ArcLight

Private Sessions by August Boehm Well presented low Intermediate level book on visualization. Much of the book is spent on visualizing the unseen hands based on the bidding. Conventions are mostly ignored, and Hand Evaluation is emphasized. What are some hands pard might have for his bid? What might the opp be holding? How well do the hands mesh? Given that pard bid and I hold all the honors in 2 suits, what can pard have for his raise? Pard passed initially, and then jump raised me, why? There are also sections on: -the value of a singleton honor. -play of the hand. -thinking at the table -memory Recommended for low intermediates. Beginners will also benefit as it introduces many fundamental concepts. A fun book to read.

Why is 1NT such a bad call? If pard has ♦Kxx, we can take 9 tricks before the hearts are set up.

>The other issue is that opening a strong two bid is nowhere nearly as useful today as it was 40 years ago when 2♠, 2♥ and 2♦ openers were strong as well. I would say just the opposite. Its the ONLY forcing bid you have. Thus it is more valuable.

Pard made a penalty double, I don't see many trumps in my hand or Dummies, I have defense against dummies 2 suits, lets play no trump. Lead the ♦ Jack. Do NOT continue hearts forcing pard to ruff.

With a 5 card major West could have transfered East. West is 4=4=4=1 or 4=4=3=2. With 4=4=5=0 he would pass the 2♦ response Since East denied a 4 card major, lets assume 3-3 or 3-2, leaving 7 or 8 cards in the minors. For the Double I assume East probably has 3-4 Clubs. We have 19, so they have 21 HCP >I leave you to decide how many tricks to aim for, but I don't recommend going two off. With Spades they will lose at least 2 heart 2 spades and a diamond. If we don't open hearts for them, they will lose 3 hearts and probably go down. IF they are going down, we need to make our contract. That means losing 2 clubs, a spade and a diamond. We need to lose just 1 Spade. Mustr do it before Clubs are gone. Lead the Spade K, planning to ruff the 3rd Spade. Once the Spade is ruffed, we are in dummy with 2 trumps. Lead the 4♣ and play low, finessing Easts honors, and covering whats played. Then play a heart back to hand and lead another club, covering East card.

>What's wrong with coded 10s and 9s? I'd like to know this too. Eddie Kantar likes them. He advocates their use in his Modern Bridge defense. In Bobby Hammans book "At the Table" he HATES the "Jack Denies" convention, but never said anything about Coded 9s and 10's. He also disliked the ethics of the Smith Echo.

>3♠ would have been non-forcing so you can't bid that. Some would say that 2NT shows an 18-19 balanced while 3NT shows what you have. Without that agreement the correct rebid is probably 3♣. Perhaps, but pard had passed that sequence on a prior hand. :blink: I mentioned that he passed a forcing bid, so I didn't want to take a chance. (Not much fun playing that way! :ph34r: )

>I'd like to know the rest of the bidding, because i can't really understand why you stopped in 3NT, because 4♠ looks like the better contract. Playing 2/1 1♠ - 1NT (forcing) 3NT I think the correct book bid would have been 3♠ becaus eof teh 6 spades, headed by AKJ. But in Mike Lawrences version of 2/1 3NT shows 20+. Here is some of my reasoning at the time: 1- playing with a pick up pard, I didn't want to miss game. Pard had passed a forcing bid on the prior hand, so I didn't want to take any chances with a bid like 3♣ or 3♠. 2- I didn't know what pard hand, he may have had 6 HCP and a spade void, so I didnt want to jump to 3♠ passed out.

What would you open with this hand? IMPS Vul vs NonVul ♠ A K T X X X ♥ K x ♦ K x ♣ A K 3 I opened 1 ♠. We ended up in 3NT making 6 (defense palyed poorly). Pard thought I should have opened 2♣ like several others. While this is a very nice hand, I felt it was flawed in several ways. 1. I would need to enter dummy twice to take the 2 red suit finesses. 2. If pard had just 1 Spade, I'd have 1 or 2 spade losers, on top of what ever else I lost. 3. I felt game was close, and if pard could scrape up a bid, I'd go for it, but if pard passed, then we'd be in a part score.

North made an bad bid IMO. With that kind of spade suit, he should have rebid 2♠, which (at least in the 2/1 form Mike Lawrence) shows 6 Spades over a forcing NT. The problem with the 2♣ bid is its possible to have only 3 Clubs. With a 5=2=3=3 hand , you bid 2♣. I'd not be thrilled raising to 3♣ on a 4-3 fit. >Double, you don't even know if you have game so the vulnerability is not an issue. Your opponent doesn't have diddly, he is not vul and didn't bid the first time. Make him pay. I agree. In addition if you don't swat these overcalls, the opps will start making more of them. The best way to stop the opps from making bad overcalls is to punish them. -100 when you could have made a part score is bad at MPs. But those -300 will make them reconsider at IMPs.

Strong 1NT Response structure 1NT - 2♦ or 2♥ (transfer) 2NT = maximum Now opposite pards weak hand you can go down a few doubled at the 3 level when he was trying to help you. AND 1NT - 2♣ 2NT = maximum Now you have succeeeded in using up a level of bidding for little gain.

I would like to find one or more partners for online play. I typically play 9-11PM Eastern Time (USA). 1. I would like to use the 2/1 system presented by Mike Lawrence in his books and CD. I don't care if its not the theoretical best, what I want is agreements. It's not fun having fundamental bidding misunderstandings (sorry pard, I thought your double was for take out, I didn't realize it was a penalty double). 2. I would prefer using a smaller set of conventions that we both know thoroughly, rather than lots of conventions, that tax the memeory (esp. with multiple pards) and rarely come up. For example, I don't consider Minor Suit Staymay and 4 suit transfers indispensible. You want to use Inverted Minors, what are all of the sequences and meanings if the opps overcall? Using Jacoby 2NT what does 1S - 2NT - 4D mean to you? (is it a void or a good 5 card Club suit) 3. I very much want to use a set of defensive carding and signaling conventions as similar to those advocated by Eddie Kantar in Modern and Advanced bridge defense. Agreements like "when is a signal Count (or Suit Preference) rather than Attitude (or Count)". Be aware there is a whole set of these. I'll try and summarize them in a document. I rate myself an Intermediate Plus player and am looking for Intermediate Plus or above partners. I would rather work on counting/visualization than complex bidding sequences.

Cover King, lead trump to Dummy, finesse the Club Q, play Club ace, and another, hopefully establishing clubs. Ops can return a heart that you win. Ace and diamond Ruff to table. Discard on Clubs, or you may have to ruff anotehr club. Then another diamond ruff to table and discard heart loser on the good club. (I think this is similar to Phils line). Phil, why would you have an idea of where the K Club is at the table? What can you do if its offside unless Kx? As for the 2nd scenario, the heart lead, why would the defender with hearts all ow the other defender to win the trick, unless by accident?

Eddie Kantar and Mike Lawrence have differences of opinion on this issue. Eddie says one thing (Modern Bridge Defense) and Mike another (Defense CD) Mike also says the main thing is to have an agreement, ergardless of waht method is 0.0002% theoretically superior.

Dormer on Deduction by Al Dormer. This builds on the foundation Mike Lawrence built in How to Read Your Opponents Cards (HTRYOC). It goes beyond the fundamentals like counting HCP and seeing where the unseen honors are. It covers more advanced topics such as: - empathize with pard - why did pard make such and such a play? Is it becaus ehe didn't have enough information? Can you help him out? There is an example hand against an enemy contract where you get in. You have a stiff, and the Ax of trumps. If you lead the stiff, pard may duck, thinking its a doubleton and taht you have a trump entry. What can you do to clarify the situation? Cash the Ace of trumps, then lead the stiff. This shows pard that there is no point in not winning the ace and continueing the suit. Of course both partners must be on the same wave length! Thus both should read the book! - look at the enemy discards. usually you want to keep parity with dummy, especially if dummy has a suit like AQJ7. If a defender discards in that suit, the chances are that its safe for them to do so, meaning they had more than 4 cards. - just like HTRYOC there are chapters on clues form the bidding and opening lead - clues from how a suit is played. Why is declarer not playing on Spades with KQJ96 in dummy in a 3NT contract? Because he has the ace, and needs to establish one more outside trick. - beware of gifts - why did the opponent give you an optio? Such as allowing you to reach dummy to take an otherwise impossible to take finesse? OR not force you to ruff with Dummy when Dummy holds Ax in trumps The negatives - some of the bidding is obsolete. He has one glaring error on one hand, where his suggested play is wrong. Some of the signals he uses are not used in the USA (which is the center of the universe, hence the book is wrong :P Some of the inferences are a bit thin, and I would hesitate to draw conclusions, especially against non-experts who might not card correctly anyway. I consider this an intermediate+ level book. All in all , a great book, I rate it an A.

No Free, if you anticipate on p being an idiot you should not play with him (unless, occasionaly, in an indy). If you treat your pard like an idiot: 1 - why bother playing with them? I get very frustrated playing with players a lot worse than me (and I'm not all that good myself) 2 - will that benefit partnership harmony? What will your "idiot" pard think of you? Either they will say to themselves "that !@#$%^& pard doesn't think I know what I'm doing" OR "that pard of mine is an idiot, I better master mind the rest of the hands" I recently chastised my pard at the table (which is a bad thing!) for constantly pulliing my penalty doubles of the opps saves, or delayed overcalls. In every case we got a terrible score. And their willy-nilly bidding over the opps preempts (down a few) with garbage suits didn't help my mood either.

>Thanks to the people who have replied so far - I know it must feel a bit like putting your head on the block. The way to learn is to volunteer and get crushed. You are humbled, BUT you learn for next time. >It's worth thinking a bit about the heart suit: LHO led the 8, but we know we need hearts to be 5-3 to have any hope of making anyway, so the 8 must be the lowest heart from J98. RHO will know that as well - certainly after seeing the 9 on the second round - so LHO has a heart entry if necessary. That means we need the CQ onside anyway to make. It also means that RHO must have both the black aces, or LHO would have had a response to 1H (HJ, CQ and an ace). This is a point I had not considered. What lead convention do the opps use from 3 small or from a suit pard bid that they didnt support? MUD? Lowest? What about from a doubleton? Ive seen some pairs use lwest from a doubleton (usually those tricky English!) Frances, one point - What about covering the opening lead with the 10? What does that cost? The plus is that west can't get in on hearts. And if East covers it with the A or K, even better, as it implies West has the J.

>Remember to count your opponents' tricks. Can you afford to lose a diamond? OOps! :) They have 4 hearts, 1 Spade, 1 Club. I overlooked the Club, just thinking they wouldn't lead that suit, but of course they would as the setting trick. If West gets in and leads a Club, and East has AQ you are hosed. You really need Diamonds to be 3-2 I don't see a squeeze nor an elimination/endplay I don't think its possible to Eliminate/endplay East by cashing Diamonds and then Spades because east can win the ace and continue spades. With Ax will East Duck a lead of a spade from Dummy? How is this: Test the diamonds, King then Ace maintaing the hidden Q, and then run the Club J if Diamonds don't come in. Then flush out the Spade Ace, then cash your King of Clubs.

Oh oh. Now I'm worried. Is this one of those non-simultaneous quadruple Hinden squeezes from Adventures in Card Play? I don't see a squeeze because East likely has the clubs. And West the diamonds. You can give up 4 hearts but thats not enogh to recify the count. If you run off 2 spades East can duck, unless he's forced to take his ace on the 2nd round. You need 4 Diamonds, 1 heart , and 2 spades. If you attack Diamonds, and they are 4-1 you are fine. If 5-0, then you are hosed, unless you can bring in the Clubs. If they are 5-0 then run the Jack of Clubs

We have 21 HCP, East opened but West couldnt scrape up a bid. I think of the 19 HCP out, West has at least 14, and could be a bit more. Thus the Club finesse (running the Jack) is a poor percentage play. We will lose 4 hearts (maybe 5), but with a huge hand and 6 hearts to the AK East may have rebid the suit, so say 4 losers. The Spade ace is 5. I would Play on Diamonds: A, Q, then to K. West may be short, since (s)he has 5 hearts. Force out the west Diamond stopper if one is there Then force out the Spade Ace. East can not affort to lead Clubs

You hold: ♠ A K 8 x x x ♥ Q J T 9 8 x ♦x Playing 2/1, IMPS White on Red RHO deals and passes you open 1S p - 1S - p - 1NT* (forcing) 2H - ?? What do you bid? DBL in this case is for penalty, is it not? Other wise you could pass and wait for pards bid (or pass). In other words, you don't have to bid unless you have something to say.

Phil, I thought that was the term for scoring your small trumps. Perhaps I am mistaken. I guess technically you also have some big trumps, so its not scoring only small trumps. Kind of a trump reduction. OK, I used the wrong term. :P

I belive the method required is called Coup en Passant - leading a side suit card in order to make a trick with a trump that is not the highest but is favorably situated behind a higher trump in an opponent's hand. Assume West has 8 hearts, (could be 7), and east 3 (or 4) Assume East has 4 spades, and 4 diamonds, leaving West with 2 and 1. East has 4+4+2 = 3 Clubs Ruff first heart, run Dime 10 covering Spade to ace Spade K, discard Heart ruff spade Club Ace club to 10 ruff spade (now same length as East, east is probably out of Spades) club to J play spade - over ruff Q of Clubs to K, continue Clubs If at any point East ruff Clubs, he is out of Spades and will either lead Hearts or Diamonds (nah!). Ruff the heart, and play another Club. Let West ruff 2 clubs and lead hearts which you ruff, because eventually he will be longer than you and lead into your tenace. You will lose 2 clubs to ruffs thats all. [later edit - I just got home and want to add one thing] Once the spades are good, you can continue leading them and discard after East.

North needs to look at his/her hand in light of the additional bidding. I would assume the opps are 5-4 in hearts, thus pard is void. Pard made a 2nd takeout double at the 3 level. -He has no heart losers. -You have 5 spades, so he will probably have no more than 1 spade loser. -With 5 trumps you will have entries to your hand for finesses through opener. - you can ruff some Club losers, lets say pard has 1. - you have the ♦Q, an honor in one of pards suits. Pard may have just 1 ♦ loser Thats 3 losers in the worst case. Bid 4♠. Then its up to South. You passed the first time, then jumped to 4. If he wants to try a slam thats up to him. But I'd be scared of turning a making game into a losing slam with his hand. 4♠ seems best to me

We were playing in the main room against a pair that rated themselves as Advanced. One of them in particular made lots of overcalls with one less trump than would be expected. In some cases making overcalls opposite a passed partner. While I consider this dangerous, they got away with it on a number of occasions. Sometimes they found nice saves. Other times they forced us too high. I'd like to say that we set them big time on a few occasions but my pard pulled every single one of my penalty doubles but one, and missignaled on defense on that hand so they got out for -200 rather than -500. In general, its my experience that strong players will certainly make weak overcalls, but I don't usually see strong players sticking their necks out at the 3 level. I wonder about the 2 level. What is your experience against good players: 1. Do they make willy-nilly 2-3 level overcalls or balancing decisions 2. Do they always make preempts a level too high (other than Kit Wollsey, but he can also play better than these guys) 3. Do they make random preempts? (probably!) And if so, how do you deal with it? I think one of the reasons we got bad results is we didn't defend well on a couple of hands. And by pard pulling all my penalty doubles it just encouraged them. I was really frustrated towards the end, and when pard balanced at the 2 level over one of their preempts, with a suit of Kxxxx plus 8 other HCP, down a bunch I was quite annoyed.