|
|
|
Opening Lead:
Versus
Trumps (1)
(This, and articles like it can be found at andrewrobson.co.uk.)
Good
Leads: The choice of opening lead decides the fate of
many contracts – about half of all contracts that start life in the
balance. Sometimes the defence have to win their tricks quickly – when
dummy has a long strong suit. Sometimes the defence can sit back and
play a waiting game. It’s hard to know which without a sight of dummy,
so if you are lucky enough to have an ace-king combination, you should
always lead the ace (top of a sequence) and have a look at the dummy.
Then you can decide what to do with more information. Ace-from ace-king
is most decidedly Andrew’s favourite lead: a 10/10 lead.
Other good leads (9/10) include leading the king from king-queen. This
is good because you are happy if the king forces out the opposing ace,
as this promotes your queen; you are even happier if your king wins the
trick, for now it looks like partner holds the ace. The other 9/10 lead
is a singleton: you void yourself in the hope of being able to trump a
further round of the suit.
Exercise:
After the unrevealing auction by the opponents of 1♠-4♠,
what would you lead from:
|
♠ 9 6 3
♥ 9
♦ A
K 8 3
♣
J 8 4 3 2 |
You have a singleton heart, yet that
is not the best lead. Better is to lead ♦ A to have a free look at
dummy. You can always switch to ♥ 9 should a look at dummy
make that attractive. Or cash ♦ K. Or even switch to a
club. You won’t know until you see dummy and that’s why ♦ A
is best: it keeps all your options open.
|
|
|
Rebidding
Notrumps
The normal order of priority between the five game contracts is:
1st:
4 ♥,
4 ♠ with an eight-card
fit
2nd: 3 NT
3rd: 5 ♣, 5 ♦
(some way behind).
I
tell my students
(tongue-incheek) to play Five-of-a-Minor just once a
month.
It will only be best if all of the following are true:
a) No
eight-card major fit.
b) A short
suit unstopped in both hands (3 NT out).
c) Good shape/loads of points.
Say
the bidding has begun 1 ♠-2 ♦-3 NT
(17-19). Are you passing, or bidding that
once-a-month 5 ♦?
| Hand (i) |
Hand(ii) |
Hand(iii) |
♠ -
♥ J 9 7
♦ A K 6 4 3 2
♣ 9 6
3 2 |
♠ 4 3
♥ 7 5
♦ A Q J 7 4 3 2
♣ 7 3 |
♠ J 9
♥ -
♦ A K 6 4 3 2
♣ K J
9 8 |
(i) Pass. The
spade void is not notrumpy, but it is
partner’s suit. Turning to
hearts, give partner as little as ♥ xxx and you would rather
play 3 NT (four
heart losers on a 4-3 split) than 5 ♦ (three losers and down
you go). See deal.
(ii) Pass.
Without a singleton, to even think of 5 ♦
would be misguided. The
diamonds should run nicely in notrumps.
(iii) 5 ♦.
Because of the side-suit void, and the “slow” minor-suit holdings.
Top cards will need to be dislodged and you may not have time in 3 NT
after,
say, partner’s one heart stop has been dislodged.
North Deals
N-S
Vul |
| ♠ |
A
K J 8 3 |
| ♥ |
10
8 6 |
| ♦ |
Q
7 |
| ♣ |
A
K Q |
|
| ♠ |
Q
9 7 6 4 |
| ♥ |
K
Q 4 |
| ♦ |
9
5 |
| ♣ |
J
8 7 |
|
|
|
|
|
| ♠ |
10
5 2 |
| ♥ |
A
5 3 2 |
| ♦ |
J
10 8 |
| ♣ |
10
5 4 |
|
|
|
| ♠ |
— |
| ♥ |
J
9 7 |
| ♦ |
A
K 6 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
9
6 3 2 |
|
What
happened
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
| Pass |
3 NT1 |
Pass |
5 ♦2 |
| Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
- 17-19 Balanced
- Mistake. Two more tricks to
make than 3 NT. A void in
partner’s suit is not of huge concern and pass is indicated.
|
5♦
was quickly down. West led ♥ K, continued with ♥ Q,
then led ♥ 4
to East’s
♥ A.
East led his thirteenth heart, and when West ruffed with ♦ 9,
forcing
dummy to overtrump with ♦ Q, East’s ♦ J104
was promoted into a trump trick.
Down two.
What should have happened
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
| Pass |
3 N |
Pass |
Pass |
| Pass |
|
|
|
The defence can take the first four heart tricks against North’s 3 NT,
but
that’s it (diamonds run - starting with ♦ Q). Game made.
If you
remember just one thing...
Try to avoid Five-of-Minor.
|
| |
| |
| Column
of the Month - for the more Experienced |
| |
|
(This, and articles like it can be found at andrewrobson.co.uk.)
On this deal from the World Championships in Bali, I want you to shout
out
when, declaring 4♥
as South, you can deduce where the missing king of
clubs
lies. Study the auction first – right from the very beginning.
Teams
East Deals
E-W
Vul |
| ♠ |
J
6 |
| ♥ |
K
Q J 9 |
| ♦ |
J
6 2 |
| ♣ |
J
4 3 2 |
|
| ♠ |
A
10 9 8 7 5 |
| ♥ |
10
7 4 |
| ♦ |
K
7 5 |
| ♣ |
K |
|
|
|
|
|
| ♠ |
K
2 |
| ♥ |
5 |
| ♦ |
A
Q 10 8 4 3 |
| ♣ |
9
7 6 5 |
|
|
|
| ♠ |
Q
4 3 |
| ♥ |
A
8 6 3 2 |
| ♦ |
9 |
| ♣ |
A
Q 10 8 |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
|
Pass1 |
1 ♥ |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♥2 |
3 ♦ |
3 ♥ |
| 4 ♦ |
4 ♥3 |
Pass |
Pass |
| Pass |
|
|
|
- It would be nice to have a
Weak Two in diamonds
available.
- Two-and-a-half Hearts. Not
because you’re really
worth it – those jacks could all be worthless [indeed in a sense they
all are – as you’ll see from the play]; but because it takes away
bidding space from East
- You have not really been
invited to the party –
partner’s 3♥
was not inviting game, rather just competing. However your
heart holding looks so much better-suited to play than defence and 4♥
down one is better than conceding 4♦.
|
West leads the five of diamonds and...
Can I hear you shout? You should
know already where that king of clubs
lies.
Here is how. West would lead a top spade holding ace and king,
therefore East
has either the king or ace of spades.
West would lead a high diamond if
he
holds a sequence and would not lead away from the ace; therefore West
is
leading from the king or queen and East holds acequeen or ace-king.
Together
with East’s top spade, there is no room for East to hold the king of
clubs, or
he would have opened the bidding. Ergo, West holds the king of
clubs.
East wins
trick one with the ace of diamonds and leads a second diamond (the
spades can
wait). Declarer ruffs, draws trumps in three rounds (East with one),
then
cashes the ace of clubs, spurning the finesse. [If he wishes, he
canlead the
jack of clubs from dummy and flamboyantly rise with his ace – he can
always
finesse against East’s nine later, reaching dummy by ruffing the third
spade].
West’s king of clubs delightfully
falls under your ace and you can cash
your
three promoted clubs and merely give up two spades. 10 tricks and game
made.
You did not know that West’sking
of clubs was singleton – only that he
held the
card, rendering the finesse pointless. Or perhaps you did start to
suspect it
was singleton...
West must have six spades – if he
holds five, East has
three
and would have supported in the auction. East would not volunteer 3♦
without
six cards, so West has three. When you draw trumps, you
discover West holds three. That leaves room for just
one
club...the king.
Elementary, my dear Watson.
|
| Books, Flippers and
Arrow Packs |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
At
the Club |
|
|
| Next week at ARBC |
Andrew's Courses are starting on Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th October. They include:
Meanwhile on Monday 6th October, Richard's Intermediate play
and Advanced Defence Courses start.
Alternatively many of our
courses can be taken over a weekend. This format is
ideal for people living out of town as well as, those who cannot
commit
to a week day course. Full details can be seen
here.
|
| | | Caroline's Conventions | Learn and perfect your Bridge Conventions with Caroline Thursdays @14.00:
- 9-Oct Trial Bids
- 16-Oct Jacoby
- 23-Oct Weak Twos
- 6-Nov Transfers
- 13-Nov Michaels
- 20-Nov Unusual 2NT
- 27-Nov Negative Doubles
(£20 per session, pay on the door.) | | | | What to improve your duplicate score? | | David's
Delights is the answer. Held on Monday Morning @11.00, each week you
will play eight carefully crafted hand designed to help you hone your
duplicate skills. (£20 per session, pay on the door. Dates: 6th, 13th
October + 3rd,10th, 17th, 24th of November.) |
| |
| Children
in Need |
| We are
participating in two simultaneous pairs events in aid of
Children in Need. The dates for your diary are
Friday 7th November @13.00 &
Thursday 13th November @19.15. Table money will be £12, which includes a £4 donation to Children in Need.
|
| |
|
ARBC
Holidays |
|
We run a selection of
holidays including in the coming year:
- Bruges
- Malta
- Grindelwald
- Zermatt
- York
- Millstream -Bosham
|
| jack@yorkshirebridge.com
|
| |
| ARBC Shop |
|
|
| Andrew's
Bridge Lessons Series |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
