Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - August 8, 2022 - Passed out hand

Question:

This hand got passed out but the question here should be – who should have opened, S or N ?

Glenna:

S has 15 points counting the 3 length points in ♣️ and should open the bidding. Can’t image a pass unless it was a misclick or accident of some sort.  Some of my partners would open 1 ♣️ and then jump in ♣️ because it’s such a nice suit.

 N had a chance to save the day and failed as well. The rule for opening in 4th seat is to count your high card points and the number of ♠️. If it adds up to 15, you MUST open!!!! Brave souls as myself would have opened 1NT because it’s the perfect shape and only a point shy but I will get a lead INTO my hand and that’s an easy extra trick!

  It’s hard to imagine both N and S passi. My goodness players, open ALL 13 point and a lot of 12’s! What a sad board and so unnecessary. I am going to email Ralph a sheet on requirements for opening hands in different seats and ask him to mail it email to the Monday group. So hope everyone will read it, study it, know it and use it! It will be more than worth your time to spend on it.

Glenna

 

Glenna:

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - August 8, 2022 - Slam Captain

Question:

In this example E/W have lots of points and miss the slam opportunity. Who “carries the ball”, and takes the bid up to slam?

Vic:

Assuming the hand is well defended, looks to me like EW have a Club loser & a Spade loser. That would mean they do not deserve to make slam. Anyone who does “carry the ball” to take the bid up to slam deserves to take the blame for ruining a good hand. 

The final contract of 3NT is correct. I disagree, however with East second bid of 3D. East is strong enough to make that bid, but they do not have the two-suited hand that bid implies. They actually have what is often referred to as a semi-balanced. hand.  

A more descriptive second bid for East in my opinion would be 3C which also shows a strong hand, but with a 6-card club suit. 

Over 3C, I would expect West to make the same 3NT call they made over 3D, ending the auction.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - August 1, 2022 - Blackwood - looking for Kings

 

Question:

E has a 20 HCP and 6H and bidding progresses to the point that E finds that they are missing an A and stops the bidding at 5H. Should declarer have gone on to looking for K’s?

Vic:

Generally speaking, the only reason to look for Kings would be if you have already decided to bid s small slam & are trying to decide whether to go to seven or not. So the answer to your question is a resounding NO. 

 Declarer has made a decision to stop at the five level. Asking for Kings is not called for. 

I have a problem, however, with Declarers decision to stop. There are 6 “most important” cards to slam contracts in a suit. They are the four Aces plus the trump King & Queen. Holding 5 of those 6 cards, you should not pass up a slam bid. 

Declarer is missing one Ace & holds the trump King & Queen in their hand. They failed to bid a small slam that was colder than ice.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - August 1, 2022 - Response to take out double (TOX)

 

Question:

The question here is a response to partners TO double. E/W have bid C and S. S has D and H and doubles. W bids 1 NT. N has 9 HCP and passes. Should responder have bid instead of passing?

Glenna:

  I think this hand was bid correctly. I love that S made a TOX—good bridge. Shows 2 4-card suits and at least 8 points. Not everyone knows that.  Responder cannot bid 1 NT as W already bid it! Think NS defending (if they take all their tricks) is the best place to be.

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - August 1, 2022 - Response to take out double

 

Question:

E has a big hand and bids a TO dbl (to make sure responder bids) with a response of 1 S by W. Unfortunately, E jumps to 3 NT. 

How should the bidding have progressed? 3 NT went down 2

Mark:

  You always have such great hands! A book, or at least a long chapter, could be written on the subject of what to do when you have a good to great hand and an opponent has just bid your best suit. Most of the time the best answer, even with an opening hand or slightly better, for the best probability of a good result, just pass. If the opener's partner has enough to bid, then your partner is broke and you won't have a making contract. If the opener's partner is the one that's broke, he may be desperate to escape to a different suit but can't afford to bid. If they opened 1 club on a 3 card suit, they could be about to play in a 3-2 fit unless you provide a way out. You'll make more on defense than on offense if they play in what is normally your side's best contract, even when only on the 1 level. OK, having said that, sometimes your hand is just too good to pass. You risk missing a game. With 15 to 18 points scattered among the suits and a decent stopper in their suit, you just overcall 1 NT. That's very descriptive and most of the time your partner can judge where to play, just as if you'd opened 1NT and with a bonus of knowing something about the opponents hands to help guide you in the play. Incidentally, most players play "system on" after a NT overcall, so stayman, transfer bids, etc are still on. 

  What if you have more than 18 and a hand that could otherwise overcall in NT. The standard call is the double that was made in this case, (tentatively for takeout, but clarified later as something else) and then, after a response of 1 of a suit, that could well be done with 0 points, the doubler just bids 1NT! That shows a balanced hand, a stopper in the opener's suit and 19 or m20 points, as in the present case. 2NT in this auction would show 20 to 22. Tend to assume that they will lead the opener's suit and upgrade or downgrade a little from the above scheme if you think the lead will give you potential extra tricks. In this case, the lack of good intermediate cards in the opener's suit suggests a slight downgrade. If the clubs were, for instance 5 with the A, 10, 9 or A, 10, 8... you could upgrade. As it is, you have the bare minimum for a 1NT rebid, not nearly enough to bid 2NT and surely not 3. The advantage in this case is not only to stay on a reasonable level, but to give your partner a chance to show more features of the hand, if there are any. In this case, partner, knowing you have 18 or 19 points, bids 2 hearts, showing 5 spades and 4 hearts. ( West would bid 2 clubs, stayman with 4-4 in the majors)It shows a hand not good enough to invite a game. With a good 6 high card points, partner bids 3 hearts, inviting game in Spade, hearts or NT. This hand isn't quite good enough to do that, so 2 hearts only.  Note how the mutual description changes the re-evaluations of both hands. Always think in terms of where you are relative to what you've said so far. A moment ago east had the minimum hand to bid 1NT after having doubled. East shouldn't accept a 2NT invitation by west, which would promise a 4 card spade suit and a good 5 or average 6 points, denying 4 hearts or 5 spades. However, the hand improves significantly after West bids 2 hearts. Now East has significantly better than minimum values for the bidding so far, and invites (still not good enough to insist on game) by bidding 3 hearts. Back to West. The West hand is pretty maximal for having failed to invite game previously. This is enough to accept the invitation. Notice the careful dance of both partners re- evaluating based on updated information from the other. You reach a very good 4 heart contract that is likely to make on the actual deal.

  The play in a NT contract can be interesting. Paradoxically, NT plays better from the West. North has no reason (Unless he's been peeking) to lead the club king. The normal lead of the club 4 comes around to the singleton Q. This gives West the only possible entry to lead hearts. You still don't make game or equal the score you get in a heart contract. but at least it's a plus and might be an average or better board.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - July 25, 2022 - Considering a slam

 Question: 

S is holding 5 H and 15 HCP, N is holding 5 S and 15 HCP. Sensing a potential slam, S bids Blackwood asking for aces and kings. How should N respond considering the void in D?

Hand did make 6 NT even though N/S was missing 3 Kings.

Glenna:

 I am going to answer this in 2 different sequences as the new way to bid is to go slow with a good hand and fast with a bad hand. Let’s start with what actually happened. N must bid ♣️ and NOT ♠️ on his 2nd bid. He has already shown at least 5 ♠️ and an opening hand so don’t show the same values twice. Bid ♣️  and partner will bid ♣️ and with 4 suits bid, 6 NT is easy. Very few people are brave enough to ever bid 7. I think we have had only 3 or 4 Grand Slams bid in the past 3 or 4 months.

 The modern version is: 1 ♥️, p 1 ♠️ P  2 ♦️P 3 ♣️ and now N knows what to do. Learn to go slowly with good hands and try to show both your suits. With a bad hand, simply rebid the 6-card suit and be finished!

 One of two things I constantly preach and I wish you would write them down and reread them every single day until you know them by heart. Do NOT rebid the same values you have already shown!!!! Show something new or pass. When you hold a 6-4 hand, do not rebid  the 6-card suit (unless your hand is VERY weak and you feel guilty for opening)—show the 4-card suit and if partner bids something you don’t like, THEN rebid the 6-card suit.

I think most of you have my email so write me if this still doesn’t make sense to you because I’d like it to become your common operating procedure. I can write some hands and put them out for you to review.

Good Luck and hope this helps,

Glenna

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Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - July 25, 2022 - A missed slam?

 

Question: 

Here is another hand that was played in a suit but probably could have been played in NT. Also bidding stopped at game instead of progressing to an invitation to slam. Was this a case of a good fit or a missed opportunity? The hand made 6 S.

Vic:

Actually, this was a case of a good fit AND a missed opportunity (not to mention lots of points, including all four Aces & Kings). South bears the responsibility for the missed opportunity. 

North made a jump rebid in spades, promising at least a 6-card suit & a big hand (17+ pts). Over 3S & holding the South hand, my next call would be 4NT (Blackwood). North would show two aces, making it clear to South that the only critical card they are/might be missing is the spade Queen. That knowledge would make bidding a small slam pretty much a no brainer.

 Yes, both 6S & 6NT are reasonable choices. Both bids, however, face the same problem & both are very likely to go down one.

 To take 12 tricks declarer has to drop either the spade Queen or the club Queen. The spade Queen is offside & it is difficult to imagine EW not taking a trick with that card. The club Queen is off side for the way I would expect most people to play the club suit. 

That is, win the club Ace to see if the Queen drops singleton, then lead the club Jack planning to cover the Queen if East should play it OR finesse the Jack if East does not play the Queen.  Oops! Down one. Who said bridge was fair?

 Declarer in the example given was very fortunate to make 6S. My guess is East led their singleton club, finessing their partner & gifting Declarer the additional trick they needed. 

Leading singletons is a very controversial strategy that can often be a very bad choice. That is especially true leading against a slam contract. Ain’t bridge a great game?