Toronto's
Barbara Seagram owns the largest bridge
school in North America, Kate Buckman's
Bridge Studio, where she teaches more than a
thousand students a year. Barbara and
Britain's Marc Smith joined forces to write
"25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know,"
voted the American Bridge Teachers
Association award as best student book of
1999. We particularly enjoyed the chapter on
Weak Two-Bids, which begins by revealing
that these opening bids were invented by
Harold Vanderbilt in 1925 as part of his
then-revolutionary Strong Club System.
Modern the weak two is not although it took
a few decades for them to catch on. Today
even social players have abandoned the
venerable strong two-bid in spades, hearts
and diamonds in favour of the much more
frequent weak openings because it's more fun
to bid than to pass. If you do not play
these "6-10 points, respectable six-card
suit" openings, you deprive yourself of the
opportunity to make life more difficult for
your opponents. Here's an illustration:
East-West vulnerable South deals
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
Pass |
3 |
End |
|
Opening Lead:
3
East-West, if left to their own devices, would most likely bid to 5,
a good contract that would make on a layout
like this one. But consider how difficult it
becomes to reach 5
or even to enter the auction when South
starts with an opening bid of 2.
A very aggressive West might double for
takeout, but if he passes and North boosts
to 3
(which does not invite game), it is likely
that East-West will be frozen out of the
auction. 3
can be set two tricks as long as the
defenders get around to clubs in time, but
plus 100 won't be much compensation for the
vulnerable game available to them.
Each chapter clearly describes the requirements for the recommended
convention or treatment, gives the history
of the convention, develops the auction,
adds tips and advice, provides a point-by-point
summary, and concludes with a comprehensive
quiz.