Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - November 8, 2021 - A bidding disaster

 

Question: I assume even the best bridge players have bad results occasionally.  What is the mindset you take after you get trounced like in the hand above?  This hand went down 5 tricks.

Glenna:

Everyone including the guys with 50 and 60,000 master points make mistakes and spend time talking to themselves—especially if the mistake was because of loss of concentration, a mechanical error or just bad judgement. That’s when you say to yourself, you did the best you could at the time with what you knew—sorry, it wasn’t enough. If you “beat yourself up” every time you make a mistake, you’ll get so down on yourself that you won’t have fun. The best way to avoid those bad days is to learn the rules of bidding—easy to -- just takes  and hard work. Once you know the bidding rules, your scores will improve 50-75% and

 This hand is an excellent example: You have 11 points  and can go to the 2-level EXCEPT you need a 5-card suit to go to the 2 level!!!!! When you don’t have the strength and/or the length you need,  bid what best works for you hand.

  You have 11 points but only 4 ♥️, so look for something else. 1Nt is 6-10 and you have 11. Well with 11 or 12, we bid 2 NT. That is not forcing and partner will probably pass you. But 2NT has at least a 90% chance of working out better than a 4-card suit at the 2 level.

Forgot to say the Robot’s x showed 4 ♥️ and 4 ♦️s so NT is even better. One thing you should learn soon is negative doubles

   I wish I  you and 3 others to do NOTHING but bidding for 2 hours. I can promise at the end, you would be so much better! Please think about 

Investing a little time to gain a lot!!!!