Another Angle on Pre-empts

Most new players will have learnt the basics about three level preempts: seven card suits and 6 to 10 points. But what then? Here is a typical preempt of 3C that did not lead to the best final outcome for most NS pairs.
Board 9 from Wednesday 30/01/19
Dealer N EW Vul

4
Q4
T96
AJ97432
KJ93
JT85
J72
65
QT8
AK72
KQ543
8
A7652
963
A8
KQT

Virtue being its own Reward

They say virtue has its own rewards. So does good bidding. Here is a prime example of that. There is a very good reason why the better bidders try and find a 4-4 or 5-3 fit when appropriate. Take a look:
Board 11 from Thursday 25/01/19
Dealer S Nil Vul

843
98
JT942
KJT
KQT96
KJT2
6
A652
AJ7
AQ65
A5
9873
52
743
KQ873
Q42

Introducing "Replay This Hand"

Further on down in this article you'll see a new link that will take you to Bridge Solver On-Line where you can walk through the featured hand and see what happens when you play a wrong card. This will be a regular feature in Vil's articles from now on.

Simple bidding can become not quite so simple in some situations, which is why you need to have a way to keep bidding open by using the “fourth suit forcing” principle. “Fourth suit forcing” can be just that: if you bid the fourth suit after three have been bid, it is FORCING partner to bid, that’s all you need to remember at this stage of your bridge development. Let’s have a look at a very interesting deal from today’s session.

Board 11 from Wednesday 23/01/2019
Dealer S Nil Vul

J93
K82
J983
963
AT74
QJ
A62
AJ87
Q65
A9765
QT7
KT
K82
T43
K54
Q542

In case you're wondering ..

.. Bob has added another column to the Ladder - XG Status. The three categories are Unpublished (U = played < 150 boards), Evolving (E = played between 150 and 1000 boards) and Mature (M = played > 1000 boards). This is because it takes a while for the XG's to settle down - see graph below as an example. Thus, a reasonable player who is status U has a good chance at coming top on the Handicap as their XG will remain at zero until they get beyond 6-7 sessions. Only the most recent 2000 boards are taken into the calculations.

Remember .. all the columns in the Ladder may be sorted by clicking on the green column headers.

Trust Truscott

“Truscott” is a very useful convention, whichever way you play it. When East opens 1H and South doubles, West bids THREE hearts instead of just 2H. That is how the original version of Truscott worked: when you have a fit for partner and an opponent makes a takeout double, raise to one level higher than you would normally, and the 2NT bid now replaces a normal raise to three. Simple enough and very useful.

Board 8 from Thursday 17/01/2019
Dealer N Nil Vul

A964
Q5
965
J752
KT7
J864
QT73
43
J3
AKT9732
42
A9
Q852
AKJ8
KQT86

More BIG Steps Forward for X-Clubs ... and Bridge in New Zealand

Bob Fearn, as many will know, is the author of Compass scoring which is the engine powering X-Clubs and, for the last four years, the NZ-Wide Babich Simultaneous Pairs. In 2018 Bob took an interest in scoping out a National Grading System (NGS) for use in New Zealand. An NZB NGS would open up a whole new dimension to our game - handicaps. Bridge players could then go out to beat their handicap not their playmates. This challenge became available for all players of X-Club deals 1i 2019.

Plan Ahead ..

It is apparent that many of our Wednesday players are still not completely au fait with the weak 1NT opening or how to proceed when they are the partner of the 1NT opener.

Board 11 from Wednesday 16/01/2019
Dealer S Nil Vul

QT953
QJT54
A
Q4
AJ7
7
J7532
K632
8
862
Q964
AJT87
K642
AK93
KT8
95

Fortune Favours The Bold

I just had to discuss this hand because a number of our junior players from Wednesday have been asking, and it is important that they understand the points system of evaluating the potential of any hand you hold, and why getting what I call ‘point fixated’ by basing all your bidding on points is not the way to get the best results. There is also an ulterior motive, because this particular deal is another that would be ideally handled by those who have taken up my “Evil Acol” way of bidding. So, let’s take a look:

Board 18 from Wednesday 09/01/2019.
Dealer E NS Vul

732
AK98
J873
Q9
J
QT72
AT64
8643
AK9854
9
AKJ752
QT6
J6543
KQ52
T

The East hand has 15 high card points but is HUGE in potential. The best way I can persuade you of its strength is to suggest you do an experiment: deal out the East hand and then randomly deal out the other three. Do that ten times. How many times out of ten would the EW hands be able to make either 6C or 6S?

Avarice Preceedeth The Fall

How many of our beginners, I wonder, play weak twos in the majors, and how many of them play 2D also as a weak two. That is the norm according to the NZ Bridge lessons, is it not? But it’s not enough to have learnt that the weak two bid is based on a six card suit and 6-10 high card points, you must also know what to do when partner opens with a weak two.

Board 14 from Wednesday 09/01/2019
Dealer E Nil Vul

AT86
AQJ52
85
K9
Q43
K98
A3
AQ753
K
73
KJT976
T862
J9752
T64
Q42
J4

A Bit of Holiday Reading

Hi all - I hope you’re looking forward to next year’s bridge and don’t forget to keep your questions coming!

Now to continue with our discussion on the 1NT opening and what happens after that. I must set the reader straight on one thing: overcalling when an opponent has opened 1NT is quite a different matter to overcalling when an opponent has opened in a suit.

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