Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - February 20, 2023 - Preempt a Preempt

 

Question:  W preempts and N follows with a 3D bid which may be preempt or indication of a strong hand.  That leaves S in a quandary.  Has N preempted and has a weak hand and so S should pass or is N a strong hand and S should bid 5D?  How can S determine what to do?

Mark:

The hand is an excellent illustration of the power of preemptive bidding. As you point out, 3 diamonds has a wide range of strength both for offense and defense. Not only that, but East's raise to 4 hearts has 2 possible meanings. It could be done with a weak hand and lots of hearts, meaning it as a sacrifice, or a good enough hand to make 4 hearts a good bet to make. The South hand happens to make it a pure guess whether it's right to bid on or defend. In an expert bidding panel, I expect to get about an equal number of 5D and P. 4 Spades is an interesting and possibly successful speculation by South, but it's too wild even for me to consider.

  As it is, there are 3 possible contracts: 4H by W, 5D by N and 4S (however unlikely) by S. 4 hearts is almost sure to be defeated by the singleton club lead, whether or not N cashes a diamond to begin. West actually can create the best chance to make 4 hearts, by giving the defenders a chance to make a mistake, if they play low on the club lead. If S takes the jack and gives N a ruff, N can try to reach S with (what he hopes) the ace of spades. Curtains! W can draw trumps because N now has only 2 left and still have the necessary stuff to trap the club king with a ruffing finesse and a trump to get back to cash winning clubs. Kudos to W if 4 hearts was made that way. Extra kudos to the defenders if W played that way and they didn't fall into the trap of taking a greedy quick ruff, or if they did ruff the club at trick 3 but led a 2nd high diamond to shorten dummy's trumps and prevent declarer from scoring a 10th trick. To summarize the point of the hand, anyone who ends with a plus score of any size is likely to get a good duplicate result. Aggressive bidding coupled with very good play, as usual, gets the top score.

  Incidentally, I need to clarify a point about North's 3 D bid and the terminology of the question. There is no such thing (or there should not be) as a pre-empt over a preempt. A jump bid over an opponent's preempt always shows a very powerful hand with length and strength in the suit bid. A simple overcall at the cheapest level, as in the present case, necessarily has a wide range and can be difficult for partner to gauge. 

  Another important point: South has a very difficult decision after 4H by E. They are entitled to take some time to think it over. Part of N-S bad luck is that the information that  everyone can glean from South's long thought before passing, is "UNAUTHORIZED" information to N. N has a minimum overcall of 3 D and no reason to bid on over 4 H. Ideally the Director should be called before N has a chance to act and will instruct N to pass in this case. If the Director is not called and N bids 5D, the Director should be called, but rectification becomes messy and may deprive both sides of a chance to shine in the play or defense. Since the result of any contract is not clear, the Director will probably award average plus, average minus, no one will feel fully satisfied and feelings could be hurt.

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - February 13, 2023 -Master Hand

 

Question:  Please explain the concept of Master Hand and how it applies to the play of this hand.

Vic:

What I (many others as well) refer to as the "Master Hand Method" is frequently the best way for Declarer to plan the play of a SUIT contract. It is non-functional for NO TRUMP contracts. 

North would first pick a Master Hand (their hand in this case because it has the most trump). By definition, that makes South the Ruffing Hand. 

The Ruffing Hand serves as a possible resource for fixing Master Hand losers. That is its only value. Declarer does not have to worry about Ruffing Hand losers - only whether the Ruffing Hand can help them fix the Master Hand. 

Next Declarer identifies the Master Hand losers that need fixing.  

Officially, Declarer spade suit has two losers (KQ are missing). But in reality (given that there are only 5 spades between their hand & dummy) there are three losers to fix. Declarer heart suit has one loser (A is missing - no fixing that one). Declarer diamond suit has three losers (AKQ are missing).  

The total loser count in Declarer hand is seven which would put them down four. Can the Ruffing Hand help? 

Yes, the Ruffing hand can potentially help big time. Two Master Hand losers (diamonds should be first choice) can be discarded on Ruffing Hand AK of clubs. As many as three Master Hand spade losers can be ruffed in dummy (but not if Declarer begins by pulling trump). The Ruffing Hand also poses the possibility of a successful finesse of the Diamond King (but finesses are only successful 50% of the time & should be avoided if better choices exist). 

Declarers Plan - ruff spades ASAP (before leading trump) - discard diamond losers on club AK (do this first time they get to dummy) - do not voluntarily take the diamond finesse (take it only if East gets the lead & leads diamonds - cross your fingers that West gets the lead & leads diamonds) - a silent prayer or two never hurts either. 

With all the potential fixes the Ruffing Hand can provide, it looks to me like Declarer deserves to make their contract. Ain't bridge a great game?

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - February 13, 2023 - Slam

Question: How should slam be explored with this hand?  It made 6 spades.

Glenna: 

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to talk about slams and how preempts make it difficult for the opponents. With no interference S should open with 3 ♠️ & N should bid 6 ♠️ !!!!!

N has the world’s fair and his partner has 7 ♠️ for him. If this doesn’t make 6, it would surprise everyone in the field!! After all, you only lose 1 ♥️ trick.

  Now, let’s talk about preempts: E MUST open 2 ♦️ showing 5-11 points and a 6-card ♦️ suit.  S bids 2 ♠️ and W MUST bid 3 ♦️( called furthering the preempt as it makes it harder for N to decide how high to bid). N will probably bid 4 ♠️ and not even look for slam when his 2 opponents are both bidding. 

  Preempts are out there to help you not allow the opponents a wide open field to bid whatever they want—make it difficult for them to decide what to do!!!!!

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - February 6, 2023 - Preempt and game

 

Bidding Sequence

Question:  Are there any rules for when to use a penalty double?  This hand went down 3, doubled and vulnerable.

Glenna:

  This was a very interesting hand. 

1st, I have to be honest and say I would not preempt with this hand—it’s much too pretty. 7-5 COME ALIVE! But, we all have different ideas. I think N should and must bid 4 ♠️! 

Wow N you have a beautiful hand and should bid 4 without much thought. E stepped in and saved you by bidding 4 ♦️! Now, you bid 4 ♠️ but still doesn’t show the strength of your hand. 

  E you made a super aggressive bid of 4 ♦️ because when the opponent preempts, you have to have a great hand to bid at all. You pushed them into a game they should have freely bid so shame on you.  Then to bid 5 ♦️ is not a winning bid—you pushed them to game and now say "here’s a dart board on my back so  please punish me".  They did—you gave them a top board by going minus 800 when they could only make 620! 

Partners are hard enough to please, but when you bid without the correct values, you are putting yourself in a bad position.

  North and South: When partner preempts and you have an opening hand, bid your game. Bridge winners bid their values. Remember that if you make everything you bid, you’re not bidding enough. We all bid our values, but sometimes fate doesn’t let us make it even though we should be in game. Become a good bidder and over time you become the winner.

Hope this helps,

Glenna

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - February 6, 2023 - Not Bidding a Reverse

 

Question:  North has 5 diamonds, 4 hearts, and 13HCP.  Should North show the hearts as a rebid when North was the overcaller or is it acceptable to stay in diamonds?

Vic:

Showing the hearts as a rebid would be a Reverse (at the three level no less). I believe it would imply a hand stronger than13 HCPs, although as an overcaller it would not be too outrageous. I would not make that bid if I was North.  

Jumping to 4D is not acceptable either. It crosses the line big time from aggressive to reckless. 

Turns out 4D plays pretty well in this case, but that is Slot Machine Bridge at its finest. 

The most "acceptable" thing North could do at their second chance to call is Pass. 

If I were holding the North hand, I would like to believe I would Pass on my first chance to call. What I would really like to be able to do with that hand is tell partner about my 4 hearts. Bidding 1D first is going to make that very awkward.  

What I would be hoping is that if I Pass, East will bid 1S. If it then passes back around to me OR if West raises to 2S, I can then DBL to tell partner I have hearts & diamonds.  

In response to my DBL, partner should bid 3H (if available) at their next turn & we will have found the contract we should be in. 

What if East should bid 1D or 1H instead of 1S, you ask? Don't think for a moment that either one of those bids would not make me happy.

 What if East should pass the auction around to partner, you ask? I would be hoping for Partner to make a balancing call of some sort. Looking at the vulnerability & partner's hand, however, I am not sure they would do so. If not, that would end the auction at 1C. 

Ain't bridge a great game?

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Mark Olsky - January 9, 2023 - Wrong Bid, Good Result

 

Question: 

West has opened a weak 2S. N and E have passes and S is holding a hand with 19 HCP and overcalls 3C E makes a defensive bid of 3S. N had assumed that S overcalled holding 5C bid 4C over East’s bid. The hand makes 4C but in hindsight it appears it could have made more points for N/S. What is the best way for S to give a better picture of their holding?

Mark:

This hand is very interesting as an example of a case where a wrong action might get a good result,

 West's decision to open 2 spades would get almost no support among strong players. Many teachers would tell you to have a 6 card suit headed at least KQ or QJ10. There's too much risk that your partner will expect a different hand and will make a wrong decision as a result. The fact that ALL the high card points are outside spades, makes things very risky for getting partner to attempt a "phantom sacrifice" ( where you go down expecting a profit because of the presumed even more profitable contract that the opponents are in, but it turns out the opponents were heading for a minus score.) 

Here's what could happen if W passes in 1st seat, as I would as well as 99% of A players: N opens 1 heart and South jumps to 4 hearts. E may or may not enter with a 2 diamond overcall. If E does bid 2 D, W may pass 4H, fearing the vulnerability. Many red- blooded Wests would bid 5 D not expecting to make it, but figuring 4 H is makeable. It happens that 5 D by EW is cold, so, doubled or not, 5D, played correctly, will fetch a great matchpoint score. If E doesn't intervene, 4 hearts is very unlikely to make. The only lead by E that allows 4H to make is the Spade King. That lead is very unlikely to be made absent that ill- advised 2 spade opening. If, after that 2S opening N-S buy the hand at 4H, E will surely lead the Spade king, allowing a loser to be thrown as N-S suddenly have 3 spade tricks . then normal, careful play will allow NS to make 4H.

  On the actual auction, NS will usually find themselves in 4H going down 1 or 2 tricks. If W buys the hand at 2 spades, he will make 4. There are at least 6 possible results. including game for E-W. A plus score is always better than a minus. Only scores of 200 or more for either side are fairly sure to be good. 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - January 23, 2023 - Grand Slam

 

Question:  This hand went to a Grand Slam.  When should you bid a grand slam?

Glenna:

Ralph,

 This is a theme that we’ve talked about often, but must need to teach people to practice using the theory. We bid SLOWLY with good hands and go QUICKLY with bad hands.

W must bid 2 ♦️ NOT 3. (Partner will think W had 8 -10 points and not much outside of the ♦️ suit and it usually says we can play only ♦️either 5 or 6). E will bid 2 NT showing 22 - 24 points and now W can bid 3 ♦️ showing a good hand and a minimum of 5 ♦️. E now knows W has a good hand AND they have a fantastic ♦️ fit and can check for # of A and can bid 7 NT. 

  Knowing the partnership has a super fit is AS important as knowing how many points each person has. You must know how to show both I order to be a competent bidder. Using only points doesn’t cut it.  Here is an example:   AKxx.   AKxx.    Akxx.  A.  26 points and the hand can take 7 tricks for sure.

                                                                                                                             AKQJTxxx.  x.  xx.     xx. Only 10 points but can take 8 tricks in ♠️