Vesuvius' Bridge Blog

The Best System (Part 3 - Conclusion)

2010-11-12T18:02:00.001-05:00

I know I missed plenty of systems, but for a generic overview, there is only so much one can do. So now I guess I'll answer the three original questions:

"What is the best bidding system available?"

This depends on your goal, the level of opponents, the form of scoring, and many other factors. In my opinion, the best system available is some form of relay precision, if played properly. What I mean by this, is that if you don't have extensive practice and discussion not only on handling interference, but followups to your side's constructive auctions, and detailed agreements in a very large number of situations, you will lose more IMPs from misunderstandings and guesswork, than you will gain from your system advantages.

Therefore, in most partnerships, I prefer a fairly standard 2/1 with a lot of gadgets and modifications. One thing that I would highly recommend is a Short Club with Transfer Responses. Although there are many systems out there, designed to do so many things, sometimes it's best to go back to the basics. Over the years, systems have developed to meet the changing styles of bidding, and to reflect the player's personal styles and preferences. In modern bridge, there is a lot more competitive bidding than there used to be. This makes many systems that used to be superior, ineffective.

A very good example of this would be Canapé-style systems. Before the auctions were so lively, Canapé players could open their shorter suits without any problem: They would have room in later bidding to sort out their hands. Nowadays, when the opponents are in the auction so much, showing the crucial second suit before the auction is too high, is often extremely hard, if not impossible. The style of opening a shorter suit first works in Constructive auctions where the opponents don't bid, however, the more intervention in an auction, the harder it is to actually resolve the opener's hand.

This is also true for a Strong Club system, which is why it does not fare so well with intervention. Even the top players in the world have trouble sometimes with auctions like 1C - (2S) - ?? - (3S). Without these problems, in a constructive auction, a strong club is clearly best. However, with these problems, I feel that a 2/1 style can handle most hands fairly well, and is not nearly as vulnerable to pre-emption.

2/1 has my vote for the best system. Simple is sometimes good.

"If you lived in a perfect world, where you had unlimited memory and practice, what do you think is the best system or combination of systems?"

The above logic brings me to my dream system, which I believe would combine the advantages of both a Strong Club system, and a 2/1 style system. I believe the best system is a combination of the two:

Strong Club when the opponents are Vulnerable, and 2/1 when the opponents are Not Vulnerable.

The value and frequency of pre-emption over a strong club when the opponents are Vulnerable is a lot less. Also, it is much easier to penalize them at this vulnerability. Therefore, when they are more likely to interfere (when NV), the solution is to play 2/1. My personal choice of 2/1 would be with a Short Club and Transfer responses, along with plenty of other gadgets and modifications.

"What would be the best bidding system to learn if I want to learn something new?"

I get asked this question quite often. There seem to be "stepping-stones" for learning new systems, sometimes people skip them, but in order to have a full understanding of each system, I would recommend you focus on something that you can understand well.

If you currently only know Standard, or are not very comfortable with 2/1, I would highly suggest you learn and become very familiar with 2/1 before moving to other systems. These two systems are the base of most complicated ones, and understanding them before learning others is vital. If you are looking for some books on it, I would reccomend Eric Rodwell and Audrey Grant's book on 2/1. There is also Paul Thurston's book, and Max Hardy's book. Hardy's book is excellent for advanced players looking for more reading material on 2/1.

If you currently are comfortable with both Standard and 2/1, Precision is the next step for you. Learning Precision will increase your understanding of the system, and make it much easier to play against those who already play precision. I highly recommend David Berkowitz's Precision Today for a fairly simple version of Precision. It is extremely well-written, and covers all the important aspects of a Strong Club system. From there, you can explore other options, for the more adventurous there are Relay Systems available, Daniel Neill has put together an incredible collection of systems at his webpage. Most any system you could possibly want is available there.

If you are comfortable with Standard, 2/1 and Precision and are looking for something to learn for fun, or as a challenge, I'd recommend looking at Daniel Neill's page as well. There is some fun stuff on there that may interest you. Jassem has a very good book on Polish Club as well.

So basically I think there are stepping-stones, as you progress more and more, you'll learn more and more systems. If you're really bored, you can even create your own! Um, not that I've ever done such a thing... :)

The Best System (Part 2 - More Systems)

2010-11-12T11:15:00.000-05:00

Continuing with the next installation of the Best System. It's a bit harder to clearly state/show pros and cons of most systems than I thought, but will try my best.

4. Precision

Advantages:

Strong Hands are shown immediately, and bidding starts at a lower level
Limited openings, which allows for much better competitive decisions for responder, and for Opener to be able to show intermediate 2-suiters accurately
Can be used along with 2/1
Allows a lot of room for system changes/additions
Can use a weak (or very weak) NT, and not damage the rest of the system
Allows for light openings, and pre-emption (Therefore sometimes tough to defend against)
As long as you know the system well, you can benefit from it, however it may take practice to reach this point
(for Relay Precision) Allows extremely well-defined auctions, where opener/responder can show full shape, strength, controls, honour location etc.

Disadvantages:

Very vulnerable to pre-emption by the opponents (Takes some time to get comfortable dealing with interference)
Not a universally-known system (Perhaps a advantage as well)
Depending on the level of complexity, it can be a very memory intensive system

5. Polish Club

Advantages:

Strong Hands are shown immediately, and bidding starts at a lower level
Limited openings, which allows for much better competitive decisions for responder, and for Opener to be able to show intermediate 2-suiters accurately
Can be used along with 2/1
If used properly, can be very pre-emptive, but yet very constructive
Can handle interference fairly well (since responder assumes a Weak NT hand-type), while allowing strong hands to be opened 1C.
Multi 2D and Polish 2 Bids allow for a much greater spectrum of hands you are able to pre-empt on.

Disadvantages:

Strong hands sometimes are forced to overbid after opening 1C, to show their values.
Some aspects (if playing Multi etc) are Midchart.
Not well known in the US
Memory intensive, and not much room for changes

6. Forcing Pass

Advantages:

Tough to defend against, especially since most people have very little experience playing against it.
Allows for light and (extremely) pre-emptive openings
Strong Hands are shown immediately, albeit in a bit of an odd way.

Disadvantages:

Extremely vulnerable to pre-emption and psyching.
Not allowed in almost all events (Certainly no ACBL ones...)
Memory Intensive
Very little pre-emptive value to "Pass", and opponents can bid early/often

Will follow with the conclusions in a little while.

The Best System (Part 1 - Introduction and First 3 Systems)

2010-11-11T16:43:00.001-05:00

I came across a few very interesting questions today:

"What is the best bidding system available?"

"What would be the best bidding system to learn if I want to learn something new?"

"If you lived in a perfect world, where you had unlimited memory and practice, what do you think is the best system or combination of systems?"

I've been asked these before, stumbled across them again, and figured it would make a good post. It's one topic that I think most bridge players don't consider too often, and if they do, they often don't have enough experience playing such systems to make an informed decision. I'm not suggesting that I am anywhere near the best person to answer this question, however I do have a fair amount of experience playing a fair amount of odd/non-natural systems as well as a reasonable amount playing standard stuff, and figured I'd write something on the general pros and cons of several systems, and what I think is the best system, and combination of systems.

As a general theory, one of the best ways to learn how to defend something, is to learn how to use/play it. This is especially true for systems and conventions. Often knowing what the opponents are doing, and their other inferences they may have from their partner's bidding is often very valuable. A simple example would be Multi 2D. When the auction goes (2D) - P - (2S), and it is alerted as "Pass or Correct", you are missing a negative inference that the opponents have, and may make your bidding/play easier on this hand. When responder bids 2S here, there is an additional inference that he has longer hearts than spades, and often an invitational hand opposite a heart pre-empt. The opponents are not required to tell you this (I don't think?), and there is no way you would know it unless you played Multi yourself.

There are often small inferences available in the auction that unless you have experience playing your opponent's system/convention, you would never know. This is just another reason to be well-read on systems, and to have some knowledge of what your opponents are playing.

I'll start with a general rundown of systems, not an extremely comprehensive list, however I think it covers most general systems, going in order of difficulty, with 1 being the easiest:

1. Passing Always

Advantages:

Easiest to remember
Can never misbid
People have tried this system in a local game, and gotten above average with it (Provided you are good at defense)
Able to practice defense (always)
Many boards are passed out, making for a faster game

Disadvantages:

Completely insane
Never any chance to practice declarer play (always)
Opponents have uncontested auctions
About 50 other downsides as well -- Not recommended!

2. Standard American

Advantages:

Very simple to learn (and play)
Mostly natural bidding
Allows some room for creative changes
Can play with most pickup partners, and is widely known throughout the world.
Handles inference fairly well, since you can bid naturally most of the time.
Hands with 10-11 HCP with invitations can often show their suit at a lower level, and find the right contract

Disadvantages:

Not enough forcing calls, often you are forced to jump and pre-empt the auction when it would be better to bid constructively.
Usually not well-defined bids, much more guesswork than preferred
Extremely easy to play against
Game forcing hands opposite a 1M opening usually cannot create a constructive auction, and instead must guess at the final contract sometimes (See the first Downside).
Strong hands cannot show strength immediately

3. Two-Over-One Game Forcing

Advantages:

Constructive and slow auctions when responder has a game-forcing hand
Fairly simple to learn (and play)
Mostly natural bidding
Can play with most pickup partners, and is the most popular/highly known system in the US, as well as most other countries.
Handles interference pretty much the same as SA, usually pretty well.
The most room for creative changes (One treatment I highly suggest is a Short Club with Transfer Responses, although it is not too popular in the US.)

Disadvantages:

Strong Hands cannot show strength immediately
Very easy to play against

I'll continue this later tonight or tomorrow with more. Headed off to an Ian Anderson concert now.

Greg's 7AM Squeeze and an Update

2010-11-11T13:55:00.009-05:00

A friend of mine sent out this hand a few days ago, it's a very cool ending that I hadn't seen before... Figured I'd share. Apparently it came up in a BBO robot tournament around 7AM. It's a very fun four card ending, fast forward in the handviewer diagram to check it out. Enjoy!

On a separate note, I have been exceptionally bored lately, so I am going to try to keep this blog updated for real!

No, this isn't another one of my "I will post more" posts, that winds up in no more posts for several months/years. Hopefully not, at least. I'm playing a fair amount online, and working on some new relay systems with Owen. Orlando is coming up in a couple weeks, and I will post some cool hands and bidding problems from there as well. Then I have some time off before a cruise with the family, and lots more bridge.

Christmas Eve Squeeze

2009-12-24T18:22:00.003-05:00

So, with not much better to do on Christmas Eve, I was playing against some friends online when this hand came up. As usual, I overbid a little, and partner put me someplace dangerous.

♠	3
♥	AT6
♦	QJ73
♣	AT985

♠	AKT
♥	QJ
♦	AKT952
♣	J4

West	North	East	South
			2NT
p	3♣	p	3NT
p	6NT	p	p
p

After I had upgraded my 18 count, I had to justify myself by making 6NT. The lead was the S9, 3, J and I won with the ace. Basically I needed something to work for me. Based on the lead, I was fairly sure my RHO had the SQJ, and if the club honors were split, I was very well placed for either a squeeze or if they were 3-3 then it would be easy. The other option was the heart finesse. The heart finesse was obviously 50%, and the club position was interesting. 3-3 clubs with the honors split makes it easy. 3-3 or 4-2 clubs with the honors with LHO makes it easy. 5-1 clubs presents squeeze options. If the clubs are split and 4-2, then I only have trouble when LHO has four, since I can pick up 2-4 clubs. Anyway, I figured this rated to be roughly 70%, and clearly a better line.

So, I played the Jack of clubs and let it ride, losing to the king. Back came a diamond, which I won in hand, and led a club to the 8. When that held, I cashed the CA pitching a heart from my hand. Next I ran the diamonds except for 1 and cashed the SK, coming down to this end position:

♠
♥	AT
♦
♣	T

♠
♥	95
♦
♣	Q

♠	Q
♥	K8
♦
♣

♠	T
♥	Q
♦	2
♣

When I cash my last diamond, there are two possibilities:

1: LHO has the HK. On my last diamond, LHO will be squeezed in Clubs and Hearts. If they pitch a club, I have a club winner in dummy, and if they pitch a heart then I win the last 2 tricks with the HA and HT without a guess.

2: RHO has the HK. On my last diamond, LHO can safely pitch a heart. Now once again, RHO either has to bare the HK or pitch the SQ. Either way I have the rest. What if RHO bares his HK... How do I know? Well, since I know LHO has 1H and 1C remaining, if the HK doesn't show up when I lead a heart up to dummy, then I know that RHO has bared the HK. I'm not exactly sure how to classify this one... 3 suit showup squeeze maybe? Either way, it was fun and looked good for all the specs ;)

Been gone soooo long, sorry!

2009-12-12T00:45:00.003-05:00

I keep saying that I will keep this blog updated, and I keep being too lazy to do so. I'm fed up with myself and this must stop. I'm gonna try to start talking a little bit about my travelling that I do. I suppose I'll start with San Diego, and hopefully update more after Orlando+Myrtle Beach etc...

So, San Diego. I left on Thanksgiving Day, and it's a weird feeling to be travelling during the daytime, and the airport is completely empty! I flew American, which means that I have to lie about my age when I travel, since under 15 has to fly as an unaccompanied minor, which means I have to pay $100 and cannot take most connecting flights. I paid my fees for the first bag (ugh, I <3 Southwest), and went on my way. After making some phone calls in Tampa, I boarded the plane, with an aisle seat, and slept. My connecting flight was in Dallas, where there were several bridge players on my flight... after all, who the hell flies from Dallas to San Diego at 5PM Thanksgiving Day?! Both flights were nice, but the closest thing I had to thanksgiving dinner was the Chicken I grabbed for lunch.

Upon arriving at the playing site around 645PM, I tried to check in, only to be informed that people who are under the age of 18 cannot check in alone... So I grabbed a friend walking by, and asked them to be my "guardian" for my hotel room. This worked well, and I was checked in by 710PM... I decided to look around and see if there was anyone interested in playing the evening session. I bumped into a friend about 5 minutes to game time, ordered a little something to eat from the bar, and sat down to begin playing... I knew the tournament had begun as I was eating my food while playing cards. No other game is that... insane =)

After starting with like a 46% game, I didn't exactly feel great. I went to bed, and began the LM pairs the next day with Andrew Gumperz. We had an excellent game (59%) in the afternoon, but had a total disaster in the evening, and we didn't Q. It was a real disappointment, since I knew both Andrew and I were good players, and were a pretty strong partnership. We were both so ridiculously tired though, that there was no possible way we could do well. I missed his signals and he missed my bids, we were a comedy show. We played the "consolation" A/X pairs the next day, and were 2nd overall in that, which was a nice showing.

Then came the open BAM, my partner for the BAM was Mike Levinson, who is completely blind, and has to have his cards read to him before every board. It was quite an experience, but we did very well, eventually finishing 29th in the BAM. He was an amazing player (both physically and mentally) and great person. Our team was Andrew Gumperz, Richard Reitman, T-C Yang and Pat Galligan.

I was on a roll now, but didn't have a partner for the Blue Ribbon Pairs. Sunday night however, Jenni Carmichael posted that she was looking for a partner, so I wound up playing the Mini-Blues with her. We did well the first day, despite both being very tired and borderline sick. The second day however, turned into what I would call the worst thing that has happened to be at any bridge tournament... No, we didn't come in 2nd. I had to stop playing after the 2nd round of the first session. I had terrible Vertigo, and was delirious. My blood pressure was like 70/30, and I was going downhill fast. My roommate came back to the room to find me asleep on my bed. He knew I was supposed to be playing then, and so he woke me up to ask me what happened. From here it's a blur for me, but according to him, I was incoherent and hallucinating. He called the paramedics, and I spent the night in ICU at a local hospital, where they managed my blood pressure and kept a watch on me.

I woke the next morning, and began rearranging my trip and seeing when my father could come in. He flew in that afternoon from Chicago, and stayed with me. I was feeling insanely better, but still didn't know what exactly I had. It wasn't until a little later that day I found out that I had Swine Flu. I had no previous problems, but it just hit me like a ton of bricks. 0 to 60 in a few hours. My blood pressure had stabilized, and it looked like I might be able to get out of the hospital within a few days.

Friday was a good day for me. I was able to eat solid foods again without trouble, and I was able to walk again, which felt quite nice. I was discharged Friday night, and my father and I checked into a Residence Inn, our home for the next 5 days until I could fly home.

The next few days were relatively uneventful, I spent all my time in the hotel room, and my father spent most of his time washing his hands. He must have washed them about 10 times every hour, but needless to say, he is well, and never got sick. Even though he spent several days isolated in a room with me, amazingly he was fine. I spent some time trying to walk around more, and was pleased that I was able to walk much better than the previous days.

Our final day in San Diego was a welcome one. I'm not usually glad to come home after a bridge trip, but I was thrilled to finally be going home after what happened to me. The plane ride was nice, and unfortunately I flew American back. If I had flown Southwest, I think I would have worn my mask, and coughed the entire time while people were boarding... I'd have the whole row to myself!!

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm home and well, and back on BBO. My next trip will be to Myrtle Beach, then directly to Orlando for the regional there. After that I'll be going on a family cruise and then back home. More on that later (I promise!!)

(Yet another) Blog

2009-10-05T23:51:00.002-04:00

I have another blog I created for System Notes with Sean. Both of us are admins and will post system related info when available, the new blog is at:

www.kgsystemnotes.blogspot.com

Feel free to read, post comments and ask questions. We are completely "renovating" the 1C responses, and will have another system notes avaibable after.

For everyone's benefit I will leave up the old system notes also, and continue to update them with most changes, however the new ones will be what we will currently be using. More on that when I finish them.

Adam Kaplan - Sean Gannon System Notes: Online!!

2009-09-10T13:55:00.003-04:00

Here is a link to a webpage I will keep updated of Me and Sean's notes, anyone can view it, and it has some very interesting/useful material... Such as the 1D-2H Size Ask, our system for interfering with a strong club, Hitchhiker over 1NT, many relays and much much more :)

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfsxdknt_0tcpf7tcb

Enjoy!

Success!

2009-08-28T06:28:00.002-04:00

Sorry for not updating this in... well, forever. I just got back from Turkey on Tuesday, and spent a few days in NY before returning home yesterday. In Turkey, we spent 2 days touring around, visited some bazaars etc, and then played about 9 days of bridge... Quite tiring over periods of time. The USBF sent 2 teams... USA Blue (Justin Lall, Jeremy Fournier, Matt Meckstroth, Kevin Dwyer, Kevin Fay, Jason Chiu) and USA Red (Me, Cameron Shunta, Alex Hudson, John Marriott, Owen Lien, Zach Brescoll), USA Blue got off to a flying start in the Swiss, winning every match, they squeaked by in the Quarterfinal by 1 IMP, but lost in the Semi-Final to Italy. They won the playoff for the bronze medal against the Dutch. We on the other hand, failed to qualify in the swiss teams, so we played the BAM. After recovering from a 6.5/15 board session the first round, we won the Bronze in the BAM. Turkey was a success and I now have my BBO Star... what more could I ask for?

An update

2009-07-16T21:32:00.002-04:00

OK, sorry for not updating this blog in like forever, I've been really busy, and I will continue to be. In fact, I will be home for about 2 or 3 days in the next month and a half. I will be in DC for the National Tournament, and may be on Vugraph the 2nd Friday... There is also a good chance I will operate vugraph sometime while I am there, so I'll try to keep everyone updated.

After that, I am headed home for a day, then I leave for NY, where I will spend a night, before going to MA for a few days for a relative's 80's birthday.

Finally I am going to be going to Turkey from NY on August 12th until August 25th. It is my first international tournament, and I'm really excited!

Upon returning from Turkey, I will spend a few more days to recover in NY, then will be home for about 2 days before I leave for the Atlanta regional! So, I will be insanely busy... I'm glad I have several suitcases.

A Bridge Dictionary

2009-06-15T10:43:00.003-04:00

Over this past weekend I have created a Dictionary of Bridge Terms (parodied of course). It's set up as a blog, and is located at:

www.dictionaryofbridgeterms.blogspot.com

Enjoy!!

The Three Suit Squeeze

2009-06-05T14:40:00.003-04:00

Playing on BBO today with Jakob, I found the oppurtunity for a rare, but extremely fun techinque: A Three Suit Squeeze. It's not often that you are able to squeeze the opponents in 3 suits, since usually you need more than 1 suit to reduce and strip down their guards in several suits. However sometimes you find a position where you squeeze one opponent in 2 suits, one if he pitches, it's easy, and if he pitches the other, his partner gets squeezed in 1 of the same suits, and another one also. Here is the hand (Played in 3NT):

♠	Q972
♥	A964
♦	KT5
♣	62

♠	KJT65
♥	KQ52
♦	J72
♣	J

♠	83
♥	T87
♦	Q9
♣	T87543

♠	A4
♥	J3
♦	A8643
♣	AKQ9

I received the 6 of Spade lead, which I ducked in dummy, RHO playing the 8 and I won the Ace. I led a Diamond to the ten, and RHO won, played a spade to LHO's King and the Jack of Spades back, won in dummy pitching a small heart from my hand, I now ran all my diamonds, and the position with 1 diamond to go from my hand, was:

♠	9
♥	A96
♦
♣	62

♠	J5
♥	KQ5
♦
♣	J

♠
♥	T8
♦
♣	T875

♠
♥	J
♦	6
♣	AKQ9

When I play my last diamond from my hand, LHO can pitch whatever he wants, but RHO is stuck. He can be squeezed, or he can create a squeeze on his partner. If he pitches a club, my 9C sets up. If he pitches a heart, it at first doesn't seem so bad, after all, he still has the club guard. But when I now cash all my clubs, LHO can bare himself down to the Ten of Spades and the KQ of Hearts, but on my last high club, LHO is squeezed also. If he pitches his spade, my 9 is good in dummy, if he pitches a heart, because his partner was squeezed into letting go of a heart, dummy's 9 of Hearts is now good. Squeezes are so much fun!

Palm Beach Gardens - Part 2

2009-06-03T19:20:00.007-04:00

Palm Beach was somewhat small for the morning sessions, and in fact 3 of the 5 morning sessions were cancelled. I played every session I could, in addition to playing some on BBO throughout the week. We won 1 Knockout and made it to the Semi-Finals of two others, then on Saturday, played a Bracketed Swiss Teams, where we played top bracket in the B flight. We had won our first 3 rounds by 13, 29 and 23 IMPs, and were playing the top team in the bracket, when this hand came up:

♠	KQJT9x
♥	J
♦
♣	JT98xx

Much to my surprise, RHO opened 2C! We were Vul. and they were not, so this hand became quite a problem for me. I was kind of glad I was given 10 seconds to think after RHO's skip bid, but I really wanted more time. After some thought, I decided that 4S rated to put the Maximum amount of pressure on the 2C opener, who probably had tons of red cards. It also didn't look like it was going to go down more than 1 or 2, and at IMPs this is another major deciding factor. Over 4S, LHO doubled showing a negative hand, and everyone passed (also much to my surprise). I hate to sound easily startled, but it really shocked me when I saw both hands:

♠	876
♥	xxx
♦	KTxxx
♣	Ax

♠	KQJT9x
♥	J
♦
♣	JT98xx

I received the King of Club lead, and unfortunately RHO ruffed, so I finished -1, which appeared to be an decent score, since the full deal was:

(Important Spot Cards Noted)

♠	876
♥	xxx
♦	KT7xx
♣	Ax

♠	xx
♥	xxx
♦	8xx
♣	KQxxx

♠	Ax
♥	AKQT98
♦	AQJ9x
♣

♠	KQJT9x
♥	J
♦
♣	JT98xx

This layout is actually quite interesting, since East has absolutely no entry to West's hand. West's 8 of Diamonds holds the key to the hand... The solution to make 4H is to play the Ace of Diamonds and Queen of diamonds, then play a Diamond to the eight, now you only lose 2D and 1S, whereas if you do not lead up to the eight, North's seven becomes promoted... Sadly, our teammate was not watching the spots, and promoted the 7 of Diamonds for North at the other table, for a 6 IMP loss, however this is a perfect example of why even the littlest of cards are important! We lost this round by 3 IMPs, as a result of this board, however we went on to win the event handily after blitzing all the remaining matches. I finished the tournament 19th in Overall Masterpoint winners... With 52.95 points. My partner was Steve Wallis for the week, and we had a blast experimenting with precision stuff!

Palm Beach Gardens - Part 1

2009-06-02T22:01:00.003-04:00

Sorry for not updating the blog for a while, I have been very busy. I was in Palm Beach Gardens at the regional tournament there for the past week, there weren't too many really wild hands, but one from the Monday Night session was quite memorable! The 2nd board of the entire tournament, playing with a very good partner, who however is playing precision for only his 2nd time, so we were going to have to work through that a little bit. I pick up my hand, in 2nd seat all vulnerable I hold:

♠	AKQ9xx
♥	Q
♦	AQ
♣	AKQJ

So I of course open 1C, and partner makes the expected 1D response showing 0-7 HCP. Now I ran through a lot of options in my hand, but finally decided to bid 1430 for Diamonds, since all I really cared about was the King of Diamonds and the Ace of Hearts. It was a brilliant plan I thought... Partner denied any keycards, and undeterred I bid 6S and earned myself this beautiful dummy:

♠	x
♥	JTxxx
♦	Jxxx
♣	xxx

♠	AKQ9xx
♥	Q
♦	AQ
♣	AKQJ

I was kinda stuck, after all, I had no entries to dummy, and received a club lead. Luckily trumps split 3-3, but even then, there was only one hope... A squeeze creating an endplay. As long as the King of Diamonds is in the hand with the ace of hearts, and I read the cards correctly, I can make. So I ran off 5 spades, and all my clubs, making sure to preserve 3 hearts and diamond in dummy. On these LHO followed to all of the clubs, and pitched 2 small diamonds. RHO followed to 2 clubs, and pitched 2 hearts and 2 diamonds, leaving this ending:

♠
♥	JTx
♦	J
♣

♠
♥	Kxx
♦	x
♣

♠
♥	Ax
♦	Kx
♣

♠	x
♥	Q
♦	AQ
♣

On my last Spade, LHO can pitch a Heart or a Diamond, but RHO is in trouble. If he pitches a Diamond, I drop his now stiff king. If he pitches a small Heart, I exit with my Heart, and he's endplayed into allowing a Diamond finesse. If he pitches his Ace of Hearts, then I exit my Heart, and LHO is endplayed into either leading a Heart into dummy's good Jack, or leading into my AQ of Diamonds... Either way I have 12 tricks. As it was, RHO was not too imaginative, and pitched a small heart. Now I exited the heart, and took the diamond finesse to make 6, the full deal:

♠	x
♥	JTxxx
♦	Jxxx
♣	xxx

♠	Jxx
♥	Kxx
♦	Txx
♣	Txxx

♠	Txx
♥	Axxx
♦	Kxxx
♣	xx

♠	AKQxxx
♥	Q
♦	AQ
♣	AKQJ

This was a complete top, worth all the matchpoints, and lots of bragging rights too! I'll have more from Palm Beach shortly.

Magic in the Trump Suit (Part 1)

2009-05-19T20:38:00.007-04:00

Today, searching for a problem hand to give a friend, I stumbled upon some fun play problems. The two I happened upon were on Vugraph in the Nordic Junior Championship Round 9. I was commentating the open room, where Declarer, an Icelandic Junior, went down in a makeable 7D contract by playing carelessly, the other room played 6S making with an overtrick for a 14 IMP swing. Had he made the contract, they would have won 9 IMPs instead. Here was the hand:

♠	Q82
♥	AQ742
♦	KQ
♣	K65

♠	AK976
♥	KJ
♦	AT9542
♣

You receive the 6H lead, Plan the play.

This hand looks pretty easy unless Diamonds are 4-1. If diamonds are 4-1, you need RHO to have the 4 card Diamond suit, so you can lead through him, eventually finessing him out of his trump trick by ending in dummy at trick 11. This is called a trump coup. In order to successfully execute a trump coup, you need to shorten your hand to the same number of trumps as defender with long trumps. In addition to shortening your hand, you need to be in dummy at trick 11, in other words, you need to be able to lead through the defender with long trumps. Sometimes it will take a little foresight to shorten your hand successfully... This may mean making a play before you know about the bad split as a precaution, so that you have sufficient entries later.

Solution: Win the opening lead with the King in hand, play a trump to the queen and ruff a club to begin shortening yourself simply as a precaution, since anything but a 4-1 Diamond split will see the contract home. Now when you play another trump to dummy and receive the bad news, you will have sufficient entries to execute the trump coup. Now ruff another club from dummy, and play the Jack of Hearts, ducking from dummy, leaving this position:

♠	Q82
♥	AQ7
♦
♣	K

♠	AK976
♥
♦	AT
♣

Cash the Ace of spades from your hand, lead a spade to the queen and lead all your top hearts. North cannot ruff, because then he will give up his trump trick, so North must pitch. You also pitch when North pitches. You repeat this 3 times, pitching the rest of your spades from your hand, ending in dummy at Trick 11 to lead a trump through North, whose trump trick magically disappeared!

The full deal:

♠	J43
♥	85
♦	J876
♣	QT84

♠	Q82
♥	AQ742
♦	KQ
♣	K65

♠	AK976
♥	KJ
♦	AT9542
♣

♠	T5
♥	T963
♦	3
♣	AJ9732

The key to the hand was a "what can go wrong" mentality. Ruffing a club before playing the 2ND trump from dummy gives you enough entries to shorten yourself and use this fun technique.

USBF Trials for Turkey - Sunday

2009-05-18T12:28:00.004-04:00

We're in! The trials are over, and it was very close for us. We were leading the event for 3 rounds, then we played Bryan Delfs and Andre Asbury... We had several bad boards against them, and then we played Kevin Fay and Jason Chiu the last 2 rounds (it was a swiss movement with playbacks). The first round against them went OK, then the second round, almost nothing went our way. One of our last 4 boards was dreadfully interesting:

♠	AQ9532
♥	T
♦	3
♣	AJ965

♠
♥	AKJ75
♦	KQ97652
♣	7

West	North	East	South
	p	1♦	p
1♠	p	2♥	p
3♣	p	3♦	p
3♠	p	4♦	p
4♠	p	p	X
p	p	p

I'm not too happy to admit to being either one of the people in this auction, however I am guilty as West. I should have probably bid 2S instead of 3C, and looking back on this... 4S was absolutely awful. Kevin couldn't help doubling, and this was a quick Zero when we were -2.

The next one Jason declared well and the 3rd one I misplayed in 1NT... We needed a top on the last board to qualify. We had the opportunity:

♠	AK86
♥	532
♦	KJ42
♣	53

♠	QJT73
♥	QT84
♦	7
♣	J62

♠	2
♥	AK96
♦	QT653
♣	KQ8

♠	954
♥	J7
♦	A98
♣	AT974

West	North	East	South
p	1♦	1♥	p
2♥	p	p	X
p	p	p

2H Doubled made with an overtrick, which was enough to make us Qualify to go to Turkey!! I was not so worried about the trials itself, I was way more worried about the form of scoring. Having to play Matchpoints was tough for me, since my system and everything about how I play is so tailored towards IMPs. The qualifiers are in bold below:

Justin Lall-Jeremy Fournier 171.76
Matt Meckstroth-Kevin Dwyer 168.66
Kevin Fay-Jason Chiu 156.39
Alex Hudson-John Marriott 155.93
Owen Lien-Zach Brescoll 155.56
Adam Kaplan-Cameron Shunta 148.98
Michael Lieberman-Alevtina Asarina 148.14
Andre Asbury-Bryan Delfs 147.73
Dan Wolkowitz-Peter Zoogman 146.16
Robert Glickman-Sam Katz 145.46
Monica Guo-Argenta Price
Brad Haas-Blake Haas 129.68

For the hands in detail:

Session 1:
http://www.homebaseclub.com/hands/83-124249.html
Session 2:
http://www.homebaseclub.com/hands/1332-124251.html
Session 3:
http://www.homebaseclub.com/hands/1532-124258.html

USBF Trials for Turkey - Saturday

2009-05-17T10:05:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was the first of wo days of the USBF Trials to go to Turkey in August, I played with Cam Shunta. We had a shaky first session, and had a couple fixes... One where the opponents had a misunderstanding and wound up in 3NT +3, where everyone else was in 4H +2. Unfortunately the trials were Matchpoints, so we got some Zeros on boards like that. The first session we were at 10th, then we and a strong 2nd session, which felt like at least 65% or more... Turned out it was only 55%, so we are going in to today's final session in 6th place. They are sending 2 teams: The top 6 Qualifiers, so that's our goal today. We had a few good boards yesterday... One of them we fixed our opponents, on an amusing misunderstanding:

(Hands Rotated)

♠	5
♥	KT8
♦	T3
♣	AQ98743

♠	K84
♥	AJ9543
♦	952
♣	6

♠	T7632
♥	762
♦	K874
♣	K

♠	AQJ9
♥	Q
♦	AQJ6
♣	JT52

West	North	East	South
			1♣
2♥	3♣	3♥	4♣
p	4♦	p	4♥
p	5♥	p	6♣
p	p	p

1C was strong, 4C was intended as just to set trumps and initiate cuebidding... Cam took it as minorwood. I then took 4D as a cue, and "cued" 4H, which he took as a Queen Ask. He now "showed" the K-H and the Q-C which pushed us too high, since at this point I figured out what he was doing... I confidently bid 6C which I hoped was on a finesse. Well, I was somewhat happy when I saw dummy... I got the Ace of Heart lead, and a Diamond switch... So now all I needed to do was get the Club situation right. I figured that LHO had to have the King of Spades, otherwise he would have switched to a Spade, I also saw the King of Diamonds on my right at Trick 2. When I led the Jack fo Clubs from my hand, LHO hesitated for about 2/3 seconds... Not enough to judge the situation on, especially online. I also thought that LHO might have only bid 1H with Kx Axxxxx xxx Kx or something, so I decided to fly ace after about 4 minutes, and I think that was the first correct guess I have made in ages... But it was a good time to guess well, and I guess all's well that ends well... Even slams off 2 keycards.

Adapting Conventions to Precision (Part 2)

2009-05-14T13:44:00.003-04:00

A few weeks back, I was thinking about how useless standard Jacoby 2NT is when playing precision. Even Swedish was not much of an improvement, since it still was made for hands up to like 20 HCP. So over the course of the next few days, I devised a structure for Jacoby that fit perfectly with a precision system. Since 1M openings are limited to 15 HCP, with this structure you can show your HCP range within 1 point, and show shortness or the lack thereof and all below 4M. So, here is another improvement for all you precision players:

1M - 2NT:
3♣: 10-11 HCP or 8-9 HCP with Distributional (5-5+) opener
-----3♦: Asking
--------3♥: 10-11 HCP with No Shortness
--------3♠: Distributional Opener (5-5+) 8-9 HCP
--------3NT: Relay Asking 5 Card Suit
-----------4♣: 5♣ + 5M
-----------4♦: 5♦ + 5M
-----------4♥: 5oM + 6M
--------3NT: 10-11 HCP with ♣ Shortness
--------4♣: 10-11 HCP with ♦ Shortness
--------4♦: 10-11 HCP with oM Shortness
--------4♥: 8-9 HCP 6+M-5+m
3♦: 12-13 HCP with Shortness
-----3♥: Asking
--------3♠: ♣ Stiff
--------3NT: ♦ Stiff
--------4♣: oM Stiff
--------4♦: Stiff in Both Minors
--------4♥: Stiff Minor + Stiff oM3♥: 14-15 HCP with Shortness
-----3♠: Asking
--------3NT: ♣ Stiff
--------4♣: ♦ Stiff
--------4♦: oM Stiff
--------4♥: 2 Stiffs
3♠: 12-13 HCP without Shortness
-----3NT: Asking
--------4♣: 5332
--------4♦: Side 4 Card Minor (22)
--------4♥: Side 4 Card Other Major (22)
3NT: 14-15 HCP without Shortness
-----4♣: Asking
--------4♦: 5332
--------4♥: Side 4 Card Suit (22)
4♣: 12-15 HCP with ♣ Void
4♦: 12-15 HCP with ♦ Void
4♥: 12-15 HCP with oM Void

I may post some other systems and things later on, but I don't have too many other significant improvents on a precision system that I have come up with... I'm playing the junior trials this weekend, and we will be using these systems... I'll have more on that when the time comes...

Adapting Conventions to Precision (Part 1)

2009-05-13T22:20:00.005-04:00

Today I was talking with Cam Shunta about our system over a precision 1D opener, and I had recently been given a system over 1D where 2H shows a 10-12 Bal. w/o 4 Card Major and opener could bid his hand accordingly or decide where to play the Notrump... with 2S being a relay to 2NT to right side the contract. I then told him that I have developed a relay using 2S, but since we are playing precision it really didn't do much good... We started playing around with ideas, and he came up with a brilliant one: Use 2H as a size ask, so that we could still get out in 2NT with the ugly 11 opener opposite a 12 count. Everything followed from there... We could now also put slam hands into the 2H bid, since with a balanced 19 count, you need to know whether partner has the balanced 11 or the maxed out 15. I figured out a basic structure, which I will add to later on, and everything fit beautifully! So, for all you precision players out there, here is the structure:

1♦ - 2♥ -
-----2♠: 10-11 HCP
--------2NT: Signoff (10-12)
--------3♣: Stayman (18+)
--------3♦: Signoff (10-12)
--------3♥: 5+♥ (18+)
--------3♠: 5+♠ (18+)
--------3NT: Signoff (18-19 HCP)
-----2NT: 12-13 HCP
--------3♣: Stayman (18+)
--------3♦: Signoff (10-11)
--------3♥: 5+♥ (18+)
--------3♠: 5+♠ (18+)
--------3NT: Signoff (12/18)
-----3♣: 14 HCP
--------3♦: Stayman (18+)
--------3♥: 5+♥ (18+)
--------3♠: 5+♠ (18+)
--------3NT: To Play (10-12)
-----3♦: 15 HCP
--------3♥: 5+♥ (18+)
--------3♠: 5+♠ (18+)
--------3NT: Signoff (10-12)
--------4♣: Stayman (18+)
-----3♥: 5♥ 6+♦
--------3♠: Size Reask (18+)
--------3NT: Signoff with Double ♠ Stopper; 2♥ and 3♦ (10-12)
--------4♣: Cuebid (18+)
--------4♦: Minorwood (18+)
--------4♥: Signoff (10-12)
--------4♠: Kickback 1430 (18+)
--------5♦: Signoff (10-12)
-----3♠: 5♠ 6+♦
--------3NT: Signoff with Double ♥ Stopper; 2♠ and 3♦ (10-12)
--------4♣: Size Reask (18+)
--------4♦: Minorwood (18+)
--------4♥: Cuebid (18+)
--------4♠: Signoff (10-12)
--------4NT: 1430 for Spades (10-12)
--------5♦: Signoff (10-12)

Most of this is self explanitory, however there are a few clear advantages at Matchpoints and even at IMPs. First of all, you can stop at 2NT in many auctions where it would otherwise be very difficult... In addition to getting to 3NT whenever you have the values to be there, with no guesswork. It also gives you a scientific way to ask about size below 3NT when you have a slam invitational hand. Along with all this, 2H is a bid so rarely used anyway, that it's not much of a loss, and a big gain. Responder's NT ladder with no 4cM also changes: With 6-9(Bad 10) responder bids 1NT. With (Good)10-12 responder bids 2H. With 13 HCP responder bids 2NT (With 10 opener passes, and anything else, opener bids on). With 14-17 responder bids 3NT. Finally, with 18+, responder starts with 2H and rebids accordingly (I have yet to define the 4C-4NT bids in many auctions, and I will put them in when we figure out what they should show.) This is one of a few system modifications that we have made to accomodate limited openings, more to come later.

A Wild One

2009-05-10T10:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I played 2 sessions at the club with Steve Wallis. We met an hour or so before the game to discuss the system we were going to be playing... Precision. We finished our discussion, and began playing, and had a 65% game. We then went to the St. Petersberg bridge club for the owner's 60th birthday... We began playing that night against the owner and his wife, and they bid 2 slams the first two boards, and we set both. Then they began cuebidding on the 3rd board, and stopped in 5, which made 6 on a finesse. Our first 8 boards seemed to be all tops, and then we got this board:

♠	J7
♥	AKQT8732
♦	AT4
♣

♠	AKQ86532
♥	94
♦	Q62
♣

♠	T9
♥	J5
♦	J98753
♣	J96

♠	4
♥	6
♦	K
♣	AKQT875432

What would you open the south hand?

I was West... and of course didn't double. Defending 6C Undoubled give us a 4 on a 6 top. It's been a while since I've seen a 10 card suit.

West	North	East	South
			5♣
5♠	X	p	6♣
p	p	p

Things went downhill after this board. I found myself in a tough position two boards later, and made a very bad bid:

♠	9
♥	QT74
♦	J963
♣	AQ82

Partner opened a 13-15 1NT and RHO bid 2S. I couldn't double. I couldn't tank then pass. I had to do something. I didn't want to commit to game, or 3NT. I finally figured something out. If I bid 3C, then maybe, just maybe partner would realize that I was in such a bind and bid 3 of a red suit, which I could pass. Sadly partner foiled my plan by bidding 3NT with his 2443 hand. We can only make 3 of either red suit, but without negative doubles, it's nearly impossible to find.
I couldn't do anything right it seemed... I was on lead 14 times last night. I led the right card twice, and gave up an overtrick/the contract at least 5 times. Despite all that we still managed a 50% game that evening.

Just a Nice Auction

2009-05-08T22:57:00.001-04:00

I was playing a few days ago with Andy Hung and we had agreed to finish after Board #12. I look at my hand for the last board and see a nice 24 count:

AJ5
AKT
K
AKQ864

The opponents pass throughout, I opened 2C and Andy bid 2D waiting and GF. I bid 3C, he bid 3D. I bid 3NT, he bid 4C, I bid 4D, he bid 4S, I bid 5H and he bid 7C. It's nice when you can claim a contract without playing to the first trick:

K92
Q53
AQ764
J3

The next time we played we couldn't finish on such a high note, but Andy did finish with a really tough 3NT... :)

A Few Good Stories

2009-05-07T09:07:00.000-04:00

I have so many amusing stories from at the table play. Most of them involve big numbers, but some are just plain funny or ironic. I have always been amused by how some people can be so brilliant away from the table, and yet make fools out of themselves when at the table.

The first one comes from Gatlinburg this past year in the Zip KOs:
All Vulnerable at IMPs, my partner dealt and I held:

xxxx
------
ATxx
Jxxxx

I was playing with my father, and he opened 2H, RHO passed, I passed and LHO reopened with a double which was passed back to me. I should have let this go, and accepted my -800, however I chose to try to rescue with a XX. Over my XX, my father held Qx KJ9xxx xxx Qx and saw nowhere good to go... and passed. 2H Redoubled quickly went for 1600, and needless to say, I was in bed early that night. This brought about a new adage that I do not recommend you follow: "When in doubt, pass an SOS Redouble"

My next story was actually published in the bridge bulletin about a year back. I am known in the area for making unmakable contracts, several years back I was playing in a local sectional with Jim Somma, who is one of my local partners. On the ride to the event, we had discussed Minorwood for minors and Kickback for hearts, and I didn't think much of it. We started playing, and the 3rd board in, we change for the next round and sit down to play two ladies. I picked up Kxx AT9 AKQxxx x and opened a strong club. Partner bid a natural and GF 2C, I bid 2D and he bid 4D, which he thought was Kickback, I thought was Minorwood... We eventually wound up in a confidently bid 7NT, and my LHO thinks for a moment before passing and leading a diamond. I see this dummy:

xxx
QJx
Jx
AKQ8x

Kxx
AT9
AKQxxx
x

Somehow partner was convinced I had lots of things I didn't have... Anyway, I won the opening lead and led the Queen of Hearts, covered with the king. I proceeded to cash all my red suit tricks, and LHO was squeezed!! My 13th trick was the 8 of clubs, and on that, RHO played the Queen of spades, I played the king, and LHO turned over the ACE!!! She glanced at her partner and said simply: "Gee, I guess I should have cashed this".

The next one is from a Regional in Palm Beach Gardens, where me and Jim were playing in a Knockout Match. Our very first board, I open 1C strong and he bids 7NT. I had 15 HCP with 5-5 Majors and he had 25 HCP. The very next board I open 1C again and he bids 2C, which we had changed to a transfer to Diamonds. I accepted the transfer, he bid 2NT, showing 2 of the top 3 honors with 5D, I bid Minorwood (4D) and he bid 4NT which I comfortably passed. My RHO who was on lead turned to me and asked "Were any of those bids natural?" and I replied a calm "No". She eventually chose a small heart from K98x, I held AQJx and Jim had Txx. It was the only lead that lets 4NT or even 3NT through. How sweet it is.

Finally, the next morning in Palm Beach Gardens, playing in a side pairs, I opened a strong club and LHO turned to my partner and asked "What's that?" he informed them we were playing a strong club, and she then proceeded to ask "How do you know that?". Jim bid 1D and my RHO asked what it meant... I answered that it was Negative 0-7 HCP, and RHO said "Are you sure?" and called the director on me, saying that I was guessing what my partner's bids meant, even after I answered yes. LOL. We of course took 3 tops off these people, but it's amazing what fools they can make of themselves.

A Classic Beer

2009-05-06T13:16:00.000-04:00

Today, playing online with Doug Dey, I saw an opportunity to build up my bank of alcoholic beverages that people owe me. I was declarer in 4H:
http://tinyurl.com/cmw79d

Wisdom Gone

2009-05-05T21:46:00.000-04:00

Well, the procedure was a breeze, and the aftermath is really the hard part. I'm currently on 3 different medicines... An extreme painkiller, a swelling reducer and an antibiotic. I'll be somewhat tired and stuff for the next couple days, but overall I'm doing pretty well. I will probably just play bridge (badly) tommorow, watch some TV, and rest... Starting tommorow I can have some other things other than a breakfast shake, so I am looking forward to that. Anyway, I'll probably be posting more hands tommorow...

Ugh. Wisdom Teeth.

2009-05-04T22:18:00.000-04:00

Well, tommorow morning I am going to the dentist to get all four of my wisdom teeth pulled. My appointment is at 9:30 AM, and it should only take an hour or so, but the effects of the Anesthesia won't wear off for a while, so I won't be playing much bridge tommorow, or potentially Wednesday either... or at least not well. Anyway, I have the Trials for Turkey coming up soon, and I'll post more on that later.

With Garozzo

2009-05-03T22:04:00.000-04:00

Today I was asked by Valerie Westheimer to play with her in a match with our teammates as Benito Garozzo and Federico Primavera. I gladly accepted, and we started at 4:15PM today, I had made sure I didn't stay up past midnight last night so I had a brain. Anyway... We started playing and I was immeadiately put to the test with two tough hands.

The first one the auction went 1H by me, 1S by Val, 2C by me and 2H by Val. She was put in an awful position with A9xx xx KJTxxxx - and had to bid 2H once she committed herself with 1S. Arguably 1NT may be a better call with her hand, although it will often miss spade fits which may make game, when instead we are in a diamond partial. I liked 1S, but had a challenge in 2H, with my Qxx AKQ9x x Q9xx. I won the trump lead in hand and ruffed a club in dummy. I then led a small spade which RHO won with the king. Now, he made the mistake of returning the Jack of spades, which allowed me to win in hand, draw trump and lead a spade to my 9, making 3S, 5H, 0D, 1C Ruff... for an overtrick. Needless to say, this was a push, since they raised Spades with my hand instead of bidding 2C.

The second board of the 20 boards, I opened 1D on Ax Tx AQT9x Qxxx, LHO bid 2C and Valerie made a Negative Double. I opted for 2D which became the final contract. I received the Ace of Club lead and dummy held KQxx A9xxx 8 8xx. LHO then switched to the Queen of Hearts, which I won in dummy and played 3 rounds of Spades, all following, and pitched my heart. I then ruffed a Heart, and exited a club. LHO won, and returned the Jack of Spades, which RHO ruffed with the 6, and I overruffed and exited another club. Now LHO can hold me to 2 by cashing his last club, but instead led a trump, which I won in hand and exitted my final club and RHO ruffed perforce. Finally RHO had the Kx of Diamonds and I had the AT and finessed the Ten to make 3. Once again we only won 1 IMP, since they played 2C making 2 at the other table, but these small hands where I can salvage a plus score certainly are fun! In the end we wound up winning against Israel by 12, but it was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again soon! Also, I promise I will start using handviewer shortly, which will make it much easier to visualize the hands, I just need to work out a few kinks with it...

Playing JEC

2009-05-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

Me and several other Juniors (Cam Shunta "goon1407", Jakob Rohde "jakob_r", and Robert Stephens "rob88s") had the honor to play Jimmy Cayne today. We were down 20 after the first 3 boards, but recovered and were leading for several boards 29-24. Then Jimmy got to declare 4 hands in a row, where I started dropping defensive tricks like they were going out of style. It seemed that I couldn't guess anything right. In the end we wound up losing by 38 IMPs, which was respectable, but it could have been much better. On the first board I was put to a guess, and failed. Here was the hand: (8S lead. Opponents play Standard Carding and 4th best leads. What's your T1 play?)

Q62
AQJ
AJ74
T72

T75
K93
Q6
KQJ65

Grand Slamming My Head Against a Wall

2009-04-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

After you decided to open an agressive 2C, RHO bid 2S over partner's 2D. You continue to have a nice auction up to 7H. You receive* the 8 of clubs lead, plan the play:

KT5
853
KT
AQ642

A92
AKQJT
AQJ5
9

I'll give the full hand in a day or two. *Edited Spelling

My First Post...

2009-04-29T18:56:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone, this is my first blog so you'll have to bear with me. I'm Adam Kaplan, I'm 13 years old and I'm homeschooled. I also happen to be obsessed with bridge. Most of my posts on this blog will be relating to bridge in some way. I will try to keep it updated with interesting hands and other happenings when I can. Since I am homeschooled, I am able to travel to a lot of bridge tournements and after I finish doing my schoolwork for the day I have a lot of time to devote to bridge, and am working on designing my own system. I'll post some hands shortly, enjoy!