Madison Bridge Club Monday Morning BBO

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shanahan - December 14, 2020 - Michaels Cue Bid and Information Request

Request: Please discuss the 2 spade bid by south. We did not understand the bid. Can you also discuss when you can receive an explanation from the opponents?

Glenna:

I am so glad you asked about this and would like you to consider sharing it with your Monday morning players as they will have this come up in open games!

Stan used a convention called Michaels. He could NOT double because TOD’s promise at least 3-card support for the other 3 suits and 13+ points. So when we can’t double, most of us use a convention that allows us to show 2 5-card or longer suits.

Michaels:: Shows 5 of the other Major and a 5-card minor. If I wanted to know which minor, I would bid an artificial NT and he would show his minor.

Unusual 2NT: a 2 suited 5-5 hand: 1 ♥️ , 2NT—shows both minors

2NT: 1 ♦️ P. 1 ♠️, 2Nt - shows ♥️ and ♣️

2NT: NEVER shows ♠️ so it’s the other two that was not bid

Sometimes this bid works and sometimes it helps the declarer more than partner. But, that’s true of almost all conventions.

Any time you want clarification click on the bid in BBO that you don’t understand and the opponent will write an explanation. After you read the explanation, click on it and it will disappear.

F2F, you’re not suppose to ask until it’s your turn to bid, and then you can ask the opponent—the deal with this that many people don’t understand, ask if it means you might be able to bid. IF you’re not planning to bid, but just wonder what the meaning is, wait until the auction is over and ask about the bids before you lead. If partner is on lead, when he asked if you have questions, say yes. Ask your questions, BUT he cannot change his lead!

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - December 14, 2020- 2 Bids

Question; During your December 7th discussion you talked about 2 bids. Would you analyze the hand and discuss what you meant when you said “Never let opponent play at the 2 level where they have a fit.”

Vic:

Are you talking about a 2 bid by Opener? by Responder? by Overcaller? by Advancer? It makes a difference. A 2 bid by any of those people could be good or bad, depending on what their hand looks like. A generic statement that "2 bids are bad" does not make sense. It is difficult to imagine that I ever said that.

In the example above the 2D bid is a second call by opener. It is a perfectly acceptable bid that tells partner they have a two-suited hand (as opposed to a balanced hand) with a diamond suit that is either the same length or shorter than their spade suit. It also clarifies that they are towards the bottom edge of the 13-21 points they promised when they opened.

The quote "Never let opponent play at the 2 level where they have a fit.” is correct - it is a standard rule of defensive bidding. It does not apply in this situation, however, because opponents have not demonstrated they have a "fit". South has shown a two-suited hand & north has simply indicated they prefer diamonds to spades (maybe the lesser of two evils). So, although you have a strong enough hand to push the auction, there is no reason for you to do so, especially vulnerable.

Also, when you are in the balancing seat & it is appropriate to push you have two options. 1) you can bid (better have a good 5+ card suit) 2) you can DBL asking partner to bid their longest suit (better have "tolerance" in the suits they might bid)

Thursday, December 3, 2020

BBO Partnership Desk - Do you need a partner for Wednesday morning bridge?

Believe it or not it is possible for you to find a partner for Wednesday Morning competitive bridge. You can use something called the BBO Partnership Desk. The BBO Partnership Desk shows people waiting for partners to play in the specific bridge game. You should probably resort to calling people if you are not comfortable on a computer. The BBO Partnership Desk does not differentiate between people regularly playing with the Bridge Club of Madison and people who do not have an affiliation.

If you are interested in pursuing the Partnership Desk review the 6 minute video on YouTube

https://youtu.be/Q4DuRagPC1U

If you want written instructions then read this.

Add ACBL Number to BBO or Check BBO has your ACBL Number

You obtained your ACBL Number and then bought BB$. You are finished. You can play competitive bridge. Right? Not so fast. You have one more step. You need to give BBO your ACBL number. Once you supplied that number to BBO then you can play competitive bridge. Until that number is supplied, your partner will see a screen like this:

The following is the procedure to fix that problem. You can also use the same procedure to verify BBO has your ACBL Number.

Step 1: Log on to BBO

Step 2: Find ACBL World which is located to your left under the green Featured Areas section banner.

Step 3: Find the blue button on the left side in the middle of the screen "Add new ACBL number". Click on that button.

Step 4: Enter your BBO log on ID in the box located in the upper right. (If a number already exists, verify that number is your ACBL number. This is how you make sure BBO has your ACBL Number.) Underneath that box enter your ACBL number. After both numbers are entered then hit the gray Update box. BBO will then load your ACBL number into your account. You should be ready to play.

Hand Analysis by Victor Johnson - Monday, December 7, 2020 - Possible Slam

Comment: Is this hand a possible slam?

Vic:

There are six cards that experienced players pondering slam in a suit contract are most concerned about. They are the 4 Aces plus the trump King & Queen. The NS pair holds all six of those cards in hearts. If they are playing Roman Key Card Blackwood 1430, they would be able to find out they held all six of those cards. Having found that out I would expect them to bid to 6H.

Inexperienced players generally have no way to find out about the trump King & Queen. They could find out, however, that they have all four Aces & might also conclude they probably have at least 33 points. Believing that to be true, I would expect them to bid to 6H also.

This hand deserves to be in 6H. Oddly enough, however, it does not deserve to make 6H. Good defense will hold NS to no more than 11 tricks in a heart contract. The major stroke of bad luck for declarer is the 4-1 trump split for which the odds are 28%. A 3-2 split (68%) would enable declarer to make their 6H contract.

Following is how I imagine an inexperienced NS pair might advance to slam in hearts.

West is dealer - EW are passing,

North: 1H (a Rule of Twenty plus Two opening bid)

Comment: South has a right to picture north with a 13-21 point hand. South has 19 HCPs in their own hand. It is reasonable for South to believe that north must hold the heart Ace & King plus at least 6 points worth of assorted Queens & Jacks.

South: 4NT (standard Blackwood)

North: 5D (one Ace)

South: 6H

Comment: Slams are rarely guaranteed. Bridge favors players who are aggressive (not reckless, but aggressive). Anyone too timid to bid slam in this scenario will not often find themselves at the top of the bridge leader board. With respect to the above hand, however, the timid bidders who reach only 4H will make their contract, while the more aggressive bidders will deserve to go down. Ain't bridge a great game?

Hand Review by Glenna Shanahan - Monday, December 7, 2020- Down 4

Comment: We bid this hand to 4S and obviously wound up in the wrong place. We went down 4. Where did we go wrong?

Glenna:

W opens 1 ♦️ , N bids 1 ♠️ and I think S can bid 3NT. It shows a full opener with ♦️ stopped and 99.9% of the time a doubloon ♠️. If S is afraid to bid 3 because partner might not have a good hand, 2 is ok? (Sorta). But when N bids 3 ♣️, S must bid 3NT not raise ♠️. The bid didn’t make N’s ♠️ longer, it simply showed a 2nd suit—so should be 5-4 or even 5-5 in the black suits. 3N is a great contact.

Hope this helps!

Glenna

Monday, November 30, 2020

Summary - Glenna Shanahan and Vic Johnson Hand Analyses Information

Hand of the Week - Glenna and Vic

Glenna's Information

Glenna's Pearls - June 21, 2020

Vic's Information