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 ♠️ 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Vic Johnson - January 23, 2023 - Overcall

 

Question:  How should North evaluate a potential heart overcall on this hand?

Vic: 

North has the right to expect that West holds the spade King, giving North two likely tricks in spades. Other than the two spade tricks, however, the North hand is not very impressive.  

I would expect North to conclude that overcalling at the three level, especially considering the fact that NS are vulnerable, would cross the line from a smart aggressive bid to a not so smart reckless bid. If I were North, I would Pass. 

Looks to me like an experienced EW pair, defending against a heart contract, would hold NS to 7 tricks (6 hearts + 1 spade). That would put a bid of 3H down two, giving EW a score of 200 points (500 points in the reasonably unlikely event of a penalty DBL). Either would be a better score than EW would have earned had they been allowed to play a 2S contract.  

Speaking of reckless bids, that is exactly how I would rate the opening 2S bid by West, holding no spade honors higher than the Ten. If West does not open 2S, it is difficult to imagine NS will not find a heart contract, possibly even a game level contract of 4H. By opening 2S, West prevented himself/herself + partner from earning the higher score they could have earned by defending against a heart contract.  

Ain't bridge a great game?

 

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - January 30, 2023 - Bid

 

Question:  When should North bid clubs?

Glenna:

This seems to be a continuous problem which I don’t understand. S opens and N bids 1 ♠️. South has a minimum hand and should rebid 1NT. It will then go P, P, P. Perfect spot.  South can bid 2 ♥️ IF, they hold 5 card minor and 4 ♥️ and has 17+ points. North doesn’t have enough points to show his ♣️, but who cares—they take tricks in NT!!!!  You don’t have to bid every suit in your hand when you show what you can, ♣️ are a wonderful gift for your partner.

Glenna

Weekly Hand Analysis - Glenna Shannahan - January 16, 2023 - Bid

 

Question: If you notice this bidding sequence between East and West is different.  East opens up with a heart but rather than confirming hearts with a bid, West shows spades.  What is the correct way to bid this hand?

Glenna:

Good hand to talk about: Will give you how the bidding should go and then want to talk about that they did NOT show their partner what they really held:

6♥️  is cold and many, many players would bid 6. This is a hand where you pull only 2 rounds of trump so you can ruff a loser in dummy with the ♥️ 10. 

Both W and E got off to a good start, but then collapsed on their 2nd bid. E cannot bid 1 NT which shows 13 or 14 and actually has 17!!! AND is not balanced; rather a very fine 2nd suit—show it to partner.  W is showing an opening hand now by bidding game: bid of a new suit and a simple raise shows 6 - 10 and NOT the 14 point opening hand he has!!!

Point to remember: 

• Opener jumps to game after a simple bid by partner shows 19-21!
• Responder jumps to game show a weak hand with long trump. 

Go fast with bad hands and slow with good hands. 2 ♥️ by W in the initial uncorrected bid shows 6-10 so bid game.  I really hope this helps because this is information that you must know in order to advance in bridge.