Hello from Philadelphia!  Thomas and I are at Nationals this week.  If you have never gone to one, I highly recommend it.  I have met and played against most of the famous and infamous bridge players in the world.  Its very exciting to have Zia Mamoud or Jeff Meckstoth  sitting next to you at the table and saying good morning and good luck.  They play in the Regional Open games when they are between NABC events so its is quite often that this happens.  There are daily lectures from pros like Adam Parrish and Jade Barrett to help you with your game.  And you are usually in an interesting city with lots of other things to do (Liberty Bell may be on my agenda!)  I was very pleased when I looked up the game we had for Don Bowen that so many of you turned out to celebrate his 100th birthday.  We have such a loving and friendly club, it really does feel like family.  There are three parties next month and lots of food and fun to look forward to.  On a sad note, the air conditioner went out in the big room and the compressor replacement has set us back a bit on our recovery plans but we can't play without air.   We just have to work harder at bringing more players through the doors.  Until next month   .... Janice Rush

Did you know that there is an ACBL document that defies the kinds of hands you can open and the conventions you are allowed to use at different levels of play?  And, that it was recently updated with new inclusions and restrictions?  The document is named "ACBL CONVENTION CHARTS". 

It's a must read for anyone going to a tournament because the cute convention you use at the club may not be allowed in the Sectional, Regional or National Tournament that has masterpoint restrictions. This could cost you at match or board if the opponents are familiar with the rules!   You can find the chart at http://https://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/about/Convention-Charts.pdf  

AT THE TABLE 

Brian Glubok
(reprinted with permission of the from the Philadelphia Bridge Bulletin)
Brian is the winner of 5 North American Bridge Tournaments and numerous other tournaments.

I like to arrive at the nationals early, a full day or more before I first have to play for lots of reasons: margin of error for travel delays, great chance to greet friends and network with industry people, and it helps me get accustomed to the new city before my own playing obligations begin.

Here in Philadelphia, arriving early gave me a chance to kibitz friends and rivals in the Grand National Teams on Wednesday and Thursday. This year, thanks to some persistent hard work by the League and its directing staff, we (and the GNT contestants) had duplicated boards, hand records, and electronic scoring at the table. As a result, everyone played this Board 7 in the first session of the qualifying round-robin, which posed one or more interesting bidding problems for all four players.

 In first position, both vulnerable, this looks like an automatic 1c opening for South, or if you’re playing precision, 2c.

For West, I'll speculate that the late Edgar Kaplan would consider this a textbook preemptive jump overcall - "safe and descriptive" - that's what he looked for when making a vulnerable preempt. But at the table, on Wednesday, the simple non-jump bid of 1s was the almost universal choice. That was the bid chosen at the table where I first kibitzed this deal.

The action now swings to the player holding the North hand. I kind of like a 3c bid here, if the partnership treats that as a preemptive raise - but again, at most tables North simply raised to 2c.

Which brings us to the East hand, he held quite the moose in fourth chair after hearing (1c)-1s-(2c),

A whole range of bids were chosen by players facing this problem - a fit showing jump in diamonds, a cuebid raise of 3c, a splinter jump to 4c - passions run high on what East should bid here, but it's really of very little consequence.

At the table where I watched  East cuebid 3c, and South chose to double. I'm not feeling it.  I think opener should simply blast 5c, sometimes known as an "advance sacrifice".

Later that day, I discussed the hand with bridge legend and Hall of Famer Alan Sontag. I sought his view on a phenomenon ve identified: A distinction between "good bids" and "winning bids" - this hand provides an ideal example.

5c may not be a "good bid" - you could go down 800, more than the hypothetical East-West game  - and they may not even bid the game! Besides, there's some chance they can't even make a game (though with opener's hand, including all those clubs, you’re pretty sure they can).

But I'll assert that 5c is a "winning bid" - for the opponents may compete to 5s when they shouldn't (at one table, they did), or fail to double when they should, or lead two rounds of spades and let you escape for down two.

When analyzing a situation like this, I like to ask myself, "What would I prefer my opponent bid with this hand?"  And the answer is, "I prefer that they just pass, and defend 4s rather than compete to 5c."

What do you think? If you have an interesting deal to share, contact me by email at brianglubok@gmail.com.

 Marsha Boyer's mother was an AVID bridge player (duplicate came later, and Mom made LM at age 82! [Ask her that story!]), and often Mom could be heard saying, "Marsha can be dummy." So, from about age 4 Marsha was familiar with bridge -- and bridge players. We will soon help her celebrate making Gold Life Master (2500 MPs)!

   After adventurous times in the '60s among several states, Marsha was brought to Houston by Bill Boyer in 1978, where they married and began their 47-year (so far) marriage! Bill played bridge ("better than I did," per Marsha) and when he found duplicate, they began their quest for colored points and milestone rankings. Marsha, a licensed hairdresser in another state (no wonder why her hair is always beautiful!), obtained an accounting degree in Houston, and entered a new career, first with BFI and then oilfield-related businesses (later retiring from Chevron). So, her bridge playing was relegated to the back burner for about ten years, while Bill's continue --as he played with Louie Travis, among others.  But she did get to play some night games, as John and Virginia Zilic's club on Westview was "on the way home." Marsha and Bill played with a number of partners, and Marsha made LM with Paul Nimmons.

   When Marsha returned to serious bridge in 2010, she played regularly at BCOH, and after retiring she volunteered more of her time to the club. She now regularly serves as ambassador in addition to mentoring and helping out with special events.

   Marsha is multi-talented, not the least of which is in art. She enjoys art journaling and she is very active in the mixed media field of "Artist Trading Cards" (learn more at atcsforall.com). This rose out of an art group that made greeting card --which coincidentally was shared by Shawn Quinn. (This little hobby of ours is really amazing, is it not?) Ask to see some of Marsha's beautiful creations.

   So, hats off to Marsha Boyer, and let's have a great crowd for her Gold LM Party!

--Carol Wilson (carolwilson@earthlink.net; 281-642-4050)

Opportunity Missed

 byThomas Rush
BridgeWithThomas@gmail.com

♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣

Here's a hand from the Summer North American Bridge Championship (NABC) going on (as I write this) in Philadelphia.  Susan Banks-Johnson and Janice Rush were dealt the hand in a team match and wondered how they might bid it better.  I'm writing it up because there are a few important points that the bidding brings up.

The Norh/South hands:

South deals, and opens 1S.  This is the correct opening.  With equal length 5-5 or 6-6 in a major and a minor (or in hearts and spades), we open the higher ranking suit first: Spades if it's Spades and another suit, Hearts if it's Hearts and a lower suit, or Diamonds if it's both minors.  Don't even think about reversing; a reverse always tells your partner that your first-bid suit is longer than your second suit! 

On this hand, if partner were to bid the 'expected' 1NT, you would jump to 3D to show your second suit (yes, partner will not yet know that your suits are each six cards, but we'll try to catch up with that message to partner later, if it matters). A jump shift by opener is forcing to game, that is, neither partner can let the auction die below 3NT, and should only pass four of a minor with a truly hopeless.  Four of a major is also a possible contract of course.

What should North bid after the 1S opening?  At the table North bid 2C, which sets a game force, but has a critical flaw: it will be very difficult to convince your partner that you have a trump holding anywhere near this good.  After an opening in one of a major, responder should almost always find a way to show four card or longer support.  There are a few common ways to do this:

If you're playing old-fashioned 1S - 3S as game forcing (not recommended!) you can jump to three of partner's suit if there's no interference (double or overcall by the opponents)

If your hand is of limited strength and you have a singleton with four cards in partner's suit or better, you can make a splinter bid, a double jump into a new suit (ex: 1H - (P) - 4C shows four or more hearts, sets the trump suit, and shows no more than one club card).  The recommended range for a splinter bid is 10 - 13 HCP; counting three for responder's singleton, you get a hand with 13 - 16 support points.  Hands stronger than this use too much bidding space; the goal of splinter bids is to help you bid a slam on fit, not raw power, and to avoid getting to slam when your points say you might have enough but some of your values are wasted (like having KQx or KJxx opposite your partner's singleton -- wasted values!)

If the opponents have interfered, you have special tools to show a limit raise or better.  Over a double, you can redouble (showing general values) or bid 2NT (limit raise or better, thus a better choice with a fit).  After an overcall, you cuebid the opps' suit to show a limit raise or better (if you have a full opening hand in support of partner's suit, you will obviously continue bidding if he tries to sign off below game; if you are limit raise only, you'll respect his sign-off).  An example auction is 1H - (2C) - 3C to show a limit raise or better in hearts; it doesn't say anything about clubs.  These cuebids of the opponent's suit do not need to be alerted.  Note on a rare case: If you have a singleton in some off-suit and 4-card support for partner, you can make a splinter bid as you could above, but a single jump in the opponent's suit (1H - (2C) - 4C is a splinter with a singleton club) is enough.  Otherwise, keep it to double jumps unless you have discussed thoroughly!

The best course of action for all auctions without competition, is to use Jacoby 2NT as your forcing major suit raise.  2NT sets trump, promises four or more, and asks partner to describe his hand by showing a singleton or void at the 3-level, and with no singleton or void, bid four of the major (weakest), 3NT (say 15-17), or 3 of the major (18+).  Even if you're an old-fashioned Goren player, I strongly recommend adding Jacoby 2NT to your bidding arsenal over major suits; you must be able to create a game force and set trump if you want good auctions.  Note: Jacoby 2NT raise is typically a hand with no singleton or void; consider a splinter if not too strong, else be willing to have a slightly confused partner when you bid 2NT and he later sees your singleton.

Now that that is out of the way... here's my recommendation on the full auction on the above two hands, with explanations of the bids afterwards:

1S                    2NT*
3C                   3S**
4C                   4D***
4NT                 5C****
6S*****

* North responds Jacoby 2NT to set trump (assuring South that there is at least a 9-card fit)

** South shows the club shortage (with any strength opening).  North's hand has gotten worse since his QJ of clubs are 'wasted values' opposite a singleton club in South's hand; his 3S call, refusing to show a control in the red suits, is a way of 'slowing things down', and better, in my opinion, than jumping to game, which would make it very dangerous for South to bid past 4S (maybe a Q- and J-heavy 12-count with only four trump and KQJx of clubs should jump to 4S).

*** South isn't willing to give up, despite North's 3S "yellow flag", and makes a control cue-bid of 4C. In standard practice, when you've shown a singleton in a particular suit, cuebidding that suit later shows a void or singleton Ace.  Since South is still looking for slam, North now cooperates by showing a control in Diamonds (the Ace, King, a singleton, or a void -- but the Jacoby 2NT bidder rarely will have a singleton or void) so South takes the reasonable inference that North's diamond control is the Ace.

**** Knowing that his side is not off two key cards, South asks for North to show his keys. NOTE: Since South has shown a void in clubs (showing a singleton and then cue-bidding clubs), North should not show the club Ace if he has it.  Aces opposite voids are rarely very useful!  Here, North, using 1430 key card, shows one of the five key cards with 5C.

***** Points of interest: 1. Since South has six spades and North showed four, South is not worried about missing the Spade Queen.  It will drop under the AK 90% of the time, and half of the rest of the time, South would be able to finesse East's Qxx after playing the A and seeing West show out.  2. If South didn't know about the 10-card fit, in RKC he could ask if North had the trump Queen by bidding the next step over North's response that was neither the trump suit, nor NT.  Here, that bid would be 5D.  North's responses to the queen ask are:

5S (the cheapest bid in the trump suit): I do not have the trump Queen;

5H: I have the trump Queen and my cheapest king is the King of hearts. I may or may not have other kings.

6C: I have the Queen of trump, and the King of clubs; I do not have the King of hearts, which I would have shown first.  I may or may not have the King of diamonds.

6D:  I have the Queen of trump, and the King of diamonds; I do not have the King of hearts or clubs, which I would have shown first.

Point 3: If South knew that his side had all the key cards, he could ask about kings.  The traditional method is to bid 5NT and North then counts his kings and responds 6C is 0, 6D is 1, 6H is 2, 6S is 3.  Note that we don't count the king of trumps, since that was already shown in the initial key card response!  ALSO: Modern style is to skip the Queen Ask step (if responder has bid the 1/4 or 0/3 response), and use the next step that is not the trump suit to ask for "specific kings": Cheapest bid after the king ask is 0, next is 1, etc.  And example, starting with the 4NT RKC ask, and assuming spades are trump:

4NT                
5C                               * 1 or 4 key cards
5D                               * Since responder has not shown or denied the Q, 5D is the Queen Ask
or 5H                           * Here, opener skips the Q ask, so 5H is the Specific K ask            

Responses are: 5S no king outside trump, 6C club king, 6D diamond K, but not    the club K, 6H heart K but no cheaper kings.

If responder showed or denied the Queen of trump (with a 5H or 5S response to 4NT), there is no "queen ask", and the next step that is not the trump suit is the King ask.  Again, I recommend using Specific Kings.

4NT    
5H                    * 2 or 5 key cards, no trump Queen
5S                    * If spades are trump, a sign off. Else asks for cheapest specific King
or 5NT             * 5NT is asking for specific Kings.  6C club king, 6D diamond K, but not club K,
6H                    *heart K but no cheaper kings (if H is trump, may or may not have spade K!  Can't go past six of the trump suit, too bad.

----

Key Takeaways:

Use Jacoby 2NT when you have a game-forcing hand, 4(+)-card fit with partner's major, and no singleton/void.  It will simplify your auctions and help you bid much more accurately.  Discuss with your partner so that you agree on responses; remember that opener's rebid of a new suit at the 3-level is a singleton, NOT a second suit!

When you are in a game-forcing auction, avoid jumping to game unless your partner has limited their hand and there is no chance of slam.  This one thing gives you the opportunity to improve your slam bidding and bridge success.

Talk with your partner to make sure you understand the continuations after the response to RKC.  Do you both know what the Queen ask is?  Do you agree on which calls ask for Kings, and do you respond Specific Kings?

Remember that showing a singleton and then cue-bidding that suit shows either a void, or a singleton Ace (specifically).  Responder to RKC should NOT count the Ace or King in a suit where he knows his partner is void.

You may be off one key card and ask for the queen (you don't want to be in slam missing both a key card and the queen of trump!).  You may not ask for kings unless you have all the key cards.  This is because responder, with a source of tricks, is allowed to jump to seven over the king ask (but not over the queen ask!).

Last -- Suppose your partner asks for key cards, and you show the 0/3 response when you have three key cards.  Or you showed 1/4 but have four key cards.  Partner then signs off 5 of your agreed major; what do you do?  The answer is, you push on to slam.  This doesn't come up often, but it does come up.  Partner's got no business asking for key cards unless your three (or four) are enough for slam.  So when you have the three or four, go ahead and raise to slam.  You can work out a scheme for showing the trump Q and/or specific Kings if you wish and can manage the memory load.

In this article, I've shown some of the tools and techniques I use with my regular partners that are reasonable for serious intermediates and advancers to learn.  Not only are slams fun, but you'll be a happier bridge player, have a happier partner, and score better as you learn to get to more of the making slams while staying out of the hopeless ones.

♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣ ♠♥♦♣

Do you have other interesting hands you'd like analyzed?  Send me an email with a description, and I'll write it up in a future column.  PlayBridgeWithThomas@gmail.com

For Newer Players

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Choose Houston has an open game every Thursday at 7 p.m. and a mentor/mentee game on the first and third Mondays at 7 p.m. To be a mentee, a player must have fewer than 300 masterpoints and must pay for their own entry as well as the entry of their mentor.  If you need a mentor or wish to mentor someone, please contact Mike Linkins via Email:  mlinkins@swbell.net.

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