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The Plan XXXVI by Tim Bourke

By
Tim Bourke
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0

IBPA Column Service example 862

Dealer South. Both Vul.

 K J 10 8 4
 J 7
 4
 9 8 5 4 3
 6 3 2
 K Q 9 8
 Q 8 6 2
 K 2		  —
 10 6 3
 K J 7 5 3
 Q J 10 7 6
 A Q 9 7 5
 A 5 4 2
 A 10 9
 A

The Auction:

West North East South
1
Pass 4 Pass 6
Pass Pass Pass

West led a low trump and declarer won the trick cheaply in hand. Declarer could count eight top tricks. However, as there were not the entries to set up clubs and enjoy the established winner, declarer saw that he needed to ruff four cards in dummy to make his contract.

So, West was the danger hand, as he could lead a second trump to scupper the contract. One potential winning position was when East started with both the king and queen of hearts; the contract would then make unless there was a distributional nightmare in the side suits.

However, as the chance of that occurring was well below even money, declarer decided to try his luck in diamonds first. At trick two he cashed the ace of diamonds and continued with a tricky nine of diamonds, intending to throw a heart from dummy if West followed low.

When West played the queen of diamonds declarer had to ruff in dummy. After cashing the ace of hearts and the ace of clubs, declarer led the ten of diamonds.

West had to follow with a low card and declarer discarded dummy’s jack of hearts. East took the trick with the jack but declarer had the last seven tricks on a high cross-ruff.

If West had covered the ten of diamonds, declarer would ruff then hope for the best in hearts. Essentially, declarer would have made his contract most of the time that East had at least two diamond honours or the king and queen of hearts, which totals to about 70% of the time, assuming that West would have led a diamond if he’d held the king-queen-jack.

The Plan XXXV

By
ferlema
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0

IBPA Column Service example 861

Dealer Oeste. EW Vul.

 10 9 7 3 2
 K 6 4 3
 A 2
 J 3
 A
 Q J 10 9 2
 Q J 10 6
 Q 7 4		  6 5
 A
 9 8 7 5 4
 10 9 8 5 2
 K Q J 8 4
 8 7 5
 K 3
 A K 6

The Auction:

West North East South
 1 Pass Pass 1
Pass 2* Pass 4
Pass Pass Pass

1. Good raise in spades West led the queen of hearts.

Declarer played low from dummy and East took the trick with his singleton ace, and then had to find the entry to West’s hand to acquire his ruff. As North/South had at least ten trumps, the odds favoured the ace being in declarer’s hand.

Accordingly, East shifted to the ten of clubs at trick two. As East had won the first trick with the ace of hearts declarer placed the ace of trumps on his left. Clearly there would not be a problem if West had at least two trumps, so declarer turned his thoughts to overcoming the problem of West having a bare ace of trumps.

Declarer’s plan was to strip the minor-suits from his hand and dummy before playing a trump. If East ruffed the king of hearts he would then have no satisfactory exit card.

So after taking the club shift at trick three with the ace, declarer cashed the ace and king of diamonds.

Next he cashed the king of clubs and ruffed the six of clubs high. Only then did he call for a trump from dummy. West took the king of trumps with the ace and returned a predictable jack of hearts.

Declarer covered this with the king and East ruffed with his remaining trump. As East had only minor-suit cards remaining, declarer was able to throw his heart loser on the return and ruff it dummy for his tenth trick.

The Hold up by John Brown

By
ferlema
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0

The aim of the hold up is lead or tempo value reduction: The object is to reduce the value of possible entry-tempi in one opponent’s hand. Put into simple words, the aim of the hold up is to exhaust the led suit in the hand of one opponent in order that, should he later gain entry, he is unable to lead it.

After the hold up it is assumed his leads cannot be put to such good purpose. If, therefore, an opponent’s leads could be put t a better use than leading his partner`s suit, the hold up should not be made, fot the value of his leads are not thereby reduced.

Whether or not it is expedient to hold up is, of course, often a matter for conjeture.

Here is a hand wich shows how effective the hold up can be:

 K J 4
 A J 3
 6 3
 A J 10 8 2
 6 5
 9 8 2
 A 10 8 5 4 2
 9 7		    Q 10 9 3
 7 6 5 4
 Q 9
 K 6 4
 A 8 7 2
 K Q 10
 K J 7
 Q 5 3

The contract is 3NT by South. West leads the 5. East plays the Q and declarer decides to hold up. allowing East’s queen to win. He does this because he is obliged to finesse the clubs towards East’s hand.

Had be been able to finesse to duck in the club suit towards West’s hand, be would have taken the first trick with the King, since he could again stop the diamonds should West lead them.

As it is, after having taken the first trick with the Queen, continues the diamond suit. It cannot now, however, be broght in, for the when East obtains the lead through his K he will ot have destroyed the value of East’s lead.

Those Extra Chance in Bridge by Terence Reese & Rogel Trezel

By
ferlema
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0

One of the commonest problem in the game is how to tacke a combination of eight cards, missing the queen, such as:

A 7 4

K J 6 5 2

Most players realize that, initially the queen is more likely to be the hand with three cards rather than the hand with two, but after they have played ace and another, and the queen has not appeared, they tend to review the situation.

At this moment there are only two cards outstanding and it is tempting to suppose that the card held on the left (assuming a 3-2 break) is as likely to be the queen as a low card. Thus it may seen as reasonable to play for the drop as to finesse.

There is a fallacy in this line of argument, as can readily be seen if the example is transferred to a different setting. Suppose you hold four copper coins and one silver coin and you distribute at random two coins to West and three to East.

At this moment, obviously, East is more likely to hold the silver coin. Now if You demand one coin from West, two from East, stipulating always that the silver coin is not to be freely given up, the probabilities must remain the same. In short, the finesse is still the better play.

There are, nevertheless, many occasions where it si right to spurn the finesse for tatical reasons. This is a fairly simple example.

 7 4 2
 10 9
 K 8 5
 A K J 8 6

 

    
 A J 8 6
 K J 4
 A Q 4
 10 9 4

South plays in 3NT and West leads the six of hearts, won by dummy’s ten. Cleary it would be foolish to enter hand for the cub finesse, for the one thing that South must avoid is to let East in the lead to play a heart through the K J.

Declarer does not mind losing the Q in the West hand, because West can do him no damage. The right play, therefore, is to play off ace and king of club, with a happy result, as the cards lie:

 7 4 2
 10 9
 K 8 5
 A K J 8 6
 5 3
 A Q 7 6 5
 9 6 3
 7 5 3		    K Q 10 9
 8 3 2
 J 10 7 2
 Q 2
 A J 8 6
 K J 4
 A Q 4
 10 9 4

Eliminations Play by David Bird & Martin Hoffman

By
ferlema
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0

Source: Inspired Cardplay

Martin Hoffman
Martin Hoffman

The most familiar type of elimination play is the “ruff and discard elimination”. The defender who is thrown on lead has the choice between playing on a suit, to your advantage, or giving you a ruff and discard.

Dealer South. N/S VUL.

 Q J 9 7 4 2
 5 4 2
 7 6 4
 9



 


 A K 10 8 3
 A Q
 A K 2
 10 7 4

The Auction:

  West North East South
Hoffman Gray
1
 5  5 End

West Led out two top clubs against 5. Suppose you had held Gray’s cards. How would you have played the contract?

Gray ruffed the second club and drew trumps in two rounds. A possible line was to ruff the last club and play the Ace, King and another diamond. If West won the third round he would have to lead into the heart tenace or give a ruff and discard.

Delaying his decision as to how to play the hand, Gray cashed the Ace and King of diamonds without ruffing his last club. West followed with the nine and the Jack. Was it possible that West had started with  Q J 9?

The risk of and end play would surely have unblocked the queen and jack of diamonds, hoping his partner could win the third diamond with the 10.

Gray backed his judgement in the matter by switching to a different line of play. He led the 10 and discarded dummy`s last diamond. Since West had indeed started with only two diamonds he was en played in a different way from declarer’s original intention. If only we could all end our bridge careers with such a well played hand!

The complete hand:

 Q J 9 7 4 2
 5 4 2
 7 6 4
 9
 —
 K J 7 6
 J 9
 A K Q J 8 5 3		    6 5
 10 9 8 3
 Q 10 8 5 3
 6 2
 A K 10 8 3
 A Q
 A K 2
 10 7 4

5th Youth Open Championship

By
ferlema
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0

Photo Team Zlatan

The 1st World Youth Bridge Congress was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 15 to 23 August 2009, hosted at the Yeditepe University, attended participants from 29 countries.

Young players from all member countries of the World Bridge Federation were invited to participate in this new competition, designed to be a massive event. Accordingly, transnational combinations were allowed in all events, and there were no restrictions on the number of players who could participate from any single country.

Teams were played according to the Swiss format, as well as Board-A-match.

Last Winners: Opatija (CRO) 2015

1. ZLATAN: Simon Ekenberg, Simon Hult, Rodrigo Garcia De Rosa, Giuseppe Delle Cave, Daniel Gullberg, Johan Karlsson, Marshall Lewis (NPC).
2. NORWAY: Christian Bakke, Tor Eivind Grude, Kristoffer Hegge, Harald Eide.
3. GRESWE AXON: Ola Rimstedt, Ioannis Oikonomopoulos, Mikael Rimstedt, Adam Kaplan, Giorgos Oikonomopoulos (Coach).

The World Youth Open Championships will be held from August 15th (Tuesday) to 24th (Thursday) in Lyon (FRA).

5th World Youth Open Championships

By
ferlema
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0

The World Youth Open Championships will be held from August 15th (Tuesday) to 24th (Thursday) in Lyon (FRA).

The Championship is open to all players born on or after 1st January 1992 (Juniors & Girls) or born on or after 1st January 1997 (Youngsters) or born on or after 1st January 2002 (Kids) in good standing with their own NBOs. Teams and Pairs must be made up of players from the same NBO. Players must be members (not necessarily nationals) of the Federation through which they enter.
NBOs may send as many teams or pairs as they wish.

In the event that an NBO is not able to arrange its own national representative team or pair, players may play with eligible partners/team mates from other countries of the same Zone and will play as representatives of that Zone.

To be eligible for participation in the 2017 World Youth Open Bridge Championship all participants must comply with the WBF Laws and Rules & Regulations.

More info: click here

Entry Planning by David Bird & Martin Hoffman

By
ferlema
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0

Source: Inspired Cardplay

Managing your entries is one of the most important aspects of cardplay.

See this example:

Dealer North. Love All.

 2
 A K Q 9 7
 8 6 4 3
 A 6 2
 10 9 8 5 4
 8 2
 Q 10 7
 Q J 9		    3
 J 10 5 3
 K 9 5 2
 10 7 5 4
 A K Q J 7 6
 6 4
 A J
 K 8 3

The Auction:

  West North East South
 —  1 Pass 2
 Pass  3 Pass 4
 Pass  5 Pass 6
All Pass

A diamond lead would have worked well but West led the club Q. How would you play the slam when two rounds of trumps reveal the 5-1 break?

The orifinal declarer won the club lead in his hand. Worried that the apparently excellent grand slam would be bid at the other table, he played two rounds of trumps. The 5-1 trump break was good news in a way, since the grand would now fail.

Twelve tricks still had to be made, however. He cashed two of dummy’s top hearts, leaving these cards out:


 Q 9 7
 8
 A 6
 10

 Q 10 7
 J 9		  
 J 10
 K 9
 10 5
 7 6

 A J
 8 3

“Queen of hearts please”, said the declarer, throwing a club. West ruffed the heart queen and the slam could no longer be made.

Do You see where declarer went wrong?

It was as late as is the six card end position shown above. Instead of trying to cash the Q declarer should ruff a low heart in the South hand. There is nothing West can do. If he overruffs, dummy’s remaining hearts will provide discards for declarer’s two minor suit losers.

If West refuses to overruff, declarer will concede a trick to West’s master trump. Again twelve tricks will be there.

Montecatini 2017: Eight and a Half

By
Ana Roth
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0

8th European Open Championships

Montecatini, Italy • 10 – 24 June 2017

 Championship Site   EBL Championship Bulletin   Mixed Teams Results 

June 16, 2017       

Italy’s most famous spa, without question, is Montecatini Terme. ‘Taking the waters’ at the thermal springs here was an essential component of the sophisticate’s 19C grand tour, and the graceful Belle Epoque architecture of those civilized times still dominates. The facilities and treatments at the handful of spas, however, are state of the art. If you’re a Fellini fan, head to Terme Tettuccio, where he filmed his iconic 8 ½ in the early 1960s. Rival Monsummano Terme boasts a unique natural ‘thermal grotto,’ a hot underground lake.

Today, in Montecatini, finished the European Open Bridge Pairs Championship, after the qualifying stage (two sessions of 26 boards each), and 4 final sessions of 24 boards each, the pair of Michal Klukowski-Justyna Zmuda (Pol- Pol) were consecrated as the champions. When only one board was missing to finish the championship the pair Auken-Welland were located first with a minimum advantage of 0.70 of IMP, but after the last board they had to settle for second place.

Let’s see two boards that the champions played against Alfredo Versace and Emanuela Pramotton, in the last session of the final.

Board 9   aaxx

East – West play some kind of strong club, so East’s 1 opening bid, limited her hand. Versace interrupted with 2, Michal described his FG hand with four cards support bidding 2NT. Zmuda closed the spade game, showing no interest in playing slam and Klukowski passed.

Versace led his 4. And very soon after Justyna scored 680. As you can see the only lead to defeat the spade slam is the A followed by a club for a North’s ruff … this fact should not have escaped to anybody at the table.

Board 10aaxx

Next board, Zmuda opened 1NT, Michal asked for majors with 2, and Justyna showed her four spades, only a little later when Klukowski showed his partner that he had no spade support and invited her to play slam, she offered to play the diamond slam, that was corrected to the NT slam.

Again the club lead defines the contract and again the club lead was almost impossible … Versace chose to lead with the 9 and this time Justyna made 13 tricks.

It seems that the Poland pair, must be Fellini fan, so they let be carried away by his surrealism and related the first board to the second, declaring the slam in NT, although their lack of the ace and the king of club. If Versace (ITA) had remembered how Fellini’s film 8 1/2, weaves in and out of reality and fantasy, perhaps it would have woven a fine loop between the board 9 and board 10 and would have decided to lead a club only to verify that the first hand only foreshadowed what he had to do in the second .. certainly too fellinesque.

The champions results in this table were 90% in board 9 and 84% in board 10.

aaxx

Remember they won the championship only by 0.02 %… thanks to Fellini…

Montecatini 2017: Unique Defense

By
Ana Roth
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0

8th European Open Championships

Montecatini, Italy • 10 – 24 June 2017

 Championship Site   EBL Championship Bulletin   Mixed Teams Results 

12 de Junio 2017

The curative properties of Montecatini’s waters were probably first discovered in Roman times. Evidence of this comes from a number of small statues of pagan idols found during excavation of the spring-crater at the Leopoldine Spa. The statues were most likely votive offerings to the gods, cast into the spring in thanks for a cure.

Montecatini spa waters spring from four sources, each of which boasts particular therapeutic properties. Inhalation therapy at Montecatini Spas is administered with Leopoldina water. Inhalation treatments stimulate the body’s overall immune defense mechanisms (secretory immunoglobulin IgA), they are also particularly indicated in the treatment of childhood diseases.

Today in Montecatini we could enjoy a lot of good defenses in the Mixed Teams Open European Championship, one of them had Michal KLUKOWSKI (Poland) – Justyna ZMUDA (Poland) as it main characters.

Mixed Teams QF Play-offs Board 20         

Mano 20

North /South arrived to a 4 contract, with South as declarer.

As you can see any lead that is not a spade allows to win the contract, the defense needs to do their tricks before the declarer can discard losers in the diamonds. It seems that Michal had no doubts and his lead was a spade.

Lead: 7

Down came dummy showing his diamond suit, Zmuda won the trick with her A, and understood that declarer had a complete diamond side suit, since if South did not have the queen, it was in West. So it was urgent for the defense to run their tricks. Her partner’s lead and the two spades in dummy, marked the declarer with two spades, so to defeat the contract the defense surely needed urgently to develop a club trick.

And yes the only return that defeats is a club.

Zmuda returned his 5, it no longer mattered the declarer’s move, since the ace of heart in Klukowski’s hand secured the club trick for the defense. At the table Jansma chose to pass a small club, and Michal won the trick with the K to continue cashing the ace of spade. The trump ace sealed the contract fate. One down.

The only lead and the only return to defeat the contract… It seems that Klukowski – Zmuda reinforced their defenses with Leopoldina water before the championship …

At the other table they played 4, declarer North, +420.

 

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