::MadeSix::
Monday, September 14, 2009
Hi people. I was just conversing with my bridge teacher "Xiao Si" and he provided me with some very valuable insights so I thought I should share with you guys.
Purposes of overcalling:
1) Preemptive (Take up bidding space)
2) Lead-directing
3) Hope to win the contract or push opponents up higher.
So whenever you overcall you should be fulfilling one of these requirements. If not, just pass. Don't need to bid just because you can or you have X+ points and X+ cards.
And he also mentioned:
"If your partner makes a decision and you choose not to trust it, then there's no point playing Contract Bridge." I want to add: Or unless you have a very good reason not to trust it.
Simply because it's a game of partnership.
Okay answer for the previous quiz:
Lead is club 2, strongly suggesting that clubs are divided 4-4. You have 8 tops, because if diamonds don't break you'll always go down, but you can't always assume that. So does your 9th trick come from hearts or spades? Answer is spades. You can establish one easy winner and opponents can take 3clubs and the spade ace only. If you try hearts, and it wins, you're home as well, but if it fails, opponents and cash the spade ace for down one. Whereas if you try spades, regardless of where the Ace is, you can always take 9 tricks.
Lesson points: Inferring from opening lead, making the safety play.
hongaik madesix at 12:20 AM
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Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Ok one puzzle for you all. This is rated as fairly easy, does not really involve counting opponents' cards but your techniques (how you manage the suits which block each other up).
♠ AQxx
♥ 9xx
♦ AKJx
♣ AK
Contract: 6♥
Lead: ♠2
♠ x
♥ AKQJT
♦ xx
♣ QT987
Everyone try ok? As in EVERYONE!! Post answers on the tagboard.
(Oh yes, ♥ trumps are 4-1 to East. But you only know that after cashing the second round of ♥ trumps
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Solution
Ok first of all, you should reject any finesse of all sorts. Look from your hand's point of view. You have no ♠ ♦ or ♥ losers. The only possible loser is the ♣J.
So what can be more wrong than to win the first trick with the ♠A, draw 2 rounds of trumps, discovering that trumps are 4-1. (If they were 3-2 instead, you could draw all the trumps, cash ♣AK, ruff a ♠ back to your hand and play ♣ from the top. You will score 13 tricks if the J drops. But if it doesn't, surrender a ♣, ruff the ♠ return with your last trump and the rest are good. Or if they return ♦, you can ruff the ♠ yourself to get back to your hand to score the last winning ♣. 12 tricks.)
Ok back to 4-1 trump break. If you continue drawing trumps (4 rounds of them), then you have to cash ♣AK next then get back to your hand via a ruff using your 5th trump. If the ♣J doesn't fall on the ♣Q next, then you have to rely on the ♦ finesse for your 12th trick (if you surrender a ♣, they can cash ♠ and you cannot ruff).
A better improvement will be to draw 2 rounds of trumps, discovering the 4-1 break. Then, cash ♣AK before using the dummy's ♥9 to cross back to your hand to draw 2 more rounds of trumps. Then play ♣ from the top. This way, if the ♣J falls then you have 13 tricks, otherwise, you can surrender a ♣ and will still have a trump to ruff the ♠ return. However, the problem is that the defender holding 4 trumps may trump your second round of ♣. It is unlucky that ♣ are 5-1. But you should have prevailed.
The correct line of play is to win the ♠A, then draw 2 rounds of trumps (bad break). Then cash ♣K only, before playing 2 more rounds of trumps to draw finish the defenders' trumps. But on the 4th round of trump, throw away your ♣A (!). Now you can play ♣ from the top (losing to ♣J eventually) without losing trump control. This caters to 5-1 ♣ break.
Did I mention that my nickname is Jeffery Jettison?
Sherman madesix at 2:39 AM
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Some bridge laws on conduct and ettiquette.
Players should refrain from:
1) Making gratuitous comments during the play as to the auction or the adequacy of the contract.
2) Detaching a card from his hand before it is his turn to play.
3) Indicating approval or disapproval of a call or play
4) Indicating the expectation or intention of winning or losing a trick that has not been completed.
5) Commenting or behaving during the auction or play so as to call attention to a significant occurrence, or to the state of the score or to the number of tricks still required for success.
6) Looking intently at any other player(HAHAHAHAH), but it is alright to act on information acquired from inadvertently seeing an opponent's card(therefore hold your cards close to you)
Players should:
1) Maintain at all times a courteous attitude toward his partner and opponents.
2) Carefully avoid any remark or action that might cause annoyance or embarrassment to another player or might interfere with the enjoyment of the game.
Yup.
Source: http://web2.acbl.org/laws/rlaws/lawofcontractbridgecombined_2004.pdf
hongaik madesix at 12:25 AM
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