The Bridge Board Volume 01, Issue 02 July 31, 2020 Welcome to the second issue of The Bridge Board, a bi-weekly newsletter dedicated to supporting beginner and intermediate bridge players. You will find regular articles dedicated to fundamental concepts of bidding, declarer play, and defence, along with lots of quizzes to test your knowledge. Our articles are written by leading bridge teachers and professionals, all in an effort to help you get the most enjoyment out of your bridge game whether at clubs, online, or around the kitchen table. We look forward to hearing from you Rob and Keith From the Editors Contents With the arrival of Covid-19, bridge players everywhere were Bidding forced to distance themselves from their friends and the game Gerber …..…................................. 2 they love in order to keep everyone safe. Quiz ………….......................................................... 2 Almost immediately, the ACBL, in conjunction with Declarer Play bridgebase.com, partnered to create Virtual Bridge Clubs. Setting up winners by losing tricks! …………........... 3 Quiz ………….......................................................... 3 The Durham Bridge Club was one of the first clubs to join this venture and is now fully online. As of this week, we have four Defence games a week. Discards …………..................................... 4 Quiz ………….......................................................... 4 To provide further support to the bridge community, we now have two free newsletters Featured Guest: Anne Lloyd Anne of Green Tables ........................................... 5 The Bridge Board (Beginner and Intermediate players) The Durham Bridge Newsletter (All bridge players) Quiz Answers Bidding Quiz …………..................................... 8 .... Declarer Play …………..................................... 8 Every edition, we will showcase a couple of hands from the Defence …………..................................... 8 Thursday Beginner/Intermediate game in a video with a link provided here. Weekly Results July 23 and July 30 …………..................................... 9 Link to video for July 30th: https://www.loom.com/share/6a23c28b724b4093bd940f1 Balcombe’s Bridge Beat …………................................ 10 5558db210 About Us 0-99 Masterpoint Race …………............................ 11 Event Schedule …………............................ 11 Editors and Contributors …………............................ 11 Copyright © 2020, Robert Hanly and Keith Balcombe, All Rights Reserved Bidding Gerber Responding to Gerber Gerber is a common convention that allows a player to ask for aces when their partner’s last bid was in notrump. Usage: A bid of 4. when partner’s last bid was in notrump __________ 4. bid directly after a notrump bid Asking for Kings When your partner opens the bidding in notrump, a bid of 4. is Sometimes you bid Gerber and find yourself with all the aces. Gerber, asking for aces. Now you’re interested in a grand slam, so you want to ask for Examples: kings. 1) North South 2) North South After asking for aces with a bid of 4., a follow-up bid of 5. 1N . 2N . 4 4 asks for kings. The step responses are exactly the same as for ... ... 4., they are just at the 5-level. __________ 4. bid later in the auction, but right after a notrump bid Bidding is about exchanging information with your partner about your distribution in an effort to find a fit. Sometimes, it takes a few bids before you realize you don’t have a fit with your partner. Then you bid notrump. Partner’s continuation bid of 4. is Gerber __________ Examples: Stopping when you don’t have enough aces 3) North South 4) North South When you are missing too many aces, you can stop the slam-try 1. 1 1 1 by bidding notrump. 1N 4. 2N 4. ... ... Examples: 9) North South 10) North South 5) North South 6) North South 1N 1 1 1 1 2. 2 4. 4 2N 4. 3N 4. 2N 4. 4N Pass 4 4N ... ... Pass __________ When 4. is not Gerber A bid of 4. is not Gerber when either player in a partnership Bidding Quiz (answers on page 8) has shown a ‘real’ club suit. A ‘real’ club suit has at least five cards. What is your response to 4.? These examples are not Gerber auctions: a North South South a North South South 7) North South 8) North South 1N A7 1 A7 1. 1 2. 4. ___ KJ2 1 2N KJ2 1 2. 2N 3. A743 4. ___ A743 3N 4. 3N 4. KQ3 . AQ3 ... ... c North South South d North South South 1 AK82 2. AK85 2. 2 KJ954 2 2N AQJ3 3. 3N K3 3. 3 A74 4. ___ . 42 4. ___ . AJ Page 2 Copyright ©2020, Robert Hanly and Keith Balcombe, All Rights Reserved Declarer Play Setting up winners by losing tricks! A full hand: North 65 We all love to run long suits headed by the AKQ. 654 AK432 But most of the time, we don’t have the AKQ and a loser in the long suit is unavoidable. 543 West East Many times, you will be further hampered by a lack of QJ1087 94 entries to the hand with length in the suit 97 QJ1082 For example: 98 QJ10 K975 E-W will always get a . KJ86 . 1097 Q62 J108 trick in this suit. South A43 AK32 If you play the A, then the K, then lose the 3rd trick, you will AK3 have no direct way to get back to the hearts in the North hand. 765 You will have to use an outside entry. AQ2 N-S arrive in the standard contract of 3NT after South opens The solution: Let the opponents win the first trick in the suit 2NT. West leads the Q, top of a sequence. They were going to win one anyway. You will be left with K97 Declarer has 7 tricks on top, with extra possibilities in diamonds opposite A4. When you get back in, you will have 3 heart and clubs. tricks if the suit originally divided 3-3 and you will not have Declarer should win the lead and immediately play a small entry problems diamond from both hands. Consider this example: Win any continuation from East and try the diamonds. You will AK432 765 take four diamonds if the suit originally split 3-2. You have 2 tricks on top Declarer ends up with 9 tricks (2 spades, 2 hearts, 4 diamonds and 1 club). You can take 4 tricks if the suit splits 3-2, as long as you give the opponents 1 trick You can take 3 tricks if the suit splits 4-1, as long as you give the opponent’s 2 tricks Declarer Play Quiz (answers on page 9) And this example: How many tricks can you win and how many would you A432 K65 have to lose? (Assume you cannot ruff anything, but have lots of entries) You have 2 tricks on top You can take 3 tricks if the suit splits 3-2, as 1) A9432 K65 2) . K652 . A43 Split Winners Losers Split Winners Losers long as you give the opponents 1 trick 3-2 ___ ___ 3-3 ___ ___ And this seemingly hopeless example: 4-1 ___ ___ 4-2 ___ ___ 5-0 ___ ___ 5-1 ___ ___ 98432 765 You have 0 tricks on top 3) K9432 A5 4) . 96352 . A4 You can take 2 tricks if the suit splits 3-2, as Split Winners Losers Split Winners Losers long as you give the opponents 3 tricks and 3-3 ___ ___ 3-3 ___ ___ you still have entries to the hand with the long 4-2 ___ ___ 4-2 ___ ___ suit. 5-1 ___ ___ 5-1 ___ ___ Page 3 Copyright ©2020, Robert Hanly and Keith Balcombe, All Rights Reserved Defence Discards Example: West North East South Consider this hand: 1 1 1 Pass 2N Contract: 3NT KJ Pass 3N All Pass Lead: Q A72 Dummy KJ AJ1076 . AKQ973 Lead: Q 105 8652 96 83 . Q85 AQ1082 West East . 62 42 985 Declarer needs 9 tricks to make 3NT. It looks like they have 7 AJ863 K92 tricks in the dummy and the K in their hand (based on the QJ103 874 lead). K2 . 10976 Declarer If West has the A, you have a chance... When declarer starts KQ running the clubs, you must tell your partner to lead a diamond Q74 so you can beat the contract. Which diamond to you play? AK52 ______________________ . AJ43 Discard Signals are a way to tell your partner if you want them West finds a safe lead of the Q (top of a sequence). Declarer to lead the suit you are discarding. has 8 tricks on top (5 spades, 2 diamonds and 1 club). They win the lead and runs 5 spade tricks. East discards the 9 on the The signal you send to your partner depends on the size of the 4th spade. spot card you play. Now Declarer tries the club finesse, losing to West who Standard discards are the most common form of discard signals switches to a small heart to East’s K. A heart return through and are used all over the world. When you are discarding from declarer leads to down 2. a suit, play a... high spot card to say you like the suit discarded Defence Quiz (answers on page 9) low spot card to say you do NOT like the suit discarded In the example at the top of the page, you can tell your partner Dummy Use this dummy with each question below. to lead diamonds by discarding the 8. A43 ______________________ Your partner leads the J, won by declarer in K82 their hand with the Q Note: Most experts only tell their partner what they like if it’s a 73 strong holding, or their partner needs to know . AKQ72 Note: If it’s a trump contract, assume declarer draws trump first. immediately.