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The Lighter Side of Bridge.

Wishing..and hoping.

There are times when you hope your partner does not put down too good a dummy, like when you have stopped short of slam. Please, please show me a couple of quick losers to justify my conservatism. Then, there are other times when you need your partner to show just a little, not too much, mind you, more than their bidding to date shows…i.e. more than nothing! You cannot always rely on misdefence!

ONLY ONE OBLIGING PARTNER

 

We asked you, yesterday, what bid you would make on this South hand which seems to be getting worse by every bid or Pass (thank you, partner) made and as you made the bid, what you would be saying to your Socially Distanced BBO partner (his ears, are of course, blocked!).

Maybe you should torture partner whose hcp expectation would be in the 0-3 hcp (20- (11+6)) if the “oppos” observed the proper rules of opening and responding. As you know, they do not and partner could produce an attractive 4 or 5 count out of the hat! What about another double? Maybe they have 4 or 5 spades?

Maybe not. I do not think many would argue with a 3 bid here….and the words to partner would run along the lines of “just a little help somewhere, please, partner. Not too much or else we might miss game.”

All three players passed 3 with varying degrees of speed, West quite quickly, North at the speed of light and East after just a little thought. A spade was led and dummy was exposed. Well, declarer was rather exposed too!

 

Partner commented as dummy went down that he hoped we had not missed game! Accepting the blame, already. That was good to see.

Well, dummy’s clubs were better than their diamonds. Maybe your aim should be to score the “beer card” at trick 13? Too hard. The defence (not partner!) helped out a little and you escaped for only down 2.

(The winning and perhaps not unreasonable action over 2 is for South to pass and concede -90 or -110)

The Strongest Overcall in the History of Bridge.

What would you wish for here?

 

That’s 23 hcp to save you adding. What would you wish for when you overcall 2? That's right. Just 2. No double and bid!

The answer is “very little” and you got even less:

 

but this “mighty” overcall was worth a bundle of match-points when others pushed themselves to 4. Usually, West led partner’s suit and declarer was left to ruff the third spade and eventually to concede two club tricks. If partner cannot produce evenQ, then 2 seems a very reasonable bid. Anyone for 3NT? Your obliging partner might help you out in the spade department!

Unfortunately, on the first board, I was the very unobliging partner and on the second observed proceedings with disbelief from the East seat. The obliging partner, of course, sat North!

Playing On-Line

We mentioned above playing on-line though the second deal above was played with all at one table (remember when we used to do that?!) On-line bridge has become a saviour for many of us, for quite a few who before the current crisis would never have wanted to play that way.

There are many plusses for doing so and Akaroa’s Giles Hancock explains what are the real benefits for him of playing bridge this way:

10 reasons why online bridge is better than face-to-face.

1. Partner can't revoke, lead out of turn or make insufficient bids. (neither can you, Giles!)
2. I can refer to my system notes when I forget.
3. I don't have to shower and get dressed up. In fact,I can play in my underwear....
4. I can drink beer while I play. And burp. And eat potato chips.
5. I can listen to heavy metal while I play. Or Mozart.
6. I can check my emails while I am dummy.
   
7. The computer tells me when it is my turn.
8. The cat can sit on my lap.
9. I can ask the dog for advice. Or the goldfish.

10. I can stop any time I like. (not currently, Giles, while you are playing in a competition, please)
   

Fortunately, we thought it not appropriate to show most of the above pictorially! Certainly, Giles is right. For now, at least, we could add an 11^th that of maintaining contact with other bridge players while doing what we really enjoy. However, this is the real Giles Hancock:

 

 
enjoying life away from his laptop near beautiful Akaroa. Thanks for sharing the plusses of on-line bridge. Surely, for now, the minuses would be very small in number.

 

Partner’s Role in life is to….

We will leave you with this until tomorrow. You can complete the sentence and also hazard a guess at what happened after dummy went down in what surely should be a wonderfully simple 4 contract. If you are “stuck”, there is not long to wait!

 

2 was a Michaels Cue-Bid promising at least 5 spades and at least 5 cards in a minor….weak or strong. See you tomorrow.

Richard Solomon

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