TIPS FOR IMPROVERS
Points of interest from the January 2015 duplicates
1 Kokish gives more room to explore
Board 4 Wednesday 21 January – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West
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AK9
AKJ10x
AQx
Kx
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x
Qxx
Jxxx
xxxxx
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Q10xxx
x
K109xx
Qx
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Jxxx
xxxx
x
AJ10x
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North
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East
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South
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West
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2 Clubs
2 Hearts1
2NT
3 Hearts
4 Clubs
4NT
5 Diamonds4
6 Hearts
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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2 Diamonds
2 Spades2
3 Clubs
3 Spades3
4 Diamonds
5 Clubs
5 Hearts
Pass
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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1 and 2 Kokish relay
3 Agrees Hearts
4 Asking for the Queen of trumps
In August 2014 Tip 2 I first introduced the concept of the Kokish relay.
The Kokish Relay was invented by the Canadian International, Eric Kokish. After the bidding starts 2C – 2D then a rebid of 2H by the opener is artificial and requests that the responder bids 2S. After this start a 2NT rebid by opener shows 25+ points (no maximum) and is game forcing even if responder has zero points. The principle is that with a huge balanced hand worthy of game, opener does not have to eat up bidding space by jumping to 3NT. He can Puppet to 2S (via 2H) and then bid 2NT. Responder can use Stayman and Transfers in the usual way after the Kokish relay.
On the above hand North has 24 points but because the hand has a very strong 5 card suit and a massive 9 controls (Ace = 2 controls, King = 1 control) it must be treated as game forcing. In other words it is simply too good to rebid 2NT after 2 Clubs – 2 Diamonds showing 23-24 balanced.
North bids 2 Hearts after the 2 Diamond waiting bid. This forces responder to bid 2 Spades after which opener can clarify whether he has either
A) a balanced rock crusher or
B) a single suiter with Hearts or
C) a two suiter with Hearts and another suit.
When North rebids 2NT this shows 25 plus points balanced and is completely game forcing. South bids Stayman and North now shows his Heart suit. South then bids 3 Spades. BIDDING THE OTHER MAJOR IS AN ARTIFICIAL SLAM TRY SETTING HEARTS AS TRUMPS. IF RESPONDER BIDS ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE OTHER MAJOR, EXCEPT A NON-SLAM-TRY RAISE TO 4 HEARTS, RESPONDER DENIES FOUR-CARD HEART SUPPORT. If responder simply held five cards in Spades and no interest in Hearts then he would have transferred over the 2NT rebid. Cue-bids in the minor suits then follow and after hearing of one Keycard opener then asks for the Queen of trumps by bidding 5 Diamonds (the cheapest non-trump bid over the keycard response). South denies the Queen of trumps and North signs off in 6 Hearts.
East is effectively endplayed at trick one. His best lead is actually a Diamond from the King as the discard on the second Diamond trick is actually not of much use. However even if East finds the best lead North cannot fail to make the slam with the Queen of Clubs appearing on the second round to deal with the Spade loser. Result either 1430 or 1460 depending on how declarer plays the trump suit on the second round.
2 Double – the Bridge player’s flexible friend
Board 4 Thursday 22 January – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West
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None
xxx
AK98xx
K109x
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xxx
J109xx
QJ10x
x
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KQJxxxx
Kx
x
xxx
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A109
AQx
xx
AQJxx
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North
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East
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South
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West
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1 Diamond
4 Clubs
Pass
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3 Spades
Pass
Pass
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Double
6 Clubs
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Pass
Pass
Pass
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North opens 1 Diamond in second seat and East overcalls 3 Spades. South then has to decide what to say. While he might bid 4 Clubs that leaves no chance of either playing in either 3NT, 4 Hearts, or defending 3 Spades doubled. Accordingly the best bid is Double to show a good hand. If North has a balanced hand say 2=3=5=3 distribution he will probably pass and defend. However South by doubling gives North more options to choose from when he is unbalanced. He can either bid 4 Hearts if he has four cards in Hearts, or introduce Clubs or rebid his Diamonds. On this occasion North is happy to introduce his Clubs at the four level. While South might bid Roman Key Card for Clubs over the 4 Club bid there is only any point in so doing if he looking for a Grand Slam. As there must be enough key cards present for a Small Slam to be playable (since North can scarcely have zero keycards) South should go straight to 6 Clubs. While it is possible to make 7 Clubs in practice the natural line of drawing two rounds of trumps and then playing to establish the Diamonds will fail because the Diamonds are 4-1 and East has three trumps. In order to make 7 Clubs you would have to win the trump lead with the Jack, ruff a Spade, finesse the Queen of Hearts, ruff another Spade, then overtake the King of Clubs and run all the trumps. West is now squeezed in the red suits because of the 5-2 Heart break and 13 tricks result. Anyone who took that line would probably be accused of taking a peek at the West cards !
3 Splinter bid by weak two opener
Board 4 Tuesday 27 January – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer West
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AKJxxx
x
xxx
xxx
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xx
Kxxxx
Jxxx
xx
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xx
AQ109x
KQ10xx
x
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Q10x
Jx
A
AKQJxxx
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North
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East
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South
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West
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2 Spades
4 Hearts
5 Hearts
Pass
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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2NT
4NT
6 Spades
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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When North opens a weak 2 Spades the first reaction of South might be to give up any chance of slam and simply jump to 4 Spades. However it costs nothing to explore to see if the perfect fit is present. Accordingly South bids 2NT as an enquiry to see how strong North is for his 2 Spade opener.
North in replying to 2NT should reason as follows – “my Spades are almost as strong as they could possibly be and I have a singleton in Hearts. Therefore as my singleton can be shown below the level of game in Spades I should jump to 4 Hearts”.
This is all South needs to use keycard just to check that North actually has the Ace and King of Spades and has not bid 4 Hearts with say ♠KJ98xx ♥x ♦KQx ♣xxx when a better bid would have been 3 Diamonds to show a feature in Diamonds and non-minimum.
There are no problems in the play and East has to lead the Ace of Hearts to prevent the overtrick.
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