This was board 18 at Brodick on Thursday 10th October.

Whether South opens  1D or 1H is a matter of system style. Norths hand is extremely powerful with two AK combinations and all the points in the long suits and will bid 2C. South now has a difficult bid. 2H(if 1D was opened) would show the reversing values but would indicate a 5 card Diamond Suit. Despite the singleton in P's suit 2NT (15/16) is probably best. N can now safely bid 3S (a new suit at the 3 level is always forcing) and South shows 4 card spades and the rest is routine to reach the slam.

The play in 4S is routine and by playing a Diamond from hand early N will guarantee the contract regardless of the position of the D Ace by means of 2 Diamond ruffs, 4 Trump tricks, 2 Hearts, the DQ and 3 Club tricks.

If the inferior contract of 6NT is reached South wil still prevail with the aid of a heart finesse. 

Can 6NT still be made if the East and West hands are interchanged?

This was Board 6 at Lamlash on 10th June.

After a routine 2 Passes and a 1S opener West preempted to the limit with 4D. In North's position it can be seen that a fit is available in Spades but the hand contains a lot of losers.

North now has to guess the best action from Pass, 4S and Double.

Pass seems out of the question opposite an opening bid. 4S could be right but with the knowledge of a very long Diamond suit with West a spade contract might run into a bad break.  

While double is unlikely to produce enough to compensate for a vulnerable game against the non vul opponents North reasoned that he had 2 tricks in trumps and had a partner with an opening bid and doubled - reasonably hopeful of a plus score.

That hope was greatly diminished when dummy appeared and partner was unable to lead a trump at trick 2.

While 4S doubled was made and those in a part score in spades made 10 tricks it is possible for 4SX to be defeated by 2 tricks on the lead of the singleton club followed by a club ruff, K and A of hearts and a H ruff.

Wests bid made life difficult for the opponents and followed the maxim - 'if you are going to preempt, preempt to the limit'. It is always a good idea to make the opponents have the last guess in the auction.

In practice had N bid 4S West might have bid one more with 5D. This action would have been criminal as the maxim of preempting to the limit would have been broken and North now has no guess and having shown spade support can now double confidently without guessing. If W was going to bid 5D it should have been done on the first round.  

This was Board 9 last Monday (20th May).

Alerted by Partner's overcall East led a spade and the suit was continued at tricks 2 and 3. North ruffed the 3rd spade and counted his tricks - 5 top hearts, 3 top clubs and 2 top Diamonds = an easy 10 tricks. Unfortunately the bad trump break meant that when East took his his last trump he could cash further spade tricks to defeat the contract by 2 Tricks.

Nobody made 10 tricks in hearts but the 'double dummy' analysis reveals that the contract is makeable.

Where did our declarers go wrong?

You are South in 3NT. West leads the 6S to East's K. How do you plan the play?

Beware counting on 5 Club tricks unless you can unblock the club suit.

The first three bids are automatic with E/W silent. South knows his P has a)15/16 Points and b) a balanced shape. North must therefore have at least 2 Spades and an 8 card fit is guaranteed. There is no need to look further than 4 Spades for a game contract.

2 Pairs at Brodick Club,however, played in 3NT going 2 and 3 off. Another pair played in 4 Hearts.

How should 3 NT be played by N on a small Diamond lead? 

After South’s 1NT opening West declined a reasonable opportunity to enter the bidding with a 2 Diamond overcall. Against a weak NT it is normally best to get into the bidding where possible. Here, the reticence paid off.

North with decent values, a 5 card suit with potential and points concentrated in his long suits tried for a 4/4 heart fit with 2C. When South showed 4 spades North felt the spade suit may be a source of tricks gambled with 3 NT which, on a Diamond lead was a hopeless contract and resulted in 3 off for –300.

Who should take the blame?

This was board 18 at Brodick on Thursday night.  3 pairs bid to 6 Hearts without success and one pair made 4 Hearts doubled by an optimistic North. Only one pair, Dougie and Margaret, bid to the makeable 6 NT. 6 Clubs would also have been successful.

Board 7 at Brodick Thursday 7^th February was a routine part score board where 1 North played in 2C making 10 tricks and all other E/W went down in Diamond or Spade contracts.

When this hand was first played in the 2010 "Bobby Allan" the notes by international player Roy Bennett stated "It is difficult to imagine a contract other than 4S to E/W .. there are 10 easy tricks and those who find the SQ will get a top for 11 tricks".

When played at Brodick last week in the Adam Morrison Cup, only one pair managed to reach 4 Spades, indeed one East went 2 off in 2 Spades after losing control.

After 3 passes, West has a routine 1 Heart opener and East has little option but to bid 1 Spade. West with 15/16 Points and a balanced shape has 1NT as a standard rebid. Now East can bid 3 Diamonds (a new suit at the 3 level by responder is always forcing) this shows values for game AND confirms a 5 card spades suit. Now West with 3 Card support and 4 honour cards in partners two suits has an easy raise to 4 Spades.

With a 3/2 Spade break the play is easy (4 Spades + 5 Diamonds and the Ace of Hearts = 10 Tricks) with 11 possible if the position of the trump Queen is guessed.

Should East consider opening with his 9 High Card Points?

Whether it is your style to open the North hand 1 Spade or 1 Diamond North is likely to declare 4 Spades which was the contract at all 7 Tables. This was made only twice both on the lead of the HT. The successful leads were AD  and ST (twice each) and the HT.

Dealer - South; E/W Vulnerable

At Brodick on Thursday evening this hand was played in 3NT at all 5 tables. When played by West the contract was made with an overtrick at all 3 tables. Where East was declarer the same 10 tricks are available on the 'normal' lead of SJ.

One East was unfortunate to receive the lead of the 4^th best Diamond. When declarer won North’s J with the Q the contract was doomed as when North was in with the CK the lead of the D9 defeated the contract immediately.

'The operation was a success but the patient died'.

Although it makes no difference on this hand where the HA is with the hand with the long diamonds it would have been better technique to DUCK the opening lead and continuation. The contract would then be made if North had held the HA. The position of the Club King would have been irrelevant.

The contract would still have been beaten but East would have won the ‘post mortem’

Board 2 at Lamlash on 17th March was a cold slam missed by all pairs and is a good introductory example of simple cue bidding..

Although the East hand contains only 10 High Card Points it qualifies as an opening bid under 'The Rule of 20' ie add the number of HCPs to the number of cards in your two longest suits and if the aggregate is 20 or more you consider opening. Opening with a toatal of 20 is not compulsory and the order and ranking of the suits will be important in deciding. Here the possession of the 'Boss' (spade) suit makes opening adviseable.

After Easts 1S opener West's hand becomes huge as it contains good trump support, first round control in two side suits and plenty of ruffing power.

A jump bid to 3C/3D or 3H would show a good suit in a strong, game forcing hand with slam interest. There is, therefore, no need for a double jump bid in a natural sense. The most common use for the immediate double jump is a 'Splinter' bid which shows good support for Partners suit, at least game forcing with slam interest AND singleton or Void in the suit bid.The West hand is ideally suited to a 'splinter' type bid of 4H. The bid agrees openers suit by implication.

The situation is now forcing to game (in Spades) and East must re-assess his hand.Partner has the values to be interested in a slam. He/she has short hearts and must, therefore, have values in either (or both) Clubs and Diamonds. 

When a situation is forcing to game and a suit has been agreed a bid in a new suit is a cue bid showing first round control of the suit bid. East, therefore, bids 5 Clubs to co-operate with Partner in the slam investigation and to show first round control in Clubs. West bids 5D a return cue bid showing first round control in Diamonds. East now has a complete picture of his Partner's hand and can safely bid 6 Spades.

Note that if South overcalls in Hearts the bid of 4H would retain the same meaning.

Cue bidding is used to arrive in slams with moderate values where the actual aces held is more or as important as the number of Aces. eg in the example hand the info that West has 2 Aces would be useless as the Ace of Diamonds is goldust and the Ace of clubs would be valueless.

A google search will provide lots of information on Splinter bids and cue bids which are not as complicated as intermediate players assume.

WHEN A SUIT IS AGREED AND THE BIDDING IS FORCING TO GAME - A BID IN A NEW SUIT IS A (CONTROL SHOWING) CUE BID.

Double is probably one of the most underused bids available. Double is often useful in a 'lead directing' sense eg to obtain a ruff against a freely bid slam contract (known as a 'lightener double') or to obtain a specific lead against a freely bid NT contract by opponents.

When opponents have bid freely to a NT contract it is unlikely you will have enough tricks to guarantee defeating the contract unless you get a specific lead.

There are three situations where a double is useful.

In the first case, opponents have not bid a suit eg 1NT - 3NT a double would reuest partner to lead his shortest major suit which will be a suit in which you have reason to believe will give the best chance of defeating the contract.

The more frequently found, second, occasion is when both opponents have bid suits and end up in NT where a Double requests P to lead dummy's first bid suit.

A rare opportunity for this bid arose on board 22 at Lamlash on Monday 3rd March. An examination of the hand reveals that the contract will be made on any lead but a Diamond but will go two light on a diamond lead. Against the bidding shown East doubled, taking the chance that P did, indeed, hold at least 1 Diamond and requesting that it be led. Unfortunately, the opening leader forgot this inference, not a capital crime as the bid only arises very infrequently, and the contract made 10 tricks on the lead of a 4th best spade.Another case of 'the operation was a success, but the patient died'.

The third case is where defenders side has bid a suit - the Double says don't worry if you have a broken suit lead the suit we have bid P.

By googling 'lead directing doubles' and/or 'Lightener Doubles' the internet will lead you to many explanatory sites - including 'Bridgeguys' which is always gives illuminating explanations.

This was Board One in the Adam Morrison Cup at Brodick on 20th February.

After Norths 1H opening East bids a weak jump overcall and West does his/her duty by preempting to the limit. North now guesses to try for his/her own game and bids 5D and East breaks the golden rule of 'preempt to the limit at 1st opportunity'. Having already preempted east should be satisfied that the opponents have had to guess. Nobody guesses right all the time.

Those pairs allowed to play in 5C (doubled or undoubled) should score well. Here 6C is just one too many and the resultant -500 scored a matchpointed 'bottom'.

It is interesting to note that E/W have 11 Clubs and N/S 9 Diamonds ie a combined total of 20 Trumps. The handout sheet shows E/W can make 9 tricks in Clubs and N/S 11 Tricks in Diamonds, again a total of 20.This supportsthe ' LAW OF TOTAL TRICKS' which states that 'The total number of trumps is equal to the total number of tricks' as mentioned in the last featured hand.

Interestingly, the sheet reveals that N/S can be held to 9 tricks in a Heart contract.

Can you see how E/W can score 4 Tricks?

This hand was played in Spades 4 Times at various levels viz 5 Spades, 6 Spades (twice) and 3 Spades. The East hand is a good example of a prempt bid with its good 7 Card suit and extreme shortage in the major suits. When preempting it is always best to bid to your limit at your first attempt. Here 5 Diamonds minimises the chances of opponents finding a major suit fit. Now South who would have had an easy 4 Spade bid over 1 Diamond finds it more difficult to enter the auction at the 5 level and passed. West with 3 trumps,  and excellent shape including a 5 card club suit with trick - taking potential and  potential ruffing values in Spades has a logical bid of 6 Diamonds. Although West was to be disappointed at having no Spade ruffs the hand played easily for 13 Tricks.

When deciding whether to bid on at high levels in competitive auctions the LAW OF TOTAL TRICKS is a useful guide. 'Google' will lead to a few sites which will explain the LAW in its simplest terms. Basically, the law states that the number of Total Tricks available is equal to the total number of trumps held by each side. Here E/W have 10 Diamonds and N/S have 12 Spades making a total aggregate of 22 Trumps. If N/S can make 4 Spades (ie 10 Tricks) this leaves 12 Tricks for the E/W Partnership in their suit. There are a number of adjustments to be made eg for voids in side suits etc. but the basic LAW is a good guide.

On this hand the total tricks are 23 and the total Trumps are 22.

This was board 22 at Lamlash on Monday 27^th January.

After Partner’s opening 1NT is passed by South how should West proceed?

Board 22 of the 3rd Round of the Boyd Trophy at Brodick on 28th November produced probably the biggest hand ever seen at the club. East/West held a combined 37 points with North/South limited to three useless, unconnected Jacks.

Only one pair failed to bid a small slam but no pair managed to reach the Grand Slam.

Although East has 20 Points the hand is not suitable for a 2NT opening bid because of the singleton Spade. One Heart is too likely to result in a missed game over many hands on which West would Pass and 2 Hearts would normally show a 6 card suit or a strong 5/5 shape. This leaves 2 Clubs as the best alternative. Although this bid normally shows 23+ points the preponderance of Aces and Kings and the 2 Queens being well supported makes the hand worth this (almost) game forcing bid.

West will give a positive reponse of 3C (usually a 5 card suit) and East can now almost underwrite slam unless opponents can cash 2 tricks. To check he bids 4NT and 5NT (Ace and King asking) and discovers partner has 2 Aces and 1 King.

West can now virtually count 13 tricks (5 Clubs, 3 Hearts, 2 Spades and 3 Diamonds.

At Aggregate Scoring 7 Clubs might be chosen as the safest contract (in case P has only a 4 cardclub suit and a ruff may be required) but at Match Point Scoring 7NT would be chosen as the small risk justifies the extra points available for the NT contract.

On the actual scoring on the night those bidding 6NT scored 10 Points 10 Points out of 12 (83%) and those in 6 Clubs scored only 3 Points (25%).

The Contract is 6 Clubs by South. The opening lead is Jack of Hearts. What is the best line of play?

This was board 18 at Lamlash on 4^th November.

Here after West’s opening 1H N makes a simple overcall of 2D, the disparity between the two suits and the unfavourable vulnerability mitigate against a bid of 2H which some tournament players would use to show Spades (the unbid Major) and a minor. The simple overcall of two Diamonds is unlikely to be passed out.

When the bidding returns to N the situation is already at 4H. The situation is changed, however, because opponents have shown a fit. When opponents have a fit – we have a fit.

South is likely to have at most 4 Hearts. If he/she does not have 3 or more Spades then 7 minor suit cards are held and a fit is guaranteed.

If N bids 4 Spades and South has 3 or more that will be the contract unless Opponents decide to go further. If South has 2 or less Spades he/or she will remove to 5D as the Diamonds must be longer than Spades. The play will be assisted by the ruffing values ie (short) spades in dummy.

Where a double fit is held the number of points required to make game is dramatically reduced. Here N/S with only 17 points but with a double fit in Spades and Diamonds can make 11 Tricks, or 13 on a non club lead – while E/W with only 23 Points, of which 3 (QJ spades) are useless can also make game with their Heart/club double fit.

WHEN THEY HAVE A FIT – WE HAVE A FIT

This was board 17 at Lamlash on 21st October.

5 Pairs played at the 4 or 5 level, mostly in Hearts but one in Spades. All but one made 12 or 13 tricks. Only two pairs bid to slam but ironically only made 11 tricks.

In 6 Hearts declarer, as always, counts the available tricks. 5 (at least) hearts, 5 (likely) spades and the Ace of clubs = 11 tricks and one club ruff before drawing trumps yields 12 tricks without the heart finesse.

One unlucky declarer played in 6 Spades and received the unfortunate lead of the Club King. This removes an entry to dummy prematurely and stops the option of drawing trumps, establishing Hearts by playing AK and a ruff as there is now no entry to dummy to enjoy the established heart suit.

How can declarer still prevail?

This was Board 5 at Lamlash Charity Bridge last Monday (24th September) where game was missed at 2 tables and the bidding at one of these was as shown.

The East hand is a clear opening bid. Although it contains only 11 points these are in the long suits and the hand contains 2 Aces which are undervalued in the 4/3/2/1 count.

The West hand also contains an opening bid. Normally an opening bid opposite an opening bid = a game contract.

West proceeds with a simple 1S and East rebids 2D to show an unbalanced hand (at least 5/4/-/- shape. Now West knows a) there is an 8 card Heart fit, b) he has a good heart holding, c) the Spade suit is a good source of tricks, d) there are values for game.

West should now, therefore, bid 4H following the maxim - when you have support - SUPPORT!

Although the chosen bid of 3S emphasises the quality of the Spade suit it has the big disadvantage of not being forcing. East can hardly be blamed for passing with a minimum opening and no fit.

An alternative response from West would have been 2S - this would have the advantage of being forcing to game and therefore, rendering a continuation of 3S bid as forcing.

South has a Balanced hand with 25HCP. This is shown by opening 2C and re-bidding 3NT to show 25/26 Points after Partners' 2D negative. With 23/24 the rebid would have been 2NT.

East leads the 6C and West cannot beat dummy’s 9. South now counts the tricks – 3 Clubs – 4 Hearts – 1 Diamond and 1 Spade – No problem???

When the side's points are concentrated in one hand, as here, communication between the hands is often a problem.

How do you overcome the blockage in the Heart suit?

Most bridge clubs have difficulty in attracting new members, particularly younger ones, as bridge is not seen as being ‘cool’ in the modern world.

It is, therefore, surprising to find that one of the best selling novels at the moment is a bridge book entitled ‘The Cardturner’. The book features a teenager who is engaged by his blind uncle to tell him what cards he holds. The uncle memorises the cards and instructs his nephew which card to play. He has strict instructions not to speak.

As well as being a good read the book contains many interesting notes explaining the game and some of its technicalities and plays. It is a much more interesting way to pick up tips on play than the standard way of reading page after page of instruction and is capable of being read by those without any idea of how to play bridge and perhaps generate enough interest to encourage them to take up the game.

The nephew, Alvin’ becomes fascinated by the game and learns from watching his uncle. He persuades his pal’s girlfriend, who is the daughter of his uncle’s one time partner, to be his partner. They reach the national finals and on the last round the hand shown proves critical.

The play of this hand will decide the tournament and secure Alvin’s relationship with his partner.

The hand looks easy - 1 Spade, 3 Hearts, 6 Diamonds = 10 Tricks. There are , however, some problems of communication.

Can you make the contract on a spade lead and continuation?

Board 20 - Charity Summer Bridge - 29th July 2013

Although North has only 11 HCPs the hand is well worth an opening bid due to the fact that the points are all contained in the long suits. As a general rule when considering whether to open or not the 'Rule of 20' can be used. To apply the rule you add your HCPs to the number of cards in your two longest suits - if the total is 20 or more then it is, generally, wise to open. Here the total is 20 and an opening bid of 1H should be standard.

The principal objectives of bidding are a) to find an 8 card major suit fit if it exists and b) to ascertain the level of the contract. Here South simply shows his 4 card major. North now knows there is an 8 card fit and sets the suit. Since he has no extra values he does so at the minimal level of 2S. With an opening bid in responders hand South follows the rule that an opening bid plus an opening bid = a game contract and bids game in spades.

Declarer can draw trumps and concede 2 trump tricks and the Ace of Diamonds. 

Board 12 - Charity Summer Bridge - 15th July 2013

Easts disappointment at picking up the worst hand held since taking up bridge was tempered by hearing his Partner bid a strong 2 Hearts. After Norths pass west decided on a 'baby psyche' of 2 Spades, reasoning that this may deflect N/S from their most likely spot. After North South reach 5D East had to decide whether his Partners 2 Opener would have enough tricks to defeat 5D. Since the Heart suit was unlikely to yield more than 1 Trick (possibly 0 tricks) he decided to bid 5H which neither opponent was able to Double.

Easts action is based strictly on simple arithmetic. Partner has at least 8 Tricks ie 3 off in a 5 level contract which doubled is -500 against opponents vulnerable game worth -600. The only decision then is to decide whether you think opponents will make 5 Diamonds. Here, East guessed correctly and the score of -100 represented a large favourable swing on the board.

Is West's 2 Heart opener the best bid on his particular hand?

Board 17 at Mondays Summer Charity Pairs

East, in the modern style of bidding 4 card suits in ascending order, opens 1H. West bids 3C to force to game. This shows a strong hand of at least game values (usually about 16+hcp) and one of 2 shapes of hand, either a) A good club suit with Heart tolerance OR b) a self supporting club suit. East bids 4C to show the fit for that suit and West bids 4H to show the first of the 2 hand types above.

With 17 Hcp East knows his side are in the slam region and can count a likely 5/6 tricks in clubs, 3/4 in Hearts and 3 in spades. Diamonds are an obvious weakness.

Those using traditional simple methods would bid 4NT (Blackwood) and get a 5H (2 Aces) response. This would leave a possible gap of 1 Ace and the diamond King and East would have no difficulty in passing.

The modernists using Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB) where the King of Trumps is counted as a 5th Ace would get the response of 5S showing 2 of the 5 Aces and the Q of Trumps (5H would show 2 Aces and no Trump Q. They would find themselves committed to slam with the opponents having a 'marked' Diamond lead.

If a slam is to be bid it would work best in practice to bid a direct 6H after Wests 4H bid leaving opponents with a choice of Diamonds and spades as a lead. If he guesses wrongly slam will be made with an overtrick.

The RKCBers would be required to recognise this potential problem and proceed by way of the cue bidding sequence shown.

What is a cue bid?