Diana s Fun With Bridge July, August 2017 Repeat Tip from Larry Cohen It is dangerous to count extra points for short or long suits before the bidding starts. If partner bids your short suit, that reduces, not increases, the value of your hand. If one of the opponents bids your long suit, that decreases, not increases, the value of your hand. If you let the bidding develop, you will see whether your long or short suits are working for or against you.
Suit Preference Signals The suit preference signal is the simplest and most elegant of all the suit signals, yet the average player has more trouble with it than with any other. Why? Because they confuse it with attitude signals. When giving suit preference you can actually tell your partner which suit you want led, including a continuation of the suit that has been led. With spades as trump west leads her singleton 9 on which you play your ace. You want to tell partner how to get you back in again. You do this by leading your 2. This tells partner to lead the lowest ranking suit excluding the trump suit. In this case lead a. You are in again and can now give partner another ruff. If you want partner to lead a back, you play a high for her to ruff. Sam says: Suit Preference Example 762 QJ98 J9863 Q J93 K652 104 KJ103 AK1084 A Q52 8643 Q5 10743 AK7 A972 When you get your defense going like this it is like dancing. West leads her singleton club. East takes it and leads a low club to partner telling her to return a diamond. You take it with your king letting partner know you also have the ace. You give partner a second ruff and she returns a diamond and now you give he a third ruff and the opponents are down before they can even catch their breath. 92 AK102 AJ10 KJ85 HAND TO PLAY KQ5 QJ76 983 762 J8 95 7654 Q10943 Bidding: E 1 S 1 W Pass N 2 All Pass When discarding, keep length parity with the dummy. If dummy has four cards in a suits eg. AKQ8 and you have four cards eg. 9432, the nine could conceivably take a trick. Be careful about discarding from that suit, be very careful. Don t. A107643 843 KQ2 A West North East South 1 dbl. 2 pass pass dbl. pass 3 3 2
Lead the ace and king of hearts partner will show you a doubleton. Now give her a suit preference signal by leading the heart ten for her to ruff. This tells her to lead the highest ranking suit other than a trump. She ruffs and leads you a diamond, you now play another heart which partner will ruff and declarer will over-ruff. You do this so she will not get a discard on her heart queen. She now cannot discard a diamond loser. Without the suit preference signal east could be inclined to return a club. With this defense she is down one. When partner leads an ace and you see a singleton in dummy you want to be able to tell partner how to get to your hand and you do this in the same way. A high card on partners ace tells partner to lead the higher ranking suit and a low card the lower ranking suit. If partner plays a 5, 6, or 7 it generally means she is not interested in any suit you may lead, however, you must look at the card in that suit in dummy as well as the cards in your hand before making that decision. Don t Forget When giving partner a ruff, the card you lead is suit preference telling partner which suit to return after the ruff. HAND TO PLAY 5 AQ8 J9732 9874 KJ6 7 AK654 AJ106 AQ10872 52 ----- KQ532 943 KJ109643 Q108 ------ East South West North 3 3 5 6 Don t Forget As declarer, when you can take a trick with one of equal honors, take the trick with the higher equal. It is far more deceptive. E.g. playing in NT w/kqx. If a low is led & RHO plays the J and assuming you wish to take the trick play the K. West may assume partner has the Q as she would play the J from QJ. Do the same w/aqj. If a low card is played & RHO plays the 10 play the Q. LHO will probably assume her partner has the J as she would play the 10 from J10. 3
Partner plays her ace of hearts. There is a singleton in dummy. East must give you a suit preference signal. She must play the two of hearts telling you to lead the lowest ranking suit, in this case a club. You play a club and she ruffs. Down they go in an ice cold contract without the club return. HAND TO PLAY 7 Q954 AQJ2 KJ83 AJ96 2 108543 754 43 AKJ1087 96 Q102 KQ10852 63 K7 A96 North East South West 1 1 2 2 4 4 5 all pass West leads her ace of on which east plays her king. This is a suit preference signal for the higher ranking suit other than trump. West switches to a diamond and now south is sunk. She must lose a spade, diamond and a club. With any other lead south has the timing to take out the trumps, play clubs and get a diamond discard on her 4 th. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter please click the forward key and say to please delete my name from the list. My apologies if you receive the newsletter twice. You are on two different lists. 4
Two Mornings Of BRIDGE CONVENTIONS Many of us know the basics of several conventions, however, perhaps, you may be lacking the more in depth understanding of the convention or conventions. The two lessons are designed to give you a better understanding not only of the conventions, but what to do over interference and how to interfere yourself to disrupt the opponents. You will learn how to handle the opponent s interference over your Michaels and also how to interfere over their Michaels. Also Michaels with some neat additions. Know what to do over the opponent s interference over your strong 2-club bid. Virtually all experts advise opening 1 & 2 NT with a 5-card major. Using Puppet Stayman uncovers the suit along with numerous other advantages. You will learn Puppet over both 1 & 2 NT. Flummoxed when the opponents interfere over your opening NT. Learn the ease of Lebensohl to solve this problem. Four way transfers with super accepts are not nearly as difficult as you may think. This and much, much more. Having a partner attend is of no consequence. This applies to all of my classes. Dates: Friday September 8 th & Friday September 29th - Time: 9:30 am 11:30 am Location: St. Aidan s Church - 380 Leathead Road, Kelowna Cost: $25.00 Contact: Diana Knowles 250 491 4704 - knowles8@shaw.ca Lesson are on Power Point. If you know upon registration that you will miss a class there is no charge for the missed class. 5
BEGINNER BRIDGE LESSONS Start This Fall Now is your opportunity to not only enhance your brain cells with a great new learning experience but also join a group of like-minded individuals in learning the amazing game of Bridge. Learning is meant to be joyful so come on out and enjoy the fun. The lessons are meant for brand new players as well as those who played bridge another lifetime ago, in other words a long, long time ago. You will be playing the game by your second lesson and each subsequent lesson will enhance your enjoyment and wonder of the game. A partner is not required, just come out and enjoy the joy of learning. Lessons start Monday September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, & 23rd. Time: 10:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. Location: St. Aidan s Church - 380 Leathead Road, Kelowna Cost: $60.00 includes all lessons, coffee, tea & goodies. Contact: Diana Knowles 250 491 4704 - knowles8@shaw.ca If you know upon registration that you will miss a class there is no charge for the missed class. Bridge is a gym for the mind. Bridge is a game where you never get to know everything and so it s a great way to exercise the brain. 6
Bridge Lessons Build Your Play Of The Hand Skills And wow your opponents 1. Expand your knowledge of when and how to play a complete crossruff, partial cross-ruff and the simple ruff. 2. Learn to recognize the opponent who can set your contract if they obtain the lead and how to neutralize the danger. 3. Become skilled at hold up plays, when and how to use them to your advantage. 4. How to keep trump control and handle the trumps to your advantage and not the opponents. 5. Along the way you will learn a multitude of tips to vastly improve your game. 6. And much, much more. Each lesson has a number of hands to play. Play Of The Hand teaches you how to play the hand, so having a partner is not necessary. This applies to all my classes. Date: Friday Morning October 13, 20 & November 10 & 17. 9:30 a.m. 11:30 a.m. Location: St. Aidan s Church, 380 Leathead Road, Kelowna Cost: $60.00 Contact: Diana Knowles 250 491 4704 knowles8@shaw.ca Lessons are on Power Point If you know upon registration that you will miss any classes there is no charge for the missed classes. 7