt, especially in view of West’s rip. Leading a low diamond to dummy’s DK to take the spade finesse is a futile move.  There will be no way to use the suit. One way is to finesse dummy’s D10 but it is not the one I chose, rather, I led the DQ overtaking and ran the S10 successfully. Twelve tricks were now a formality. This line succeeds when there is a doubleton DJ in either hand.

 

East put icing on his cake of horrors by insulting his “beginner” partner as he left at about trick seven. Presumably his bidding “screams” for a club lead. A stoic pass of 4S would certainly have netted EW +100. Just one more heart in the west hand than the east hand is not enough, in itself, to steer declarer away from the normal, play for the drop, in the spade suit. A double which converts a plus score into a minus score is right at the top the list of all the many bridge atrocities.

 

 

 

 

 

Live simply that others may simply live.