Sometimes in a competition there is a major theme that presents itself in multiple times and in multiple ways. Have you discussed the title auction in your partnerships? When John and I prepared to play one of the top flight teams last week, our opponents were discussing whether the above auction was forcing or not. Some thought it was (their teammates) and our particular opponents were of the other opinion. Non forcing! I told John that I was happy that we had discussed the auction thoroughly and weren't going to get mixed up this set or ever! Copied ver batem from our system notes:
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**********
1C 1D, 1H
1C 1D, 1S
1C 1H, 1S
1D 1H, 1S
–only passable if you were ashamed of your first bid or bidding out of fright..
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So three days forward we face the Lusky team --of all things and my partner responds 1H to my one diamond opening. I rebid 1S although came really close to just bidding 2H and getting on with life. Partner passed. Did she meet the specs of the Lusky/Knaap system notes? My hand: AQxx,Qxx.KJTx,xx Dummy: T9x,Txxxx,Ax,xxx There you are, should have gone with my intuition! Extra credit --what do you expect the Villain to lead on this auction. And if he doesn't lead "it" why not.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Mid-hand carding -pinpoint the communication process!
I mentioned in one of my previous posts that one of the biggest sections of your system notes might be the section headed by "carding". Indeed it is an important part of the communication scheme, essential to figure out who has what when on defense you have precious little time to develop your tricks. After all, the opps have announced the balance of power or a source of tricks due to a powerful trump suit.
There will be times when you wish to fool your declarer, knowing your partner can figure stuff out, but we'll defer that to when we've all won the blue ribbons once or twice. Before that, assume that good communication between you and your partner will foil declarer's plans every single time, or at least won't let you drop the overtrick.
Mid-hand carding has it's own unique rules. Whether playing standard or udca, the midhand carding remains the same unless specified different within the partnership:
1) In general I give attitude (udca or standard per agreement) on the suits we lead. I give a count card on the suits declarer attacks. This remains true throughout the hand after the opening lead on non-trump plays.
2) I you lead a suit mid-hand, you lead low from interest. So, if you hold an honor in the suit, lead low; if you hold junk, lead some high card. It tells your partner where your sources of tricks might be for the defense. For example, suppose you hold 973 in one suit and AQ5 in another and you don't see a K of your strong suit in dummy. Exit the 7 of the off suit telling partner "don't lead this suit back, think of something else". Partner will figure it out.
3) If the attitude of the suit is known lead a count card "fourth best". Suppose you lead an A and see the K in dummy and partner encourages most likely holding the Q. --lead back a "fourth best" remaining count card. Suppose you led the A against a preempt from AT742 and partner encourages with the K in dummy and you agree. Now lead the count card 4 "fourth best" from the original holing. Why? So the pair knows what's cashing and you can make appropriate switches. Remember attitude is known.
One would continue with the 2 from A1042 or the 7 from A72. Note that these are the same cards one would return if partner led the suit to you and you were returning the suit.
4) One of the favorite things expert players like to do is run their long suit so the opponents are forced to guess what to save. I haven't been caught in that a long time --Know why? My partnerships give a clear attitude signal at the first opportunity. "I'm saving/discarding this suit partner". This card is now followed by a count card (odd or even number) Most of my partnerships figure it out from there.
5) Make sure to discuss what to do with a singleton in the dummy. My preference is to continue "attitude". A discouraging card means I want you to switch to the suit in dummy where you can see tricks coming for our side. An unusual high card means "make an unusual shift, partner", most likely to the strong suit in dummy --for a ruff or isolation or something. Make sure to discuss this however, not every partnership prefers this method.
A fun thing to do is go over a set or two you've played with your favorite parnter and talk about carding and what message you are conveying as you lead, pitch and follow. You'll be amazed by how smooth that conversation piece is once the kinks get worked out.
Hope this helps. Ask if you have questions!
There will be times when you wish to fool your declarer, knowing your partner can figure stuff out, but we'll defer that to when we've all won the blue ribbons once or twice. Before that, assume that good communication between you and your partner will foil declarer's plans every single time, or at least won't let you drop the overtrick.
Mid-hand carding has it's own unique rules. Whether playing standard or udca, the midhand carding remains the same unless specified different within the partnership:
1) In general I give attitude (udca or standard per agreement) on the suits we lead. I give a count card on the suits declarer attacks. This remains true throughout the hand after the opening lead on non-trump plays.
2) I you lead a suit mid-hand, you lead low from interest. So, if you hold an honor in the suit, lead low; if you hold junk, lead some high card. It tells your partner where your sources of tricks might be for the defense. For example, suppose you hold 973 in one suit and AQ5 in another and you don't see a K of your strong suit in dummy. Exit the 7 of the off suit telling partner "don't lead this suit back, think of something else". Partner will figure it out.
3) If the attitude of the suit is known lead a count card "fourth best". Suppose you lead an A and see the K in dummy and partner encourages most likely holding the Q. --lead back a "fourth best" remaining count card. Suppose you led the A against a preempt from AT742 and partner encourages with the K in dummy and you agree. Now lead the count card 4 "fourth best" from the original holing. Why? So the pair knows what's cashing and you can make appropriate switches. Remember attitude is known.
One would continue with the 2 from A1042 or the 7 from A72. Note that these are the same cards one would return if partner led the suit to you and you were returning the suit.
4) One of the favorite things expert players like to do is run their long suit so the opponents are forced to guess what to save. I haven't been caught in that a long time --Know why? My partnerships give a clear attitude signal at the first opportunity. "I'm saving/discarding this suit partner". This card is now followed by a count card (odd or even number) Most of my partnerships figure it out from there.
5) Make sure to discuss what to do with a singleton in the dummy. My preference is to continue "attitude". A discouraging card means I want you to switch to the suit in dummy where you can see tricks coming for our side. An unusual high card means "make an unusual shift, partner", most likely to the strong suit in dummy --for a ruff or isolation or something. Make sure to discuss this however, not every partnership prefers this method.
A fun thing to do is go over a set or two you've played with your favorite parnter and talk about carding and what message you are conveying as you lead, pitch and follow. You'll be amazed by how smooth that conversation piece is once the kinks get worked out.
Hope this helps. Ask if you have questions!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Balancing actions after two passes!
Everyone knows pretty quickly that bids in different positions take on different meanings. Take for example the pretty innocuous 1N bid. In opening position it signifies 15-17 hcp and a balanced hand (standard treatment). As an overcall, it denotes 15-18 hcp, as response to a minor 6-9, a major 6-11 and in the balancing chair; voila! 11-14.
There are a whole cadre of bids after the bidding goes 1x P P that take on different meanings when made in this position. One of the reasons we alter these bids is that there is already something extremely significant we know when the bidding goes 1x P P.
1) Responder has less than 5 hcp.
2) Partner could not make a TOX or overcall –what does that mean?
3) Responder doesn’t think the opponents have a huge trump fit.
Given all of that, actions in the balancing chair take on a different flavor from immediate overcalls. These actions can be separated into two categories: 1) unpassed hand 2) passed hand.
Unpassed hand:
Over 1M or 1m openings, a 1N balance means 11-14 hcp. Some people play systems on, other systems off. Make sure to come to an agreement with your pard. Here are some further bids.
1N 11-14
X and 1N 15-17
2N 18-20
X and 2N 21+
Jumps in suits are value-showing. Remember you’re preempting no-one here, rather engaging in your own constructive sequences. So two level and three level bids show six card suits and values. Eleven hcp if a single jump, more if a double jump.
Q bids.
1m P P 2m also shows at minimum constructive values (opening hand) as opposed to the preempt junk you bids in direct seat; Majors 1M P P 2M (same major) is Constructive Michaels showing the other major and a minor.
There are some hands which are terribly difficult to show in this position. Those are the strong one suited or two suited hands (very strong) where passing a TOX might not be optimum. Ex. AKQxxxx,KQJ,Ax,x over 1C or AKJxx,Kx,x,AKJxx over 1D. For these you might manufacture a Q bid then jump in some suit!
Passed hand:
Since we don’t have strong nt hands to show, 2N now is unusual for the lower unbid suits. i.e. P, (1D) P (P) 2N shows clubs and hearts –less than an opening hand. Duh.
Encore Performance
There are a whole cadre of bids after the bidding goes 1x P P that take on different meanings when made in this position. One of the reasons we alter these bids is that there is already something extremely significant we know when the bidding goes 1x P P.
1) Responder has less than 5 hcp.
2) Partner could not make a TOX or overcall –what does that mean?
3) Responder doesn’t think the opponents have a huge trump fit.
Given all of that, actions in the balancing chair take on a different flavor from immediate overcalls. These actions can be separated into two categories: 1) unpassed hand 2) passed hand.
Unpassed hand:
Over 1M or 1m openings, a 1N balance means 11-14 hcp. Some people play systems on, other systems off. Make sure to come to an agreement with your pard. Here are some further bids.
1N 11-14
X and 1N 15-17
2N 18-20
X and 2N 21+
Jumps in suits are value-showing. Remember you’re preempting no-one here, rather engaging in your own constructive sequences. So two level and three level bids show six card suits and values. Eleven hcp if a single jump, more if a double jump.
Q bids.
1m P P 2m also shows at minimum constructive values (opening hand) as opposed to the preempt junk you bids in direct seat; Majors 1M P P 2M (same major) is Constructive Michaels showing the other major and a minor.
There are some hands which are terribly difficult to show in this position. Those are the strong one suited or two suited hands (very strong) where passing a TOX might not be optimum. Ex. AKQxxxx,KQJ,Ax,x over 1C or AKJxx,Kx,x,AKJxx over 1D. For these you might manufacture a Q bid then jump in some suit!
Passed hand:
Since we don’t have strong nt hands to show, 2N now is unusual for the lower unbid suits. i.e. P, (1D) P (P) 2N shows clubs and hearts –less than an opening hand. Duh.
Encore Performance
Try not to balance rich in lho's suit. Think our dear instructor Tony Glynne used the word "never" three times when describing this concept. Look at number 2 above, partner, known to be short, did not make a TOX nor overcalled a suit. What makes you think you belong in the auction? Also, if you have a fit with lho and partner has a fit with lho, perhaps opps have a fit elsewhere. Don't balance them into their better fit. Sit back quietly, pass and defend well!
Hope this straightens out some confusion –because without discussion there will be confusion. Trust me, and I've lost the mp, imps and events to prove it. Good luck
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