Hand of the Week - August 31, 2020 - Vic Johnson - Overcall or pass?

 

Background:  Vic Johnson(Shispidus) played this hand on Tuesday, August 25.  The questions were:

• The question is how did you know to pass?  You had 13 points and a 5 card club suit.  
• Why did you decide to pass and not bid the clubs?

Vic:

Overcalls at the two level (especially vulnerable) should reflect a strong suit (two of top three or three of top five honors), should ideally be 6 cards in length & should be at the top of opening point count range (14+ HCPs). My hand met none of those criteria. 

As it turns out I would have stumbled into a great club fit, but I suspect we might then have gotten too high & gone down vulnerable. We get a better result by setting the opponents 4H.

Hand of the Week - August 31, 2020 - Glenna Shanahan - 2 over 1

 

Background: Glenna(Shanachie5) and Stan (gusher) played this hand on Tuesday, August 25.   The questions were:

• Why didn’t south give a preemptive bid with spades?  
• Why did South bid 4S after your 1D?  
• How did you know to get to 6S after South’s 4 spade bid?

Glenna:

Stan and I play 2/1. So when he bid 4 ♠️, I knew he had more than 6 and he didn’t have an opening hand—just long good ♠️. So look at my hand, he bid 4 ♠️ not knowing if I had any ♠️ and I had support. Plus, he only knows I have 12+ points and I had 18! 4 of a Major is never a shut out as it just shows the hand he had so because I had both support and 6 or more points than he thought, I owed him a 6 ♠️ bid.

 I had 18 or 19 pts. and intended to open it 1 ♦️ and then jump to 2NT which shows 18 or 19!

But, Stan bid 4 ♠️ which is not preemptive—rather shows 6+ (probably 7 or 8) and enough values for game if I have my 12 or 13 pts. Since I had maximum values and a good fit, I bid 6! Sometimes with really strong hands and good fits, you just have to bid the slam because there is no scientific method available.This “table feel” develops over time and many hands played over the years. Not all bid slams are makable, but should be bid, but the hands just don’t work. I felt this one had a 90+% rate to be successful and happened to be right this time. I have been wrong many times as well. 

2/1 works again!!!!!

Hand of the Week - August 24, 2020 - Glenna Shanahan - 1NT to 3NT

 

Problem:  How did South know how to go to 3NT right away?

Glenna:

  I was the defender and Charlotte Lindstrom made the great bid and gave us a zero,  Here’s what she knew:  Her daughter, Mary, opened 1NT. and she had 10 pts. counting the 5th card in a suit as 1 extra point. So, we bid NT games with 1-15 points and she did it. She didn’t use transfers or stamen (sic) because she had no length in the majors. Mary played it nicely and they received a top!

  Not all people count length points, but I think they should as 5-card suits are much more valuable than 4-card suits, etc.

Hand of the Week for August 24, 2020 - Victor Johnson - Bidding Sequence

 

Problem: 

Joan Kirkhuff wants to know how the following hand should have been bid.

Vic:

The proper bidding sequence depends on the details of the partnership agreement. 

If the partners agree that a solid 10 point hand is strong enough to make a Limit Raise, then North needs to orchestrate a slow arrival Limit Raise (promising only 3 card trump support). Subsequent to the slow arrival Limit Raise Opener should go to game. 

If the partners agree that a Limit Raise promises 11-12 points, then the 2H bid by north shown above is the correct call. Given that North could have 10 points, but could also have as few as only 6 points, Opener is not strong enough to jump to game. Opener could, however, invite game by bidding 3D which would be what is called a help suit game try. It invites Responder to go to game if they have diamond support & are near the top of their 2H point count. Subsequent to a second call of 3D by Opener, Responder should go to game. This is all assuming, of course, that the pair had discussed help suit game tries & Responder knows the meaning of Opener's 3D bid. 

The jump to game by South over 2H shown above resulted in the proper contract, but it was not good bridge. It was what I frequently refer to as Ho Chunk or Slot Machine bridge (roll the dice & take your chances).

Hand of the Week - August 17, 2020 - Glenna Shanahan - Bidding a Slam

 

Problem:  Both hands had declarer win 13 tricks but they were not bid as slams.  How do you recognize a slam?

Glenna:

  Board 10: Our opponents bid 6NT and made 7!!! Our bidding was 1 ♦️, 2 ♠️ (weak but 6 cards), your hand bid 2NT and your partner bid 3 ♦️ and your hand thought a very long time and finally bid 6NT.  Took them longer to bid it than to play it. I told him that it was a nice bid as it was!!!!! 

 The other slam: I opened a weak 2 ♠️ and my partner jumped to 6 ♠️. I promised 5-10 with GOOD ♠️ and he had controls in every suit and we had an 8-card fit so he correctly bid 6! 

 Slams can be tricky, but here are the ways to recognize that a slam might be possible:

•   2C  Opener shows 22+ points (high cards, not shape)
•   Either partner makes a strong jump shift—shows about 20+ pots
•   Jacoby 2NT
•   Splinter
•   Sheer Force—Partner opens 1NT and you have 18+ pts, just go
•   Partner opens and jumps to 2NT—shows 18 or 19 and you have opening hand—just go

Hope this helps!

Hand of the Week 2 - August 10, 2020 - Glenna Shanahan - Preemptive Bids

 

Question: I was sitting South.  Larry Johnson was North. He gave a 2H bid, a preemptive, which was doubled.  I did not know what to do because I had two hearts and 10 points.  I bid 2NT.  I suppose I should have passed.  My 2NT made him bid 4H.  We went down 2 tricks. I guess the question would be, what criteria should a partner use to bid after a pre-empt?

Glenna:

His 2-♥️ bid should be 5-10 (some say 11), and your 10 pts is not enough to invite game so you must just pass. If you had 10 pts and 4 ♥️, it would be a different story—you would bid 3 ♥️ to keep your LHO from bidding and hopefully will make. If Larry opened 2 ♥️, your had an opening 1NT hand, but only 2 ♥️, you would bid 2NT.  That is an asking bid: Do you have an A or K in an outside suit so that if we play 3NT, I have an entry over there so  I can get back to the good ♥️. 

Hand of the Week 1- August 10, 2020 -Victor Johnson - Missing a slam?

 

Problem: North and South had a slam but did not bid it.  How do you recognize a slam?

Vic:

If the opening lead is a diamond, north has one loser right off the top. And had north bid a heart slam, I would expect east to lead the diamond Ace. 

True, leading an unsupported honor is normally a no no. But slam contracts are not "normal" & the rules for leading against slams are somewhat different. Most defenders leading against a slam contract will choose to lead an unsupported Ace if they have one. 

If declarer then plays the club suit according to the odds, they will win one club trick with the Ace or King, then lead a small club from the north hand & finesse the south Jack. That finesse will lose & now the defenders have two tricks. The proper way to play the spade suit (given the spade bid by west) would be to win the spade King, then lead a low spade from south & finesse the north Jack. That finesse works making 5H. 

Taking all 13 tricks involves getting the lead before the defenders lead diamonds, then playing the clubs improperly (against the odds) by leading out the club Ace & King which (against the odds) drops the club Queen & allows declarer to run clubs (discarding their diamond loser). In bridge, we are sometimes rewarded for our ignorance. 

This hand should NOT have been recognized as a slam hand, because if properly defended & played it does NOT deserve to make slam. 

Ain't bridge a great game?