Wednesday morning June 20, 2007

Linda resisted a 3D opener, figuring she had too many high card points. I underbid my hand with 2NT. I could have jump-shifted to 3C to show the actual point range. Linda's rebid of diamonds showed a strong 6-card suit (and where were her opening points going to be, anyway?). This is the kind of hand I like to gamble NT slam with, a long runnable suit with outside coverage. The hand romped home at 6, although I don't see how I could have bid 7. In the end North held on to two suits, clubs and hearts, then found herself pinched when I played the K of clubs on the 12th trick, felling the queen, making the jack good.

Wednesday morning June 20, 2007

I teach that when you make a positive reply to a strong 2C opener, you need to have 8+ points and a 5-card suit headed by at least a queen. I like West's bid in that it shows all the positive values. Any other sequence using a diamond cuebid by West gets in the way of explaining West's hand to East. East leads trumps to the queen, discovers the trump break, then forces the J-10 out from North with her diamond re-entry; making all thirteen tricks. Nicely done.

Wednesday morning June 20, 2007

I'd have a hard time not bidding 7 with South's hand after an opening bid and the ace-asking sequence; still, 6 is better because you don't have the trump stack. You'd hate to lose a 34-point slam because the king of trumps was offsides. South has no real play other than a heart finesse and hopes that the spades were in West's hands and not East's.

Wednesday morning June 20, 2007

I think this is the only sequence that makes any sense to get to six spades. It requires faith on the part of North to raise partner to game with K-10 in spades. South in turn has a ratty 18 HCP with two more for length; it's way to weak for 1S, can't bid 1NT; 2C is the only option. In this action, South only loses the king of hearts.

An actual hand in nature.

I might have opened 2C with this hand, it's so strong. What would happen then? West immediately freaks out. 2D "waiting" doesn't exactly describe West's hand. We teach 2D over 2C is less than 8 points, everything else is natural and positive. I'm not sure what I would do to get East's attention that something REALLY BIG is happening. Perhaps 4C. 3NT could be interpreted as shutout. Over 4C East comes in with 4H; surely partner's not going to pass; followed by 4NT, etc to 7 hearts.

Linda and I play step bidding over a strong 2C opener; 2D = 0-4 without an ace, 2H = 5-8, 2S = 9-12 and 2NT = opening hand. Our sequence to this terrific hand would have been 2C-2NT. We're at the 2 level and we know we have 33 points or so; East gets to add points for the strong seven-card suit. After 2C-2NT, 3H-4H, 4NT-5H, 5NT-6H, 7NT-all pass. You have all the aces and all the kings plus 33+ points and a long heart suit to run. Reach deep into the bid box and bring everything out!

Thursday evening June 21, 2007

Twice in one night we had 5NT bid. Awesome! Without knowing that East's king was indeed the king of spades, there was no way to bid (yet another 7H hand).

Friday evening June 22, 2007

In duplicate bridge the object is to score the most or lose the least. East should have raised hearts instead of dipping into diamonds. After South's preemptive 4S bid--a great bid by the way, simply continuing the spade interference started by partner--West would have been able to bid 5H, which makes easily. Marty Bergen's Law of Total Tricks says you can feel comfortable bidding to the level of the total number of trump cards you hold. South knows North has six spades and can (and should) jump to 4S; losing two diamonds, two hearts and a club; down 2 doubled for -300. In this case it was even worse. EW didn't double, instead allowing NS to walk away with -100 and a next-to-top score. One timid EW pair let NS play 2S, making 2!

Friday evening June 22, 2007

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. I held East's hand and opened 2H with it, even with a void, even without two of the top three honors as I teach. Linda, using Marty Bergen's Law of Total Tricks, raised to 4 hearts before North could bid. Look at North's hand. Would you double or bid four spades? Everybody's vulnerable. I got lucky to make five, bringing home the entire club suit; losing only a heart and a diamond. I got the jack of clubs lead, covered by the queen, king and ace. Later, after nearly whooping when the A-K of hearts fell on the same trick, I finessed the eight of clubs and ran the suit. Four spades makes four all day long. Nice bid by my energizer bunny who has finally started reading and applying Mary Bergen's books.

Saturday morning June 23, 2007

One of the things you notice when you play Peggy and Gene Graham is how nice you feel when you get your socks beat. This improbable slam was brought home by Gene's bidding, Peggy's play, and a nice lead--the six of spades. Peggy had no choice but to finesse, return to her hand, and finesse again; three spades, six diamonds, two hearts and a club. Thank you very much!

Saturday morning June 23, 2007

I don't normally open any NT with two doubletons, much less 2NT, however I didn't feel like a 2C-2D, 2H-xx sequence adequately described the hand; thus, the fudge. Transferring to spades was proper, as would be a 4C bid to describe points. No East is going to pass the transfer, most likely bidding 3NT. Linda raised to 4C showing slam interest and club control. It was easy to bid 6NT, as did Linda and Len Block. East got off to a diamond lead from a pile of trash, the king captured and the rest was history. No spades needed to be tested as declarer ran 5 hearts, four clubs, three diamonds and a spade.

Saturday morning June 23, 2007

In my Bridge 201 class I emphasize the importance of North re-evaluating his hand--Sorting Through the Trash--so to speak. We're looking for nuggets--ANYTHING that will let us bid. If you bid 2H partner knows we can't have 10 points because we'd show another suit. North must add distribution points for those two lovely doubletons, knowing full well that partner will be able to use small trumps to win tricks with bad holdings in spades and diamonds. There is no lead that prevents declarer from only losing a spade and a club. You MUST bid 2H with this hand!