This Week At North Penn

Mon, 08/11

Tue, 08/12

Wed, 08/13

Thu, 08/14

Fri, 08/15 AM

Fru, 08/15 PM

Open

0-1500

Shuffle & Deal, Open 4IE Mentor

Open

0-750 Swiss Red Hot Challenge (25% red)

Pizza game / NAP qualifier

Tournament Reminder

The King of Prussia bridge club will host a Non-Life Master / 499'er tournament on Monday, August 25. Click here to view a flyer.

Pre-registration is required to guarantee your spot and lunch. Space is limited to 21 tables, so don't wait too long to sign up.

New 0-99 Game Coming Soon

Starting Aug 27, we will have a monthly 0-99 game in place of Shuffle & Deal:

• When: 4th Wednesday of each month
• Time: 9:30 AM
• Cost: $10
• Boards: 12

Sign ups are greatly appreciated! If you need assistance finding a partner, let us know and we’ll work with you.

Hand Analysis

by Bucky Syndor

(sydnoriv@yahoo.com)

Playing online with a regular partner, I was 1^st seat, all white, and picked up

♠J10642  ♥QJ  ♦A52  ♣J75

The auction went

P – P – 1NT – P

2♥ – P – 2♠ – P

?

I have a terrible 9 count. Though I have an ace, the other 5 points are a doubleton queen and three jacks. Marty Bergen says he subtracts a point for 3 jacks. They are certainly nothing to write home about. Secondly my ♥QJ is a doubleton. Holding simply a doubleton queen, several decades ago I was taught to subtract 1 point. The jack along with it makes its value more confusing. They could fill in partner’s ♥K10xx beautifully (as well as Kxx, Axx , Akxx or 109xx) or they could be worthless opposite partner’s ♥xxx. Finally, I have terrible spot cards; all seven of them are 7 or lower. I was not inviting partner anywhere.

I passed.

Here's the full deal:

Some N’s did consider this 9-count worth bidding 2NT. They rested there and the three who made it got a 95.4% board, bested by only those who made 2♠X. Literally “scores” did not make 2NT or 2♠, and those who went higher also failed.

As you see, at our table there was no interference in the auction. Most W’s playing DONT or Meckwell bid 2♦ (as I would have), promising diamonds and a major. If W had done so at our table, I would have bid 2♠, a bid saying I have spades and am not interested in going farther. E might have doubled, and my partner would have passed, and that is where I, rather than my partner, would have played it.

Back to this deal, my partner is declaring and the play itself was quite interesting since coming to 8 tricks was a major success, 24 HCP notwithstanding. Any declarer doing so scored 90% or better. My partner’s observations afterwards were that there are too many losers to risk losing control of trump due to a bad break, and he might make only 1 or 2 trump tricks. (He got 3.)

Here is how my partner brought home his 2♠ contract. He won the ♥4 lead in Dummy and then played Dummy’s other heart and won it in hand. Next he ruffed a third round of hearts low in Dummy.

He came off Dummy with a low club to his ace and led his 4^th heart. W played her king, my partner pitched the ♣7 from Dummy and E pitched the ♣8. (This was loser on loser play #1.)

W exited with her ♠7, and it went 4, 5, A. Partner then led a low diamond to Dummy’s ace and the ♣J to his K. My partner now had 7 tricks and needed only one more.

He exited with his ♣2, which W won, as partner pitched a diamond from Dummy—loser on loser play #2— and W pitched her ♦Q. W was now down to 4 diamonds. Here was the layout at this point.

W then led her ♦K. Dummy and Partner both have to follow suit, but E must ruff in. Now she was end-played. All she could do was cash her winning spades, leaving Dummy with the highest spade on the 13^th trick.

Well done, Partner!

There are two keys to the hand: (1) not to draw trumps and (2) pitch a loser on loser when possible—a fascinating element of my partner’s declarer play as he made two loser on loser plays.

The first key—when not to draw trumps—is a lesson we don’t get in bridge classes until very, very late, if at all. If Declarer tries to draw trumps on this deal, he will potentially lose 4 spades. Declarer could also go on to lose 1 heart, 2 diamonds and 1 club. It will not be possible for the defense to collect all 8 of Declarer’s potential losers. But those losers are out there, lurking, waiting for good defenders to get as many as they can if Declarer makes a misstep.

With perfect defense and declarer play, the only way of setting 2♠ is for W to make an opening lead of a diamond. Good luck finding that. But, as you can see, the deal was complicated enough for there to be little chance of perfect defense and perfect declarer play. Both sides could go wrong at any number of points, regardless of the opening lead.

With one secret to this deal being not to draw trumps, those E’s who doubled 2♠ alerted Declarer to the bad split. That warning allowed two pairs to make their doubled contracts for a top board.

So, how does one know not to draw trumps? I am not aware of books, or chapters of books, which teach it. On occasion deals in the Bridge Bulletin illustrate it. But the way many of us learn about it is by either drawing trumps on a specific deal and regretting it deeply, and/or watching a good Declarer not draw trumps and bring home an iffy contract.

The latter method requires you to be alert to what happens at the table. After all, your entry fee is not just to let you play; it includes possibilities to learn from those you play against.

Ask the Expert

 Email your questions, or a pesky hand, or something you’d like to know about bidding or playing to Toysie Walker. She will forward them to the panel, one will be chosen, and the question and answers will be printed in the following week’s newsletter.

70% Club

Friday, Aug 8

73%

Jack Wilkinson & Thorpe Aschoff

August Birthdays

Gwen Bryant

Jack Carballo

Pat Estadt

Dan Frey

Suzanne MacFadden

Jeff Rohrbeck

Mary Tassaro

Mary Tweedie

Woody Woodbury