|
Fireside Chat
|
|
FIRESIDE CHAT JUNE 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome and Announcements
Believer's FireSide Kindling
Bidding with Bridgboy
Guido's Really Important Stuff
Fifee's SolidGold
Hand of the Month
Dealing With Dann
Ian's Partnership Stuff
Special Treats
Moogal's FireSide Log
Treble's Table Talk
And Finally Kaltica
=======================================
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hi all!
Welcome to the June, 2003 issue of FireSide
Chat, our monthly newsletter written for and about
our FireSide friends and events.
We hope you enjoy all of this month's articles and
features. Please feel free to write to us with any
comments, questions, ideas, or whatever, that you may
wish to share. This newsletter is for and about you,
and we want you to feel welcome to participate. Just
email Believer at sarastobbe@aol.com or Moogal
at Moocake@aol.com.
A special thanks to all of you who have been sending
us contributions for our "giggle breaks". We appreciate
everything you send, and use as many as we can. Keep
'em coming, please! :-)
OKbridge also offers us an email discussion opportunity,
the Discuss List. You can join that list by emailing them
at Discuss-Request@okbridge.com and put the word 'subscribe'
in the subject line. You can also participate in the
discussions via the OKbridge web site now, just go to the
members area at www.okbridge.com and you'll find the Discuss
List there at the bottom of your opening page.
You can now find our "FireSide Chat" posted at two
different web sites. You can go to OKbridge's web site:
http://www.okbridge.com/membersclub/periodicals/fireside/
Or find it at our FireSide web site:
http://www.firesides.net/thechat.htm
If, for any reason, you do not wish to receive
these mailings, please write to Believer at
sarastobbe@aol.com to be removed from our mailing
list.
===========================================
CURRENT FIRESIDE SCHEDULE
Day Pacific Time Commentator
MON 11:00 A.M. POOKA
MON 5:00 P.M.* BRIDGBOY
TUE 11:00 A.M. BRIDGBOY
TUE 5:30 P.M. WINTAKA
WED 11:00 A.M. FREDW3
WED 5:30 P.M. DIANEW
THU 11:00 A.M. POOKA
THU 5:30 P.M. WISHTRIK
FRI 11:00 A.M. BLUEBEE
FRI 5:30 P.M. KALTICA
Commentators may change without notice,
according to their availability.
(*starts 1/2 hour earlier on Monday night)
*******************
Although there is no set fee for participating in
these "open to all" sessions, please note that FireSide
Bidding Practice Sessions operate with the support of
those in attendance. For information about how to
become a supporting member, please contact Kaltica at
kaltica@mts.net, Moogal at moocake@aol.com, or
Believer at sarastobbe@aol.com.
Thanks to all of you for supporting the FireSide sessions
in all the many different ways you have of doing so.
We want to thank our commentators for their dedication
and caring. Please, think of them when you are thinking
of taking private lessons, paying a professional to play
tourneys with you, getting involved in a group session
mentoring program... most, if not all, of our commentators
and contributors to this newsletter are available for those
services. Just think how much easier it is to learn
from someone who's already a friend!
*******************
All articles herein (c) 2003 by FireSide Chat.
All rights reserved.
===============================================
BELIEVER'S FIRESIDE KINDLING
============================
Hi all :-)
In the "ask, and ye shall receive" category --
I got the following request from Vicki (Seagull9)
last month:
"Could we please have some lessons on the bidding
strategy for MP and IMP?"
--Well, Vicki, and anyone else who has questions,
we have not one, but two articles this month for you
on MPs and IMPs... be sure to check out both Guido's
and Ian's column for their takes on this subject!
********************
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a fellow
who used to come to our Friday night Firesides on
a pretty regular basis, but he hadn't been there
for some time. In this email, he told me how he's
not playing at OKbridge any more, because of the
unfriendliness of the folks at OKb. He said
everyone thinks they're an expert, and they always
give him a hard time about his bidding and play.
This email made me feel really bad. I responded
to him that maybe he keeps winding up with the
wrong folks somehow, and maybe he could try to
play with more of the Fireside regulars -- come to
the sessions and make friends with some of you great
folks who attend FireSide.
Well, I dunno if he'll take my advice or not, since
he's found another site to play at where the folks
are friendlier to him, and it's OK for him to make
a mistake and not be an expert. But I do miss him
at the Firesides, and I wish he'd at least come visit
us once in a while and say hi.
This incident caused me to do some thinking tho. I
couldn't really defend OKb'ers in general, because I
very seldom play with folks I don't know anymore. I
play with friends, with Firesiders... and I've
gotten away from that "Pard, why????" syndrome that
seems to prevail in a pickup game at OKb. I do remember
how awful it feels though, so I asked Tuna if I could
reprint his article from last month's Spectator, to
remind myself and all my OKb friends about being careful
with other OKb'ers feelings and egos. Thanks for
letting me use your words, Tuna, to remind folks what
OKb is really all about:
NETIQUETTE
By Tony (Tuna) Reus
The 10 Recommendments
I made a pilgrimage to Atlantis to visit Neptune, the King
of the Sea. He gave me an engraved tablet with 10 useful
guidelines for "HOW TO BE A GOOD OKB'ER"...
I. BE A GOOD SPORT:
a) OKbridge is best enjoyed when the participants remain
good sports even in the face of an occasional catastrophe.
NEVER quit because a hand goes poorly. This is akin to
turning over the table and throwing the cards on the
floor.
b) If you are not getting along with your new-found
partner or an opponent, excuse yourself for the NEXT hand.
II. RESPECT YOUR NEIGHBOR:
a) The table server is your host. Treat your server as
though you were a guest in his/her home.
b) Be sensitive to the fact that many partners and
opponents do not appreciate gratuitous criticism. Save the
bridge lessons for those who solicit or pay for them.
c) Remember that most people play OKbridge for fun. Don't
ruin that fun with your bad moods, impatience and
judgments. Don't impose your morals on others.
d) A lesser player is not a lesser person.
III. HONOR YOUR NEIGHBOR:
Rather than publicly expressing your doubts about your
opponent's ethics, write to protest@okbridge.com. The lobby
is most definitely not the right place!
IV. PRACTICE GOOD TEMPO:
a) Pause over preempts.
b) Don't "shotgun" your singletons, doubles, etc.
V. DO NOT GLOAT:
a) Even a simple "wdp" (well done pard) can be considered
inappropriate when the opponents have made a mistake.
b) Congratulating your opponents is always well received;
congratulating your partner requires a bit more tact.
VI. BE FAIR AND ETHICAL:
a) Do not take advantage of any UI (unauthorized
information).
b) Use full disclosure. Let the opponents know what you
and partner know.
c) Put a "level" (estimate something if not sure) in your
stats as a guideline for opponents or potential partners.
d) Even though private communication with your partner is
not condoned by OKbridge, it's fine if your opponents
permit it.
VII. BE AWARE OF PROPRIETIES:
a) A short statement such as "draw" or "finesse" can avoid
problems and will not slow the game.
b) Do not steer as dummy.
c) Don't ask to undo partner's errors.
d) UNDOs are for typos/mismouses, NOT for errors or
inattention.
e) Frivolous plays/bids/claims abuse the GPS and hurt us
all.
VIII. DO NOT COMMANDEER:
a) If you have strict rules about UNDOs etc., let the
people at your table know beforehand, or give one chance.
b) Skipping hands should be at the consent of all four
players, so don't unilaterally skip. If you can't agree,
consult a third party or finish the hand and appeal.
c) UNDOs/skip requests are simply that -- REQUESTS. Don't
ASSUME forgiveness for your errors.
IX. DO NOT HOLD UP THE GAME:
a) If you know that you have less than 15 minutes to play
a new hand, you should offer to give up your seat to
someone else.
b) If you cannot devote your attention to the game,
suggest being substituted.
c) If you have a bad conn (connection), let someone else
serve. (Also, that way no one will be upset when you crash
on a memorable hand!)
d) Fast claims are GOOD; sloppy claims are BAD.
X. BE FRIENDLY:
Courtesy is contagious!
Try "Hi, may I sit?" instead of jumping into an empty
seat. Maybe someone is ahead of you, or maybe there is
already a set-game, or maybe one of the players has lost
his connection.
________________________________
Tony "Tuna" Reus is the OKbridge Club Manager. Visit his
homepage at:
http://www.okbridge.com/membersclub/tourneys/tuna/
********************
You can write to Believer (Sara Stobbe) at:
sarastobbe@aol.com
============================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Tuna for this one that I know many of
you can identify with!
Top 10 - Best Remarks by Golf Caddies
#10
Golfer: "Think I'm going to drown myself in the lake."
Caddy: "Think you can keep your head down that long?"
#9
Golfer: "I'd move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course."
Caddy: "Try heaven, you've already moved most of the earth."
#8
Golfer: "Do you think my game is improving?"
Caddy: "Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now."
#7
Golfer: "Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?"
Caddy: "Eventually."
#6
Golfer: "You've got to be the worst caddy in the world."
Caddy: "I don't think so sir. That would be too much of a
coincidence."
#5
Golfer: "Please stop checking your watch all the time. It's too
much of a distraction."
Caddy: "It's not a watch - it's a compass."
#4
Golfer: "How do you like my game?"
Caddy: "Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf."
#3
Golfer: "Do you think it's a sin to play on Sunday?
Caddy: "The way you play, sir, it's a sin on any day."
#2
Golfer: "This is the worst course I've ever played on."
Caddy: "This isn't the golf course. We left that an hour ago."
and the #1 best caddy comment:
Golfer: "That can't be my ball, it's too old."
Caddy: "It's been a long time since we teed off, sir."
=================================================
BIDDING WITH BRIDGBOY
=====================
I have heard the cry from partner: But I only had (x) number of
points!
You can fill in that blank with any number you wish. But we learn
that it isn't the number that is important but rather
what they are and where they are! How they fit with partner's
hand is always the key.
Here are two examples that should help us see the logic:
S A6542
H J102
D A982
C 2
We are dealt this 9 point hand and hear the following auction:
Pard RHO You LHO
1C P 1S P
2H P 3D P
4H P ?
OK, gang...what has partner shown us? What picture has
he tried to paint? And, lastly, how does our hand fit
with his?
He has shown 5 hearts and yet started the bidding with clubs
first, so he also has 6 clubs. He has also reversed so he is
certainly not a minimum hand. Now count losers. No matter how
his last two cards are distributed we have both aces so no losers
in either spades or diamonds. Now give him an opening bid
consistent with his auction. Is it too much to expect him to
have AKQ of hearts and AK of clubs at least? Remember, he did
reverse and then jump to game so that is certainly not
unreasonable.
So, let's count losers again. No heart losers and no club
losers, and he can ruff a club in dummy to set up that suit.
If you want to practice, you can use key card blackwood to double
check the use of the responses, but I can assure you the answers
will be 3 key cards and then the queen of trumps! So it looks
like you have the perfect nine points partner needs to make 7
hearts.
Change your hand to a different nine points and then the analysis
is completely different. But looking at those specific cards you
have 13 tricks in hearts if partner has what he has promised!
Nicely bid!!
Next hand:
S 10432
H J42
D AK32
C 32
This time only 8 points! The auction goes
Pard RHO You LHO
2C P 2D P
2H P 3H* P
4C P 4D** P
4H P ?
* setting the trump suit and awaiting q bidding
** Ace of diamonds
We have done our all. If partner can't show a spade
control or make any further move, we are done. So we reluctantly
pass -- our 8 points are not the perfect ones that he needs.
Let's look at the two hands now.
S Q2
H AKQ1098
D void
C AKQ102
OPPOSITE
S 10432
H J42
D AK32
C 32
As you can see, they can take the first two spades, but if
partner had Qx of diamonds and the void in spades then slam
would be cold! You would have then gotten to the cold seven
heart contract because partner could have bid 4 spades over
4D, and then you would show the king of diamonds. Or move
your AKxx to spades and the 10xxx to diamonds -- again slam
is cold and cuebidding would lead the way to seven hearts.
So the next time you hear a cry about having some number of
points, smile and realize you know better: what they are is
more important than how many there are!
********************
You can find Bridgboy (Bob Lavin) doing his FireSide
sessions on Monday evenings at 5:00 p.m., and Tuesdays
at 11:00 a.m. OKbridge time.
Anyone interested in one-on-one lessons on any topic of
the game may contact Bob at bridgboy@charter.net
===================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Benson for this giggle:
One evening a man was very impressed with the meat entree his
wife had served. "What did you marinate this in?" he asked.
His wife immediately went into a long explanation about how much
she loves him and how life wouldn't be the same without him, etc.
Eventually, his puzzled expression made her interrupt her answer
with a question of her own, "What did you ask me?"
She chuckled at his answer and explained, "I thought you asked me
if I would marry you again!"
As she left the room, he called out, "Well, would you marry me
again?"
Without hesitation, she replied, "Vinegar and barbecue sauce."
=====================================================
GUIDO'S REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF
==============================
IMPs versus Match Points
There are two common methods of comparing scores in
tournaments: IMPs (International Match Points) and Matchpoints
(MP or, as Tuna calls them: Pig Points). What's the difference
and how do those differences effect your strategy?
The difference is quite simple. In MPs you receive 1/2
matchpoint for every pair you tie and 1 full point for every
pair you beat. It makes no difference if you beat a pair by 10
points: say, 2S making two (+110) rather than 2H down one non-
vulnerable (+100) or by 4000 points. In other words, in MPs it
is the FREQUENCY of gain that counts. In IMPs, you compare
your results to the other table (in a straight team match) or
to the other pairs (in a Pairs IMP game). The difference in
scores is converted to IMPs per a published scale. That
difference becomes your score on that board. Pairs IMPs gets a
bit complicated because of the various methods the comparisons
can be made. Possible methods include:
Compare your score to every other pair's score that played the
hand in your direction. Convert each comparison to IMPs; add
them all up; divide by the number of comparisons. The result
is your score for that board.
Average all the results. Compare that score to yours and
convert to IMPs.
You can use either one of the above two methods, but before
doing anything else, throw out the highest and lowest (or
the 2 highest and 2 lowest or the x highest and x lowest)
scores.
The exact details are technically interesting and make for
good fodder for arguments as to which is the "best" or
"fairest." The exact details, however, should not cause you to
change your strategy. For those who care, OKBridge uses the
first method above.
Here's the IMP table:
0- 10 0 20- 40 1
50- 80 2 90-120 3
130-160 4 170-210 5
220-260 6 270-310 7
320-360 8 370-420 9
430-490 10 500-590 11
600-740 12 750-890 13
900-1090 14 1100-1290 15
1300-1490 16 1500-1740 17
1750-1990 18 2000-2240 19
2250-2490 20 2500-2990 21
3000-3490 22 3500-3990 23
4000+ 24
Let's assume you are playing a straight-up team match (your
team versus one other team). At your table, you are vulnerable
and bid 4S and make 11 tricks. Your raw score is +650. At the
other table, the pair sitting in your direction doubles their
non-vulnerable opponents in 4S and set it three tricks. Your
team's score at the other table is therefore -500. We compare
the two scores: +650 + (-500) = 150. Looking at the table
above we see that +150 means your team's score on that board
is +4 IMPs (and that means the opponents' score is -4 IMPs).
Basic IMP strategy includes:
If there is no game your way, any plus is fine. This is quite
different from Matchpoints where the difference between +50
and +110 can be huge, but is only 2 IMPs.
Bid close games, particularly when vulnerable. Plus 620
compared to the other table's +170 is 10 IMPs while if the
game does not make it is -100 compared to -140 or 6 IMPs.
Ignoring doubles (but also ignoring bad defense and your
spectacular declarer play) you are betting 6 IMPs to gain 10.
Good odds.
One game is as good as another, so bid the safest game. There
is no point in worrying about +400 versus +420. It is only one
IMP.
Don't double the opponents into game. Figure the odds on this
one yourself. Obviously, if the double is clear-cut, go for
it, but Matchpoint-like doubles trying for +200 are not worth
the risk.
Feel freer to double game contracts and non-game part scores
(that is, contracts of 2D or lower). Again, use good judgment.
If the double tells the declarer how to play the hand to make
it, don't do it.
Sacrifice bids should be infrequent. Going -500 to save
against -620 gains you only 3 IMPs. Want to figure out how
much it costs you if the game was not making?
The corollary to the above is: If the opponents sacrifice,
double them, don't bid at the five level.
Double part score swings are much more costly than most people
realize. If you can make 3C and the opponents can make 2S,
allowing them to play 2S costs: 220 points or 6 IMPs. That is
the same as missing a non-vulnerable game (420 - 170 = 250
which is also 6 IMPs.) So, fight for the part score, but don't
worry about which part score you end up in - as long as it
makes.
Don't worry about overtricks on either defense or as declarer.
It is only going to be an IMP or two. In Matchpoints you will
sometimes risk your contract for an overtrick or decide not to
try a defense that is likely to cost an overtrick in the dim
hope that it might set the contract. As declarer in IMPs you
have three goals: 1) Make the contract 2) Make the contract
3) MAKE THE CONTRACT.
As a defender in IMPs you have three goals: just change the
word "make" to "defeat" in the three short sentences above.
There is more, of course, but this is a good start.
********************
You can email Guido at: paulfriedman@attbi.com
================================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to PKV for this giggle:
Sleeping Car
A man and a woman, who have never met before, find
themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a
transcontinental train.
After the initial embarrassment and uneasiness, they
both go to sleep, the man in the upper berth, and the
woman in the lower berth.
In the middle of the night, the man leans over, wakes
the woman and says, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm
awfully cold, and I was wondering if you could possibly
reach over and get me another blanket?"
The woman leans out and, with a glint in her eye says,
"I have a better idea, just for tonight let's pretend
that we are married."
The man happily says, "All right! AWESOME IDEA!"
The woman says, "GOOD...Get your own blanket."
================================================================
FIFEE'S SOLIDGOLD
=================
More Troubles with Doubles - Responsive Doubles
By Patricia Anderson
A Responsive Double is a double in response to partner's Takeout
Double after opponents have bid and raised a suit.
Your Responsive Double shows a hand with no clear call.
Responsive Doubles tell partner that you are not sure where your
best fit lies, gives him some information about your hand and
makes him captain. Typically, Responsive Double hands over a 2
level raise will hold 7 to 8 or a bad 9 points.
Two Basic Rules for Responsive Doubles:
Rule #1. If the opponents have bid and raised a minor and your
partner has made a Takeout Double, then a Responsive Double shows
both majors.
You hold:
S KT84
H QJ53
D J2
C 984
Bidding goes:
Opp Partner Opp You
1C Double 2C Double
This sequence guarantees support for unbid majors.
Rule #2. If the opponents have bid and raised a major and partner
has made a Takeout Double, then a Responsive Double shows both
minors and DENIES a four card major suit.
You hold:
S 72
H K9
D QT53
C QT763
Bidding goes:
Opp Partner Opp You
1S Double 2S Double
This sequence guarantees support for unbid minors and says, "I do
not have 4 Hearts."
Responsive doubles can also apply when the opponents have opened
and jump raised.
You hold:
S KJ73
H A642
D T874
C 5
Bidding goes:
Opp Partner Opp You
1C Double 3C Double
This sequence guarantees support for both majors. Responder
should have more than a minimum for this bid since it sends the
partnership to the 3 level.
Responsive doubles can also apply when the opponents have opened
with a weak-2 bid and raised.
Opp Partner Opp You
2S Double 3S Double
You hold:
S 7
H K9
D QT983
C AT975
Clearly, responder does not know where the contract should
belong, so he makes a Responsive Double to show some values and
support for both minors.
Since responder is forcing the partnership to the 4 level, he
should have the equivalent to an opening hand counting
distribution. We can count distribution because partner made a
Takeout Double and guaranteed support.
How high should we play Responsive Doubles? Okbridge 2/1 plays
them through 3S. It's a matter of partnership agreement.
We recommend that you start with these 2 basic Responsive Doubles
and get comfortable with them before adding others.
Optional: Some play other sequences as Responsive as well. The
most common is after this sequence:
Opp Partner Opp You
1S 2C 2S Double
This would show support for the 2 unbid suits. You might hold:
S 74
H KJ97
D KQ975
C 86
Clearly, you don't have enough to bid at the 3 level, but you
would like to tell partner about support for the unbid suits.
This is an optional Responsive Double and should not be added
unless thoroughly discussed with partner.
Just remember what Alfred Sheinwold once said, "The real test of
a bridgeplayer isn't in keeping out of trouble, but is escaping
once he's in it!"
Please send your comments or questions to bandersn@mountain.net.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon! Good bridging :-)
================================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Wheels for this giggle:
Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash with Wylie
Post in 1935, was probably the greatest political sage
this country has ever known.
Enjoy the following:
1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
3. There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...
neither works.
4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
5. Always drink upstream from the herd.
6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
7. The quickest way to double your money is to
fold it and put it back in your pocket.
8. There are three kinds of men. The ones that
learn by reading. The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence.
9. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot
of that comes from bad judgment.
10. If you're riding ahead of the herd, take
look back every now and then to make sure
it's still there.
11. Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot
easier'n puttin' it back.
12. AND FINALLY After eating an entire bull, a
mountain lion felt so good he started roaring.
He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot
him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your
mouth shut.
================================================================
HAND OF THE MONTH
=================
(A huge 'thank you' to Gail Wix for all her hard work putting
this together for us! We couldn't do it without her help!)
From The 2003 Daily Bridge Calendar. For more information
call 1-888-453-1976, or email: calendar@interlog.com
********************
THE KILLING LEAD
Vul: E/W North
Dlr: W S A3
H 72
D A653
C QJT84
South
S Q976
H A63
D JT92
C AK
West North East South
2S* P P 2NT**
p 3NT All Pass
*Weak
**14-17HCP
Opening Lead HK
A balancing 2NT is natural and has a rather wide range, 14-17
high-card points.
West leads the HK. East plays the HJ and West continues with
the HQ, both of which you allow to hold. At trick three West
continues with the H8 to your ace. How do you plan to get a
ninth trick?
S A3
H 72
D A653
C QJT84
S KJT854 S 2
H KQ8 H JT954
D 7 D KQ84
C 532 C 976
S Q976
H A63
D JT92
C AK
Contract: 3NT Lead: HK
West has struck gold with the heart lead and East is sitting
over there with two heart winners. Taking a diamond finesse
into East is clearly a death wish. It is better to strip West
of minor-suit cards before playing spades, hoping to find West
with a singleton diamond. Cash the CA, CK, enter dummy with
the DA, run the clubs, discarding three diamonds, and play SA
and a spade ducking the trick into West. If West started with
a singleton diamond, West will win the second spade cheaply
and then have to play the SK and SJ conceding you your ninth
trick with the SQ.
THE BOTTOM LINE
When you have to attack an unpalatable suit (spades), a suit
in which one opponent (West) is known to have strong broken
strength, try to strip that hand of safe exit cards before
attacking the suit. If you can duck a trick in that suit
(spades) into the hand of the opponent in question, the forced
return may gain you a trick.
********************
Hand and analysis by Eddie Kantar, courtesy of the Daily
Bridge Calendar, published by Ashlar House Inc.,
Brampton, ON, Canada. Reprinted with permission.
(Special thanks to Lee Daugherty and Dann Kramer.)
===================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Pooka for this one:
Computer Literate?
A computer was something on TV
From a science fiction show of note
A window was something you hated to clean
And ram was the cousin of a goat.
Meg was the name of my girlfriend
And gig was a job for the nights
Now they all mean different things
And that really mega bytes.
An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano.
Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 inch floppy
You hoped nobody found out.
Compress was something you did to the garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for a while.
Log on was adding wood to the fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode.
Cut you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu.
I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead.
====================================================
DEALING WITH DANN
==================
From: Student
To: Dann Kramer
Sent: Saturday, May
Subject: Auction ??
Had an auction come up not long ago... with unknown pd
Auction was
Me Opp Pard Opp
2C 4C X 4S
X P P 5C
P P X
What is pd's original X?
My X of 4S ?
What is going on here?
Student, Curiouser and curiouser.
********************
Now that you're playing in a stronger field, it's a good thing
to have exposure to interference over strong artificial 2c
openings. The higher the competition, the more likely that the
opponents will not give us a clean auction.
The basic way that many handle interference over a strong 2c
opener:
If it's doubled: 2C (X by opp)
Pass is waiting, with some clubs (generally defined as 3 or
more clubs.) This allows your partner to judge whether to
redouble for penalties.
With 2 or fewer clubs and some values we wait, bidding 2D to
warn partner off redoubling when we don't have enough club
length.
We redouble with a bad or negative hand such as no ace/king,
probably no more than one queen. This can be better defined by
partnership.
Now if the interference is in a suit: 2X (# of apples)
Pass becomes waiting, showing some values X shows the
negative/bust type hand Bidding some suit of our own is
natural and constructive.
With these basics as a framework, now let's look at a sample
auction.
Auction is
2C (4C) X (4S)
X (P) P (5C)
P (P) X
In the sample auction given pard's double said, "I don't have
much for you." The double of 4S told pard you could set 4S
by yourself. Pard's double of 5C should say, "Let's defend, I
have a little defense."
We can refine further by playing the waiting/bust hand
represented by pass/double thru 3 Spades. Over 3NT and higher
a double is take out. This assumes our opponents won't be
trying to go for too big a number (some sanity exists in the
opps.) That would alter the given auction to pard's double of
4C telling us they have short clubs, and want us to bid our
suit
4S from the partner of the 4C bidder could now well be a
psyche -- bidding our game before we can -- and after the
double, if the original doubler held long spades we might
consider 5 or 6 spades depending on our hand.
The double of 4S is still penalty regardless of our agreements
as to takeout or waiting/bust.
PS The 2C hand was a BIG major two suiter. Partner had 5
spades and we missed a spade slam setting 5C by 2. It was not
a pretty picture!
*******************
You will find Pooka (Dann Kramer) doing his FireSide
sessions on Monday and Thursday mornings, at 11:00 a.m.
OKbridge time.
Dann is available for one-on-one lessons, group mentoring
sessions, and/or tourney play.
For more information, write Dann at: Dann-Kramer@shaw.ca
===================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Luc for this bit of nostalgia, a bit long
but great fun remembering!
Get out a piece of paper and a pen, number from
1 to 20. No looking ahead!
1. In the 1940's, where were automobile headlight
dimmer switches located?
a. On the floor shift knob
b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch
c. Next to the horn
2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had
holes in it. For what was it used?
a. Capture lightning bugs
b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing
c. Large salt shaker
3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in
northern winters?
a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk
b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled
c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors
and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up
the cardboard bottle top.
4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a
game of chance?
a. Blackjack
b. Gin
c. Craps!
5. What method did women use to look as if they
were wearing stockings when none were available
due to rationing during W.W.II?
a. Suntan
b. Leg painting
c. Wearing slacks
6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its
ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or
going?
a. Studebaker
b. Nash Metro
c. Tucker
7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
a. Strips of dried peanut butter
b. Chocolate licorice bars
c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
inside
8. How was Butch wax used?
a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up
b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing
c. On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust
9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your
roller skates attached to your shoes?
a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key
b. Woven straps that crossed the foot
c. Long pieces of twine
10. As a kid, what was considered the best way
to reach a decision?
a. Consider all the facts
b. Ask Mom
c. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo
11. What was the most dreaded disease in the
1940's?
a. Smallpox
b. AIDS
c. Polio
12. "I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey"
a. SUV
b. Taxi
c. Streetcar
13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pet
pony?
a. Old Blue
b. Paint
c. Macaroni
14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
a. Part of the game of hide and seek
b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do
chores
c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head
with your arms in an A-bomb drill
15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the
Howdy Doody show?
a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
b. Princess Sacajawea
c. Princess Moonshadow
16. What did all the really savvy students do when
mimeographed test were handed out in school?
a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was
believed to get you high
b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail
theirs out the window
c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid
your failure
17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green
Stamps with purchases?
a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the
backs, which tasted like bubble gum
b. They could be put in special books and redeemed
for various household items
c. They were given to the kids to be used as
stick-on tattoos
18. Praise the Lord, and pass the _________?
a. Meatballs
b. Dames
c. Ammunition
19. What was the name of the singing group that
made the song "Cabdriver" a hit?
a. The Ink Spots
b. The Supremes
c. The Esquires
20. Who left his heart in San Francisco?
a. Tony Bennett
b. Zavier Cugat
c. George Gershwin
ANSWERS:
1. b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch.
Hand controls, popular in Europe, took till
the late '60s to catch on.
2. b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had
a steam iron?
3. c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and
expand, popping the bottle top.
4. a) Blackjack Gum.
5. b) Special makeup was applied, followed by
drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow
pencil.
6. a) 1946 Studebaker.
7. c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet
colored water.
8. a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.
9. a) With clamps, tightened by a skate key, which
you wore on a shoestring around your neck.
10. c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.
11. c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming
pools were closed, movies and other public
gathering places were closed to try to
prevent spread of the disease.
12. b) Taxi. Better be ready by half-past eight!
13. c) Macaroni.
14. c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your
head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.
15. a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was
another puppet.
16. a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a
high.
17. b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be
traded for household items at the Green Stamp
store.
18. c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.
19. a) The all-male, all-black group: The Inkspots.
20. a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good
today.
SCORING:
17-20 correct: You are not only older than
dirt, but obviously gifted with mind bloat. Now if
you could only find your glasses.
12-16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but your
mind is definitely muddy.
0-11 correct: You are a sad excuse for a
geezer or you are younger than springtime.
=====================================================
IAN'S PARTNERSHIP STUFF
=======================
Some Do's and Don'ts at MP and IMP
----------------------------------
At MP - "matchpoints", "pairs" - you are competing against all
the pairs who hold your cards. Your score on a board is
determined solely by the numbers of pairs you beat. It doesn't
matter if you bid and make 6H on a board, you score ZERO if
all other pairs bid and make 6NT on the same board.
At IMP - "teams" - you are competing against another team or
teams who hold your cards. Your score on a board is determined
by the size of the difference between the score at the two
tables, converted to IMPs by a mystical formula. If you bid
and make a vulnerable game while at the other table they
stopped in partscore, you gain about 10 IMPs (a lot).
For more information on how the scoring works please see
Guido's learned article, "IMPs versus Match Points" in this
issue. What follows is some suggestions about how to treat
common situations differently depending on whether the scoring
is IMP or MP.
Bidding Games
=============
The scoring makes it worth bidding a vulnerable IMP game that
is making 36% of the time of better. Since you can't usually
tell during the auction what a game will depend on to make, it
makes sense to accept invitations more readily at IMP than at
MP. For example, if the auction is 1H-3H, and you have a fair
side suit, or extra trumps, or the phase of the moon is right,
bid 4H. Even if you go down you may not lose on the board,
since the other person bidding your cards will think
similarly.
At MP you should bid games that you think are making (i.e.
they have a 50% or better chance of making). If 75% of pairs
are in 3H making and you are one of the 25% going down in 4H,
you will get a 25% score on the board.
Competing for Partscores
=========================
At IMP there is no difference between letting the opponents
make 2H for -110 and going down 2 in 2S, nonvulnerable, for
-100. At MP, you might get a 90% score for losing only -100
rather than -110.
This means that at MP you should actively compete for the
partscore. It is almost never right to let opponents play at 2
of a suit (if they really WANT to play 2NT, I suggest you let
them). Since your side is probably looking at considerably
less than half the points in the deck, you need to be prepared
to join in the auction on anything with decent shape. Your
partnership should work out how to get into and out of the
auction in a hurry on, er, inadequate values.
If it goes 1H on your left, pass from partner, 2H on your
right. Not vul. versus vul., you hold:
S JTxx
H Qx
D KJxxx
C Kx
You will see many MP players 'prebalance' with an X on this
hand, even though this sort of action can clearly get your
side into some deep waters if partner doesn't have an MP sense
of humo[u]r :)
The prebalance is necessary in case LHO was going to pass 2H
and partner doesn't have enough to act on his own (in the case
above, partner probably doesn't have more than about 8 or so
points). You are hoping to find partner with something like:
S Qxxx
H Jxx
D xx
C AQxx
2H may be the limit of safety for your opponents; if they take
the push to 3H and you set them, you will get a terrific MP
score. Of course, if partner has the wrong hand, opponents may
score +500 against 3C-X for a terrific MP score in their
direction :)
Doubling Partscores
====================
At IMP, this is easy: don't do it, unless you are sure for
some reason that you can set it by at least two tricks.
Suppose you have an accident, and allow 2H-X to make when your
side is making 2S. At IMP your double will cost 7 IMP if they
are vulnerable, 11 IMP if they are not vulnerable. If they
were going down by 1 trick in 2H, your double would have
gained you only 1-3 IMP. So don't double partscores at IMP!
At MP, you should double a part score in a competitive auction
if you were confident that you were making your normal
contract and have been forced to compete a level higher than
your safety level. If all the pairs your way are making 2H for
+110, and your opps bid 2S, you may have to X this to get a
good score. Obviously, it depends to a large extent on how
competitive your opponents' bidding style is. Since you often
have no idea about this, you might want to try doubling (if
you don't do it enough now) or not doubling (if they
frequently make) for a while and observe how it works out.
Defending
=========
At IMP, your goal is to defeat the contract. Overtricks will
rarely matter. Often the only way to defeat a contract is by
tempo: taking advantage of the fact that it is your side's
turn to play, not declarer's. So if they bid a confident 4S,
and you have Kx of some suit and a few trumps, you might
choose to lead the K, hoping for a ruff if partner has the A
(or Q and can get the lead before trumps are drawn).
At MP, your goal is to take as many tricks as possible. On the
hand with Kx of a side suit and some trump, you are expecting
quite a lot for the K lead to work. So you may want to make a
more passive lead at MP.
At MP, overtricks are vitally important. When defending
against a routine contract, it is easy to lose focus and give
away a trick at the end. It is a good idea to discuss
signaling, discards, etc., with partner to make sure you are
on the same wavelength. Give partner clear information as
early as you can, so that each of you can work out what to
keep and what to discard.
Playing Contracts
=================
At IMP, your goal is to make your contract. Overtricks are
usually unimportant. At IMP you should make safety plays if
they will ensure the contract even at the expense of a trick.
For example, with a trump holding of AKJx opposite T9xx you
would normally play A (or K), then cross to the other hand and
take a finesse against the Q. Playing IMP you may decide that
the risk of an opposing ruff is too great, and play off the AK
instead (assuming that you then have enough tricks to make the
contract).
Some hands at IMP are not very interesting (e,g, you have 9
tricks against any trump split and are at the 2 level).
At MP, your goal is to make as many tricks as possible
(consistent with bridge logic and statistics!). There are very
few dull hands at MP: a one-trick difference may make a huge
difference to your score on a board (e.g. if you have 9 tricks
against any trump split and are at the 2 level, making 10
tricks can worth a 'top'; and making 8 tricks will be a
'bottom').
Having Fun
==========
Most people find one form of scoring or another 'more
natural'. Personally, I think I play better at IMP, but I
prefer playing MP (go figure). Whichever form you prefer, you
will probably do better, and have more fun, by understanding
the impact of your chosen form of scoring on the bidding,
play, and strategy in general.
--ian
Copyright (C) Ian M. Wilson 2003
********************
You can write to Ian at: ianmwilson@earthlink.net
======================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
GROANER OF THE DAY:
Every night Joe would go down to the liquor store,
get a six pack, bring it home, and drink it while
he watched TV.
One night, as he finished his last beer, the doorbell
rang. He stumbled to the door and found a six-foot
cockroach standing there. The bug grabbed him by the
collar and threw him across the room, then left.
The next night, after Joe finished his fourth beer,
the doorbell rang. He walked slowly to the door and
found the same six-foot cockroach standing there.
The big bug punched him in the stomach, then left.
The next night, after he finished his first beer,
the doorbell rang again. The same six-foot cockroach
was standing there. This time he was kneed in the groin,
and hit behind the ear as he doubled over in pain. Then
the big bug left.
The fourth night Joe didn't drink at all. The doorbell
rang. The cockroach was standing there. The bug beat
the tar out of Joe and left him in a heap on the living
room floor.
The following day Joe went to see his doctor. He
explained the events of the preceding four nights.
"What can I do", he pleaded.
"Not much, I'm afraid", the doctor replied. "There's
just a nasty bug going around."
======================================================
SPECIAL TREATS
==============
This month we are pleased to present more of
"The Continuing Perils of Alex!" :-)
A big "THANK YOU" to Gaus271 for his efforts on
this piece, and the others preceding it. We
know how much time and energy he put in, and
appreciate that very much.
********************
HAND EVALUATION
V.) LAW OF TOTAL TRICKS
The law of total tricks ("LOTT") is basically a way of estimating
what is the value of having your side declare rather than defend.
Technically then, it is not really a method of hand evaluation,
but a method of evaluating potential bids. But hand evaluation is
also done to help evaluate bids so let's be broadminded and
include LOTT with hand evaluation.
Whole books have been written on LOTT. I find it useful for (and
am going to discuss it with reference only to) low-level
competitive auctions, where bidding space is quickly exhausted.
In such auctions, the combination of hand evaluation, information
gleaned from the bidding, and the general rules derived from LOTT
are a potent tool.
A.) The Myth of LOTT
There is a myth that LOTT can be expressed in about 15 words,
e.g.: "Bid to take the number of tricks you and your partner
together hold in trumps." Let's see mythical LOTT in action.
Holding S xx H KQxxx D AQx C AKx, you deal and open 1H, which is
overcalled to your left by 1S, after which your partner's 2H is
passed to you. You and partner have at least 8 trump between you
so 8 tricks is where you should play (at least according to the
myth.) The myth says you should pass 2H. I am sure you do not
agree.
With you holding S Kxxxx H xx D Kxx C Kxx, your partner deals and
opens 2S, which is doubled by your RHO. Your recommended bid,
please. The myth of LOTT says bid 5S. I say nonsense. Even 4S
will probably be doubled, but 5S certainly will. Do you have
chances to defeat their 5-level contract if they bid it over a 4S
bid? You do; those minor suit kings look valuable. Have opponents
ever bid the wrong 5-level contract over a 4-level preempt? They
have: a 4S bid will not leave them lots of bidding space to
explore for the best fit.
What I just disparaged as myth is obviously a GROSS
over-simplification that no one really uses at the table.
Over-simplifications may be helpful as aids to memory, but only
if what lurks in memory is itself valid.
B.) The True Law of Total Tricks
"Total tricks" is not a particularly informative term. The number
of tricks in a deal always totals exactly 13. What is meant by
total tricks is the total of YOUR WINNING tricks if your longest
suit is trump PLUS THEIR WINNING tricks if their longest suit is
trump.
What the law says is that, with great frequency, the total tricks
(as defined above) are equal to the number of cards that you and
partner hold in your longest suit plus the number of cards that
your two opponents hold in their longest suit. Note that your
longest suit contains at least 7 cards as does theirs so that the
sum of those two numbers is 14 or more, which on most days
exceeds 13. Also note that the law deals with what is probable;
the law is not infallible. Moreover, there will be times when one
side or the other declares in a suit that is not their longest:
the law simply does not deal with that situation.
The importance of the number of total tricks is that the
difference between the number of total tricks and 13 shows the
usual difference in tricks that your partnership can take by
declaring instead of defending. The table below shows what LOTT
says is the usual difference in tricks:
If our longest suit has:
8 cards 9 cards
If their longest suit has 8 cards 3 tricks 4 tricks
9 cards 4 tricks 5 tricks
The implication of LOTT is that declaring in our longest suit
will usually give us 3 to 5 tricks more than defending against
their longest suit.
C.) Digression on Counting Points in Competitive Auctions
In this whole section on LOTT, by points I always mean points
adjusted for distribution and favorable or unfavorable placement
of honors in any suit or suits bid naturally by the opponents.
Suppose you hold Kx in diamonds. If diamonds are bid naturally to
your right, that unsupported king is probably a trick, a stopper,
and an entry and is equivalent to an ace so count 4, not 3,
points. If diamonds are bid to your left, that Kx is probably
(but not certainly) toast so count it as 1. If diamonds are bid
both to your right and left, it is a 50/50 proposition whether
the ace is ahead of or behind your king so count it as being
worth a trick half the time. The ace is always worth a trick so,
in this situation, your king is worth half an ace, or 2 points.
Here are my guidelines, famous throughout the entire Alex
household, for adjusting point count for honors in the opponent's
suit or suits:
A singleton king or queen counts as zero.
A doubleton queen counts as zero unless supported by a higher
honor.
A jack counts as zero unless supported by 2 or more honors
(including the ten.)
An ace always counts as 4.
For suits bid naturally only to the right, add 1 point for each
guarded king and queen. (So KQx counts as 7.)
For suits bid naturally only to the left, subtract 2 points from
the value of any holding headed by a guarded king or queen. (So
KQx counts as 3.)
For suits bid naturally on both right and left, subtract 1 point
from the value of any holding headed by a guarded king or queen.
(So KQx counts as 4.)
Obviously, if you prefer your own homebrewed rules for adjusting
for the positional value of honors in adversely bid suits, use
yours, but do make an adjustment.
The importance of point count is that it gives you an estimate of
the probabilities of making contracts at specific levels. The
table below shows you, assuming an 8-card or better fit, the
point count ranges that your partnership needs for an
approximately 50% chance of making, with or without overtricks, a
contract at a particular level. Obviously that means you also
have an approximately 50% chance of going down one or more tricks
as well.
Range Level
16 to 18 1
19 to 21 2
22 to 24 3
25 to 28 4
29 to 32 5
D.) LOTT Rule 1: PLAY at the 2-level with an 8-card (or better)
fit.
This rule has a negative and positive implication. The negative
implication is that you should not double for penalties a 2-level
contract bid by competent opponents who seem to have a fit.
Suppose you can set them 3 doubled. That means you can take 8
tricks with their suit as trump. LOTT says that you can probably
take 11 (8 + 3) to 13 (8 + 5) tricks with your suit as trump.
While down 3 doubled is a better score than any game you may
make, it is not a better score than any slam you can make. Down 2
doubled is also a dubious result. LOTT says you can take 10 to 12
tricks if you declare. Setting them 2 doubled will not give you
adequate compensation for a missed game, let alone a slam. Down 1
doubled means you can probably take 9 to 11 tricks; setting them
1 trick doubled will be profitable only if you cannot make game
somewhere and they are vulnerable. If they make a doubled part
score, that, of course, is simply a disaster.
The positive implication is that you should show support for your
partner's suit at the 2-level with quite modest values. We have
just seen that if you are doubled and set, you will probably come
out ahead. But you will almost never be doubled so you will come
out even further ahead even if set. And of course there are those
lovely days when contracts actually make.
What are modest values? If partner opened the bidding or made a
takeout double, partner should have 13 points or more. If you
have 6 points and support, your partnership is at least in the 19
to 21 point range that gives you a decent chance to make a
2-level contract. Actually, the 2-level is probably a safe
sacrifice if you have good support and even less than 6 points;
the problem with bidding it is that partner may read you for
having more strength than you actually have and bid a failing
game that will be doubled, etc. If you want to compete with less
than 6 points or with 6 points that include few hcp, make some
clearly preemptive bid so as to avoid misleading your partner.
But, in general, if you have 6 to 9 points and can support
partner's opening suit (or implied suit in the case of a takeout
double), show that support at the 2-level.
If partner made an overcall, the situation is slightly different.
Overcalls at the 1-level may be made on hands that would not be
opened. There are two schools of thought on how to respond when
you have support for partner's overcalled suit. One school says
to make a raise to the 2-level on the same range of 6 to 9 points
that you use for opening suits. The other school says to raise
the range slightly to 8 to 11 points to compensate for the
potentially weaker holding of partner. Personally, I prefer the 8
to 11 range to raise partner's overcall, but then I am a banker.
You may have noticed that the 3 to 5 tricks implied by LOTT to
justify this rule assumes that both sides have at least an 8-card
fit. Is this assumption sound?
E.) A Digression on Fit
Usually, you can tell from your partner's bidding whether or not
you have at least an 8-card fit in a particular suit. If you have
3 cards in a major suit that partner opened or in any suit that
partner overcalled, partner (almost) invariably has a 5-card or
longer suit. But partner's bidding cannot always tell you for
sure whether or not you have at least 8 cards in a suit. One such
situation is when partner rebids an unsupported suit; usually
that means at least 6 cards, but it promises only 5. Another such
situation is when partner makes a takeout double; partner's
takeout double usually shows at least 4 cards in each unbid suit,
but it promises only 3. And another frequent situation is when
partner opens in a minor suit; that bid usually shows 4 cards or
more, but it promises only 3.
The probability of your having an 8-card or longer fit in at
least one suit is approximately 85% (if you are THAT fussy and
insist on asking, it is pretty close to 84.27%.) So the
probability that partner has the expected number of cards is
really very good. For example, hearing partner open 1C and RHO
make a takeout double and holding S xxx H x D Axxxx C Jxxx, I
vote for bidding 2C rather than 1D: in what may be my only chance
to bid, I limit the strength of my hand narrowly, take bidding
space away from our opponents, and let partner know that I have
support for her clubs, which is probably a suit where we have a
fit. Obviously, without the takeout double, I would have bid 1D
in case partner has a 3-card club suit, but, because I may only
get one bid in a competitive auction, I am supporting partner's
bid suit right away after the takeout double. If we end up in a
4/3 contract at the 2-level, that is not the end of the world.
It may seem unintuitive, but if one side has a fit, the
mathematical probability that the other side has a fit becomes
close to certainty, to about 95% (more accurately 93.78%, but
that is a hard number for most of us to remember.) Consider the
same hand as above, but now with the auction starting with 1C
from partner followed by a 1H overcall from RHO. Can partner have
as many as 5 hearts? Well, it is possible if partner also has at
least 6 clubs, but in that case we have at least a 10-card fit in
clubs. In any other case, partner has at most 4 hearts, meaning
together we have at most 5. That means the opponents have at
least 8 hearts between them, so if they have a fit, we have a fit
19 times out of 20. So I am even more eager in this auction to
let partner know while I still can where our probable fit is,
namely clubs.
If a fit one way implies a fit the other way, it seems plausible
that a misfit one way implies a misfit the other. Indeed, if one
side has a misfit, the mathematical probability that the other
side also has a misfit is precisely 2/3. So, holding
S xxx H x D Axxxx C Jxxx and hearing partner's 1C overcalled by
1D, I am passing even though my hand is identical to that in the
prior situations. My hand, combined with the bidding in this
auction, indicates that the opponents very likely have a misfit.
Therefore, we probably do too. So now I am not taking any chance
that partner opened with a short club. If partner reopens with a
club rebid, that is fine. If partner reopens with a double, that
is even better. And if partner passes this out, we shall let them
struggle with the misfit, and I shall start by leading a club in
case a forcing defense is the right course.
In short, be wary of competing with length in an opponent's suit
unless you are certain that you have at least an 8-card fit your
way or have plenty of high cards to compensate for a poorly
fitting hand, but risk a 4/3 or 5/2 fit at the 1-level or 2-level
if the opponents seem to have found their fit.
F.) LOTT Rule 2: At mps, COMPETE against 2-level bids with a fit
and even modest values.
If both sides have found a fit and neither has game ambitions,
the side with the higher ranking suit gets comfortably to the
2-level by following LOTT Rule #1. Suppose they can take just 8
tricks declaring; then, according to LOTT, you can take 8 to 10
tricks by declaring in your suit. (You can take 5 defending.
Declaring is worth 3 to 5 tricks depending on the suit lengths of
the two partnerships.) Bidding to the 3-level and then taking
only 8 tricks means you will be set by 1 trick. Off 1 vulnerable
costs you 100 (and only 50 non-vulnerable); letting them play
their making contract costs you 110. And if you make your
contract, you gain. Suppose they are off just 1 in their
contract. Then LOTT says you can make your contract. By letting
them play you pick up 100 (or 50 depending on vulnerability); by
playing yourself you pick up at least 110. In the huge majority
of situations, there is a gain from bidding on. At mps, the
difference between 110 and 100 may be the difference between a
top and a bottom. You must play what will be the right decision
most of the time.
So what are modest values? A combined value of 19 points and a
sure 8-card or longer fit is enough. With less than that, you
begin to risk going off 2 or more, and it is in that situation
that you are highly likely to be doubled. Doubled and off 2 will
be a bottom for certain.
G.) LOTT Rule 3: But at imps, compete at the 3-level only with
EXTRAS.
The difference between 110 and 100 at imps is zero. Set 2
vulnerable will cost you far more than their partial is worth as
will doubled and set 2 not vulnerable. I shudder to think what
down 2 vulnerable on a part-score hand will do to your imps
score. At imps, it is always important to avoid disasters. So the
frequent little pick-ups that were important at mps are
unimportant at imps, and the infrequent big sets that were
ignorable at mps are not ignorable at imps.
When you stretch at the 3-level (or encounter bad luck in the
distribution,) you are far more likely to be doubled and take a
set that is painful. So there is little point at imps in making a
3-level bid unless you think you have a decent chance of making
it.
Suppose you have 22 to 24 points (including distribution.) Then
you probably have about 19 to 21 hcp. By the rule of 40, that
means they also have about 19 to 21 hcp. Counting distribution
that means they also are in the 22 to 24 point range so they have
about a 50% chance of taking 9 tricks. If they can take 9 tricks
and your partnership has only 8 cards in your suit, LOTT says
declaring will raise your trick total from 4 tricks on defense to
7 or 8 declaring. In other words, you will go down, with a
substantial risk of going down 2. If they can take only 8 tricks
and you have only an 8-card fit, your chances of making a 3-level
contract depend on whether they have an 8-card or 9-card fit.
Obviously an 8-card fit is more probable than a 9-card one. The
chances of your making a plus score by bidding at the 3-level on
an 8-card fit and only 22 to 24 points including distribution are
probably less than 25%. So don't do it.
Things are much more promising if you have a 9-card or better
fit. Now LOTT indicates the swing from defending to declaring is
4 to 5 tricks. Even if they can take 9 tricks, you will likely
not be set more than 1 trick. And the probability of your making
is now better than 50%. Consequently it makes sense to bid at the
3-level.
Obviously, if you have 25 or more points, you will also bid at
the 3-level. (In fact if your suit is a major, you should be
planning to bid game at the 4-level.) Here a contract at the
3-level provides you with a reasonable chance for an overtrick.
At imps, compete to or at the 3-level if you have extra points or
extra length, but don't bid at the 3-level on hands with 19 to 21
hcp and only an 8-card fit.
H.) LOTT Rule 4: Compete to the 4-level only on FREAKS.
All they have to do to get an excellent score when you bid to the
4-level on a part-score hand is to double and set you (by 1 if
you are vulnerable and 2 otherwise.) If you can take 10 tricks
declaring, you will normally have little trouble taking 5 or 6
tricks on defense so letting them play is not costly
(particularly if you double them.) You seldom are given a
guarantee that you can take 10 tricks. If you have pushed them to
the 3-level, there is a good chance that both sides will fail so
let them be the ones to go down. And then there are those days
when you push them into a making game at the 4-level.
The only time that it makes sense to compete to the 4-level is if
you are highly confident that you can take 10 tricks in your
suit, but have virtually no chance to take 5 tricks on defense.
This happens only on very distributional hands.
I.) LOTT Rule 5: Even at mps, DON'T compete against 3-level bids
without a 9-card suit.
At first blush, this looks contradictory. LOTT Rule 2 says to go
to the 3-level against their 2-level bid even with an 8-card suit
at mps. If bidding a 3-level contract makes sense in that case,
why does it not make sense to bid a 3-level contract against
their 3-level bid?
The difference is this. There is a reasonable chance that their
3-level contract will fail, meaning you can take 5 tricks on
defense. If your partnership has an 8-card suit, you may only
make 3 additional tricks by declaring. You do not want to bid a
failing partial to rescue them from their failing partial.
Furthermore, if they can make their 3-level partial, you may well
go down 2 tricks if you bid at the 3-level. That will be a bottom
if you are vulnerable or if you are not vulnerable but are
doubled.
If you have a 9-card suit, so that the value of declaring is 4 or
5 tricks, then you will be able to make your contract if you
could have beaten theirs. The probable extra tricks due to having
a 9-card suit raises the prospects for success and reduces the
cost of failure.
Summary
If you have an 8-card fit and at least 19 points but no interest
in game, compete aggressively at the 2-level.
At imps, bid at the 3-level only with extras.
At mps, bid to the 3-level against their 2-level contract even on
an 8-card suit, but bid a 3-level contract against their 3-level
contract only with a 9-card or longer suit.
(Tune into this station next month for more of the Perils of
Alex)
=====================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Gail37 for this giggle:
I'd had a pretty hectic day with my three-year-old. When
bedtime finally came, I laid down the law: "We're getting on
your p.j.s, brushing your teeth, and reading ONE book. Then
it's lights out!"
Her arms went around my neck in a gentle embrace, and I heard
her say, "We learned in Sunday school about little boys and
girls who don't have moms and dads."
Even after I'd been such a grouch, I thought, she was grateful
to have me. I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes, and
then she whispered, "Maybe you could go be THEIR mom."
===========================================================
MOOGAL'S FIRESIDE LOG
======================
OKB Tourneys
Well done to all our Fireside friends who excelled in
the tourneys this past month!!
Sat May 3 16:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 Pringle/Unicorn 2.12 26
Tue May 6 16:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 Pringle/Unicorn 1.86 23
Friday, May 16, 12:30 p.m.
Rank Team Score Boards
1 Lampa/Wheels 71% 12
Mon May 19 11:30 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 Kaltica/moogal 65.12 26
****************************************************************
NOVICE MENTOR TOURNEYS
Congrats to our winners of the two Novice-Mentor tourneys in
May.
And well done to all our top finishers:
Thu May 8 18:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 gladys/mam105 65.36 20
2 bruinal/kentw 60.04 20
3 bdinner/jjgass 59.64 20
4 lynkos/rickb 55.00 20
5 gandalf/jundith 53.17 18
6 florene/kaybeck 53.17 20
7 arrow/elvee 52.50 20
8 lizhowe/Scorpio 52.46 20
Sat May 17 12:00 2003
Rank Team Score Boards
1 kristena/TheHun 60.00 18
2 beLen/glyder22 60.00 18
3 adicohen/dansnit 59.87 19
4 PollyE/sevans 55.56 18
5 JimmyN/tigermom 52.73 18
6 joemanjo/KJELL 51.75 19
So, mentors and novices, join us this month on the 12th and
on the 21st - email Sandra at sandree@attbi.com if you would
like to find a partner ahead of time. We'll do our best to
match you up! I promise you a fun evening.
****************************************************************
MENTOR CUP GAME
May 4th: Team PETER_5: Pkv, Skillick & Cgor
May 18th: Team TODD: Todd, Pkv, Skillick & Peter_5
Visit our website at www.firesides.net/mtc.htm for info and
lists of all our top placing stars. To get on the email reminder
list for these games, contact me moocake@aol.com - all welcome!
****************************************************************
While on the subject of the Mentor Cup Games, I'd like to
share with all of you an email I sent to Tuna the day after
the May 18th game:
Hi Tony
I know Paul (PKV) was already an Angelfish once, but please
put him on your nominee list again. He sent me this hand
record the day after his team won the Mentor Cup Game,
concerned that they hadn't really won. We re'IMPd and the
record stands, but just shows his exemplary sportsmanship.
Our angels continue to shine. Thanks.
Janice
Paul, you really are a role model here on OKB!
****************************************************************
FIRESIDE NEWS
As I am sure you have noticed, Bill (WINTAKA) is comfortably
settled into the Tuesday night spot, so stop by and soak up
some of his words of wisdom. He and Dann (POOKA) are off
to the Canadian National Team Championship's and we wish
them well...let's hope we see them playing each other in
the finals!
You can follow the action at:
http://www.cbf.ca/BWeek/03results/2003results.html
Bill and Dann, you have a huge rooting section here...big hug
and good luck!
There will be a change in schedule while they are gone:
no Fireside sessions:
Monday June 2 11:00 AM
Tuesday June 3 5:30 PM
Thursday June 5 11:00 AM
Monday June 9 11:00 AM
Please come to any of our other sessions during this time!
We hope you have also had the chance to meet Bill's new Table
Manager, the very charming Sue Moore (SAM143). Last month I
told you about her appearance in the May ACBL Bridge Bulletin
as a shining-star club manager -- this month we introduce her
to you in her new role as part of the Fireside table manager
family, as she writes:
I have two children, a boy and a girl who have blessed me with
five grandchildren -- including a set of twin girls who are 3
years old. I have been playing bridge since 1992, and became a
life master in 1994. I have a great job...I own and operate
the Saturday game at the Bridge Center in Colorado Springs.
Before that I worked for 24 years before retiring managing
food facilities. My hobbies are golf, hiking, putting puzzles
together, reading and, of course, I have a great love for
bridge.
I am very proud that I have helped 32 people to date get their
life master and the biggest thrill was helping my friend's
mother get hers at the age of 90. She had over 900 points so
we were in bracket 2 -- our performance put her over the top!
Welcome to Fireside, Sue!
****************************************************************
This gave me a giggle. Thought you all might appreciate it
also.
Bill (WINTAKA) and another of his Winnipeg buddies, Dave
Brough (DBROUGH) are talking:
Bill: You are behind 50 IMPs at the half, who would you like
at the other table? Maybe Zia, Soloway, Hamman, Garozzo...
Dave: [Colin] Ward and [Kenny] Sired [Ed note: Kenny makes
Colin look TAME]
Bill turns the question around....
Bill: You are AHEAD by 50 IMPs at the half, who would you like
at the other table?
Dave: You can pick from the other 6 billion on the planet,
Bill.
****************************************************************
One of my good friends on OKB is Hughie Gilbert (HUGHIE), who
is coming all the way from Wollongong, Australia to attend the
Nationals in Long Beach next month. Are you going and need a
partner? He's a good player and more importantly, an
extremely pleasant partner. I enjoy our games on OKB and had
the pleasure of meeting him and playing in person at the
Boston NABCs a few years back. I do wish I were going!
He prefers Standard American Rainbow Card, but he's also
experienced in 2/1 (OKB, Hardy or Lawrence style), along with
most conventions.
Please contact him if you are interested at:
hughie49au@yahoo.com.au
****************************************************************
Not going to Long Beach, but you love the OKB tourneys, or
would love to try them? One of our new Firesiders, MARILIA,
is looking for a steady tourney partner to have fun with
while working to improve together. You can email her at
lia1950@hotmail.com. Give it a try with Marilia, the
tourneys are FUN!
****************************************************************
Mentoring games are a cost effective means of improving your
game or partnership. Four players, often partnerships or
friends, get together with a commentator for bidding and play
practice. And it's more affordable than you might think!
Several of our commentators already offer mentoring games,
and both Diane (DIANEW) and Lynn (WISHTRIK) are going to
be starting new groups shortly. If you, or you and your
partner, would like to join one of their groups, please
email them directly for info and rates.
Diane: diane@walkersweb.org
Lynn: lynn@lynndeas.com
************************************************
Are you time zone challenged, like me? Daylight savings changes
throw you off balance -- making you an hour late or early for
the tourneys?
There is a clock on the OKB home page:
http://www.okbridge.com/clock2.php3
You can configure it to Pacific time or GMT.
Another useful site to verify "OKB time" is
at:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=137
Bookmark these pages!
****************************************************************
SEEN ON A CARD
Women and cats will do as they please...Men and
dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
(Please share your favorite OKb profile card 'sayings' with
us when you see one that 'tickles your fancy')
****************************************************************
The World Series of Poker was held in Las Vegas in May and was
won by a man named, most appropriately, Chris Moneymaker.
Hmmm, why is she writing about poker? Well, the winner this
year caused a huge ripple in the poker community by being the
first winner to qualify by playing online!
The rise in online playing led to a 33% increase in attendance
this year over 2002 -- possibly the start of a revolution in
the game that may see the continued merger of online with
casino playing, and boosting the game's popularity in its
wake.
One online poker site manager summed it up by saying "We've
proven that people who play on the Internet are just as good
as those who play in casinos".
I see a lot of parallels here to the rise in online bridge
playing .... with us OKB babies then venturing out into the
tournament world -- let's all get out and show them what
online card players can do!
***************************************************************
Starting Tuesday, June 3rd, we will see
the restart of the Kaleidoscope Series for
novice-intermediates. These lessons are
open to all. Registration is optional.
Feel free to drop in! Look for table KALTICA.
--- Morning Classes ---
Tue June 3 8AM Kaleidoscope #1: Bidding Light
Wed June 4 8AM Kaleidoscope #2: Maximum Flexibility
Thu June 5 8AM Kaleidoscope #3: Defensive Doubles
Fri June 6 8AM Kaleidoscope #4: Law of Total Tricks
Tue June 10 8AM Kaleidoscope #5: Squeezes - Part I
Wed June 11 8AM Kaleidoscope #5: Squeezes - Part II
Thu June 12 8AM Kaleidoscope #6: IMPs vs MPs
ALL TIMES are PACIFIC !
*****************************************************************
******
Well, that about sums it up for this month...In closing, I
would like to highlight some unsung heros of Fireside...our
substitute commentators. They fill in when our regular staff
is gone, and none of our own can take the session, often at
very short notice! So the next time you see DBetter, DCorn,
Fifee, PamA or LBrown......please tell them how much you
appreciate what they do for us! We are lucky to have some of
the best and NICEST people working to help us improve our
game.
Hugs to all....Janice
***********************************************************
We know that it isn't always easy to find a 'friendly' game.
We hope this new site will be a plus in your OKB experience
by helping our friends schedule games with each other.
Visit:
http://www.firesides.net/playdate.htm
and follow the directions to set up a table others can join, or
to join a game someone else has scheduled. You'll receive emails
notifying you as others join the same games.
If you wish to reserve a seat in one of the listed mentoring
games, which are supported by the people attending, we
suggest you do so, and also contact the mentoring commentator
for info.
We have tested this site, but we won't be surprised to hear
of a bug or two. Please let us know at kaltica@mts.net if
you encounter any problems serving, joining, or canceling a
game, or if you have any suggestions.
Have fun!
********************
Have a comment you'd like to make about the FireSide program?
An event or announcement you'd like to share with the rest of
us? A question you'd like answered? Here's a great place for
us to visit every day and keep up with each other:
http://www.firesides.net/chatline.htm
********************
Can't remember if this is a Mentor Cup week or when the next
Fireside session is? Get the complete schedule of events at:
www.firesides.net/whatsup.htm
Bookmark this page, and check back often. You don't want to
miss anything!
For those of you who use a credit card to support Fireside,
it's easy now! Go to:
www.firesides.net/support.htm
*********************
FIRESIDE UTILITY SITES
http://www.firesides.net/checker.htm
http://www.firesides.net/dealhand.htm
********************
And if you haven't had a chance to check them out yet,
here are some links to some of the quizzes that Colin has
developed to enlighten us:
www.firesides.net/staymantest.htm
www.firesides.net/sayctest.htm
www.firesides.net/sarctest.htm
www.firesides.net/spectrumtest.htm
www.firesides.net/bidstest.htm
www.firesides/net/IGITSAP.htm
(Note that IGITSAP must be in CAPS.)
Give them a try! They are fun and instructive.
**********************************************************
June Events: (All times Pacific)
===============================
NOVICE/MENTOR TOURNEY:
Thursday, June 12, 6:00 P.M. and Saturday,
June 21, at 12:00 P.M. A low-key introduction
to the tourney experience, sponsored by Fifth Chair...
see www.fifthchair.org for more info on this and
their other services, including getting a mentor.
MENTOR CUP TEAM GAME:
Sundays, 5:00 P.M. June 1, 15, and 29.
See www.firesides.net/mtc.htm for info and lists
of past winners. To get on the mailing list for
this game, email me at moocake@aol.com.
OKSCRIPT SEMINAR:
OKScript seminars are held as demand warrants.
Email Kaltica to schedule a session, usually available
on the same Sunday as the Mentor Cup Game, at 2:30 p.m.
OKScript is an add-on program that saves you many
keystrokes while playing on OKB by sending
prepared text to the table, opps, or lobby at the
push of a button. Try to download the program BEFORE
the seminar by going to www.firesides.net/okscript.htm.
For more information, email Colin at kaltica@mts.net.
FIFTH CHAIR INSTRUCTIONAL EVENTS:
=================================
Interested in getting a mentor to play with you periodically
in your learning of this wonderful game? Please contact
tarsh1@mindspring.com and ask for a mentor.
SAYC Novice Team Game:
Saturdays, at 8:00 a.m. PACIFIC. Newcomers very
welcome! In addition to the team game, there will be
an open table for those waiting to join the team game.
This table will also have a commentator.
2/1 Team Game for intermediate players:
Saturdays, 1:30 p.m. Pacific. Novices are welcome in
spectator mode.
Look for the words FIFTH CHAIR beside the server's name,
in the table notes, to attend either of these sessions
You can also go to the Fifth Chair Foundation webpage:
www.fifthchair.org if you have any bidding questions.
After clicking on the webpage, find the Ask Anything section.
Write an email to Lucy, and she will be most happy to answer
your questions.
********************
Moogal (Janice Kofman) stays busy collecting all sorts
of news about our FireSide family members to share with us.
Please help her out by emailing her any news or stories you
are willing to share with the group.
Janice's email address is moocake@aol.com
=====================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Benson for this giggle:
Time Off
Two men working in a factory were talking. "I know how to
get some time off," said one.
"How are you going to do that?"
"Watch," he said, and climbed up on a rafter. The foreman
asked what he was doing up there, and the man replied,
"I'm a lightbulb."
"I think you need some time off," the foreman said,
and the first man walked out of the factory. After a
moment, the second man followed him.
"Where do you think you're going?" the foreman shouted.
"I can't work in the dark," he said.
========================================================
TREBLE'S TABLE TALK
===================
Eeny, Meeny, Miney.....
One of the most pervasive characteristics of this wacky game
we call bridge is the choice that we are often posed between
two or more courses of action, either in the bidding or the
play. The outcome of a hand will depend on our card-reading if
we are on play or defense, or our ability to make sense and
draw the proper conclusions from partner's and/or the
opponents' bidding during the auction. Speaking from personal
experience, when I am "on my game", I'm able to usually hit
the nail right on the head most of the time, and get treated
to the giddy sense of exhilaration from making the right bid
or play. As all of us who play the game realize, however,
that ability will often disappear just as quickly as it came.
In those instances, when I DON'T have the "fine edge" to my
game, I experience a markedly different sensation, that of a
rat being trapped in a maze, running my legs off but not
seeming to get any closer to my destination.
First things first, however, as I'll now give the answer to
my quiz that concluded last month's article. As you'll
recall, your side reached 7C on these combined hands:
South
S AK854
H K107
D 7
C QJ87
North
S J76
H A6
D A3
C AK9654
It looked as if you needed a miracle in the spade suit, with
Qx falling, to bring home the contract. However, on the first
round of spades, RHO played the NINE, which could be from two
possible doubletons (109 or Q9). It could also be a
singleton, in which case the contract is doomed, so we'll
focus only on the holdings which allow the contract to make.
There was a fairly even split amongst those who responded to
my quiz, but slightly more went with the original plan of
dropping the Qx doubleton. For the record, this was the
layout of the spade suit.
South
AK854
East West
Q3 1092
North
J76
A good play by East, who realized that if he played LOW on
the first round of spades, declarer would have no choice but
to continue with dummy's Ace. So he threw out a red herring
for declarer, attempting to create the illusion that the
spades MIGHT be:
South
AK854
East West
Q32 109
North
J76
thereby creating a losing option for North, that of playing
the Jack of spades on the second round of the suit, forcing a
cover of the Queen and allowing him to pin the 109 doubleton
in RHO's hand.
Now on to this week's challenges. The first hand is from
the Gatlinburg regional, playing in a knockout teams. For
once, you pick up a hand that is considerably more interesting
than the usual dreary collection that you are habitually
saddled with:
S Kx
H void
D AKQ10xxx
C AJxx
Your side is vul and they are not. It gets even better, as
the auction commences with:
LHO Partner RHO You
1S 2C pass ?
According to your agreements, a new suit or a cuebid would be
a one-round force, and a jump to 3D would be fit-showing, with
a diamond suit and a good fit for partner's clubs as well. So
how do we proceed?
Since partner has overcalled vulnerable, it's certainly
possible s(he) can have KQ of clubs and A of spades, in which
case we'd have a grand slam our way. I thought for a while
about what to do with this hand, and finally decided on a
blast to 6D. Now, this could easily be the wrong choice,
especially if partner is short in diamonds and has a spade
honour of some type. However, if overcaller has two or three
worthless spades, 6C will be failing on the spade lead through
the Kx whereas 6D will make, since the Kx of spades is now
protected and we have a likely discard on a long club. Alas,
the grand slam WAS cold, as partner has:
S A10xx
H K
D Jxx
C KQ10xx
Despite that, we GAINED heavily on the board. At the other
table, my hand elected to go with a fit-showing jump to 3D,
certainly a reasonable choice. Now opener, with 6-5 in the
majors, bid 3H, and regardless of how high our side bids in
the minors, we will NOT be allowed to play there, as RHO has
seven hearts and no points, so will sacrifice at whatever
level is necessary. The contract was 6H doubled at the other
table by our partners, down only two for -300. If the
opponents HAD taken the push to 7C or 7D, our teammies would
have in all likelihood gone on to 7H.
The next hand is from a team game last Wednesday at one of
our local clubs:
S AJ
H AKJ10xxx
D x
C KQx
A pretty respectable hand, and for once your side has a free
run instead of getting the usual barrage of pre-empting from
the opponents:
Partner You
pass 1H
1S 3H
4C ?
So what's partner trying to say with the 4C bid? Does
responder have a lot of black cards? Maybe, but somewhat
unlikely. Since you are showing good, long hearts and pretty
much deny a second suit, the contracts of preference for our
side would be 4H, 3NT, or possibly 4S. At any rate, if
partner has NO support for hearts, s(he) would usually want to
either bid 3NT or make a bid that keeps 3NT in the picture.
For example, 3S would be forcing, showing five or more spades
(EVERYTHING is forcing except for pass when opener jump rebids
hir suit).
If you accept the premise that responder should NOT go
past 3NT without heart support, how can we now interpret 4C?
Logically, this should be a CUEBID, guaranteeing a heart fit
and a maximum hand for hir original pass. If that is indeed
the case, then our hand has gotten even better, since we have
the ace of partner's suit AND a diamond control to boot.
Bottom line was that if opener trusts 4C to be a slam try with
hearts, s(he) can either keycard with 4NT and reach slam that
way, or cuebid 4D, in which case PARTNER will ask for
keycards. Responder has:
S KQ109x
H Qxx
D xxx
C Ax
A marginal hand that some might have opened. Not an opener
according to Bergen's "Rule of 20", but those who open with
7 or fewer losers might have chanced 1S here. However,
take away responder's Q of spades and leave hir with 9 HCP,
and 6H is STILL a great contract.
Finally, you get dealt, not vul against vul:
S xx
H Qxxx
D xx
C KJxxx
After having a break from the opponents on the last hand,
you get the usual lively auction this time around:
partner RHO you LHO
1H 1S 2H 2S
4H 4S ?
With four-card heart support and a couple of doubletons,
the vulnerability seems right for you to bid 5H here, and
in a field of 13 tables, more than half of the NS pairs
went on to 5H over 4S, for an ugly result, as partner has:
S xx
H AKJxx
D AQ10x
C Qx
4S was down in flames, as your side will get a heart, two
diamonds and a ruff, and an eventual club for down two. The
point to this hand is that opener could have made a different
call other than 4H based on the principle of anticipation, but
chose not to. Since a 4S bid by the opponents is ALWAYS a
possibility, partner could have bid 3C or 3D to invite
responder to the party, looking for some input if the
opponents DO press on in their suit For example, if opener
had:
S x
H AKJxx
D AQ10xx
C Qx
S(he) SHOULD bid 3D over 2S. Technically, 3D would be a help-
suit game try, but can also be done on a hand that was always
committing to game but needs some input from partner should
the opponents continue on to 4S.
When opener bid 4H, that said "I KNOW what to do over a 4S bid
by the opponents". Partner is either waiting in the bushes
intending to double, or was planning on going to 5H hirself.
At any rate, the direct jump to 4H is taking the decision-
making OUT of your hands and leaving opener in control of the
brake and accelerator pedals.
Now, on the flip side, let's consider THIS auction:
Responder A:
S xx
H Qxxx
D KJxxx
C Jx
Responder B:
S xx
H Qxxx
D KJx
C Jxxx
Responder C:
S xx
H Qxx
D xxx
C KJxxx
partner RHO you LHO
1H 1S 2H 2S
3D 4S ?
With hand (A), bid 5D or 5H). Partner has made a game try in
diamonds and your hand is completely offensive in nature. Even
if 3D was just a game try, bidding is clearly right here,
since this hand could easily be a double game swing if we
allow them to play 4S.
With hand (B), pass 4S. This says you WOULD have accepted the
3D game try but don't have enough to venture on to 5H. So
this leaves the final decision to opener, who can decide what
to do knowing that you have mostly useful values for hir.
With hand (C), double 4S. You have only one working card for
partner, the Q of hearts, and some potential defensive tricks
in clubs. You want to suggest that your hand is NOT
appropriate for partner to raise the stakes to the five-level.
That's a wrap for this month, we'll be back in July with a
bevy of hands from the upcoming CNTCs, which run from June 3-9
in Penticton, B.C.
********************
You can write to Wintaka (Bill Treble) at: bbtreble@mts.net
You will find Bill doing his FireSide sessions on Saturdays
at 11:00 A.M. OKbridge time.
Wintaka and Kaltica present classes on:
SAYC (Rainbow Series)
2/1 (Spectrum series)
Precision (Prism Series)
and other selected bridge topics (Kaleidoscope series).
They also offer private/group lessons and/or supervised play
sessions. Email Bill (bbtreble@mts.net) or Colin
(kaltica@mts.net) for more information.
================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks to Pringle for this giggle:
SUPER GRANNY---DEFENDER OF JUSTICE
An elderly Florida lady did her shopping, and upon returning
to her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her
vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun,
proceeding to scream at the top of her voice, " I have a
gun,and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!"
The four men didn't wait for a second invitation. They got
out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then
proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car
and get into the driver's seat. She was so shaken that she
could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried,
and then it dawned on her why. A few minutes later she found
her own car parked four or five spaces farther down. She
loaded her bags into the car and then drove to the police
station. The sergeant to whom she told the story nearly tore
himself in two with laughter. He pointed to the other end of
the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking
by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five
feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large
handgun.
No charges were filed. AH, SENIOR MOMENTS!
===================================================
AND FINALLY KALTICA
===================
To the Limit
************
Ask a bridgeplayer what strength a 1-of-a-suit
opening bid shows in standard methods and you may
well hear the lazy response: "13 points." This,
of course, is not the whole story. "13 to 21
points" would be a more comprehensive response.
Nevertheless, this "laziness" reveals a curiosity
in our collective mindset. We tend to be far more
concerned about the Minimums than about the UPPER
range of our calls. This, in turn, feeds our
"down one is good bridge" or "bid one more for the
road" predispositions.
Standard bidding methods sometimes reflect this
disregard for defining the bidder's upper range.
Take this hand from a recent OKBridge tourney:
Responder: S- Q3 H- AKQ102 D- 1084 C- 1076
1D (2C) 2H (Pass)
3H (Pass) ??
2H was unlimited and, as such, forcing in
standard methods. Hence, Opener might well still
have a dead minimum for the 3H raise. With eight
non-trump losers, I can empathize with the ten
Responder's who passed the 3H raise here.
But let us change things ever so slightly
here. Suppose 2H were NOT forcing (let's say
10-12 points). Suddenly a different light shines
on that 3H raise. 3H now shows slightly MORE than
a dead minimum--14 to 15 points. The irony here
is that defining our upper limit early actually
allows us to bid MORE--getting us to a difficult
game:
Opener: S- AKJ2 H- 9865 D- A53 C- Q2
Responder: S- Q3 H- AKQ102 D- 1084 C- 1076
1D (2C) 2H (Pass)
3H (Pass) 4H
Of the ten pairs who missed 4H, not one played
Non-Forcing Free Bids.
More often, though, the failure to limit our
hands quickly serves to get us overboard. Standard
practice has a number of ways to prevent this. The
most blatant example of this may be a fourth seat
"pre-empt", where we open with 2D, 2H, 2S or 3C on
bare or near opening hands--thus warning Responder
NOT to risk the 3-level as an invite.
S- QJ109xx H- AQx D- K10x C- x
In fourth chair we might try to steal +110
in 2S by opening it. 1S might allow either the
opponents or Partner to force us up to 3S for a
possible minus score.
In third seat the need to limit our hand
after opening light may be even more crucial.
To address this, many pairs play Drury: a 2C
response by a passed hand, asking if Opener
has more than a dead or sub-minimum. Of those
who play Drury nowadays, the most popular choice
is "Reverse Drury", where a rebid of Opener's
own major (e.g. Pass:1S:2C:2S) shows the bad
hand. I, personally, prefer "Double Reverse
Drury", where a rebid of 2D by Opener is always
artificial, showing any 14+ point hand that
cannot be well described otherwise. After
Pass:1S:2C, then, we might see:
3D = 4+ Diamonds, 16+ points, game forcing.
3C = 4+ Clubs, 16+ points, game forcing.
2NT = 14 or a poor 15 points, 5-3-3-2 type.
2S = Dead or subminimum opening hand.
2H = 14+ points, 4+ Hearts, 1 round force.
2D = None of the above.
After Pass:1S:2C:2D or Pass:1S:2C:2H,
Responder can rebid 3C with Clubs only, thus
canceling any suggestion of Spade support.
If, on the other hand, Responder DOES have the
Spade-supporting hand, we'll see either 2S
(10-11 points, NOT forcing) or 3S (12 points,
game forcing, since 2D or 2H promised 14+).
How an unpassed Responder forces to game
with 3+ or 4+ trumps can also be a problem.
Consider this situation:
1H 2C = SAYC. 11+ points.
2D ??
What should we do with 13-15 points and
3 Hearts? Force with 3H or leap to 4H? If we
leap to 4H with the 13-15 pointers as well as
the 10-12 "distributional raise" hands (with a
lot of Clubs and Hearts) then the range of our
4H rebid is 10-15. This is a very difficult
range for Opener to handle if strong. So we
"kick the 13-15 pointers downstairs" to the 3H
jump rebid. But now we have a problem with that
13+ point 1H:2C:2D:3H rebid: no upper range!
This problem is insoluble, as long as we play
a modern Jacoby 2NT (promising 4+ trumps and
13+ points--again, unlimited!).
To avoid this dilemma some pairs prefer
the Traditional Jacoby 2NT response, where 2NT
shows THREE or more trumps and 16+ points.
Thus, we often see auctions like this:
1H 2NT = 16+ points, 3+ Hearts.
3H 4H = 16-17 points.
Opener is now in charge, knowing Responder's
precise range. Similarly, after:
1S 2C
any 3S = 13-15 points, 3+ Spades.
Again Opener can proceed, having been warned
that Responder has a minimum game forcing hand.
In choosing between the Traditional and
Modern Jacoby 2NT responses, then, the question
boils down to: "Which is more important?
Knowing about Responder's fourth trump or about
Responder's overall strength?"
For more on Jacoby 2NT options check out:
http://www.firesides.net/jtrans.htm
The most commonly overlooked opportunity
to limit our hand comes when Partner's opening
bid of 1-of-a-suit is overcalled with a suit
bid by RHO (e.g. 1H-1S). While the SAYC notes
promote 6+ for a free bid here (at the one
level, at least), traditional praxis has
always demanded 8+ for any new denomination.
i) 1D (1H) 1NT = 8-10 traditionally,
but 6-10 points in SAYC.
i) 1D (1H) 1S = 8+ points traditionally,
but 6+ points in SAYC.
To bid on 6-7 here is lunacy. It misses
a golden opportunity to pass, limiting our hand
to seven points. But what about free raises?
Should 1H-1S-2H show 6-9 or 8-10 points? Many
experts and authorities who subscribe to the
traditional notion that a free bid in a new
denomination promises 8+ points suddenly abandon
this practice when it comes to free raises. But
if the idea is to prevent Opener from becoming
overheated, why RAISE--of all things!--with 6-7
points? Isn't ANY raise, showing support, at
least as likely to get Partner excited than a
bid which may tend to DENY support? Hence,
while others may advise "have 8+ for all free
simple bids EXCEPT raises" I would suggest that
we "have 8+ points for all free simple bids,
ESPECIALLY raises!"
In selecting and designing your bidding
methods, then, look for those that offer the
opportunity to limit one of the hands--either
yours or partner's--as quickly as possible.
Non-forcing free bids, Reverse Drury and the
Traditional Jacoby 2NT response are three good
starting points.
**********************
You'll find Kaltica (Colin Ward) doing his FireSide
sessions on Friday evenings at 5:30 P.M. OKbridge time.
Kaltica and Wintaka present classes on:
SAYC (Rainbow Series)
2/1 (Spectrum series)
Precision (Prism Series),
and other selected bridge topics (Kaleidoscope series).
They also offer private/group lessons and/or supervised
play sessions. Email Colin (kaltica@mts.net) or
Bill (bbtreble@mts.net) for more information.
=====================================================
GIGGLE BREAK
Thanks again to Benson for this one:
The following is a supposedly a direct quote from the Center
for Strategic and International Studies report on "Global
Organized Crime." The author who introduced the story swears
it's true.
FBI agents conducted a raid of a psychiatric hospital in San
Diego that was under investigation for medical insurance
fraud. After hours of reviewing thousands of medical records,
the dozens of agents had worked up quite an appetite. The
agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza
parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his
colleagues. The following telephone conversation took place
and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all
conversations at the hospital.
Agent: Hello. I'd like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of
soda.
Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.
Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the
front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around
to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI
agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're
starving.
Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?
Agent: I have my checkbook right here.
Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you
remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance
in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza Man: I don't think so.
CLICK.
=====================================================
Fireside Chat Issues
|
F
|
I
|
R
|
E
|
S
|
I
|
D
|
E
|
S
|
Ocbober, 2001
|
November, 2001
|
December, 2001
|
|
January, 2002
|
February, 2002
|
March, 2002
|
April, 2002
|
May, 2002
|
June, 2002
|
July, 2002
|
August, 2002
|
September, 2002
|
October, 2002
|
November, 2002
|
December, 2002
|
January, 2003
|
February, 2003
|
March, 2003
|
April, 2003
|
May, 2003
|
June, 2003
|
July, 2003
|
August, 2003
|
September, 2003
|
October, 2003
|
November, 2003
|
December, 2003
|
|
January, 2004
|
February, 2004
|
March, 2004
|
April, 2004
|
May, 2004
|
June, 2004
|
July, 2004
|
August, 2004
|
September, 2004
|
October, 2004
|
November, 2004
|
December, 2004
|