This one is from the relaxed duplicate 8th Feb.

North with a no trumpy 16point hand opens 1♣ planning to rebid 1NT (if possible) whatever response comes from parter.

I don't think East is going to double not short in ♣ and uninspiring holding in the majors though somebody might.

South Passes of course.

Now West does not have a double in the direct seat but absolutly fine in the cheat seat. A 1♦   overcall is also ok.

In response to double I quite like 1NT very flat hand and two stoppers in ♣ next best is probably PASS.

As usual I have picked a hand from the relaxed duplicate following the lesson.

The opening 3♣ from East is a standard pre empt. South would be wrong to make a take out double with no 4 card major and I don't fancy bidding a minor so with ♣ hopefully stopped twice 3NT looks clear.

In fact 3NT can't be beaten whatever E/W do scores 600.

West is brave to up the pre empt to 4♣ they have 10 ♣  so can bid for 10 tricks according to the law.

Everyone playes in ♣ making 8 tricks down two losing only 500 doubled so a save . I hope you doubled that for penalties 

There is also a hand below from the dark past headed Losing Trick Count. This hand is from Thursday's relaxed duplicate and is one of three or four where the losing trick count could be used.

The 1♦ opening is clear too strong to open 2♦  or 3♦ 11pts is a light opening but satisfies Rule of 20. BTW it would be wrong to even think about losing trick count (LTC) at this stage as a fit has not yet been found.

I like East's non vulnerable jump to 2♥ it might well make difficulties for the opening side even though here it is brushed aside.

South has an unbalanced hand and a fit for opener's ♦ so can use the LTC counting partner for 7 losers. South' losers come to 6 so total losers =13; 18-13 = 5 so bid 5♦ . 

I put North down for a raise to 6♦ as there are 6 losers so that's a trick better than the 7 losers partner will have counted. In truth it's a brave bid as we would like to check for missing Aces but there is not the bidding space.

Twelve tricks turns out to be fairly straightforward 7♦ in the North hand 3♦ in the South hand from ruffing the ♣ plus ♠ A and ♥ A just being careful to drop a ♠ on the winning ♥ and you are just left with one ♠ to lose at the end. I expect you spotted I played all the right cards but not necessarily in the right order.

This one Board 3 from the relaxed duplicate pairs on the afternoon of 11th January.  The traveler shows some in game, some not, some in ♠ others in ♣ .

So what do think of this bidding? West starting with 1♣ is surely right- this unbalanced hand opens one of the longest suit, and has a little to spare. You would open this shape with 13pts certainly, maybe 11 (Rule of 20). In any case you must strive to show this extra strength before the hand is passed out.

I think East's four card suits must be bid 'up the line'.  If you don't bid 1♦ now there may not be another opportunity, and it's possible that ♦ will be the best contract. Looking at the point count, this East hand is a balanced weak responding hand (6-9pts)

West is right to bid 1♥ equally going 'up the line' with 4 card suits. You will find some who will jump to 2♥ at this point 'I had to show the extra strength partner' This is quite wrong! A jump here is a game force (19pts). It's a good hand but not that good. East is not going to pass if they have a proper responding hand. Again if you are tempted to bid the ♠ here you might miss out on a ♥  fit.

East must suely show the 4 card major (1♠ ) Do you agree? It might not happen often but it is possible that partner has a ♠ fit with you (as we see!!).

West is delighted and we have found a 4-4 major suit fit, so we will play there. Time to show the hand evaluation. What would you choose 2♠ 3♠ or 4♠ ? Certainly not 2♠  - that doesn't hint at the extra strength and partner may well PASS with game on. Perhaps its a toss up between 3♠ and 4♠ . Do try not to look as if you are in doubt, always best to bid confidently looking happy. 

Lets say you bid 3♠ that's 15pts minimum and invitational to partner. Time for West to do the hand evaluation thing. In context this is a 'good' 9 pts KJ in patner's first suit look good worth more than 4pts;  the doubleton heart is worth something, should be able to trump the third round so I judge 4♠.

Although its easy to make 10 tricks, there are good chances to make more. It's all down to how you take the finesses. Look at ♣ - you could lose a trick to the ♣Q but it can be picked up with a finesse, however no clue as to which way to take that finesse so no shame if you did it the wrong way, It's a game of cards!

.

On Monday Chris kindly gave us a hand out detailing the Losing Trick Count based on the excellent book by Ron Klinger.

This hand came up in the subsequent session.

After North opens 1♥ South can see the fit and counts the losers which come to 7. The opener is counted as 7 losers so the tricks should be 10 [24-14]. With a hand below opening strength it's right to bid 4♥ straight off. There are conventions on the market for opening strength hands.

North now knows there is a fit and counts the losers which come to 5. Adding this to South's 7 we have 12 losers so the expected number of tricks is 12 [24-12] and a slam is possible. It is not safe to bid the slam straight off because although more than likely there will be 12 tricks available that's not a guarantee you don't have two top losers. Hence the cue bidding to find South has the ♦ control.

Any way excellent slam bid and made, well done Angie & Ray, I wonder did they use the Losing Trick Count.

This is from Round 1 of the Northern Bridge League. David and Stuart were playing for Merseyside & Cheshire and this is Bd4 from the match against Manchester1.

As you might expect the most common contract was 1NT by South which the computer expects to make 7 tricks. This is what happened to Stuart only played by North doubtless after South had opend a Precision 1♦ . Stuart managed 8 tricks for +120.

I was East and the bidding followed the illustrated course ending with partner playing 1♠ . The computer says this should make 7 tricks but in the event we made 8 for +110. So the net team score was +230 or 6imps for the good guys.

People often say that the team game is about bidding and making game contracts but these part score battles can be just as rewarding consider the non vulnerable scores for 10 tricks in 4♥ {420} as against the same ten tricks in 2♥ {170}  the reward for bidding the game is +250 or 6imps.

This one caught my eye, because Geoff & Cynthia got a top with it at the Chester Bowl.

The hand shows two important aspects of leading.

First is we teach 4th highest of your longest and strongest. The exception is when you have three honours, when it's usually better to lead one, and top of a sequence is faily standard. In this case if you decide to lead a Heart, then a low one gives away a trick to declarer's Queen and the contract cannot be beaten. This is what happened to our heroes.

Maybe you fancy leading a Club, going for the safe lead. The modern idea is to play 2nd from rubbish and this hand shows why the old fashioned 'top of nothing' is not always advisable. If you squander the valuable 8 as the opening lead, again the contract cannot be beaten,  the reason being that if the A K Q take the first three tricks in this suit then declarer's 7 is the boss for the 4th round. 

Another intersting feature is South, with 11pts and three tens, might see their way to opening [1NT anybody?] and some of the better players did exactly, that and it worked well.

David Burrows writes: OK,  I opened on 9pts, and subsequently landed in 2♥ and drifted one off for a top match point score.

The regulations say you can open one of your suit in any position on 8+ points, so long as you also comply with Rule of 18.
9pts + 5 spades + 4 hearts = 18 bingo it is a perfectly legal opener.

If we were one point less then we still have the necessary 8pts but no longer comply with the rule of 18. It still isn't a psych because a psych is a gross misstatement of values or suit lengths and it's now a tiny deviation. However it's a deviation that takes us over a legal boundary, and if you tried that on, the TD would likely take the view that you were playing an illegal system. It might be that you had an agreement to open such hands 2♠ and would be quite OK.

If you like to open weak in 3rd seat, the regulations still require the 8pts for a one suit opener, but the Ro18 is not required.