Bridge fights dementia

November 29th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  No Comments 

Forgive me if this was published ad nauseum when it was first published in May of this year. I am Johnny – come – lately to the blog brigade. Anyway, it’s good to have the link to send to your skeptical friends and relatives.

Came across a NY Times article from earlier this year which says bridge is an excellent way to ward off dementia

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/health/research/22brain.html

Warning – link herein leads to an online poker blog entry

November 25th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  1 Comment 

Warning – link herein leads to an online poker blog entry

If you feel such entries are offensive, please do not click on this link.

http://rosstaylorcardsandlife.blogspot.com/

Please keep children and small animals away from your computer too.

If they bid 3 minor – 3NT against you, you must strain to bid

November 19th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  No Comments 

Experience has taught me the opponents will often bring home 3NT when the auction goes 3C-3NT or 3D-3NT (all bids by them)

I therefore strain to remove them from this contract – either to a lesser scoring minor suit contract of theirs, or a landing place of our own.

Last week playing pairs with Dave Colbert, I held K972 Q9432 5 AJ7, sitting North.

I passed in first chair. We were white versus red.

LHO opened 3D. Dave passed, and RHO said 3NT after long thought.

Nonetheless I bid a prompt double (Takeout of course)

Dave bid 4C, and RHO doubled that – also after long thought. All passed.

Dave had A106 K107 73 108432 – our hands together were as follows :

North
♠	K972
♥	Q9432
♦	5
♣	AJ7
South
♠	A106
♥	K107
♦	73
♣	108432

They look like two random hands don’t they, but going down or making we were getting a very good score as they were stiff for 3NT. (8 diamond tricks)

Dave made 4 clubs doubled  anyway for a cold top. (bonus result-once we removed them from 3NT we were getting a very good board)

I would make the same bid at IMPS.

How can bridge compete with this?

November 15th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  4 Comments 

Todays FTOPS event #24 at Full Tilt Poker

Cost of entry : $129 USD (comparable)

Number of entrants : 9,832 (more than an ACBL Nationals ?)

Tournament Location : Wherever you happen to be (No travel costs)

Dress Code : Whatever you want, as much or as little as you want

Duration of tournament :  between eight and twelve hours (Not 2 weeks !!)

(AFTER SIX HOURS THE FIELD WAS ALREADY DOWN TO 370 PLAYERS)

Prize pool : $983,200 USD (yes there are cash prizes !!)

First place prize : $152,396

Second place prize : $103,236

Third place prize : $72,757

Fourth place prize : $52,306

Fifth place prize $38,345,

90th place prize $1,003

541 st place prize : $295

1350 th place prize : $148 (Yes, they pay up to 1350 th place !!)

Plus, every time you knock someone out you make a $20 bounty; and if you knock out a pro, you get a $120 bounty

Okay, okay………Don’t get me wrong.

I much prefer playing bridge for no money, in fact, at my expense, to a game of No limit Hold ‘Em (NLHE) – but there are many who differ.

But NLHE has the attention of the masses; the enthusiastic embrace of the youthful; and it is easy to learn; easy to play; and luck plays more of a part in the final outcome.

I think as bridge aficionados we should be aware of what’s going on out there, but don’t think of competing with poker – there is no competition.

That’s like saying the National Hockey League is going to take on the NFL for supremacy in the TV ratings

Classic Rewind

November 15th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  2 Comments 

Are there many new plays or positions to be discovered at bridge? Our generation have the advantage of years and years of high quality writings in books, magazines, newspaper columns etc.

The result being an astute, well read and alert player often has an advantage over an opponent always trying to solve problems from first principles, as opposed to prior knowledge.

Here is a recent example from a Toronto Imp League match this week. You arrive in 5 clubs looking at :

North
♠	6
♥	87543
♦	A976
♣	K96
South
♠	A983
♥	AQ2
♦	Void
♣	AQJ1043

All red, your RHO opened 4S, you bid 5C, and partner being a nice guy lets you play it there. The lead is the king of diamonds and you have to win 11 tricks against any defense.

Do you see the key to the hand? It is ice cold !

You have six trumps in hand; the Ace of hearts; the Ace of spades; the Ace of diamonds; and two spade ruffs in dummy.

But there is a catch of course. Spades are most likely 8-0 from the bidding and West’s failure to lead one. If you play the Ace of spades from your hand on the first round of the suit, you will go down.

So instead if having a losing spade in your hand at the end of the hand, concede the spade trick now – simply win the Ace of diamonds and duck a spade. (If they are 7-1 after all, no harm can come from your duck)

Win the return, ruff two spades in dummy, draw trumps, and claim 11 tricks. Don’t even think about trying the heart finesse !

Here is the full layout.

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	x
		♥	87xxx
		♦	A9xx
		♣	K9x
West				East
♠	Void			♠	KQJ10xxxx
♥	K106			♥	Jx
♦	KQ10xxxx			♦	Jx
♣	87x			♣	x
		South
		♠	A98x
		♥	AQx
		♦	void
		♣	AQJ10xx

At my table, Roy Dalton, clearly a student of the game, found the spade duck at trick two and deservedly chalked up a 13 imp gain on the board.

Defensive problem

September 15th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  1 Comment 

Playing in a knockout team final, you pick up Q72   73   Q1085  AQ54, and soon find yourself defending 4 Spades doubled by your LHO.

Dealer: N Vul: NS		North
		♠
		♥
		♦
		♣
West				East
♠				♠	8
♥				♥	KJ952
♦				♦	KJ73
♣				♣	J73
		South
		♠	Q72
		♥	73
		♦	Q1085
		♣	AQ54

The bidding was fast and furious and before you know it, you doubled 4 Spades by West without any clear reason for doing so. (your initial double of 1 spade denied holding 4 spades)

Partner led the diamond 6 (you play third from even and lowest from odd), dummy played low, and your ten forced declarer’s Ace.

Declarer played a heart towards dummy at trick 2, partner flying with the Ace, as you gave count. Partner next exited a low club to your Ace, which alas was ruffed by declarer with the spade 5.

Declarer now played the spade 4 from hand, partner playing the 3, and dummy’s 8 forcing your queen. Now what? The position is as follows, with your side having scored two tricks so far :

Dealer: N Vul: NS		North
		♠
		♥
		♦
		♣
West				East
♠				♠	Void
♥				♥	KJ95
♦				♦	KJ7
♣				♣	J7
		South
		♠	72
		♥	3
		♦	1085
		♣	Q54

The winning defense can be found by process of elimination. To have any chance your side must take one more trump trick, so partner needs Ax or, less likely, Axx or AJx. Declarer’s shape must be one of 7-2-4-0 or 7-3-3-0 or in the extreme, 6-3-4-0. Partner must have begun with either a singleton or a doubleton diamond. You can also tell from the spots. This gives declarer either A9x or A9xx of diamonds. So there is a slow diamond trick to earn.

But the hearts are a threat to that. 

If declarer has only two hearts you must play back a heart now into the dragon’s teeth. See what happens. Declarer wins the Jack, and will need two diamond pitches from his hand to make the contract. If he leaves the hearts alone, they don’t break, and after knocking out trumps he will be a trick short.

If he ruffs a heart back to his hand to establish the long heart, then when partner gets in with the Ace of trumps he will play the fourth round of hearts immediately. You will ruff, declarer will be forced to over ruff and will now be a trick short. You will eventually score a late diamond trick.

If declarer has three hearts, a heart return from you now will more readily sink the contract. Partner will win the second round of spades and give you a heart ruff for down 1.

Well done for your well thought out heart return, as the full layout was :

Dealer: Vul:		North
		♠	A3
		♥	AQ108
		♦	6
		♣	K109862
West				East
♠	KJ109654			♠	8
♥	64			♥	KJ952
♦	A942			♦	KJ73
♣	Void			♣	J73
		South
		♠	Q72
		♥	73
		♦	Q1085
		♣	AQ54

Slamming again

September 10th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  1 Comment 

This next hand was very interesting. I picked up a monster in third chair – KJ108   8   A2   AKQJ103. I opened 1 club, Daniel bid 3D on my left, and Keith made a negative double. Darren passed. If Keith has a good hand, we belong in slam. Six clubs, six spades, maybe even the 7 level depending on his cards.

I was way too good to jump to 4S, so I first bid 4D. Keith did not respond 4H or 4S, rather he bid 4NT.

This had not come up before, but we do have lots of slam bidding principles. One is that 4NT is never blackwood if we have not agreed a trump suit. So here is my passed hand partner bidding 4NT. I decided he also was slammish, but did not want to cue bid 5D as he lacked a diamond control. Now what?

If he has as little as Axxx in  both majors, I only need to find the queen of spades to make 6S (assuming they lead a diamond). Could he have AQxx  AJxx  xxx   xx or something like that? If yes, we belong in 7 spades – but not 7 clubs, as we need the 4-4 fit.

I don’t know where you can go to look up the correct bid now. I could jump to 6S, but a grand slam was still very possible and I needed to cooperate with partner, not jump around unilaterally. I punted back at Keith with 5D. To me this was saying we are for sure going to a small slam; I do have a first round diamond control, and the rest you have to figure out.

Keith’s next call was 6 hearts, so I had my first easy bid in a few rounds, since I clearly have to bid 6S here. 7 clubs cannot be the right bid. 7 spades does not feel right either. If he has the perfect hand for spades, why would he jump to 6H? With stronger spades, I felt he would have bid 5S, and I would then have bid 5NT GSF.

His actual jump to 6H told me his hearts were stronger than his spades, so logically we were missing the spade queen. The layout was as follows:

North
♠	A965
♥	AK53
♦	874
♣	97
South
♠	KJ108
♥	8
♦	A2
♣	AKQJ103

The opening lead was a diamond honour. There was little to the play. I won the Ace; played the jack of spades over the dummy’s Ace, and cashed two hearts, pitching my losing diamond.

Next, I ran the spade 9 from dummy – not caring if it lost to the queen in the West hand (Daniel) since then I was cold. Similarly, if LHO showed out of spades, I would simply re-finesse spades and claim thirteen tricks!

East (Darren) had Q42 of spades, and a singleton diamond, so I ended up with 13 tricks – we had successfully introduced our trump suit at the six level.

Another slam at the office

September 10th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  1 Comment 

I just discovered the cool toolkit for bloggers here, so I couldn’t wait to use some of the prefabricated templates for hand and auction layouts. This next hand was immediately after the star play by Darren Wolpert in 6D. In fact there were seven slams bid and made in this match!

Dealer: W Vul: NS		North (Keith)
		♠	A4
		♥	K875
		♦	43
		♣	AJ874
West (Daniel)				East (Darren)
♠	K8532			♠	QJ76
♥	2			♥	VOID
♦	K75			♦	Q109862
♣	Q1096			♣	K52
		South (Ross)
		♠	109
		♥	AQJ109643
		♦	AJ
		♣	3

 The bidding went as follows:

Everyone passed 6H.

1NT was 11-14, 3D was a transfer to hearts and forcing to game. 3S was a super acceptance cue bid in support of hearts. 4C was also a cue bid. Keith loved his hand within the context of this auction, and proferred 5C. I needed no more encouragement and quickly jumped to 6H.

The lead was a small spade, and you can see this is a gorgeous 24 pt slam with only two wasted jacks between the two hands. I claimed 12 tricks, saying I would use the board’s trump entries to establish the fifth round of clubs for my twelvth trick. Realistically, if the clubs were worse than 4-3, I had no play

Highlight reel play

September 10th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  12 Comments 

Keith and I were playing a match against Daniel Korbel and Darren Wolpert, (reigning Canadian team champions) when this 6D contract came up near the end.

Dealer: N Vul: NS		North (Daniel)
		♠	AQJ95
		♥	K75
		♦	AKJ
		♣	AK
West (Ross)				East (Keith)
♠	108764			♠	32
♥	A863			♥	Q102
♦	104			♦	7532
♣	104			♣	8762
		South (Darren)
		♠	K
		♥	J94
		♦	Q986
		♣	QJ953

They would be the first to admit that 6NT by Daniel’s hand is where they wanted to be, but if everything were perfect, there would be no story. They ended in 6D by South, which exposed the heart suit to attack.

Sure enough, I underled the Ace of hearts – which was the only lead to give us a chance. (I knew Daniel’s hand was strong and balanced)

In maybe 2 seconds, Darren called for the heart king from dummy (!) and quickly scooped up 13 tricks. A truly great play.

Darren modestly said he was just “sure” it was right. Perhaps my tempo on opening lead varied slightly from other hands – which may have guided his decision; so for all you kids reading this – PLAY IN TEMPO – ALWAYS

As declarer (a) you have to always seek out any and all clues (b) and when you feel sure you are right – back up your intuition with a bold play and don’t be afraid to look bad.

The weak 2D opener strikes twice

September 7th, 2009  ~  Ross Taylor  ~  1 Comment 

Played in a sectional KO yesterday in Toronto.

Overall, Keith and I played quite well, and we won all our matches so that part was good

One hand I held AQJx   K10   K109   AQJx

Keith opened 2D weak, and I responded 2NT

He bid 3C which means we are in a GF and he denies a second suit

I bid 3D, and he bid 3H meaning stiff heart

I bid 3S and he was kind enough to bid 4S showing the king

So I blackwooded and we got to 6D

Lead was a club and he had

Kx   x   AQxxxx   10xxx

Nice slam !

You rise with the Ace of clubs – but to make; you have to play DK from your hand as diamonds are 4-0

The opening lead was a sneaky 8 of clubs from K8x

Another hand he opened 2D and I had

AKQ1076  AJ76  Void   AQ9 – quite the power house!

I could bid 2S forcing and Keith thinks I am nuts for not doing so

I elected to bid 2NT again, and he bid 4C – showing 6-5 in diamonds and clubs

Wow !

He could have a perfecto and we could be on for 7C but I figured (a) partners rarely have perfectos; (b) it looks good that we found our club fit (c) perhaps we have done well just bidding a making slam and avoiding spades at too high a level

So I bid 6C

Keith had   xx  void  Axxxxxx   K10xxx

Clubs were 4-1 but no diamond lead, and spades broke so we scrambled home – at the other table they got to 6C on the auction

3D (!!)   – 3NT

5C    –     6C

but the guy mangled the play and went down 

What about 6 spades, Ross? or even 7 spades

Yes had he not shown the 6-5 I planned to get his shape via 3C-3D and then place the contract in spades – I eschewed that once I knew he only had two cards in spades and hearts

Clearly 6S is a very nice contract and we have all been in worse than 7S – which doesn’t make this time – so I was fairly lucky overall here

Later I held

Void    107xxx    KJ9xxxx   8

RHO opened 1S equal red

What would you bid?

I bid 3D – I now feel I should have bid 4D – a bit kamikaze, but likely more effective

Anyway, LHO bid 4D

Keith bid 5D

RHO bid 6S

I bid 7D

LHO bid 7S – claim!

Had I bid 4D they would not have all the room they need – LHO has a fifteen count with an AK and two aces including A109 of spades – what does he bid over 4D?

Real early on I was still sleepy and on cold meds (while practising against Daniel and Darren) and held

QJxx   J8xxx   Jx   xx

Keith opened 1D and RHO bid 2C

I said negative double (skinny I know)

LHO said 3C, and Keith said double (takeout)

RHO said 3NT – all pass – your lead

I believe the right lead is the SQ. I led the diamond jack (real weak) and declarer now had 9 tricks – including 3 diamond tricks with 109xx in dummy and AKx in his hand (talk about a wake up call!)

Leading either major leads to +400 as we take the first nine tricks

This auction is analagous to a gambling 3NT so you gotta try to attack and lead through dummy. Keith is marked with length in both majors – The spade is through dummy’s king.

Also, declarer and dummy were 2-2- in hearts with 10x opposite Qx in declarer’s hand

Finally a defensive problem

You hold A76   A97   K873   K64

RHO opens a strong NT and you pass. LHO transfers to spades, and then jumps to 3NT. RHO pulls to 4 spades, and it’s your lead. (You play upside down attitude and regular count)

You lead a trump and dummy is

K108xx

Qxx

x

Q98x

Declarer wins the spade in hand and fires back another spade. You win the Ace as partner sheds an ambiguous diamond 6. You play back your last spade and partner now plays the heart 4. Partner does not have much of course, so is trying to be helpful while relatively in the dark about the hand.

Declarer wins the spade in dummy and leads a low club to his jack. Partner playing the 5 which would be count if you can figure it out. You realize ducking the club is not an option as you did not do so in tempo, so you win the club with your king and you are back in again.

Staying passive seems to still be right. A heart looks very risky. A club could pick up the club ten in partner’s hand and or eliminate a guess for declarer if he began with AJx of clubs.

So a diamond looks right. But not so fast. If you exit a low diamond and partner has the queen, and declarer say the AJ10(x), you will now create a ruffing finesse situation in diamonds – yielding a needed heart discard from dummy for declarer’s tenth trick.

So all in all, the right play, I felt, was the diamond king from my hand at this point. Sure enough, all worked out well after that. Declarer had actually begun with AJ alone in clubs, so a club may have worked too.

Furthermore, partner was kind enough to have the QJxx of diamonds, so no heroics were necessary – but you get the point. And for what it is worth, the defense at the other table was not passive and our team mates Daniel and Darren chalked up the game