Bridge Magazine 94

BRIDGE Number Ninety-four

April 2009

Cruise from Malaysia to Mauritius on board mv Discovery Selected by Mr Bridge as his personal cruise of the year See overleaf for details

FEATURES

BRIDGE Publisher and Managing Editor Mr Bridge Ryden Grange Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.mrbridge.co.uk

Associate Editor Julian Pottage Technical Consultant Tony Gordon Bridge Consultant Bernard Magee Proof Readers Danny Roth Hugh Williams Freddie North Richard Wheen Software Support ( 01483 485345 Events & Cruises ( 01483 489961 Jessica Galt Holly Cobbett Rachel Everett Club Directory

3 Bidding Quiz by Bernard Magee

45 Dave Huggett says Return Partner’s Suit

4

46 Jeremy Dhondy says Add Three Points in the Protective Seat

5 Cut-out Form 9 Bidding Quiz Answers by Bernard Magee

All correspondence should be addressed to Mr Bridge. Please make sure that all letters, e-mails and faxes carry full postal addresses and telephone numbers.

2 Malaya to Mauritius on board Discovery 4 Tunisia 2009

16 Julian Pottage Answers Your Questions

6 Tutorial Software & Mail Order Form

19 Declarer Play Quiz by Dave Huggett

7 Charity Bridge Events 8 Eric Hill

20 A Walk in Spring by Countryman

12 2009/10 Winter Cruises On Board Discovery

22 Defence Quiz by Julian Pottage

15 QPlus 9.1 17 Wychwood Park Bridge Events

23 Coming Soon by Bernard Magee

18 The Olde Barn Hotel Bridge Events

27 Historic Recollections by Dick Atkinson

21 Marsham Court Bridge Weekends

28 Double Dummy Quiz by Richard Wheen

22 Christmas 2009 28 Two-Handed Bridge by George Hutter

ou are West in the auctions below, playing 'Standard Acol' with a weak no-trump (12-14 points) and four-card majors.

1. Dealer West. Love All. ♠ A K Q 10 ♥ 5 © Q43 ® Q9854 West North East South ?

2. Dealer East. Love All. ♠ 7 ♥ KQ32 © KQ86 ® AQ94 West North East South 1♠ Pass ?

3. Dealer West. Love All. ♠ K Q 10 6 5 ♥ 3 © KJ ® AK764

28 Single-Suited Pens 31 Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified

29 David Gold says Bid a Slam on a Finesse at Worst

West North East South 1♠ Pass 3♠ Pass ?

32 Holiday Diary 35 Beach Hotel Bridge Weekends

30 Saying Hy to McKenney by Ned Paul 31 Double Dummy Answer by Richard Wheen

42 Declarer Play Answers by David Huggett

Y

ADVERTISEMENTS

14 David Stevenson Answers Your Questions

34 Readers’ Letters

by Bernard Magee

(Answers on page 9)

10 Andrew Kambites says Lead the Fourth Highest of your Longest and Strongest

[email protected]

Address Changes ( 01483 485342

47 Defence Quiz Answers by Julian Pottage

BIDDING QUIZ

36 Staverton Park Bridge Weekends 37 Blunsdon House Hotel Bridge Events 38 Rubber/Chicago Bridge Events 39 Denham Grove Bridge Weekends

43 Bernard Magee says Ruff as High as you can Afford

40 Global Travel Insurance

44 Julian Pottage says Quality Counts

48 Mediterranean Cruise on board Discovery

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or its Managing Editor.

Page 3

4. Dealer West. Game All. ♠ AJ7 ♥ AK2 © Q3 ® KQ432 West North East South 1® 1♥ Pass Pass ?

5. ♠ ♥ © ®

Dealer West. Game All. A2 KQ6 AJ65 8432

West North East 1NT Pass 2©1 2♥ Pass 2NT ? 1 Transfer (showing 5+

South Pass Pass hearts)

BIRTHDAY CRUISE

Re-organisations can be quite traumatic even if they are successful. The current trade-in offer for QPlus is a good example.

Ï

AT THE ROYAL KENZ TUNISIA 2009 Two-week Half-board Duplicate Holidays

Readers will no doubt be delighted to learn that my birthday cruise was a great success. Having looked forward to it for so long, it could have easily turned into a huge anti-climax, but I am already looking forward to next year. Malaysia to the Maldives, see front cover and page 2. Very different.

BORING

1-15 November £699* Tony & Jan Richards 15-29 November £749* Bernard Magee 29 Nov-13 Dec £699* Crombie McNeil *per person half-board sharing a twin-bedded room and is inclusive of bridge fees. Single supplement £5 per night. These prices are based on air travel from Gatwick to Monastir. Flights from other UK airports are available at a supplement. All prices are firm until 31 January 2009. Prices for sevennight stays are available on application. Pay £70 per fortnight per person extra and have a poolfacing room, tea & coffee making facilities, bath robe and a bowl of seasonal fruit. These holidays have been organised for by Tunisia First Limited, ATOL 5933, working in association with Thomas Cook Tour Operations Limited, ATOL 1179.

DETAILS & BOOKINGS

( 01483 489961

SUCCESS

While away, I realised that those browsing these columns must be tired of reading that QPlus is the very best Acol-playing software on the market, and that it has the best user interface, whatever that is. It is also user-friendly and has a useful support line. ( 01483 485345.

I now have lots of secondhand QPlus series 8. While stocks last, I will send a copy to buyers of any one of the Bernard Magee tutorials, COMPLETELY FREE. Please tell your friends about this offer and help me to make it another great success.

Please, no exaggeration or false claims, just the truth. A weekend for two at any one of our bridge event venues for every published letter. Entries close 30 June 2009.

PERVERSE It would appear the agency that governs financial services requires me to make it plain that I do not endorse any of Global Travel’s policies. Make up your own mind about travel insurance.

On the facing page is space for those of you who have yet to re-register. There are also slots for your bridge club or teachers details for inclusion in the forthcoming directory. Please use the comments box to raise issues you would like discussed in this publication and please mention Mr Bridge when talking to our advertisers.

POSTAGE SAVINGS

J UST DUPLICATES These events continue the success of last year’s Gentle Duplicates. They will, however, be split into two sections, social but competitive and gentle. In this way, we should be able to suit almost everyone. £150 covers full board (all meals and accommodation) as well as six duplicate sessions. Please make payment in full, at the time of booking, by cheque or debit card.

DENHAM

REMEDY Knowing how you all like competitions, I have decided that the best way to make my marketing more interesting, and ask those of you out there who are currently enjoying using QPlus to write in and tell me what makes the software so good for you.

NAGGING AGAIN

Even after Christmas, postal savings are always welcome. Please support Clive Goff’s unusual service. ( 0208 4224906 [email protected] Unused postage stamps with full gum at a discount.

2010 DIARIES Send £5.95 now and receive a 2009 diary now. 2010 will be sent as soon as it is ready.

SKY ARTS 2

Denham Grove is an excellent Conference Centre in Uxbridge. Close to London, yet set in forty acres of rolling Buckinghamshire countryside, it has all the facilities needed for successful bridge weekends. In addition to many regular tutorial events with supervised play, we will be hosting Just Duplicate and Gentle Duplicate parties on the same dates. There are ground and first floor bedrooms, with the restaurant and bridge rooms all nearby. Be assured, there are no long indoor walks nor maps needed at this venue.

Page 4

In the centrefold of this issue, Bernard Magee tells us about an imminent television programme. He is confident it will excite people sufficiently to want to learn to play. Do encourage your nonbridge playing friends to watch and please watch it yourself and let me know what you think. Feedback really is important.

ERIC HILL The success he enjoyed in the Christmas issue of BRIDGE, has prompted him to take a full page advert, see page 8. Please mention Mr Bridge when you write or ring to place an order.

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Please complete all or part this form and return to , Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey, GU21 2TH.

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TUTORIAL SOFTWARE

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ACOL BIDDING

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BOOKS

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Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified £5.95 ....... Club Offer 10 for only £35.00 ....... Hand Evaluation £14.00 .......

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Acol Bidding More Acol Bidding Declarer Play Advanced Declarer Play

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SINGLE-SUITED BALL-POINT PENS Boxed Set of Four (Spade, Heart, Diamond, Club) £19.95 .......

TEA TOWELS Tea Towels – Any four for only We are Survivors Ten Commandments for Bridge Players Bridge Traffic Signs Life’s a game, but bridge is serious Recipe for a happy marriage

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www.mrbridge.co.uk System Requirements: Windows XP or Vista, 8mb RAM, CD-ROM

CLUB INSURANCE

WORTHWHILE

Moore Stephens offer insurance for clubs needing cover from April.

I am sponsoring a bridge day out, this time in joint support of Christians in Iraq, who will share the proceeds with Little Voice. Bernard Magee will host the event and give the seminars.

Their Bridge Club Insurance scheme runs for 12 months from 1st November each year. Those Bridge Clubs who would like to join the scheme in April will pay just £39.30 until 31st October provided they have less than 100 members and meet no more than twice per week. The charge is based on an annual premium for this year of £63.50. Provided the membership and meeting numbers and the standard cover is sufficient for your bridge club, please complete the form on my web site and send it to them with a cheque for £39.30. For clubs with more than 100 members or meeting more than twice weekly, call Moore Stephens on ( 020 7515 5270.

BERNARD’S EXTRA

CHARITY BRIDGE EVENTS APRIL 2009 3 CHARITY BRIDGE DRIVE IN AID OF THE NATIONAL TRUST Little Hallingbury Village Hall 1.30pm-4.30pm. £7 per ticket Maggie Sheils ( 01279 758414

Wednesday 15 April 2009 The Jubilee Hall, Little Shore Lane, Bishops Waltham, Southampton, SO32 1ED.

3 CHARITY BRIDGE SUPPER IN AID OF RIDING FOR THE DISABLED Tyrrells Wood Golf Club, Leatherhead. 7pm £12.50 pp Yvonne Warren ( 01372 375611

Reception (coffee/tea) 10.30 to 11.15

15 JOINT APPEAL CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ LITTLE VOICE Bishop Waltham 11am–5pm includes buffet lunch and two seminars from Bernard Magee £30 per person. Margaret Cochrane ( 023 8069 4959

Overcalls with Ber nar d Bufffet Lunch 12.45 to 2.15 Discards with Bernard

15 FRIENDS OF HITCHAM CHURCH Hitcham Village Hall 2.15 for 2.30pm. Chicago. £8pp which includes tea. Marie Bull ( 01449 740358 Christopher Rivington ( 01449 740078

Tea and Cakes approx 4pm followed by Any Questions Tickets £30 per per son. ( 023 8069 4959 The entire proceeds will be shared by Christians in Iraq and Little Voice – two really worthwhile causes.

18 SWINDON CARES BRIDGE DRIVE Arkells Brewery Swindon. £15pp. Lunch at the Kingsdown Inn, Margaret Bracher ( 01793 823026 22 PRINCESS ALICE HOSPICE Dryburgh Hall, Putney. 10.30am for 11am £62 per table, including lunch. Pam Turner ( 020 8995 2270

USED STAMPS

In addition to his short cruise on Discovery from Harwich to the Riviera, seven nights from £549 pp, Bernard has found time to host a two-week cruise. It leaves 19 July on a round trip from Harwich up to the top of northern Russia and back. Lots of days at sea, means lots of bridge tuition, lots of duplicate, just the way lots of you like it.

Please continue collecting the used stamps that come to you on your post. I will tell you what to do with them in a later issue.

24 HOLYWELL CHURCH Village Hall, Hemingford Abbots 10am for 10.30am £13.50. Pauline Baily ( 01480 462879 26 HOSPISCARE Exeter Golf & Country Club. 11am. Swiss Teams. Includes salad platter, tea, coffee & biscuits. £48 per team. Carol Horgan ( 01392 875513

Little Voice has received another £200 bringing the total for 2008 to over £400. Those coming along to Bernard’s Day Out should bring any they have so far collected with them and put them in the box provided.

MAY 2009 1 CHESHIRE HOMES Village Hall, Hartford, Hunts, 10am for 10.30am. £13.50. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480 212910

REDUCE THE COST OF YOUR POSTAGE

8 CHARITY BRIDGE AT KIMBOLTON To be advised. 27 DUPLICATE OR CHICAGO IN AID OF TAPPING HOUSE HOSPICE Town Hall Downham Market. 1.30-5pm, afternoon tea £5 pp. Ann Taylor ( 01366 388408 Pat Roberts ( 01366 382947

Postage stamps for sale at 90% of face-value, all mint with full gum. Quotations for commercial quantities available on request.

Values supplied in 100s, higher values available as well as 1st and 2nd class (eg 1st class: 100x35p+100x1p)

(/Fax 020 8422 4906 e-mail: [email protected] Page 7

29 RFET. Hunts & Fens Regional College, Huntingdon. 10am for 10.30am. £13.50. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480 212910 30 CHARITY BRIDGE NIGHT IN AID OF MACMILLAN NURSES Harold Wood Neighbourhood Centre. 6pm for 6.30pm £10pp includes fish/chicken & chips. Ron Lockhart ( 01708 523513

JUNE 2009 12-14 SWANSEA BRIDGE CONGRESS IN AID OF ALZHEIMER’S SOCIETY Swansea Bridge Club. Pairs Fri & Sat. Swiss Teams Sun. Diana Panniers( 01792 297081 19 ST MARY’S CHURCH EATON SOCON, ST NEOTS. 10am for 10.30am. £13.00. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480 212910

JULY 2009 16 SAMARITANS CHESTER BRANCH Annual Bridge Drive and tea. Mollie McBride ( 01244 675108

SEPTEMBER 2009 2 GYDA. Corn Exchange, Faringdon, Oxon. 10.30am for 11am-4pm. £15 includes lunch. Steve Braithwaite ( 01367 240929 18 ST MARY’S CHURCH, EATON SOCON, ST NEOTS 10am for 10.30am. £13.00. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480 212910 30 PRINCESS ALICE HOSPICE Dryburgh Hall, Putney. 10.30am for 11am. £62 per table, including lunch Pam Turner ( 020 8995 2270

OCTOBER 2009 3 RNLI. Cheltenham Bridge Club 11am-4pm. £14pp includes lunch. Margaret Beverley ( 01242 510193 9 RIDING FOR THE DISABLED WOODHUST GROUP Hemingford Abbots Village Hall. 2-5pm includes afternoon tea. Sally Pinnock ( 01223 874508 23 CHESHIRE HOMES Village Hall, Hartford, Hunts. 10am for 10.30am. £13.50. Malcolm Howarth ( 01480 212910

Page 8

ANSWERS TO THE BIDDING QUIZ ON PAGE 3 by BERNARD MAGEE ♠ ♥ © ®

1. Dealer West. Love All. A K Q 10 ♠ J7 5 ♥ AK42 N W E Q43 © 9876 S Q9854 ® J 10 3

West ?

North

East

South

1®. An easy question to start with, which you should have come across in your first lesson on bidding: length is strength. You do not necessarily open your strongest suit, but you do open your longest suit. The reasoning is simple: the more trumps you have the more control you have. Playing with spades as trumps on this hand would require you to play them all out to draw the opponents trumps, leaving you wide open to attack with no ‘trump control’. In clubs, you can knock out the high trumps and remain in control – making your four spade tricks after drawing trumps. It is no good changing your mind later in the bidding: if you start with spades and go back to clubs, you will be promising five cards in the first suit (spades). You must open 1® and plan to rebid 1♠. The complete auction might be: 1®-1♥-1♠-2®.

♠ ♥ © ®

2. Dealer East. Love All. 7 ♠ KQ852 N KQ32 ♥ AJ4 W E S KQ86 © A2 AQ94 ® K 10 2

West

North

East 1♠

South Pass

?

2®. There are two main types of hand with which you should make a jump-shift response to an opening suit bid: (i) a hand with 16+ points and a strong sixcard suit; (ii) a game-going hand with support for partner’s suit and a strong five-card suit. Your hand fits neither of these descriptions and so you should make a simple response; do not forget that your partner cannot pass a change of suit, so you will get another bid. The problem with jumping with a hand like this is that you take up a lot of bidding space before you know which suit you want to play in – you lose the accuracy of the auction. Over

a jump shift (e.g. 3®), a no-trump bid from opener could be ambiguous, but over a simple response of 2®, 2NT from opener shows a strong balanced hand (minimum 15 points). Now you can bid your hand accurately, by inviting slam in no-trumps: using a quantitative 4NT. Since partner has a maximum, he will go on to 6NT. The complete auction is: 1♠-2®-2NT-4NT-6NT. 2® is better than 2© or 2♥ because it leaves more room for partner to show a second suit if he has one.

♠ ♥ © ®

3. Dealer West. Love All. K Q 10 6 5 ♠ A982 N 3 ♥ J764 W E KJ © A843 S AK764 ® 2

West 1♠ ?

North Pass

East 3♠

South Pass

4®. After your 1♠ opening, your partner has raised to 3♠. What is that likely to show? It should be about 10-12 points with four-card spade support. Adding these points to yours, game is surely on – remember your two fivecard suits and the singleton. In fact, I think there might be a chance of more than a game. Give your partner two aces and surely slam is quite likely – if not a certainty then, at least, on a finesse. The only problem is that, if he has no aces at all, we might not be able to make more than 4♠; so ideally we would like to make a slam-try without bidding 4NT. 4® is the answer, but it is not Gerber: it is a cue-bid, showing the ace of clubs. Now, if partner is suitable, he will show an ace of his own; if he does not have an ace in either of the red suits, he would bid 4♠ and we would stop safely in 4♠. Here, he would bid 4© and that is enough to send you to Blackwood – the final auction being: 1♠-3♠-4®-4©-4NT-5♥-6♠. It was unlikely that 5♠ would go down, but it is better to be safe – using cue-bids to keep the auction low and then using Blackwood is a clever tactic.

♠ ♥ © ®

4. Dealer West. Game All. AJ7 ♠ 9842 N AK2 ♥ 43 W E S Q3 © J9654 KQ432 ® J 10

Page 9

West 1® ?

North 1♥

East Pass

South Pass

1NT. Your intended rebid was 2NT and, in fact, some of you would want to rebid 3NT (in oldfashioned Acol, the 3NT rebid shows 19 points). However, this is not a normal rebid here because your partner has not responded; he might have no points at all. This is so important, because your whole system of rebids revolves around the fact that your partner shows 6+ points by responding. If your partner has just 1 or 2 points, as here, it is certainly not safe to rebid too high; if you are not cautious, you might find yourself doubled and down. When your partner has passed and you get a second bid, courtesy of an overcall, then any no-trump bid by you shows great strength – enough to play no-trumps opposite 0 to 5 points. With 15-16 points you would pass, but with 17-19 you should rebid 1NT: not expecting any chance of game, but aiming to find the best contract. If your partner does have 6 points, he can raise you; more often than not, he will be very weak and you will be glad to be in just 1NT. You should scrape home in 1NT for a great score (or even 2© if East makes a weak take-out). Meanwhile 2NT and 3NT will score badly and, if doubled, they may score very badly indeed.

♠ ♥ © ®

5. Dealer West. Game All. A2 ♠ 543 N KQ6 ♥ J 10 9 7 4 W E AJ65 © KQ2 S 8432 ® AJ

West 1NT 2♥ ?

North East South Pass Pass 2©1 Pass 2NT Pass 1 Transfer (showing 5+ hearts)

4♥. Your partner has shown five hearts and then rebid 2NT – this shows an invitational hand 10-12 points. You need to consider two questions: (1) Do you want to play in game – or, put another way – do you have a maximum hand? (2) Do you want to play in hearts or no-trumps? You have 14 points with a little shape so you should certainly go for game; with excellent heart support alongside a doubleton, you should choose hearts; this all means that the correct bid is a jump to 4♥. There are ten easy winners in 4♥, so you should score +620; meanwhile, in 3NT, a spade lead would probably defeat you. ■

Andrew Kambites Says

Lead the Fourth Highest of Your Longest and Strongest his maxim is a real golden oldie: Against no-trumps especially, lead the fourth highest card from your longest and strongest suit. Like other maxims, you need to understand it rather than just adhere to it slavishly. In the layouts below, please assume that the contract is 3NT and that you want to lead from the longest suit with some honour cards. I shall examine each of the three components of this maxim in turn.

T

1 Why should you lead a low card rather than an honour?

nothing in the suit. In layout B, West’s four lead gives away a trick. Still, the trick may come back with interest if East gains the lead and returns a spade, setting up three spade tricks for West.

2 If you lead a low card, why should it be precisely your fourth highest? The answer is that it gives partner useful information. In deal C, North has raised South’s 1NT opening to 3NT.

If you lead a low card, you are usually hoping that partner has an honour. If he can, he will play ‘third hand high’ and return your suit.

Layout A ♠ 852

♠ ♥ © ® ♠2 led

N E S

N

♠ KJ643

W

E S

♠ Q9

♠ A 10 7

In layout A, West leads the four and East plays the queen. The defenders will persevere with spades to knock out the ace and set up four tricks in the suit.

Layout B ♠ 852 N

♠ KJ643

W

E S

♠ 97

♠ A Q 10

The downside comes when partner has

♠ ♥ © ®

A5 J 10 9 8 852 10 9 4 3

West leads the two of spades. Dummy plays the six and you win with the ace. Do you return spades or switch to the inviting jack of hearts? The two of spades tells you that partner started with exactly four spades – he cannot have any more than four if his fourth highest is the two. This means that South has four spades also. It seems that there is little future in spades, so your best chance is to switch to the jack of hearts. If you are lucky, declarer will have the king and your partner will have the ace and queen. Suppose the lead had been the three of spades instead of the two. The decision now would not be so clear-cut. To find out how many spades your partner started with, you would look closely for

Page 10

3 Why should you lead your longest suit against no-trumps? You lead your longest suit because it has the potential to set up more tricks. In our next example, North has again raised South’s 1NT opening to 3NT. You hold:

Deal C Q76 643 KQJ KQ52 W

the two. If declarer plays it at trick one under your ace, then you know partner started with exactly four spades. If the two is missing, then maybe partner started with five spades and it would be sensible to return his suit. Note that, if partner has the two of spades, he will try to play it as soon as is reasonably possible to clear up how many spades he started with.

♠ ♥ © ®

Q 10 4 3 2 Q 10 4 3 A4 65

Suppose you lead a spade and it turns out well. Partner wins with the ace and returns the six. The spade layout is as follows:

♠ 987 N

♠ Q 10 4 3 2

W

E S

♠ A6

♠ KJ5

You take four spade tricks and the ace of diamonds, enough to defeat 3NT. Now suppose you lead a heart and it works well. Partner wins with the ace and returns the six. The heart layout is:

Lead the Fourth Highest

continued

♥ 987

Layout F ♠ J5

N

♥ Q 10 4 3

W

E S

♥ A62

N

♠ K Q 10 4 3

W

E S

♠ 862

♥ KJ5 ♠ A97

The defenders take only three heart tricks and a diamond – not enough.

4 Why lead your strongest suit?

In layout F, West leads the king and then the queen to squash the jack, and the ten becomes good.

Take layouts D and E below. Each time you find partner with the queen of your suit, but the outcome is very different.

Layout G ♠ 10 8 6 N

♠ KQ543

W

E S

Layout D © 10 9 5

♠ J2

♠ A97

N

© KJ432

W

E S

© Q6

© A87

In layout D, you lead the three and partner plays the queen. Declarer has only one diamond stopper and, if you have an outside entry, you will take four diamond tricks to defeat 3NT.

Layout E ® K 10 9 N

® J6432

W

E S

® Q5

® A87

In layout E, you lead the three and partner plays the queen. Declarer has three club stoppers. Your lead has given declarer an extra trick and is unlikely ever to set up winners for your side.

In layout G, leading the king is very unlikely to squash all the intermediate spades. West leads a fourth highest four in order to avoid blocking the suit. The difference between layouts F and G is instructive. In F, you might not need partner’s help so you try to do the job (of knocking out the ace) yourself. In layout G, with two honours rather than three, you do need help. By leading a low card, you are trying to play the high card from the shorter holding first. A second exception to leading fourth highest comes if you lead from a bad suit. Suppose you lead from a suit without any picture card (jack or higher). Partner will want to know this when deciding whether to return your suit. It is sensible to lead the second highest card from a suit without a picture. Consider deal H. South’s 1NT has been raised to 3NT.

♠ ♥ © ®

5 When do you not lead fourth highest? With a sequence of touching honours, if leading high gives a real chance of squashing any missing high cards even if partner has nothing, lead the honour.

Deal H K6 943 AQ32 A432

♠8 led

N W

E S

Page 11

♠ ♥ © ®

A 10 Q J 10 8 765 10 8 6 5

West leads the eight of spades and dummy plays the king, taken by your ace, as declarer follows with the two. Could the eight be fourth highest? If you apply the rule of eleven you might conclude that partner has all the spades bigger than the eight, However, the rule of eleven applies only if the lead is a fourth highest and you should not assume that it is. If the eight is a fourth highest then your partner has led from ♠Q-J-9-8 – unlikely as he would have led the queen from this holding. In fact, partner has led second highest from ♠9-8-5-4-3. Declarer has two spade stoppers and your best chance of defeating 3NT will be to switch to your queen of hearts. You can often get some idea of the type of a lead just by looking at its size. In general, the lead of a low card suggests a fourth highest card headed by at least one honour. The lead of a high spot card (e.g. an eight) suggests a suit without an honour. To interpret the significance of a five or six you need to examine carefully which other cards you can see. The more cards you can see higher than the card led, the more likely it is to be a second-highest lead from a bad suit. Does fourth highest of your longest and strongest apply in suit contracts? It can, though now you do not expect to set up and cash long cards. Normally you are just trying to set up one or two high card tricks before declarer can discard them on another suit.

Layout J ♠ 865 N

♠ Q 10 4 3

W

E S

♠ K72

♠ AJ9

You lead the three of spades in layout J; partner can put up the king and set up two tricks for you if he gains the lead. You need to be aware that leading away from any honour carries risk, and that the potential gains against a suit contract tend to be less than against notrumps. Why is this? If you succeed in setting up length winners, declarer can probably just trump them. Overall, you tend to defend more passively against a suit contract than notrumps, not leading away from aces. ■

DAVID STEVENSON answers questions on Bridge Laws

Cards Transposed in a Board

Q

On board one, the cards were transposed North for South and East for West, presumably because the board was back to front on the table when the cards were last replaced. The players at the next table detected this, when they checked their curtain cards. They could not play the board as the players had seen their partner’s cards. How do you score the second table and should the director penalise just North-South at first table as North is responsible for the boards? Maggie Demuth by e-mail.

permissible to put it somewhere else on the table apart from the centre, e.g. under a bidding box, but never remove it from the table nor rotate it. At the second table, you award average plus to both sides because they could not play the board through no fault of their own. In other words, you usually just give them 60% on the board. ®©♥♠

Q

The following happened at a table at my local club.

Q

17-20 points and a 4441 shape. Relay, asking for the singleton. 3 Singleton diamond. 4 Originally East put down 2NT. South did not accept the bid. Director explained the options and East changed the call to a pass. 5 Believing he had to keep passing. It is the fourth pass. 1 2

Declarer managed to get out for one down in 3© doubled with a singleton king of trumps facing A-x-x-x but -200 vulnerable was a bottom.

A

The last pass and the last double are cancelled. The first time South is on lead declarer may pick a suit and forbid South from leading it for as long as he retains the lead. This is just a ‘book’ ruling and I find it hard to believe that the director did not read direct from his law book in a situation as rare as this. ®©♥♠

West North East South 2©1 Pass 2♥2 Pass 3 3© Pass Pass4 Pass 5 Pass Dbl End

A

The primary responsibility may be North’s, but everyone is responsible for their own hand. While it is rare to penalise people playing in clubs, you should do so when their infraction means a table cannot play a board. So I would penalise both sides 10% of a top at the original table. Incidentally, the way the transposition happens is that they have taken the board off the table. I would have a word with them about this. The board must stay on the table. If the table is very small or if declarer has eyesight problems, it is

I think he would have been down whatever the lead. The director ruled the result should stand. Mr Provan, Frazerburgh.

I understand that players should bid in tempo. However, can a player stop to think about his bid for some time? While I realise it is wrong if partner takes unauthorised information from the delay, if partner’s hand supports his subsequent action then am I right that nothing improper has happened? Stephen Hanslip, Wakefield Bridge Club.

A

You are quite correct – thinking about your bid is perfectly acceptable. True, it does provide unauthorised

Page 14

information to partner, but he will just have to deal with it, bending over backwards to take no advantage. Of course, bridge is a timed mind sport, so a delay is only acceptable if within reason. For example, I would expect to penalise a player in a club who took too long, thus upsetting the other players. In some tournaments, time penalties have actually changed the results of matches. ®©♥♠

Q

At duplicate, why should players shuffle the cards before returning them to their board slots? Sorting into suits would be more helpful for the next table. Steve Parr, Portstewart, Northern Ireland by e-mail.

A

The law-makers decided that any contact between tables was a poor idea and felt any distribution of hands apart from a randomisation, i.e. a shuffle, was not a good idea.

E-mail your questions on bridge laws to: davidstevenson@ mrbridge.co.uk.

Ask David

continued

Q

My partner in 3NT had won a trick in dummy and said ‘run the diamonds.’ The defenders said that as he had not said ‘from the top’, I (dummy) should play the lowest diamond next. We called the director, who confirmed this. The contract duly went down. Was the ruling correct? Gordon Southgate, Gravesend.

A

In general, it is difficult to say a director is wrong when he gives a judgement ruling. Nevertheless, it sounds as if he was wrong. When you make an incomplete designation, such as saying ‘spade’ instead of ‘ace of spades’, there are rules for which card is played. If you name a suit but not a rank, the lowest card is deemed played ‘unless declarer’s different intention is incontrovertible’. However, when he is running a long suit and he calls for that suit, most directors would say that his intention is incontrovertibly to play the top one first. Whether his intention is incontrovertible is a judgement decision. This case seems a little different from that. ‘Run the diamonds’ is a clear instruction (though the lawmakers do not like it and have said so). So long as this was what declarer said, the director was wrong: ‘Run the diamonds’ is always understood to mean from the top. ®©™´

Q

After the auction below, my partner and I considered our cards and the bidding:

West North East South 1© Double 2© 3® Pass 4® Pass 5® End

At this point, East had bidding cards of 1® and 4® in front of him. On the strength of this, forgetting North’s 1© and East’s now invisible double, we concluded that it was my lead (South). I led, face down, and my partner said ‘No questions’; I then faced the opening lead. Our opponents then claimed an ‘opening lead out of turn’, which the director confirmed. Two questions arise: 1. Are we expected to remember the bidding? 2. Can opponents who put away their bidding cards before the opening lead ever claim an ‘opening lead out of turn’? John Barley, Norwich.

A

1. No, not until the opening lead is face up. Bidding cards should always stay on the table until the opening lead is face up. You could always ask for a review, or even demand they put the cards out again. 2. Every case depends on its merits. Generally, if you lead out of turn, it is your fault. However, in the actual case, if the 1® bid was showing, the director would not usually treat this as a lead out of turn. You might ask your director if he can remind the pair concerned of the correct procedure. n

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David Stevenson answers all queries based on the facts supplied. Neither Mr Bridge nor David Stevenson has any way of knowing whether those facts are correct or complete.

Make your cheque payable to and send to: Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop

Page 15

Ask Julian Pottage

Stayman and Transfers Q

Playing Stayman, transfers and Gerber, my partner opens 1NT (12-14). What should I bid with:

quick computer simulation, which suggested that 6® makes about 90% of the time facing 12-14 balanced. ®©™´

´ ™ © ®

Void AKJ7 A8 Q J 10 9 6 4 3

Chris Dicker, Tavistock.

Q

What do you think of using Stayman and transfers in this sequence? West North East South 1NT Dbl Pass ?

Ian Brebner, by e-mail

A

You say that you play transfers. I assume you mean red-suit transfers (for the majors only). Playing foursuit transfers, you could start with 2´ to show clubs. With four-suit transfers, it is normal to play that the next bid up denies support (one of the top three honours) while completion of the transfer promises support (or vice versa). That would tell you whether partner had a fitting club honour. With standard methods, you could start with 3®, planning to rebid 4® if partner makes a discouraging rebid such as 3NT. After the natural club bid, 4® would not be Gerber. To be honest, a direct leap to 6® over 1NT has something to commend it. It would be unlucky if partner had neither the ace nor the king of clubs. Indeed, I ran a

A

Letting doubler’s partner use Stayman and transfers is rare, for good reason. (i) The doubler has not shown a balanced hand – although North might have a strong no-trump opener, an unbalanced hand is possible. If partner opens 1NT, it is right that responder is captain – you know far more about partner’s hand than partner does about yours. This is not the case when partner doubles a 1NT opening. You know the minimum strength (15 points), but that is just about all you know. (ii) You rarely need to have a constructive sequence (if you have a good hand, you defend 1NT doubled). Stayman especially and transfers to an extent have maximum value in a

constructive sequence. Although a transfer would conceal the doubler’s hand, it relieves the 1NT opener from making the opening lead, so it is just swings and roundabouts on that front. ®©™´

Q

Some at our club play that, if responder uses Stayman over 1NT, opener rebids 2NT with 4-4 in the majors. I am not keen on the idea myself. What do think of it? Mr Woodward, by e-mail

A

The disadvantage of allowing opener to rebid 2NT when holding four cards in each major is that responder cannot really use Stayman on a weak hand. I cannot see any advantage to playing the 2NT option, so I agree with you that it is better not to play it. The better way to show 4-4 in the majors is to rebid 2™ and then, unless partner raises hearts, show the spades next time. It is quite safe bidding 4´ after a sequence like 1NT-2®-2™3NT – responder must have four spades to have used Stayman. If you play that 1NT-2®2™-2NT does not promise four spades (because you

Page 16

play non-promissory Stayman), again there is a better solution. The thing to do is to play that after 1NT2®-2™, 2´ by responder shows four spades and 2NT denies four spades. In all cases, opener has no need to bid 2NT over 2®. ®©™´

Q

My cousin in Australia tells me that he and his partners play American Acol or Precision. What are the differences? Christine Marquina, Nottingham.

A

Yes, Acol as played in Australia differs from what you are likely to be familiar with in the UK. It has much in common with Standard American (15-17 1NT and mainly 5-card majors), hence the composite name, American Acol. Precision in Australia is, I imagine, the same as Precision over here and elsewhere in the world. The basics are: 1® strong (16+) and artificial with 1© negative, 1© 11-15, 2+ diamonds, 1™/1´ five-card suit 11-15, 1NT 13-15, 2® 11-15 6 clubs or 5 clubs and a 4-card major, 2© 11-15 3-suiter short in diamonds, 2™/2´ weak.

Ask Julian

continued

Q

1. My partner opens 1´ and the next hand passes. What should I bid with four points and a 2-7-2-2 shape? 2. As West, I have 13 points, five clubs, four spades and one diamond.  West North East South 1© 2® Pass Pass 2© 2´ Pass 3™ End

3™ went down. I thought I was asking for preference, but my partner said that my 2´ was forcing, obliging her to bid. Is this correct? Shirley Rose, Camberley, Surrey.

A

1. With only four points, you ought to pass. If there is any further bidding, you can bid your hearts without fear that partner will put you with more values than you have. 2. With a 4-3-1-5 shape and 1© opened on your right, it is usually better to double than to bid 2®. Your hand is playable in three suits. Only if all the strength is in the black suits and the clubs are good, for example ´K-J-x-x and ®A-K-Q-x-x, would I consider a 2® overcall. Even then, I think you should double on the second round rather than bid 2´ and this would still be for takeout as your partner has not bid. In your actual sequence, 2´ is not forcing. Bids are rarely forcing when only one member of the partnership has bid. With your undisclosed 3-card heart support, it sounds as if hearts was the best trump suit – but perhaps you should have

been in 2™ rather than 3™. Presumably you would have reached 2™ if you had doubled at either your first or second turn. Whether the opponents would have let you play there or competed to 3© is another matter. ®©™´

Q

What should I have bid on the hand below after the hand on my right opened 1´? I bid 2´ and we ended up in 5®, making all thirteen tricks.

´ ™ © ®

AT WYCHWOOD PARK Weston, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 5GP

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Void A74 AQ4 AKQJ753

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Tilly Howard, Edgware.

A

If you play 2´ the old-fashioned way, showing a very strong hand, it seems fair. The snag is that, if partner bids 3© or 3™, you will be unable to show the club suit below the four level. These days many play 2´ as showing a two-suited hand, ruling out that option. What else can you bid? The hand is too strong to bid 3® (even if you play that as strong) or for a pre-emptive 5®. You could try 3´, asking partner to bid 3NT if holding a spade stopper. You risk missing a slam, yes, but you would not expect partner to have many values given the opening bid on your right. If you do not bid 3´, you start with a double. Most likely, you will bid 3® at your next turn, though even that does not fully express your values. To be honest, it is a hard hand to bid. At pairs, I would probably overcall 3´. At rubber bridge (when honours count), I would be more inclined to look for a club contract.

Page 17

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Ask Julian

continued

AT THE OLDE BARN

Q

On the last deal of the night, my partner and I needed to get game to make rubber. We had:

Toll Bar Road, Marston, Lincolnshire, NG32 2HT

Duplicate Weekends 2009/10 9-11 Oct (£235)

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´ ™ © ®

K Q J 10 6 73 86 KQ83 N W

30 Oct - 1 Nov (£199)

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TBA

´ ™ © ®

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The bidding was 1´-3NT. Our opponents said our bidding was poor and we were lucky that 3NT made. How should we have bid? Richard Smith, Hampshire. 

A

3NT, played by the hand with the king of diamonds, has nine certain tricks. This makes it a very good contract! Since you ask, the textbook sequence is 1´-2®-3®-4´. By jumping to 3NT one risks missing a better contract in a suit, possibly a slam. Had there not been nine top tricks, 3NT might fail on a diamond lead; even so, with 15 points facing an opening bid, it is likely to have some chance whatever opener has.

Single ..... Double ..... Twin ..... at the Olde Barn weekends of ........................................... Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................ Postcode ............................................................................ ( ...................................................................................... Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed, but we will do our best to oblige) .......................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker.

®©™´

Q

What do you think of North’s bidding below? It is game all and pairs.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

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´ ™ © ®

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Page 18

K 10 8 2 K5 A J 10 2 AQ7

West North East South 1™ Dbl Pass 1´ 2® 4´ Dbl End

4´ doubled went four down vulnerable for 1100. Clive Hutchinson, Crewe.

A

Double is fine but not 4´. When partner has to bid, as here, the rule is to raise to a level lower than if partner’s bid were a response to a one-level opening. Using the losing trick count, a raise of the forced 1´ bid thus shows the following: 2´ six-loser hand 3´ five-loser hand 4´ four-loser hand North has a five or five and a half loser hand (it depends upon whether you count A-J-10 as one loser or one and a half losers), so 3´ is the value bid. 4´ is a clear overbid. ®©™´

Q

Partner opens 1NT (12-14). The next hand doubles. With one point, can I redouble to find the best fit? Margaret Stewart, Buckhurst Hill, Essex.

A

At a low level a redouble is often a rescue move, sometimes called an SOS redouble or Koch-Werner redouble. However, after partner opens 1NT and the next hand doubles, a redouble is usually for business. If you redouble and have not discussed the matter, partner will assume you hold at least 9 or 10 points (6 or 7 if 1NT was strong) – enough to think your side has the balance of power! Even if you and your partner agreed to play the redouble of 1NT as an escape mechanism, it is unwise to play it as a general rescue. You can hardly have support for all four suits.

Ask Julian

continued

Q

A new partner has suggested playing a discard system whereby a message is passed depending on whether the discard is an odd or an even card. Please can you explain? Betty Anne Henderson, Woodcote, Oxfordshire.

A

I know of two methods of this type. With odd even discards, the discard of an odd card (3, 5 etc) encourages the suit discarded, while the discard of an even card (2, 8 etc) discourages that suit but shows suit preference between the other two. For example, on a spade lead, the three of hearts (an odd card) asks for hearts, the two of hearts (even and low) asks for clubs while the eight of hearts (even and high) asks for diamonds. If you have the right cards, odd even discards work well. The main advantage is that if (as often happens) you can only afford to discard one suit, you have a way of asking for any suit. What is the downside? You do not always have the right cards! If, in my example, you had Q-108-5-3 of hearts, you would not be able to ask for a club by discarding a heart. Indeed (if you could spare only a heart), you could find yourself forced to signal for one of the red suits. If you get the chance to make two discards, you can sometimes cancel an unintended message – I play that a highlow with odd cards means

you do not want the suit after all.  The other method I know is DODD discards. These are easier to remember but rather less popular. They are similar, but now even cards encourage and odd cards are off-putting (discouraging). The way I know DODD discards, there is no suitpreference element – the odd cards ask for the other suit of the same colour. For more details, see www.mrbridge.co.uk/library/ Suit_preference_discards.pdf

DECLARER PLAY QUIZ by David Huggett (Answers on page 42)

ou are South as declarer playing teams or rubber bridge. In each case, what is your play strategy?

Y

®©™´ 1.

Q

In a friendly rubber game, I was dealer and when I looked at my hand was amazed to see that all the cards were in the exact position I would have placed them myself. I had spades on the left, followed by hearts, clubs and finishing with diamonds, all going down from the highest to the lowest. How do I work out the odds for this? Name and address supplied.

A

The chance that the first card you pick up is the card you would place first is 1 in 13, the chance the second is 1 in 12 and so on. The chance they are all the same place is thus 1 in 13*12*11...3*2*1 (13!) or 1 in 6,227,020,800. By the way, I recommend that you do not always sort your suits in the same order. With the way you suggest, certain holdings risk being rather obvious, for example, a singleton two of spades or a singleton ace of diamonds. n

3. ´ ™ © ®

Page 19

762 K76 82 A9864 N

N W

E

W

´ ™ © ®

´ ™ © ®

A3 Q43 AQJ74 J93

West North East South Pass 1NT Pass 2® Pass 2© Pass 3NT End

West leads the ®6. What is your plan? 2.

E S

S

KQ3 AQ8 AK63 Q J 10

You open 2NT and North raises to 3NT. West leads the ´5 and East follows with the ´10. How do you plan the play?

4. ´ ™ © ®

K73 AQ82 A76 864

´ ™ © ®

AJ6 A2 J 10 9 6 5 K73 N

N W

W

E

´ ™ © ®

Q2 KJ965 QJ5 AQJ

E S

S

You are declarer in 4™ and West leads the ©2. How do you plan the play?

E-mail your questions for Julian to: [email protected]

´ ™ © ®

KQ74 A6 10 9 6 3 A75

´ ™ © ®

K752 10 9 6 5 KQ3 A5

You open 1NT and North raises to 3NT. West leads the ™4. How do you plan the play?

Seasonal Walks with Countryman

A Walk in Spring T

his little piece of England where the birds are singing, the sun shining and the air seriously intoxicating – it is all too easy to fall under its magic spell and dream on, contentedly… To most of us, lucky enough to experience it, spring in the country is the most exciting time of the year. So much that might have seemed gloomy, downtrodden and to all intents and purposes dead and finished, is gradually bursting forth with a new vibrant enthusiasm that is a joy to behold. Whereas only a few weeks ago everything lay covered with a thick blanket of snow and contrasting colours were non-existent, the scene now is – oh so different! Blues and greens, pinks and yellows combine in exquisite harmony so that even the most casual observer could hardly fail to be impressed. As for the would-be modern-day Constables, the scene is set for something to drool over at the prospect of what their canvasses might portray.

The End of Winter Yes, winter has truly shed her overcoat and revealed a glimpse of the magical metamorphosis that is slowly taking place. Cindy, my beautiful golden Retriever, has joined me for our usual daily walkies and, although our visual delights may not be the same, she is clearly in high spirits. She is prancing backwards and forwards, nose close to the ground, enjoying the country smells. Perhaps spring offers something extra

special to the doggy world; at any rate, there is little doubt that Cindy is full of approval. Before we continue our walk, here is a hand you might like to consider.

Dealer South. Love All. ´ K6 ™ 763 © A K Q J 10 ® Q52 N W

E S

´ ™ © ®

A Q 10 9 8 5 842 3 AK6

West

North

East

2™ Pass

3© 4´

Pass End

South 1´ 3´

West cashes three top hearts, East following to the first and then discarding a small diamond and a small club. West now switches to the jack of clubs. What are your plans for making the remainder of the tricks? As we walk across the fields heading for the marshy grounds some way beyond, yellow seems to be the predominant flower colour. Primroses and cowslips are scattered here and there while buttercups are everywhere. As soon as we reach softer ground, we shall come across the marsh marigolds to complete the yellow carpet.

Page 20

The marshes are popular with many birds, lapwing, snipe and redshank in particular. In fact, Cindy has just disturbed a snipe that zigzags off in its own inimitable style accompanied by a loud harsh screech of complaint. Quite unabashed, Cindy looks very pleased with herself and looks round as if to say, ‘This is fun!’ In the distance, I see what appears to be an inanimate stick-like object protruding from the ground. As we get nearer, I recognise what it really is – a heron, standing motionless on one leg, no doubt waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting prey. These birds have lightning reflexes that give their chosen meal, which varies from fish and frogs to beetles and water voles, little chance of escape once the heron has sussed them. Now, let us go back to our hand. This is the full deal.

´ ™ © ® ´ ™ © ®

K6 763 A K Q J 10 Q52

3 ´ A K Q J 10 5 ™ N W E 875 © S J 10 9 ® ´ A Q 10 9 8 5 ™ 842 © 3 ® AK6

J742 9 9642 8743

South is in 4´. West leads three top hearts and then switches to the jack of clubs.

Spring continued

2009 AT MARSHAM COURT

If not given as a problem, you might be tempted, after winning the ace of clubs, to play off two rounds of trumps before cursing your luck at the unfortunate break. Without the technical knowledge required to deal with this sort of situation, you might cash the king of spades and then take an inspired view by finessing the ten of spades on the next round. This is successful in the event, but disastrous whenever West then holds the jack.

The Correct Play The correct approach is this. Since the most likely snag – if there is one at all – is for East to hold ´J-x-x-x, declarer should prepare the ground for just such an eventuality. He takes the ace of clubs, cashes the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds and ruffs a diamond! The king of spades now exposes the position so he ruffs a second diamond. His spade holding is now the queen, ten over East’s jack, seven. It remains only to enter dummy with the queen of clubs and continue playing winning diamonds until East ruffs and declarer overruffs. This position becomes possible only if declarer reduces his trumps to the same number as East. So, declarer lands the game instead of scoring minus fifty. When we get home, I say to Cindy, ‘You see, my gorgeous one, it can be necessary – indeed vital – to waste one’s trumps by ruffing actual winners. Seems crazy, but when needs must. Funny old game, is it not?’ She wags her tail and looks up at me giving a very fair impression of sympathetic understanding. n What a dog!

East Cliff, Bournemouth, BH1 3AB

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23-25 Sep £150 (Wed-Fri) Just Duplicate Crombie McNeil

( ...................................................................................... Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed, but we will do our best to oblige)

30 Oct-1 Nov £235 (Fri-Sun) Bernard Magee

.......................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker. *£30 supplement per room.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

Page 21

DEFENCE QUIZ

CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR 2009 © Full-board

© All rooms with en-suite facilities

© No single supplement © Use of swimming pool and fitness suite

© Room upgrades available

by Julian Pottage

© Extra Quizzes and Games

(Answers on page 47)

Extra nights available on request

ou are West in the defensive positions below. It is your turn to play.

Y

THE OLDE BARN

´ ™ © ®

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´ ™ © ®

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95 8743 K74 J 10 9 6

J87 AJ2 AJ982 Q7 N W

E S

West North East South 2NT Pass 6NT End

from £199

DENHAM GROVE

You lead the ®J, covered all around. Declarer now leads the ©Q. What do you do?

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29 Dec-1 Jan ´ ™ © ®

from £355 Eight executive rooms*. Half the bedrooms are on the ground floor. Please advise if you require a ground-floor room.

´ ™ © ® J5 Q84 K74 J 10 9 6 3

K7 972 AJ862 Q72 N W

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West North East South 1´ Pass 2© Pass 2™ Pass 2´ Pass 3NT End

Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker. *£50 supplement per room.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

Page 22

You lead the ®J: two, five, ace. Declarer now leads the ©10. What do you do?

´ ™ © ®

3.

´ ™ © ®

A762 J7 Q J 10 6 2 Q2

K85 N A84 W S K7 J 10 9 6 4

E

West North East South 1´ Pass 3´ Pass 4´ End

You lead the ®J, covered all around. Declarer now leads the ´J. What do you do?

´ ™ © ®

4.

´ ™ © ®

532 54 K852 10 8 7 4

Q 10 4 J6 A J 10 9 6 4 J9 N

W

E S

West North East South 1™ 1NT Pass 3NT End

You lead the ™5. Partner wins with the nine, cashes the ´K and reverts to hearts, leading the king. Declarer wins and leads the ©Q. What do you do?

Coming Soon 1. Love All. Dealer North. ´ K3 ™ A75 © QJ1092 ® 632 ´ 76 ´ AJ952 N ™ QJ4 ™ K82 W E S © A843 © K7 ® KJ97 ® AQ5 ´ Q1084 ™ 10963 © 65 ® 1084 2. N/S Game. Dealer East. ´ Q873 ™ 8 © KJ108 ® J1053 ´ J64 ´ AK952 ™ AQ74 W N E ™ J109652 S © 97 © Void ® Q974 ® K8 ´ 10 ™ K3 © AQ65432 ® A62 3. E/W Game. Dealer South. ´ 10 ™ Q104 © Q98 ® Q109754 ´ AQ653 ´ 987 N ™ 6 ™ K7532 W E S © A7 © J104 ® AKJ62 ® 83 ´ KJ42 ™ AJ98 © K6532 ® Void 4. Game All. Dealer West. ´ AQ53 ™ 4 © AJ7 ® A9543 ´ 9742 ´ K1086 N ™ 6 ™ 8753 W E S © 8652 © KQ3 ® Q1082 ® J7 ´ J ™ AKQJ1092 © 1094 ® K6

B

ridge has had various forays into television, but none quite like Celebrity Grand Slam Bridge on Sky Arts 2. Eight celebrities compete with each other to win money for their chosen charity. The focus is not on brilliant bridge, nor even on the hands at all, but on the enjoyment and fascination of our wonderful game. People often ask me how you can get more people playing the game: well show them this show and surely

they will be encouraged to start. It emphasizes the best elements of bridge: social, competitive, enjoyable, challenging and a great way to raise money for charity. The players vary hugely in standard, in fact they include a beginner Kay Burley, the Sky News Anchor, who has had just three weeks of lessons. However, the story is not about the quality of play or bidding, but how the players interact and how the enjoyment of the game comes across. You see the bidding, but see little of the play, and no hands layouts are shown. However, we have printed the deals in this magazine for you: so you can

appreciate the action by having BRIDGE on your lap. The programmes are compered by Clive Anderson who played bridge at University, but who was very glad not to be under scrutiny at the table! These, for the most part, inexperienced players are very brave for volunteering: allowing yourself to be filmed making mistakes is courageous in itself. The variable standard of the bridge makes it all the more watchable – it is what most

bridge is like – and it shows how people can enjoy bridge at whatever level they play. There are almost no conventions in sight and certainly no alert cards.

WHO WILL YOU SUPPORT? Part of the fun of this show is following a particular personality and hoping that they will win – the group of eight come from all sorts of walks of life and play bridge in all sorts of ways. Do you support the better bridge players, the better-looking players, the best talkers, the quietest... make your choice and then hope the results go your way! The eight players are shown overleaf. p26

Page 23

by Bernard Magee 5. N/S Game. Dealer North. ´ 7654 ™ AK9 © QJ765 ® 9 ´ AQJ98 ´ K1032 N ™ Q65 ™ 874 W E S © 10 © 2 ® A863 ® QJ1072 ´ Void ™ J1032 © AK9843 ® K54 6. E/W Game. Dealer East. ´ KQJ107 ™ 1043 © 82 ® K87 ´ A652 ´ 4 N ™ AQ ™ K762 W E S © AKQJ © 7643 ® AQ5 ® 6432 ´ 983 ™ J985 © 1095 ® J109 7. Game All. Dealer South. ´ K76 ™ A432 © AKQ3 ® J3 ´ AJ2 ´ 1098543 ™ KQ109 W N E ™ 86 S © 42 © 87 ® A765 ® 984 ´ Q ™ J75 © J10965 ® KQ102 8. Love All. Dealer West. ´ J632 ™ J94 © 2 ® AQ742 ´ Q1097 ´ AK8 N ™ A32 ™ Void W E © AK763 S © Q954 ® 5 ® KJ10986 ´ 54 ™ KQ108765 © J108 ® 3

 Watch r ts 2 Sky A

The Eight Br Mike Gatting

9. E/W Game. Dealer North. ´ Void ™ Q986 © A1052 ® KQJ95 ´ KJ96542 ´ AQ1087 N ™ 32 W E ™ AK1074 S © 73 © Q4 ® A8 ® 3 ´ 3 ™ J5 © KJ986 ® 107642 10. Game All. Dealer East. ´ 6 ™ Q © K105432 ® J10743 ´ Q432 ´ 10875 ™ J10732 W N E ™ A S © 9 © QJ86 ® AK5 ® Q862 ´ AKJ9 ™ K98654 © A7 ® 9 11. Love All. Dealer ´ AQ ™ AQ984 © A10653 ® 5 ´ J10954 N ´ W E S ™ 3 ™ © Q8 © ® Q10976 ® ´ K2 ™ KJ105 © 42 ® AJ432

South.

Dave Rowntree

Former England and Middlesex cricket captain and now a commentator on the sport. He played a lot of bridge in pavilions, but would be more of a social player – middle of the pack! Chosen charity: Lords Taverners – raising money to give young people, particularly those with special needs, a sporting chance.

Susan Hampshire

Drummer with the pop group Blur. The youngest player by some margin, he played the game in the back of tour buses all around the world. By his own admission, he is quieter at the table than he is with his drums. Chosen charity: Amicusalj – aims to help provide legal representation for those awaiting capital trial and punishment in the US and raise awareness of potential abuses of their rights.

Pattie Boyd 8763 762 KJ97 K8

12. N/S Game. Dealer West. ´ 10975 ™ 1072 © 83 ® J1087 ´ K432 ´ A86 N ™ 643 ™ AQ8 W E S © K76 © A54 ® Q42 ® AK93 ´ QJ ™ KJ95 © QJ1092 ® 65

Actress, famous for her role as Fleur in ‘The Forsyte Saga’. A quiet style at the bridge table may help her – being easy to play with is so important and you are unlikely to find a nicer partner. Chosen charity: National Osteoporosis Society – dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in the UK.

Photographer and writer, former wife of George Harrison and of Eric Clapton. She shows some aggressive bidding and card play and might be one to follow. Chosen charity: Action on Addiction – aims to disarm addiction, through research, treatment, family support, education and training.

Page 24

13. Game All. Dealer North. ´ J1082 ™ 1062 © K862 ® J7 ´ K765 ´ A ™ AQ74 W N E ™ J53 S © Q9 © A53 ® K108642 ® 953 ´ Q943 ™ K98 © J1074 ® AQ 14. Love All. Dealer East. ´ 10 ™ 10432 © AQ106 ® 7532 ´ 765 ´ AJ942 N ™ 865 ™ K7 W E S © J © 9542 ® KQ10984 ® A6 ´ KQ83 ™ AQJ9 © K873 ® J 15. N/S Game. Dealer South. ´ Q53 ™ AK109743 © J10 ® 3 ´ A642 ´ KJ10987 N ™ J82 ™ Void W E S © Q95 © 432 ® A98 ® QJ102 ´ Void ™ Q65 © AK876 ® K7654 16. E/W Game. Dealer West. ´ QJ1097 ™ AJ9 © 843 ® 106 ´ Void ´ AK2 N ™ K82 ™ Q4 W E © AK1095 S © QJ762 ® K7542 ® AJ3 ´ 86543 ™ 107653 © Void ® Q98

ridge Players James Mates 17. Love All. Dealer North. ´ 93 ™ AJ10 © 9432 ® 10843 ´ QJ106 ´ AK84 N ™ Q75 ™ K9 W E S © Q8765 © AK ® 5 ® AK762 ´ 752 ™ 86432 © J10 ® QJ9 18. N/S Game. Dealer East. ´ Q76 ™ Void © A954 ® A108732 ´ 1032 ´ Void ™ AQJ106 W N E ™ 98743 S © K862 © 1073 ® Q ® KJ954 ´ AKJ9854 ™ K52 © QJ ® 6 19. E/W Game. Dealer South. ´ J6 ™ A852 © J3 ® AK543 ´ Q8 ´ K97432 ™ KQJ1094 W N E ™ Void S © Q1065 © 9872 ® 2 ® J108 ´ A105 ™ 763 © AK4 ® Q976 20. Game All. Dealer West. ´ K64 ™ K76 © Q542 ® Q97 ´ Q85 ´ 10973 ™ AQ84 W N E ™ J1093 S © KJ93 © 8 ® A6 ® J1053 ´ AJ2 ™ 52 © A1076 ® K842

20 Ap ril t 26 Ap o r from il 7pm

Sue Lawley

ITN journalist and broadcaster. Another keen bridge player, and possibly the most competitive of the group – he would have to start out as the favourite, but perhaps the other players will be nervous playing with him? Chosen charity: The Rory Peck Trust offers discretionary grants to the families of freelance newsgatherers killed whilst on assignment.

Radio and TV presenter, host of Desert Island Discs for 18 years. A keen bridge player and would be one of the better players on show. Chosen charity: Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival – this Devon town is hosting its first Literary Festival in 2009.

Kay Burley

Val McDermid

Best-selling author of crime thrillers including ‘Wire in the Blood’. Another player who is very quiet at the table, but who may grow on you throughout the series. Chosen charity: Eaves Housing for Women Limited (The Poppy Project) provides accommodation and support to women who have been trafficked into prostitution.

Sky News Anchor. How cruel to throw a beginner to the lions! However, what is so good about the show, is that there are no lions at all and although very nervous, Kay is seen to bid better than many of the other players because of her lessons and ‘untainted’ bridge knowledge. You will be urging her up the leader board as the series progresses. Chosen charity: MacMillan Cancer Support – improves the lives of those affected by Cancer.

Page 25

21. N/S Game. Dealer North. ´ 98 ™ KQ52 © KJ4 ® KJ102 ´ A3 ´ KJ107652 N ™ J3 ™ A10 W E S © 732 © 1085 ® 986543 ® 7 ´ Q4 ™ 98764 © AQ96 ® AQ 22. E/W Game. Dealer East. ´ QJ86 ™ K4 © 9732 ® QJ5 ´ A7432 ´ K95 N ™ 1087 ™ AQ965 W E S © AKQ6 © J104 ® 7 ® 32 ´ 10 ™ J32 © 85 ® AK109864 23. Game All. Dealer South. ´ KJ3 ™ A432 © Q765 ® K10 ´ 1054 ´ AQ2 N ™ 76 ™ KQJ85 W E S © KJ4 © A2 ® AQ843 ® J65 ´ 9876 ™ 109 © 10983 ® 972 24. Love All. Dealer West. ´ AK8543 ™ AQ96 © A43 ® Void ´ 96 ´ 107 ™ J1054 W N E ™ 8732 S © Q7 © J986 ® J9765 ® A83 ´ QJ2 ™ K © K1052 ® KQ1042

FORMAT 25. E/W Game. Dealer North. ´ 2 ™ AQ10 © KJ10983 ® KQJ ´ A107 ´ KQJ84 N ™ 9832 ™ KJ6 W E S © Void © 62 ® A98765 ® 1042 ´ 9653 ™ 754 © AQ754 ® 3 26. Game All. Dealer East. ´ A4 ™ AKJ8642 © 5 ® J96 ´ Q863 ´ KJ1097 N ™ Q73 ™ 109 W E S © AQ64 © K92 ® 54 ® AK3 ´ 52 ™ 5 © J10873 ® Q10872 27. Love All. Dealer South. ´ KJ985 ™ K762 © 85 ® K10 ´ 4 ´ Q72 N ™ Q94 ™ AJ3 W E © KJ763 S © AQ1092 ® Q753 ® J6 ´ A1063 ™ 1085 © 4 ® A9842 28. N/S Game. Dealer West. ´ J7 ™ QJ10 © 86542 ® K42 ´ KQ1043 ´ 9652 N ™ 865 ™ 2 W E S © AJ © K1093 ® J109 ® Q653 ´ A8 ™ AK9743 © Q7 ® A87

The game is played with Chicago scoring, with the same hands being played in two rooms. We can compare what happens at the two tables – the results do not often give the impression that they have been playing the same deal, but that is what makes it interesting. The emphasis is on watching the players’ reactions at their turn to bid and hearing the comments they make. Each player partners everybody else once: they play four deals with each, with an episode covering four deals at a time. You might expect the most talented bridge player to win. However, one of the most fascinating elements of the game of bridge is the partnership: being comfortable with your partner allows you to play so much better. Quite often in an event like this, where the participants are of varying standards, it will be the players who are the easiest to play with that will do the best. ‘Quiet and gentle’ may well overcome ‘confident and loud’! This is just one other element to bear in mind when picking which player to support. At the end of each programme Clive Anderson shows us the scoreboard and you see how your player has progressed. The eighth and final episode has a special twist in it, which we will have to wait to see!

BRIDGE Although the bridge element is small, there are two bridge experts on hand: Glyn

Liggins and Andrew ‘Tosh’ McIntosh. They try to explain what went wrong on some hands and suggest what might have been better.

INTERVIEWS In each episode, after the first one, there is an interview with one of the players. They talk about their interest in bridge: how it started and how it continues now. These work well helping us to get to know the players and making it feel as if we are able to sit alongside them and watch them enjoying their bridge.

PRIZES It might appear light-hearted and fun, but there is no doubt a competitive edge that must surely come through because there is a £20,000 charity pot! £10,000 will go to the winner’s chosen charity and £3,000 to second place. All the players get some amount to give to charity – this is an excellent idea – it also reminds us of bridge’s role as a fund-raiser. So many events are run across the country for this purpose.

CONCLUSION This is an excellent production, which I recommend you to watch, but more importantly get your non-playing friends to watch – I hope that Celebrity Grand Slam Bridge will encourage a new wave of bridge players to take up the game. If it is successful, the hope is that the production team will make more programmes. n

29. Game All. Dealer ´ K109 ™ KJ732 © J10 ® KJ8 ´ 42 ´ ™ 10964 W N E ™ S © 953 © ® 10652 ® ´ 8765 ™ A © AQ872 ® 943

North.

AQJ3 Q85 K64 AQ7

30. Love All. Dealer East. ´ Q ™ A109873 © A109 ® A86 ´ 873 ´ AK109642 N W E S ™ 62 ™ Void © 8765432 © KQJ ® Q ® KJ4 ´ J5 ™ KQJ54 © Void ® 1097532 31. N/S Game. Dealer South. ´ 96 ™ 109853 © AKJ75 ® A ´ AJ8754 ´ KQ1032 N ™ Void ™ 7 W E S © 3 © 942 ® Q107642 ® K953 ´ Void ™ AKQJ642 © Q1086 ® J8 32. E/W Game. Dealer West. ´ 84 ™ 743 © 1082 ® 98632 ´ AKQ9652 ´ J107 N ™ 8 ™ AJ652 W E S © A75 © 963 ® 104 ® QJ ´ 3 ™ KQ109 © KQJ4 ® AK75

Please do watch Celebrity Grand Slam Bridge starting Monday 20 April at 7pm on Sky Arts 2 and even more importantly, encourage your non bridge-playing friends to watch too. How to find Sky Arts on your TV: www.skyarts.co.uk/watch Page 26

Historic Recollections by Dick Atkinson

M

y uncle, the seventh Baron von Münchausen, is always ready with helpful advice for a less skilful adversary. Sadly, not all opponents accept his advice with good grace. This deal was a case in point, from a high-stakes rubber played about seventy years ago.

Sure enough, the ace of clubs was led, and dummy was revealed to be:

Helpful Advice Offered ´ ™ © ®

Void J 10 8 7 5 4 J 10 8 7 5 4 Q

Exclusive Bridge Circle My uncle was invited to make up a four in a particularly exclusive circle, thanks to his well-known discretion, or so he told me. His partner was Mussolini. North was Stalin, and South Hitler, though that partnership broke up, oddly enough, shortly after this encounter. Hitler dealt himself:

´ ™ © ®

K Q J 10 9 8 7 AKQ AKQ Void

The declarer ruffed and set about the trumps. Il Duce, however, discarded a small club on the very first round, and despite the most Arctic of glares, was unable to replace it with a trump.

Forcing Game In with the ace of spades, my uncle continued his forcing game, and the declarer ended up with just six tricks, only half his contract, for a swingeing penalty of 2200. ‘Piquant,’ remarked the Baron. ‘You are confident of making your slam, and yet it is I who make 1´!’ This was the big picture:

At favourable vulnerability, he chose the natural opening of 6´, trusting partner to give him seven with the ace of trumps.

Doubled Contract My uncle, his left-hand opponent, doubled. Had the double come from the fourth hand, it would have signalled the ability to ruff some suit; but after the second-hand double Herr Hitler redoubled with considerable confidence. Presumably Uncle Leo held the two black aces, and would receive his just deserts when the opening lead was ruffed.

ill luck, but my uncle felt there were important lessons to be learned.

´ ™ © ®

´ Void ™ J 10 8 7 5 4 © J 10 8 7 5 4 ® Q A65432 ´ Void N Void ™ 9632 W E Void © 9632 S A J 10 9 8 7 6 ® K5432 ´ K Q J 10 9 8 7 ™ AKQ © AKQ ® Void

Hitler seemed inclined to rail against his Page 27

‘Your bidding, like your play, was so reasonable at first sight, yet it turned out to be frankly impetuous. You have preempted your partner out of a solid slam in either red suit.’ It was all too true. Struggling to save face among the ruins of their joint endeavour, Stalin announced: ‘Nevertheless, we would have lost much the same amount if you had overcalled with 7® – a contract you might well have reached had my partner not pre-empted so high.’ Such superficial analysis could not go unchallenged. With an indulgent laugh, the Baron replied: ‘Far be it from me to criticise your philosophical objection to kings and queens; but I fear you would be foolish in the extreme to allow that prejudice to extend to your choice of opening lead.’ The queen of clubs would indeed have limited my uncle to twelve tricks. ‘Of course, Herr Hitler is physically unable to lead a club, so that my partner could make 7® on any lead, by ruffing all my little spades before drawing trumps – provided that he does not attempt too many ruffs in the red suit you choose to discard. But then, he can hardly call it. It would, in any case, be rather a courageous bid.’ The Italian was cut to the quick,

This article was published in BRIDGE 41. Reprinted to satisfy popular demand.

Historic Recollections con tinu ed

well knowing that this was an oblique allusion to his failure to leave in one of my uncle’s more imaginative penalty doubles in the previous rubber.

Courageous or Fatuous?

Two Handed Bridge

DOUBLE DUMMY PROBLEM

by George Hutter

T

here are a number of ways to play bridge with only two players. In each, the two players play at right angles to each other. Unless specified otherwise, the procedures relating to normal bridge apply as far as it is possible for them to do so, but it takes only one pass to end the auction.

by Richard W heen

‘Courageous? Fatuous! Why, such a stupid call might have tempted the Führer into offering his partner a second suit at the seven level, leading to a Grand Slam making their way! Indeed, your double itself gave him the opportunity to –’ ‘Benito, Benito . . . Am I the only person at this table capable of leading a club? Declarer would find it impossible to return to the long trump hand without promoting your nine of trumps. ‘And, speaking of trumps,’ he continued, ‘so many declarers touch them too early. If Herr Hitler, for example, had trusted my double, he would have visualised the lie of the cards and tackled the side suits first. That would have saved 400 . . .’ n

(Answer on page 31)

´ K 10 9

Double Dummy

™ Void © Void ® A32 ´ J4

´ Q65

™ Void

N W

E

™ Void

S

© Void ® K Q J 10

© 2 ® 98

´ A872 ™ Void © A ® 4

outh,

S

playing

in

a

spade contract, needs

to make all six remaining tricks, with North to lead. In view of the apparent trump loser, how is this possible?

Single-Suited Design Pens

Boxed Set of Four £19.95 Available from

Ryden Grange, Knaphill GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 www.mrbridge.co.uk/mrbridge-shop

Deal four hands, two of them face down. Players bid on what they can see in their own hands. After the auction, the dummy opposite each player is turned face up. Each player plays alternately from his own hand and from his dummy’s. For the players, the play is like normal bridge but there is no need to guess anything as both know the position of all 52 cards. The bidding, however, is more hit and miss than at normal bridge: your only clues to your partner’s hand are the cards that you can see yourself and your opponent’s bidding. An alternative is to have the dummies not open to both players. Instead, after the bidding, each places his own dummy in such a position that he can see it but his opponent cannot. To do this, you could use the type of racks designed for players unable to hold their cards. For declarer, the play with this variation is even more similar to normal bridge, except you know the defenders will find your weak points without giving each other any signals. For the non-declarer, the key difference is that the second hand you can see is your

Page 28

partner’s rather than the opposing dummy – it feels rather like being declarer, except you will often have an inadequate trump suit.

Draw & Discard Shuffle the cards thoroughly and place them, face down, in a single pile. Starting with the non-shuffler, each in turn draws the top card from the pile, looks at it, and either (a) keeps it, ending his turn, or (b) discards it, face down, and draws the next, which he must then keep. As soon as a player has 13 cards, he stops drawing. When both have 13, they bid (last player to get 13 cards bids first) and play in normal bridge/whist fashion. The rejected cards have no part to play in the game. A variation is that, if a player decides to keep the drawn card, he looks at the next card in the pile, which he must then discard. This way each player sees 26 cards during the drawing process. In the drawing process, as well as trying to collect high cards, it can be wise to try to build up length in one suit. The more playing strength you have, the higher you can afford to bid and the more likely you are to make your contract. In the play, you can guess that the other player will have most of the high cards you have not seen. It can be a good tactic to lead your solid or weak suits, waiting for the other player to lead into your tenaces. In this and other versions of two-handed bridge in which the play takes place with 26 cards rather than 52, it can be quite hard to bid and make n game on a single deal.

David Gold Says

Bid a Slam on a Finesse at Worst laying rubber bridge, you pick up a promising collection, eighteen points and a solid suit:

P

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

You 2♥ 4NT ?

K4 AKQJ542 A J 10 2

Partner 3♣ 5♦

You open a good old-fashioned 2♥ (strong) and partner responds 3♣ promising a good suit and some values. You decide to take control and bid 4NT (simple Blackwood), and partner shows one ace. What do you do now? You are missing an ace, so a grand slam is obviously impossible – but what about the small slam? Partner has promised a good club suit. K-Q-9-x-x-(x) or A-Q-9-x-x-(x) are likely. Opposite the former, partner must have the ace of spades, making the slam good (only down if the opponents have a club ruff). Opposite the latter, slam will be on a finesse if partner turns up with nothing else of use. So trusting my maxim, you try 6♥. Partner’s hand on this occasion:

a

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Q53 10 KQ5 AQ9864

b

653 63 763 AQ984

The above hand is not even enough for a positive – yet the slam relies only on the club finesse. The point is this: if you can work out that slam will be on a finesse at worst, you are getting good odds. In the worse scenario (hand b), you get 50/50 and you may get much better odds (hand a). Still playing rubber bridge, you pick up another fine collection:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

KQ983 AQJ4 K2 A3

You 1♠ 2♥ 4NT ?

Partner 2♣ 4♠ 5♦

You open 1♠ and partner responds 2♣. You rebid 2♥ (forcing) and partner bids 4♠, a delayed game raise. Again, you try 4NT (Blackwood) and partner shows one ace. Why should you try 6♠? Some possible hands follow:

2

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J742 10 3 A 10 KQJ98

Partner does not have the heart king, but slam is still almost a certainty.

3

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A 10 4 2 10 3 Q63 KQJ4

Partner has neither the king of hearts nor a fifth club, but the slam is still cold! (If the opponents take the diamond ace at trick one, you have three discards for the hearts. On a non-diamond lead, you can discard two diamonds and afford to lose a heart).

4

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

AJ42 653 Q 10 KQJ4

Hand 4 is disappointing, with no heart king, fifth club or much diamond help, yet 6♠ requires only the heart finesse. Occasionally, the opponents will not lead a diamond; then the slam makes, no matter who has the king of hearts.

Be Optimistic 1

The slam makes easily on a diamond lead as you can discard your losing clubs on the king-queen of diamonds. Of course, on a terrible day partner might have this instead:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A 10 4 2 K3 Q 10 9 KJ64

Nothing special, but the slam is cold.

Page 29

It pays to be optimistic in these types of situations. Sometimes partner turns up with a worse hand than you even considered, but the opponents find the wrong lead or misdefend anyway. So my advice is definitely: ‘Bid a slam that will be on a finesse at worst.’ ■

Conventions and Conventioners with Ned Paul

Saying Hy to McKenney How Hy Lavinthal’s Suit Preference Idea Became McKenney

E

ach partnership at bridge starts with 26 cards, but the playing field is uneven. As soon as the opening lead appears, declarer has the advantage of seeing dummy. At this point, declarer can (and should!) start making plans on how best to use the combined assets of the two hands. The defenders, by contrast, do not have this luxury. To be sure, you can see dummy, but rarely can you be certain what your partner holds. This is the reason why one needs defensive signals. The defenders can play their otherwise insignificant cards in such an order as to send messages to partner about the rest of their hand. There are three basic signalling manoeuvres we learn: we can tell partner whether we like the suit led or would prefer a switch (‘attitude’); we can tell partner how many of a particular suit we hold (‘length’ or ‘count’); and sometimes we can tell partner which suit we would like led next (‘suit preference’). In Britain, suit preference signals generally go by the name of McKenney. This name comes from the bridge author and columnist, William E McKenney. McKenney (1891-1950) was a noted bridge administrator and newspaper columnist and ran the American Contract Bridge League as executive secretary from its formation until 1948. Now a surprise – he did not devise McKenney signals! As the Bridge Players’ Encyclopedia puts it, ‘McKenney’s support through his newspaper column contributed greatly to the success of several bridge authors and authorities; in the case of the Suit Preference Signal, it caused the convention to be called, in European countries, the McKenney convention instead of being attributed to its inventor, Hy Lavinthal’. Hy Lavinthal (1894-1972) was a shop

manager from Trenton, New Jersey, in America. He became active in bridge in the golden era of bridge in the 1930s. Lavinthal had a talent for the game and became an innovative bridge teacher. He also wrote many articles for bridge periodicals, coming to the attention of America’s bridge guru Ely Culbertson and becoming an associate editor of Culbertson’s magazine, The Bridge World. His enduring idea, though, was the suit preference signal, which he was using as early as 1933. Here is an early example of suit preference in action:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

10 6 4 K72 K6 J 10 9 8 2 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K83 10 5 4 Q9 AQ764 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N W

E S

J975 AQJ9 87543 Void

AQ2 863 A J 10 2 K53

West

North

East

Pass Pass

2♣ 3NT

Pass End

South 1♦ 2NT

Hy Lavinthal defended this deal playing with his wife. Albert H. Morehead reported it in his column in the New York Times in 1935. The suit preference idea of using the first discard to show preference for one of the two remaining suits helped them defeat the contract. West led the jack of clubs, won in dummy with the queen. On this trick, East discarded the three of diamonds. This was a low diamond (and West

Page 30

could interpret it as such). The suit preference method is that you exclude the suit on which you are discarding and exclude also the suit of the card played. The size of the card played tells partner which of the other two suits you like. On this deal, therefore, the low three of diamonds, discarded on a club, asks for the lower of the two other suits, hearts, while the high eight of diamonds would have asked for the higher suit, spades. Declarer South, seeing that clubs would not run, led dummy’s queen of diamonds for a finesse. On winning with the king, West switched to a heart and the defenders then took four tricks in hearts to defeat the contract. Before suit preference signals, the three of diamonds would simply have discouraged diamonds, leaving partner to guess which major suit to lead. Playing standard attitude signals, East could have encouraged hearts by playing the nine of hearts but this would have been at the cost of the vital fourth heart trick; the five of spades would also be no good as (a) it is unclear that it is a low card and (b) South might have held ♠A-Q-x-x. Here is another deal on which suit preference could have saved the day:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ K6 ♥ Q 10 8 6 5 ♦ 10 9 4 ♣ Q J 10 A 10 9 7 3 2 ♠ J854 N Void ♥ 2 W E 8652 ♦ K7 S 987 ♣ A65432 ♠ Q ♥ AKJ9743 ♦ AQJ3 ♣ K

Conventions continued

West North East South 1♥ 1♠ 2♥ 2♠ 6♥ End

Eschewing science, South plunged into a slam. West led the ace of spades and was then in a quandary. West thought for a while and finally led a diamond, allowing South to make the contract by discarding the king of clubs on the king of spades. Had West been able to interpret East’s four of spades as a suit preference signal, the switch to the lower of the minor suits would have been easy and the defenders would have prevailed. The suit preference idea can apply to many situations. The classic one we all learn first is returning a suit for partner to ruff, but you can use it in a variety of lead situations, in discarding and sometimes even while following suit. Lavinthal’s ideas finally appeared in book form in 1963 in the self-publication Defense Tricks. By this time, the method was already well known. The reprint specialists, Dover Publications, published the book again in the 1990s. Lavinthal was at pains to point out that suit preference signalling was supplemental to, and did not displace, standard attitude and count signalling. There is a tendency among players who first learn the system to overuse it so it comes with the usual bridge health warnings. As with any system, you should not follow it blindly. There is no substitute, I am afraid, for both partners continuing to work together to give each other the information required in the context of each situation on each deal. William McKenney, who publicized Lavinthal’s idea, also led an interesting life. His early career was in the

tyre industry. He joined the American Auction Bridge League in the 1920s, as a statistician, and became executive secretary in 1928. He continued as secretary of its successor organisations, the American Bridge League and the American Contract Bridge League, until 1948. He was a prolific bridge journalist, and he founded a bridge supply firm, inventing the oblong duplicate bridge board. When the firm, Bridge Supplies, Inc., became profitable, he gave it to the ACBL. He founded America’s National Laws Commission in 1932, which worked with other bodies such as England’s Portland Club to unify the worldwide Laws of Bridge, and introduced ACBL charity activities, endowing the Children’s Cancer Ward in Memorial Hospital, New York City. He contributed generously from his private income to this and other causes and devoted nearly all his time to the interests of the ACBL. To some extent, this was a fault as, to a degree, he acquired a spirit of proprietary interest in the ACBL. In 1948, according to official sources, ‘he was deposed in favour of democratic control’, and died an early death in 1950, presumably – whatever the exact medical cause – of a broken heart. By all accounts, McKenney was no great technical player, although he became a Life Master. He gave a trophy for the American player who won most master points each year, and this went by the name of the McKenney Trophy from 1937 to 1981. In 1982, the competition expanded to reward the leading 500 players and its name changed to the Top 500. It is now the Barry Crane Top 500, after Barry Crane, America’s most successful master point win■ ner of his day.

DOUBLE DUMMY SOLUTION

Page 31

by Richard Wheen (Problem on page 28)

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K 10 9 Void Void A32 J4 ♠ N Void ♥ W E S Void ♦ K Q J 10 ♣ ♠ A872 ♥ Void ♦ A ♣ 4

Q65 Void 2 98

S

o there we were, Dr Livingstone and I, lost in the African jungle, suffering from dehydration, flu and frostbite and with tigers and bears roaring close to our camp all night. After phoning the local bridge club, we had acquired the services of two bridge-playing porters. On that fateful evening, they were East/West and Livingstone, South, had reached the above position in a spade contract, needing to make the rest of the tricks. As dummy, I became duty guard and I walked round behind the great man, rifle in hand, to watch him play the cards. I saw immediately that he had a trump loser unless one defender held queen-jack doubleton, so I was fully expecting him to plonk down the ace-king hoping for the best. No – he led the ace of clubs from dummy, then a low club, ruffed low in hand. What

on earth was he up to? He now led his ace of diamonds, on which West discarded a club. Livingstone ruffed this low in dummy (surely he knew better than to trump his own winners?) and led dummy’s last club. East, as I now saw (having looked at his hand) was in a dilemma. Since he had only trumps left he had to ruff. If he ruffed low, declarer would overruff and win the last two tricks with the ace and king. If instead East ruffed with the queen, declarer would overruff with the ace and finesse against West’s jack to make the remaining tricks. As Dr Livingstone explained to me later, playing to drop the queen-jack bare would have been simpler, but so much less elegant, even though his play would have failed against most distributions other than the actual one. We congratulated him on this fine play, which we christened the voodoo coup (sadly, I am told, renamed the devil’s coup by later generations), because it seems to involve depriving the defenders of a certain trump trick as if by black magic. Who should then appear at the entrance to the camp but Mr Stanley. Mistaking him for a tiger in the twilight, I fired at him – fortunately, I missed or history would have been very different and you would not be reading this. ■

DUPLICAT EBRIDGE RULESSIMPLIFIED (otherwiseknownastheYellowBook)

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by John Rumbelow and revised by David Stevenson

NewEdition.Includes2008LawRevisions.

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Bridge H Cruises and

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APRIL 2009

MAY cont

JULY cont

AUGUST cont

10 – 12 Denham Grove

13 – 26 Baltic Capitals

1–

3 Marsham Court Rubber/Chicago

24 – 31 Norwegian Fjords 1

3–

5 Staverton Park

3–

5 The Olde Barn

31 –14/6 St Petersburg and the Northern Capitals

26 – 3/9 Norwegian Fjords 2

3–

5 Wychwood Park

JUNE 2009

SEPTEMBER 2009

12 – 26 Red Sea & the Eastern Mediterranean

1–

Marsham Court, Bournemouth

24 – 26 The Beach Hotel Rubber/Chicago

17 – 19 Marsham Court

MV Discovery

5–

7 The Beach Hotel

24 – 26 Denham Grove

AUGUST 2009

12 – 14 The Beach Hotel

2 – 13 British Isles Discovery

14 – 24 Land of the Midnight Sun

7–

9 Denham Grove Just Duplicate

19 – 21 Blunsdon House

Staverton Park, Daventry

19 –1/10 Adriatic & Aegean Treasures

19 – 21 Denham Grove

23 – 25 Marsham Court Just Duplicate

24 – 6/7 Faroes, Fire & Ice

25 – 27 Staverton Park

JULY 2009

30 –2/10 Marsham Court Rubber/Chicago

2– Denham Grove, Uxbridge

11 – 13 The Beach Hotel Rubber/Chicago

22 – 24 Marsham Court

26 –10/5 Black Sea, Turkey & Greek Isles

15 – 17 Denham Grove

10 – 19 Italian Odyssey

19 – 2/8 North Cape, Arctic & Russia

26 – 28 Marsham Court Just Duplicate

10 – 24 European Odyssey

3 – 10 Riviera Cruise

3 Marsham Court

17 – 19 Wychwood Park

MAY 2009

21 – 23 Denham Grove

OCTOBER 2009

4 Marsham Court Just Duplicate

6 – 19 Baltic Treasures

Wychwood Park, Crewe

1 – 12 Black Sea Discovery

Holidays, d Weekends

ensive list. Cruises are in blue, overseas holidays in green and UK breaks in black.

OCTOBER cont 2–

4 The Beach Hotel

OCTOBER cont

NOVEMBER cont

DECEMBER cont

30–1/11

28–21/12 Passage to India

27 – 29 Denham Grove TWIXMAS

9 – 11 The Olde Barn 12 – 26 Black Sea & Aegean Adventure

Staverton Park Just Duplicate

30 –1/11 The Olde Barn

27 – 29 The Olde Barn TWIXMAS

NOVEMBER 2009

29 – 31 The Olde Barn TWIXMAS

1 – 15 Tunisia

29 – 1/1 Denham Grove NEW YEAR

2 – 14 North African Treasures 6–

29 – 1/1 The Beach Hotel NEW YEAR

8 Blunsdon House St Petersburg

DECEMBER 2009 Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia

16 – 18 Staverton Park

6 Denham Grove

4–

6 The Beach Hotel

1–

3 The Beach Hotel

19 – 5/1 India and the East

16 – 18 The Beach Hotel 16 – 18 The Olde Barn

4–

JANUARY 2010

Norwegian Fjord

13 – 15 Denham Grove 13 – 15 Staverton Park

24 – 27 Denham Grove CHRISTMAS 24 – 27 The Olde Barn CHRISTMAS The Olde Barn, Marston

13 – 15 The Olde Barn

Blunsdon House, Swindon

16 – 18 Wychwood Park

15 – 29 Tunisia

1–

20 – 22 Wychwood Park

3 – 22 Bangkok, Bali and beyond

27 – 29 Denham Grove

17 – 31 Asian Capitals and Vietnam

27 – 29 Staverton Park

23 – 25 Wychwood Park

27 – 29 The Olde Barn

30 –1/11 Marsham Court

27 – 29 Wychwood Park

3 The Olde Barn

The Beach Hotel, Worthing

29 –12/2 Manilla, Borneo and Brunei

READERS’ LETTERS TONIC Lying in my hospital bed in York hospital I was flipping slowly through the latest issue of BRIDGE, when suddenly I saw her. The most beautiful baby I have seen for a very long time. Of course, it had to be Leonora’s. Many, many congratulations! She is absolutely adorable and cheered up my dull day. Thank you for the picture. Please may we have some ‘follow ups’. Audrey Walsh, York.

Your wish is my command. Felicity Ann at three months.

RESTORE ME Please put me back on your mailing list for BRIDGE magazine. I’ve had to borrow the last two issues! They make excellent bedtime reading! Mrs S. M. Bowcock, Leek.

TIME TO CHANGE DIRECTION? Having been heavily involved in organising duplicate bridge in Essex and Suffolk for over 35 years, I am writing this now that I am no longer in any county committee office. The following views are therefore

entirely my own. When I joined the EBU in 1970, there were roughly 25,000 members being serviced by a small and dedicated team in small offices in Thame. In 2009 there are less than 24,000 members serviced from extensive offices in Aylesbury. I readily accept that there are some highly dedicated staff in the current central EBU. The steady decline in membership of the EBU demands a complete re-think about the future of duplicate bridge administration in England. It is essential that such a re-think takes fully into account the feelings of all who play duplicate bridge. In my own county, Suffolk, there are 19 affiliated clubs with a total membership of about 1,400 with some double counting for those who belong to more than one club. Of these, less than 25% are currently members of the EBU. There are, in addition, social and friendly clubs, including some golf and tennis clubs, where several hundred people play duplicate bridge at least once per week. It is perceived at club level that the main purpose of the current EBU board is to attempt to continue, at any cost, to be the central administrative body for duplicate bridge in England. With reducing income but without any serious indication of making a comparable reduction in

overheads, clearly a radical change is necessary. The notion of P2P therefore came into being. This demands that each member of a duplicate bridge club affiliated to the EBU will be expected to pay additional table money of 30p or more for each session played or the bridge club finds an equivalent method of raising such finance. The proceeds will be collected by the EBU for basic finance of the central administration at Aylesbury and for various promotions of national teams. In 2008 a number of clubs indicated that they would be prepared to support this initiative. However, the EBU has dithered and P2P will not be operating until April 2010. This delay, in itself, has caused interest at the essential grass-roots to dwindle. In the early days of P2P proposals, there were a number, like me, who consider that any initiative was better than seeing the current EBU structure continue to crumble. There were and are some who are sceptical about the ability of the EBU to manage successfully any new major concept and to gain support from the majority of clubs and members. I have heard the questions raised ‘where are the real successful business brains in the EBU?’ and ‘In a normal business environment would the current EBU management be likely to survive?’ The key questions appear to be: (a) can P2P succeed? and if not (b) is there an alternative path? I now have serious misgivings about whether or not P2P will succeed. I have spoken to many club players, many of who do not belong to the EBU nor ever wish to be. They would prefer to be

Page 34

left alone to enjoy their weekly duplicate club evening. I can foresee this attitude escalating if P2P goes ahead. However, of importance, there is an emerging view that clubs would be far more responsive in supporting their counties especially those who have hard-working officers who are prepared to support clubs and members. I have gained a clear impression that those clubs which are threatening to abandon the EBU would prefer to consider their future as being part of a countybased structure. This may not be beneficial to a central EBU administration but it is possible that this is a possible and viable alternative path to P2P. Most county committees are structured to cover membership, county events, newsletters and general support. Officers of such county committees normally give their services free of charge. Such committees need financial support in order to promote county events. I believe the majority of clubs would be willing to make a sensible financial contribution for this cause. I see the future of duplicate bridge in England being founded on a county-basis. It is not clear how any national body could emerge from such roots but I believe any future English central body must be kept small and, more importantly, not allowed to grow out of all proportion. Claude Stokes, Ex-Chairman, Suffolk CBA.

BOXED BRIDGE Suggest Bernard runs a bridge session – or just seminars – on T.V. V Bomer.

See centrefold spread in this issue.

READERS’ LETTERS continued

QPLUS QUIZ I entered the ‘New Quiz’ in Issue 91 page 8 with keen anticipation. I awaited the postman-disappointment, so I awaited Issue 92 for the results’, more disappointment, page 6 stated results would be published in the next issue. Perhaps I still had a chance of winning. Issue 93 arrived today, but nowhere I have looked seems to have the result or the names of the winners. Have I somehow missed something? I obviously missed winning, as I have not had a package from the postman. Do I still have a chance? David Boobier, Plymouth.

The winners were notified before the publication of BRIDGE 92 so that QPLUS could be deleted from their Christmas present list. Here is the quiz again. Playing Acol (12-14 notrump) not vulnerable, what would QPlus 9.1 open with on the following hand?

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J AK8 AQ75 AQJ93

and for the record, the five winners were: Mr A Hobday, Solihull; Mrs Nattrass, Pinner; Mrs A Thomas, Taunton; Mr P Hayward, Manchester and Mrs M Miners, Glasgow. Answer: 1♣.

card, if he/she rejects the first card, then the second card is kept. Having worked through the pack each player will have thirteen cards and bids in the normal way, but as high as possible. Cards are lead and played in the normal way, but tricks will consist of only two cards. You will find that one rubber is more than enough before retiring to enjoy your honeymoon in other ways.

AT THE BEACH HOTEL Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 3QJ

Duplicate Events 2009/2010 with Bernard Magee 5-7 Jun (£235) 12-14 Jun (£235) 2-4 Oct (£235)

Paul Fox, Folkestone, Kent.

MORE HARD WORK In response to the letter about 'honeymoon bridge', I would hesitate to give that name to the version of twohanded bridge we played as kids as it was vicious even in the context of sibling rivalry. You dealt four hands, the hand opposite dealer was an exposed dummy and the hand opposite the other player was hidden. Dealer elected to bid with either the exposed or closed dummy and the opponent had to bid with the same dummy. If you chose the open dummy, whilst you were bidding on full knowledge of both the declaring hands, you ran the risk of your opponent having an even better fit. If on the other hand the exposed dummy was strong and you were weak, you could bid with the closed dummy knowing that if you were outbid you would have a reasonable defence. It was very good training for judging hands and weighing up the odds, but as I say, not to be recommended for a Honeymoon. David Parkinson, Ferndown, Dorset.

16-18 Oct 4-6 Dec 29 Dec-1 Jan 1-3 Jan

(£235) (£235) (£395) (£235)

Splinters & Cue Bids Overcalls Stayman & Transfers with Improver section Hand Evaluation Signals & Discards NEW YEAR TBA

♦ Full-board Friday to Sunday

♦ All rooms with en-suite facilities

♦ No single supplement

♦ Venue non-smoking

♦ Tuition with Supervised Play, bidding quiz and two seminars

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ BOOKING FORM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please book me for ..... places, Single ..... Double ..... Twin ..... Sea View* ..... at the Beach Hotel weekend(s) of ...................................... Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................ Postcode ............................................................................ ( ...................................................................................... Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed) .......................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker. *£30 supplement per room.

HARD WORK 'Honeymoon Bridge' is played by each player taking a card from a shuffled pack and deciding whether or not to keep it. If he/she keeps it he must discard his second

WORKING ON IT

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

I wonder how many of your readers, like me, miss your mail-order service.

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

Mrs B Ford, Nr Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Page 35

READERS’ LETTERS continued

AT STAVERTON PARK

DIFFERENT MEAT

Staverton, Daventry, Northants, NN11 6JT 3-5 Apr

Claiming points for honours should be outlawed – it’s quite ridiculous.

Further into the Auction - Ned Paul

£199

25-27 Sep

Declarer Play - Ray Hutchinson

£199

Mrs S Brent, Chew Magna, Bristol.

16-18 Oct

Take-out Doubles* - Alex Davoud

£199

Scoring honours is an important part of rubber bridge.

30 Oct-1 Nov PICK AND MIX WEEKEND

from £199

13-15 Nov Game Tries - Crombie McNeil

£199

27-29 Nov Overcalls - Ned Paul

£199

JUST DUPLICATE *Improvers’ Weekends are aimed at the novice player and/or those picking up the game after a long break.

♦ Full-board Friday to Sunday ♦ No single supplement ♦ Use of swimming pool and fitness suite

♦ All rooms with en-suite facilities ♦ Venue non-smoking ♦ Bidding quiz and two seminars

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ BOOKING FORM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please book me for .... places, Single .... Double .... Twin .... for the 2009 Staverton Park weekend(s) of ....................... ............................................................................................ Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................ Postcode ..................................( .................................... Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed) ........................................................................................... Please give the name(s) of all those covered by this booking ........................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

having perused the list of available subjects, it seems to me that there are two topics which are not covered but which would, I am sure, be hugely popular. These are ‘Bridge and the Internet’ and ‘Bridge Software’. The latter would also, no doubt, have the added attraction to Mr Bridge of helping to generate additional income. Perhaps you should do a little market research on the likely popularity of these topics.

I have checked on the HMRC website, and although not specific in saying that reductions in VAT have to be passed on to customers-the government recommends that they should be. I have worked in accounts all my life and my understanding of the position of companies charging VAT is that they collect VAT on behalf of the government (at the correct rate) which is passed back to the government (having deducted their own VAT costs first). So in effect, by not reducing the VAT on an item (when the business has paid a reduced VAT rate on it) the business is in effect increasing their profit on an item-this is not what the government intended by cutting the VAT rate. Although the weekend we booked in January was at a special rate (which you were obviously happy to supply) by not reducing the VAT charged, you would be making more money on the weekend than the amount you were originally happy to makehow is this justified?

My daughter saw an Autobridge board at a car boot sale and bought it for me. It came with 22 advanced hands and four sample deals. The hands are edited and signed by Ely Culberton and played by several leading players. The Autobridge boards are copyright 1938. Please can you tell me anything about these boards. Are they a rarity or fairly common? Do collectors buy them? Is there an internet site for bridge memorabilia?

Mrs Christine Merrett, Wimborne, Dorset.

Mr B Easter, Sawbridgeworth, Herts.

The event is subsidised, so the reduction reduces the subsidy.

If anyone can help please call ( 01279 724294.

Mr John Turner, Colliers Wood, London.

I will wait for the competition to try out these ideas.

BIG VOICE To whomsoever initiated and organized this fundraiser: thank you so much for the help you are giving to Little Voice. I have been to a few of the fundraising dinners here in Toronto, and know Jenna personally – your approach gets people involved. Lance D. Morrison, Toronto.

IS IT JUNK?

P2P GIVING UP SUGGESTIONS Having attended, and enjoyed, two or three of your weekend bridge events, and

Page 36

How does anyone resign from the EBU. Name and address supplied.

By phone.

READERS’ LETTERS continued

SERVICE I have only received three copies so far but do you produce a ‘yearly index’ to the past year’s magazines main articles on conventions etc – it makes ‘finding’ useful articles a lot easier. Mrs K Wells, Sidmouth, Devon.

Only viable when funded by a subscription, though article titles and authors for issues 87 onwards can be searched in my web library. www.mrbridge.co.uk/library

FREE Since David Stevenson referenced my PairsScorer Software in a recent issue of BRIDGE, I have had a number of your readers asking for further details. The Scorers are entirely free and may be downloaded from the website at: http://homepages.nildram.co .uk/~jasmith Thanks for doing an excellent magazine. Mr J Smith, Prestwich, Manchester.

RUBBER BRIDGE I have always considered the EBU to be the ultimate authority for all bridge played in England. But now, under its new constitution and financial arrangements, it is returning to a pre – 1938 position by limiting itself to duplicate bridge, and abandoning rubber and chicago. See the document ‘Bidding for the future 2008 – 2013’ just issued by the EBU. In these circumstances, it is even more important that your magazine continues to deal with issues (bidding and the laws especially) of rubber bridge which is predominately the game played at home, and in some

clubs – and needs just four people. Also, particularly when played for reasonable stakes, it is still a better, more competitive game than the duplicate version, and lots more fun. Mr Victor Parry, Twickenham.

Duplicate Weekends 2009 with Bernard Magee (£235 per person)

WAY AHEAD Last Thursday evening I played in a local bridge competition . The winning partnership, incidentally the only pair with a positive score, were 4,000 ahead of the second pair. I do not recall in a one evening competition ever hearing of such a margin and I wondered if it might be some sort of record and if so, I would be pleased to let those involved know. Mr Simon Cussons, Chester.

19-21 June Suit Establishment 6-8 November Game Tries ♦ Full-board Friday to Sunday

♦ All rooms with en-suite facilities

♦ No single supplement

♦ Nine hole golf course

♦ Tuition with Supervised Play, bidding quiz and two seminars

NOT SO GOOD? Having seen you promoting Global Travel insurance in many issues of BRIDGE, I feel I must write to tell you of our experience. My 78 year old husband was denied cover after going through the medical assessment where he declared his pre-existing illnesses. These are – he had a very mild heart attack 25 years ago (with no problems since); and had a very small, nonaggresive, prostate cancer diagnosed 4/5 years ago. He is having no treatment, but is on a 'watch and wait' programme with regular blood tests. So, despite him being well and active, from our experience, it does not seem that Global Travel suits 'those who are ill but whose symptoms are under control' at all. Angela Bradford, Tavistock.

BOOKING FORM Please book me for ..... places at Blunsdon House Hotel, The Ridge, Blunsdon, Swindon, SN26 7AS. weekend(s) ......................................................................... Single ..... Double ..... Twin ..... Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................ Postcode ............................................................................ ( ...................................................................................... Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed) .......................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302

I guess they have decided that the symptoms are not under control – which is their right.

e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

Page 37

READERS’ LETTERS continued

RUBBER / CHICAGO 2009 WEST LONDON RUBBER

Hosted by Diana Holland

Postcode ............................................................................

If you like social rubber bridge and have time to spare on a Tuesday evening then the Riverside bridge club is for you! We would like to welcome any west London bridge players of all levels to our new venue in Chiswick, West London. Whilst there are many duplicate clubs on offer in London there is a dearth of social rubber bridge clubs where players can improve from helpful tutorials and supervised play. For complete newcomers, a “Start from Basics” course will be starting shortly. Chicago evenings are run on the first Tuesday of the month. So if you live in West London and want to enjoy one of the most fashionable games in a relaxed environment with good company and subsidised drinks, then come along to: The Riverside Bridge Club, 13 Chiswick High Road, London W4 2ND. www.riversidebridgeclub.co.uk All levels are welcome and if you would like more information about what we offer then please call me.

( ......................................................................................

Malcolm Mearns ( 07957 577810.

1-3 April (Wed-Fri)

Marsham Court

£199

24-26 April

The Beach Hotel

£199

The Beach Hotel

£199

11-13 Sep

(Fri-Sun)

(Fri-Sun)

30 Sep-2 Oct (Wed-Fri) Marsham Court

£199

Full-board – No Single Supplement Please note there are no seminars or set hands on these weekends

Marsham Court

The Beach Hotel

East Cliff, Bournemouth, BH1 3AB

Worthing, BN11 3QJ

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ BOOKING FORM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please book me for .... places, Single .... Double .... Twin .... for the Rubber/Chicago weekend(s) of ............................................................................................ Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................

Special requirements (these cannot be guaranteed) ........................................................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker.

NO SALE Why is there no longer a section in BRIDGE for articles relating to bridge for sale, ie cards, tables, etc? Mrs G. Sinclair, Horsham, West Sussex.

The full mail order service could not be provided without a substantial subsidy.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

DAYTIME BRIDGE I have just started a new weekly duplicate game in Balham, South London. We play every Tuesday at

Page 38

Harrison’s, a local restaurant. It’s a daytime game starting at 11am and including lunch. Starting this new game came about in strange circumstances. Harrison’s is a large restaurant situated in an area without many offices so although they have a lunchtime trade it does not fill the restaurant. The owner Sam Harrison’s mother plays bridge, so Sam thought it might be a good idea to have bridge players come and help fill the place. I run the nearest club, Putney Bridge Club, so he found my website and got in touch. We started in January with four tables and I am hoping to build it up from there. The playing area is very pleasant and so are Sam’s bridge lunches. We are very close to Balham station so it’s easily accessible from most parts of London. There are buses as well so most of our players use public transport. Readers of BRIDGE would be very welcome. We have a website www.bridgeatharrisons.co.uk It is not the first time I have started a bridge group in a restaurant. I run a number of weekly supervised play groups that use cafes, bars or pubs. If everyone in the group buys coffee and cake or a beer or two - the venue is usually very happy to host a couple of tables of bridge players without charging any formal rent. Using this model any BRIDGE reader could start a social bridge practice group with very little outlay. Or a teacher could start such a group, charge a modest fee for the teaching, and still make a bit of money. Only when the group grows will you need to look for a formal venue like a church hall where you will have to pay rent. If anyone needs advice, do get in touch. Ned Paul. ( 020 8892 9429 [email protected]

READERS’ LETTERS continued

THUMBS UP FOR EBU Mrs Barnett (letters February 2009 issue) wonders why her club pays a subscription to the EBU. I believe that most duplicate players are competitive and treat bridge as more than a parlour game. Serious play is still fun if approached with a generous spirit. In any sport, the primary role of the national body is to oversee the rules of the game (which are constantly fine-tuned) and to be a final authority in matters of discipline. These may not be obvious benefits on the regular club evening, but without them bridge would be diminished and potentially chaotic. It is accepted in other games that players make a small contribution to the national body. The lads in weekend football leagues contribute part of their match fee to the Football Association; bowls players fund Bowls England through their club and county subscriptions; chess players indirectly pay a game fee to the English Chess Federation whenever they play in congresses, county matches and local club competitions. Even if the EBU did nothing more than the above it would be worth supporting, but of course it has other roles which are well publicised. Here I would highlight the attempt to

develop interest in bridge through an education programme, the regular publication of an excellent magazine (at no extra charge to members) and the awarding of masterpoints, which may soon be supplemented by a National Grading Scheme. Incidentally chess players regard grading as one of the most useful functions of the English Chess Federation. As for P2P it is difficult to understand what the fuss is about. On an individual basis we are talking about tiny sums of money. Before P2P I am paying the EBU £30 p.a., comprising £22 subscription (inc. £5 county element) plus £8 (element of my club subscription for masterpoints). After P2P remember that these charges will be scrapped. Instead I will probably be paying approx. 35p (29p EBU/6p County) per play. I can thus play 85 times at an EBU-affiliated club before exceeding my current expenditure. Compare that with what I'm spending in petrol to get to and from the venue, or even with what I spend on a cup of tea, and you must agree that bridge is excellent value. Non-EBU duplicate club members do benefit from the structure provided by the EBU, and in future they should not resent paying such a small amount for it. Anyway, the more that join, the cheaper it will be. It works in other countries. Paul Habershon, Bedford. ■

DENHAM GROVE Tilehouse Lane, Denham, Uxbridge, Bucks UB9 5DU

Duplicate Weekends 2009 15-17 May £199

21-23 Aug £199

Leads & Defence – Alex Davoud

Doubles – Alex Davoud

19-21 June £199

13-15 Nov £199

Signals & Discards – Ned Paul

Hand Evaluation – Ned Paul

10-12 July £199

27-29 Nov £199

Overcalls – Alex Davoud

Stayman & Transfers Alex Davoud

24-26 July £199 Declarer Play – Alex Davoud

4-6 Dec £199

7-9 Aug £150

Endplay & Avoidance Alex Davoud

*Just Duplicate – Alan Lamb

Eight executive rooms: £50 supplement per event. Half the bedrooms are on the ground floor. Please advise if you require a ground-floor room.

Write to Mr Bridge at: Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH or e-mail [email protected]

*Please note, there are no seminars or set hands on these weekends.

♦ Full-board Friday to Sunday ♦ No single supplement ♦ Use of swimming pool and fitness suite

♦ All rooms with en-suite facilities ♦ Venue non-smoking ♦ Room upgrades available

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ BOOKING FORM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Please book me for ..... places, Single ..... Double ..... Twin ..... Executive* ..... at the Beach Hotel weekend(s) of ...................................... Mr/Mrs/Miss ..................................................................... Address............................................................................... ............................................................................................ Postcode ............................................................................ ( ...................................................................................... Special requirements .......................................................... Please send a non-returnable deposit of £50 per person per place by cheque, payable to Mr Bridge. An invoice for the balance will be sent with your booking confirmation. On receipt of your final payment, 28 days before the event, a programme and full details will be sent together with a map. Cancellations are not refundable. Should you require insurance, you should contact your own insurance broker. *£50 supplement per room.

, Ryden Grange, Knaphill, Surrey GU21 2TH

( 01483 489961 Fax 01483 797302

E-mail correspondents are asked to include their name, full postal address and telephone number, and to send no attachments.

e-mail: [email protected] website: www.holidaybridge.com

Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Page 39

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If you are traveling to North or Central America or the Caribbean you must first contact the Medical Screening Line in order to establish whether we can provide cover for your trip. If you are accepted then the following levels of excess will apply and you will receive written confirmation that you are covered for the trip. The number to call is:

0870 9063142 Unless you are traveling to North or Central America or the Caribbean, there is no need to advise us of your pre existing medical conditions. Provision for the acceptance of pre existing medical conditions has been made by the application of increased excesses in the event of claims arising. For claims arising from the any of your pre-existing medical conditions, other than those that are specifically excluded, the excess is further increased as follows: Under the Cancellation & Curtailment section – double the normal excess. Under the Medical & Other Expenses section – For persons aged 60 years or less the excess is increased to £500 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean when increased to £1,000. For persons aged 61 to 70 years the excess is increased to £1,000 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean when increased to £2,000. For persons aged 71 to 90 years the excess is increased to £1,500 unless travelling within North or Central America or the Caribbean when increased to £3,000.

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Area 1 Area 2 Area 3 Area 4 £11.70 £17.90 £37.60 £54.20 £14.10 £22.60 £47.30 £68.10 £16.40 £30.40 £64.10 £91.80 £18.80 £33.30 £71.30 £102.70 £21.10 £38.30 £80.20 £115.60 £23.40 £43.60 £91.30 £131.50 £ 4.20 £ 8.60 £21.50 £30.90 (maximum period of 120 days)

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Recommended by

ANSWERS TO THE DECLARER PLAY QUIZ ON PAGE 19 by DAVID HUGGETT 1.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 10 5 J95 K52 K 10 8 6 2 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

You are declarer in 4♥ and West leads the ♦2. How do you plan the play?

KQ74 A6 10 9 6 3 A75 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N W

E S

J9862 K 10 8 7 2 8 Q4

A3 Q43 AQJ74 J93

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ♣6. How do you plan the play? A quick tally of the tricks available shows three spades, one heart, one diamond and a club. You thus need only three more diamond tricks to fulfil your contract. Obviously, you can achieve this regardless of whether the diamond finesse works. What is the problem? If the danger suit – clubs – breaks 5-2 then the defenders might be able to take four club tricks together with the diamond king. Clearly, there is no problem if clubs break 4-3. To cater for the 5-2 break, you should rise with the ace at trick one, hoping to block the suit if East started with a doubleton king or queen. While it is true that ducking would work better if West started with both the king and queen of clubs, he is twice as likely to hold either K-10-x-x-x or Q-10-x-x-x as K-Q-x-x-x. This makes the blocking play of rising with the ace a clear favourite.

2.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J9854 73 2 K 10 7 3 2 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K73 AQ82 A76 864 N W

E S

Q2 KJ965 QJ5 AQJ

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A 10 6 10 4 K 10 9 8 4 3 95

It looks all too easy to duck the opening lead in dummy in an effort to win the first trick in hand. Now consider what might happen if West has led a singleton. On a bad day, East would win with the king, return a diamond for his partner to ruff, regain the lead with the ace of spades and give his partner another ruff for a one-trick set. The defenders would have taken the first four tricks and you would be down even with the club finesse right! Stop to count the number of tricks available and you will find that you have one spade for sure, five hearts, two diamonds and two clubs giving you ten tricks and your contract. Ducking the first lead was unnecessary and, in any case, it achieves precisely nothing. Even if West had led away from the king, you would expect to lose a diamond later. Ducking the first trick is a kneejerk reaction and could be fatal.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

3.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

AJ954 92 J975 73

762 K76 82 A9864 N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

4.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

83 KJ743 A2 J982

AJ6 A2 J 10 9 6 5 K73 N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Q 10 9 4 Q8 874 Q 10 6 4

K752 10 9 6 5 KQ3 A5

You are declarer in 3NT and West leads the ♥4. How do you plan the play? ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

10 8 J 10 5 4 3 Q 10 4 K52

KQ3 AQ8 AK63 Q J 10

You are declarer in 3NT. West leads the ♠5 and East follows with the ♠10. How do you plan the play? You deduce from the lead and the Rule of Eleven that West started with four or five spades and that East has two spades higher than the five. A count of winners tells you that you can afford to lose a club because with one spade, three hearts and two diamonds you need only three clubs for your contract. The club finesse might work, of course, in which case you will make a load of tricks, but you have to be a bit careful in case it loses. Suppose you win the first spade, lose the club finesse to East and get a spade back. Then, if West had started with five spades, you would

Page 42

go down. The answer is that you have to duck the ten of spades. This way, either East does not have a spade to lead when in with the club or the spade suit breaks 4-3, which is not a problem. Since no switch is dangerous, it would be clear to duck if you had the ace of spades; somehow, holding the king and queen, it seems less obvious.

If you solved problem 1, you will have probably solved this one too. You can be sure of making four diamond tricks once the ace has gone. Those four tricks, together with two spades, one heart and two clubs, will give you enough to make your contract. The danger, of course, is that hearts might break 5-2 and you lose not only the ace of diamonds but four hearts as well. Do you want to hold up the ace of hearts in case West holds five hearts and East the ace of diamonds? Think about West’s likely five-card heart suit. He cannot have K-Q-J-x-x or he would have started with the king, a normal ‘top of sequence’ lead, which means that any doubleton for East must include an honour (possibly two honours.) In any case, by playing the ace from dummy at trick one you can guarantee to block the suit if the lead is from a five-card suit – it will not matter who holds the ace of diamonds. If, instead, the hearts break 4-3, the only tricks you can lose are three hearts and a diamond. All the hands in this issue relate to making the right move at trick one, the time where so ■ many people go wrong.

Bernard Magee Says

Ruff as High as You Can Afford e careful when ruffing as declarer – you would prefer not to suffer an overruff, so ruff as high as you can afford. If you have five or six high trumps and plan only one ruff, you ruff high because you will still have enough high trumps to draw trumps.

B

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

KQ97 J 10 J 10 6 4 3 K3 ♠ J 10 6 ♠ 8542 N ♥ 985 ♥ 3 W E S ♦ A ♦ KQ9875 ♣ 10 9 8 6 5 4 ♣ AQ ♠ A3 ♥ AKQ7642 ♦ 2 ♣ J72

Contract: 4♥. Lead: ♦A.

West leads the ace of diamonds and switches to the ten of clubs. You decide to play the king from dummy. East takes the ace, cashes the queen and leads the king of diamonds. Of course, with the warning title and preliminary paragraph, you should not go wrong, but I am sure that some would. They would ruff the diamond lazily with a small trump and complain of the awful distribution when West overruffed. The distribution is strange, but that is no excuse to go down. You have five top trumps and there are only four trumps out, so you have at least one spare. You ruff the fourth trick with the ace (flamboyant!) and lead a trump to the jack. When all follow, you can overtake the ten with your king before drawing the third and final missing trump with the queen. You make an easy ten tricks instead of a lazy nine tricks if you get overruffed.

Here is another example:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

32 Q J 10 7 6 K6 A983 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A94 32 10 9 8 7 5 Q64 N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

875 98 QJ32 K J 10 7

K Q J 10 6 AK54 A4 52

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

75 Q6 A852 J9862

Q83 K84 J764 AKQ N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J 10 6 AJ9753 93 10 7

AK942 10 2 K Q 10 543

Contract: 4♠. Lead: ♥Q.

Contract: 4♠. Lead: ♥Q.

You have three losers in the minors, so you need to avoid losing any major-suit tricks. This means you need to ruff two hearts in dummy: eight top tricks and two ruffs comes to ten. You have four top trumps in hand that are surely enough to draw trumps with, so you should make sure that you ruff your two heart losers with top trumps (the nine and ace) to avoid any overruffs. You win the first trick with the ace of hearts and continue with the king and then a third heart. You ruff this with the nine of spades and cross back to the ace of diamonds. Then you ruff your last heart with the ace of spades, finally drawing trumps to claim your ten tricks. If you make the lazy mistake of ruffing the third heart with the four, East will overruff and your contract will be defeated. So, whether the opponents force you to ruff or you make your own plan to ruff, you must take care when ruffing. Bear in mind the advice: ‘ruff as high as you can afford’. You need to think carefully about the card you use to ruff – it is not always right to ruff with your highest card.

Page 43

West leads the queen of hearts. You cover with dummy’s king, but East wins with his ace, cashes the jack and continues with the nine. Things are not looking good: you have lost two hearts and have to lose the ace of diamonds too. West must be out of hearts, but if you ruff high you will surely also have a trump loser, so what should you do? You ruff as high as you can afford. Since ruffing with the ace or king gives away a trump trick unless someone has J-10 bare, you cannot afford to ruff that high. Instead, you should ruff with the nine of spades. On a lucky day, East holds the jack and ten of spades. In this case, your nine is high enough to win the trick and allows you to draw trumps and claim your contract. You lose just two hearts and the ace of diamonds.

Conclusion When taking ruffs as declarer, be careful to avoid overruffs. Whether ruffing yourself or being forced to ruff, it is vital to ruff as high as you can afford. By making an early plan you should be able to work out how many high trumps you require for drawing trumps and therefore how high you can afford to ruff. ■

Julian Pottage Says

Quality Counts ength is strength – true – but it is not the be all and end all. On many hands, suit quality counts. The better your suit, the more likely it will make a good trump suit – and the more likely you are to bid it. How do you feel about playing with a six-card ‘fit’? The idea does not appeal, does it? Now suppose I tell you that the six trumps are A-K-Q-J-10-x facing a void. You surely feel differently about that. You may know that quality counts for overcalls and pre-emptive actions. It should also count for other actions. Culbertson made famous the idea of a biddable suit. Yes – ‘some suits are more equal than others’.

L

Hand A ♠ 93 ♥ 85 ♦ AQ985 ♣ AK72

Hand B ♠ AJ ♥ K 10 ♦ Q8652 ♣ K743

Hand A: you open 1♦, planning to rebid 2♣. You are happy to play in a minor suit and to let partner, who may have tenaces in the majors, play no-trumps. Hand B: playing a weak no-trump, you open 1NT. While the shape is the same as in A, the honour location and suit quality is very different. With over half your points in the majors, opening 1NT is a lesser lie than bidding both minors.

Hand C ♠ AKJ9 ♥ K5 ♦ Q985 ♣ Q82

Hand D ♠ Q743 ♥ K 10 ♦ AKJ5 ♣ K74

Some say that, with a four-card major and a four-card minor, you should open the major. I think this is awful.

With a balanced hand (out of range for a 1NT opening), you open one of a suit intending to rebid no-trumps at the appropriate level. If you bid only one suit, make it your best suit. With C, you open 1♠. If you want to open 1♦, you may as well give up playing four-card majors! With D, you open 1♦. Trying to open one of a major only when you have a good suit is crucial to finding 5-3 fits – if you open on bad suits, partner will hesitate to raise without four trumps. The benefits of opening your better suit include: 1 You will find far more good 5-3 fits than you would otherwise. 2 If partner is on lead and leads your suit, it is likely to work well. 3 If you play in a 4-3 fit, it is likely to be a good one. 4 If you miss a 4-4 fit, it is likely to be a bad one.

Hand E ♠ Q7432 ♥ A J 10 ♦ QJ5 ♣ K 10

Hand F ♠ KQJ93 ♥ 64 ♦ QJ5 ♣ A62

Sometimes you do not even open a fivecard major. If the suit is poor, as in E, and you are in range for 1NT, open 1NT. This describes your values and hand type. With F, of course, you open 1♠. You are happy to rebid the spades if need be or for partner to lead the suit or to regard spade length as an asset.

Hand G ♠ AKQJ93 ♥ A8 ♦ J752 ♣ 6

Hand H ♠ AJ7432 ♥ A 10 ♦ KQJ5 ♣ 10

Page 44

What do you rebid on these hands if you open 1♠ and partner responds 2♣? On G, you jump to 3♠, showing the extra values and extra spade length, and ignoring the diamond ‘suit’. As Reese said, ‘don’t bid bad suits on good hands.’ With H, rebid 2♦. You might want to play in diamonds with H or, at any rate, let your partner know that you have the suit well held. Likewise, if partner opened 1♣, you jump to 2♠ on G but bid a simple 1♠ on H. With G, you know spades is a playable trump suit and that you are most unlikely to belong in diamonds. With H, far more options remain open. For competitive decisions, the Rule of Total Tricks is a good guide. Even so, on many marginal hands, quality counts.

Hand J ♠ J743 ♥ K Q 10 4 ♦ 765 ♣ J 10

West

North

2♥ ?

3♦

Hand K ♠ J743 ♥ 10 7 6 4 ♦ QJ5 ♣ K 10

East 1♥ Pass

South Pass Pass

With J, bid 3♥. Your hand appears useless defensively. If 3♥ goes down, 3♦ is surely making. You will often have a 5-4 fit (or a 4-4 fit in both majors) if partner knows not to rush into opening a poor four-card major. By contrast, with K, you should pass. Your diamond holding may well be worth a trick against 3♦ but is of dubious value to your partner in 3♥. Moreover, your weak hearts increase the risk of trump losers in 3♥ and increase the chance that your fit is only 4-4. 3♦ and 3♥ are unlikely both to be making. Quality counts. ■

Dave Huggett Says

Return Partner’s Suit o maxim should be too hard and fast, but the fact remains that you should consider returning partner’s suit (i.e. playing back the suit partner led initially) almost all the time. The premise is that the person who leads the suit must have some idea as to how the defence might go. So, unless there is strong contrary evidence, it is as well to go along with it. Take the following deal:

N

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ A7 ♥ J52 ♦ KJ76 ♣ KQ75 Q 10 8 6 5 2 96 N W E 8 S 10 9 4 2 ♠ K4 ♥ AK3 ♦ 10 9 5 4 2 ♣ A63

West

North

East

Pass

3NT

End

Secondly, declarer probably has only two spades or he would have held up a round. Thirdly, a count of the points (North: 14, East: 10, South 12-14) reveals that West can have no more than four points. With the queen of spades, he cannot have a top heart. So East should return the nine of spades and declarer will have no chance. Returning partner’s suit against a suit contract can be a good idea for many reasons. The next deal shows one:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J93 Q 10 8 7 4 AQ3 J8

South 1NT

West leads the six of spades, which declarer wins in hand with the king over the jack from East. He then runs the ten of diamonds, which loses to the queen. What should East lead now? It might look rather tempting to return a low heart at this point in the hope that West holds a high honour there. Ideally, West would win, return the suit – and then, when in with the ace of diamonds, East would have a field day. All this is pie in the sky because East knows – or should know – several things. First, West must have the spade queen as the Rule of Eleven tells East that South has only one spade higher than the six, which we know is the king.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

10 4 2 2 9876 10 8 6 4 2 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

KQJ6 10 9 7 3 54 KJ7 N W

E S

This all tells you the lead just has to be a singleton. So East wins and returns the lowly four of hearts to ask for the lower of the other two suits, clubs, to be led when West ruffs. This way, the defenders engineer the first four tricks. It is easy to get too ‘busy’, to ill effect, when a passive defence would give nothing away. Consider the following:

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

5 AJ854 Q J 10 2 A53

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

J83 A64 J 10 9 8 10 5 2

North

East

Pass End

3♠

Pass

South 1♠ 4♠

3NT is better, but normal bidding reaches 4♠. West leads the two of hearts and dummy plays low. Should East continue the suit, assuming he wins the first trick, or switch, no doubt to the queen of diamonds, in the hope that West holds the ace? The answer lies in examining the lead and trying to understand what possible holdings West could have. He cannot have a doubleton because he would lead high-low from such a holding. Nor can he really have a three-card suit: it would have to be K-Q-2 (I assume declarer plays the six) and, from that holding, the king would be the lead.

Page 45

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N E

W S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A9873 KQ6 AK3 Q9

West

A 10 7 J95 A73 QJ63

K K K K

Q654 Q 10 8 2 542 A7

92 73 Q6 984

West

North

East

Pass

3NT

End

South 1NT

West leads the jack of diamonds, conventionally showing no higher honour. Declarer wins with the king in hand and leads a club to the queen, which East wins with the ace. What should East do now? Knowing declarer has diamonds well stopped it looks tempting to switch to another suit, but that would be an error. West is marked with very few high cards and a switch, to spades or hearts, could – and does – give away a trick. Although a club return would work, it is better for partnership harmony to return a diamond. Declarer might still make his contract but he does have a number of losing options that he would not have if East had got too ‘busy’ and not returned his partner’s suit. ■

Jeremy Dhondy Says

Add Three Points in the Protective Seat hat do you do with hands A and B if an opponent opens 1♦? A is a take-out double in any seat; B is weaker.

W

Hand A ♠ KQ76 ♥ K976 ♦ J3 ♣ AJ5

West

North 1♦

Hand B ♠ QJ43 ♥ Q 10 5 4 ♦ 5 ♣ KJ86

East Pass

South Pass

?

B is indeed weaker and worth a double only in fourth seat. If you add three points, it becomes a minimum double in second seat. Since you should double here with A and B, you and your partner need to work out what later bids show. What is the minimum to protect on in fourth seat? Many players use the principle of the “transferred king.” What this means is that they will bid on a king less than they would in second seat and expect partner to adjust accordingly.

West

North

East

Pass ?

Pass

Dbl

South 1♥ Pass

Now partner may have a good hand but you have to cater for him to hold a shapely nine count. This means you must adjust your actions. 1NT after partner’s protective double might show about 9-12 points, about 3 points stronger than before. A typical example might be hand D. If you held C with about 6-8 points, you should bid 2♦. A bid of 1NT is too likely to encourage partner to bid again when no game is available. If your right-hand opponent opened 1♥ and you had a fair hand with hearts, you might overcall 1NT. This would tend to be strong, perhaps 15-18 points. Hand E would be typical.

Hand E ♠ K7 ♥ KJ85 ♦ AQ43 ♣ K86

Hand F ♠ K7 ♥ QJ97 ♦ K975 ♣ K86

Now suppose the auction went: Hand C ♠ 54 ♥ KJ97 ♦ Q 10 4 3 ♣ Q98

West

North 1♥

Hand D ♠ 54 ♥ KJ97 ♦ AJ76 ♣ Q98

East Dbl

South Pass

?

You may prefer 1NT on C to 2♦ because of the heart holding. Partner will expect about 6-9 points for this bid. If you made the hand a bit stronger, as in D, you would be too strong to bid 1NT. You would bid 2NT, showing about 10-12.

West

North 1♥

East Pass

South Pass

West

North 1♥

East Dbl

South Pass

?

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

KJ7 54 AJ975 Q98

N E

W S

You are too good for 2♦, which you might bid with almost no values, so bid 3♦. If, however, 1♥ had been on your right and, after two passes, your partner reopens with a double, you bid 2♦. You adjust down by about three points to allow for the possible lightness of the reopening double. If partner bids a suit in fourth seat, you must take care. Suppose things start: West

North

East

Pass

Pass

1♠

South 1♥ Pass

?

Hand G ♠ 54 ♥ KJ97 ♦ K43 ♣ AK83

Hand H ♠ AQ876 ♥ 65 ♦ Q72 ♣ 10 9 4

1NT

Most people play this 1NT bid as a weaker hand (say 12-14 points) such as F. If you held hand E, you would be too strong to bid 1NT in fourth seat and would double first. Partner has to allow for this and should have about three points more to invite game than he would need if you had overcalled 1NT in second seat. The same rule applies when your side’s bid is in a suit after the double. Suppose the auction starts like this:

Page 46

With G, you passed over 1♥ as you were too weak to bid 1NT. Partner has now protected so what do you do? Of course, he might hold a hand on which he would bid 1♠ in any position. Such a hand would make game likely opposite yours. Then again, he might have hand H. As you do not want to be in game on these hands, mentally deduct about three points to allow for the protection and bid 2NT. Those who call 3NT are likely to end up (i) disappointed and (ii) with a minus score. ■

ANSWERS TO THE DEFENCE QUIZ ON PAGE 22 by JULIAN POTTAGE ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

1.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

95 8743 K74 J 10 9 6

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

You lead the ♣J: two, five, ace. Declarer now leads the ♦10. What do you do?

J87 AJ2 AJ982 Q7 10 6 4 2 10 6 5 10 6 3 K52

AKQ3 KQ9 Q5 A843

West

North

East

Pass

6NT

End

South 2NT

You lead the ♣J, covered all around. Declarer now leads the ♦Q. What do you do? It is easy to think, ‘the ace is over my king; my king will not make it if I play it; I shall hang on to it.’ While it is true that your king is not going to make, when you play it determines the fate of the ten. Playing your king on the queen means declarer has to use two honours to win the trick – the queen and ace – partner’s ten wins later. If you duck, the queen wins the first round, the jack the second and the ace the third – slam made.

On the first deal, covering the queen – the card only one rank below the king – might not have been so difficult. This time, declarer has led the lowlier ten. Do you want to see what happens if you duck? Partner wins with the queen (ducking does not help) and leads some other suit. Declarer regains the lead in hand and plays another diamond. A finesse of the jack then picks up the suit. Your opponent makes four diamond tricks and loses just one. Now try covering the ten with the king. After the ace captures the king, partner has the Q-9 as a tenace over dummy’s J-8. Whether declarer plays to the eight or the jack on the second round, partner makes two tricks. Covering gains if partner has Q-9-x and can never lose when South is short in the suit.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

3.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K85 A84 K7 J 10 9 6 4 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Yes, if declarer has the ten of diamonds to go with the queen, covering will not help – but then the slam makes, whatever you do.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

2.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

K7 972 AJ862 Q72

J5 Q84 K74 J 10 9 6 3 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

N W

E S

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Q 10 6 2 10 6 5 Q93 K54

A9843 AKJ3 10 5 A8

West

North

East

Pass Pass End

2♦ 2♠

Pass Pass

South 1♠ 2♥ 3NT

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

E

W S

North

East

Pass End

3♠

Pass

South 1♠ 4♠

You lead the ♣J, covered all around. Declarer now leads the ♠J. What do you do? You should not be covering honours just because you once heard someone say that you should do so. The idea is that by covering you promote a lower honour or high spot card (a ten on the first deal and a nine on the second) to trick-taking rank. Here you know you cannot promote anything. Your own eight is too lowly to promote while partner, who must be very short in spades on the bidding, cannot have anything either. You should play low. The benefit of ducking becomes clear when partner wins with the singleton queen.

Page 47

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

4.

532 54 K852 10 8 7 4 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Q 10 6 5 2 9843 K753

J 10 9 4 3 KQ93 A5 A8

West

Note that if you held Q-8-5 rather than K-8-5, it would equally be correct not to cover. There would then be the added reason that declarer might hold K-J-10-x-x and not actually intend to finesse you for the queen.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

A762 J7 Q J 10 6 2 Q2 N

Had you played the king on the jack, there would have been an almighty crash of your king and partner’s queen under the ace. This would have destroyed your side’s trump trick and allowed declarer to get home, losing just one trick in each of the side suits. It is a different story when you play low on the first trump and the queen wins (or declarer puts up dummy’s ace and knocks out your king). Since the diamond finesse will lose to the king, your side scores a trick in each suit.

Q 10 4 J6 A J 10 9 6 4 J9 ♠ N ♥ W E ♦ S ♣ J98 A872 Q3 AKQ5

West

North

Pass

3NT

East 1♥ End

AK76 K Q 10 9 3 7 632

South 1NT

You lead the ♥5. Partner wins with the nine, cashes the ♠K and reverts to hearts, leading the king. Declarer wins and leads the ♦Q. What do you do? As on the previous deal, you can visualise all the high spot cards in the key suit. If you cover the queen with the king, you cannot promote anything in your hand or partner’s. What you should do is duck and hope that partner has a diamond. With only a doubleton diamond, declarer can run the queen on the first round and finesse once thereafter. With no more diamonds to lead from hand, this is the end to finessing against your king. You have the king well-enough guarded to ensure a stopper – it ‘cannot be caught’. Declarer cannot afford to knock out the king because you can put your partner in with the ace of spades to run the hearts. The best your opponent can do is to cash out for down one. ■