Bridge players game arranging thread

[TCO]

I don't have any of those. I do have an interesting topic.

"What should GP work on to improve his game."

lots of stuff there to work on. But what should I prioritize.

Some things to work on.

1. Declarer play
-card combinations: (Still not always sure how to play suits that I don't have solid.)
-basic play of the hand
-Advanced plays (squeeze, end play)
2. Defense
-leads
-other defense
-signals
3. Common play issues
-counting hands
-deduction and assumption
4. bidding
-learning more about my pre-historic system
-learning 5cm

Other issue is how to balance practice versus reading/study. I have the Goren Bridge Complete book. IT has hw problems.

[Urban Ranger]

Learn to make fewer mistakes

If you are relatively new, I'd suggest the Precison bidding system. It's much better than Standard American, and you don't have to unlearn SA.

Bidding seems to be the most important, because improved bidding helps with both offensive and defensive play.

Then it'd be the "common play issues." Deductions, that sort of thing.

Brush up on defense after that, then declarer play last.

Yeah, in the reverse order.

[TCO]

Sounds good except for Precision. I've been playing a bit in another system. Learning a new (and rare) system not a high priority...

[Bird]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Leading a small heart back won't help, because the declarer will let it ride and see what your partner plays. If your partner cashes the honour, the Jack in dummy will be good. If he doesn't, declarer wins with the Jack (again good) and finesses you for the Queen of clubs.

The whole thing is your partner is unlikely to have an entry into his hand other than the honour in hearts, so leading a heart back will put him in a vice.

Bad defense I say.

Declarer always has a heart trick and there's nothing you can do about it. The point is that there is no reason not to set up your second heart trick. Assuming declarer has the heart king (without which he has no chance), declarer will have to duck the heart to prevent the defense from getting three tricks in that suit. But don't return a low heart because you do not want to mislead partner and have him continue the suit, so return your remaining high heart. Given partner's lead, there is really no hand where that could be wrong. And if the bidding was insane and partner happens to have an entry so that he clears the heart suit, you don't care anyway.

Anyway, assume you return a high heart, declarer ducks it and partner wins the queen. You have a very good partner, and he returns a high spade, which declarer ducks to your queen. Up to you again.

Edit: by "high spade" I mean a top of nothing type card.

[Bird]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger




I fully expect the declarer to play the nine of hearts from the dummy, or else I'd play the eight. That way I either end up with a cheap trick, or the declarer must lead from his hand, which is the second best thing you can hope for.

Yes, 9 of hearts played at trick one. Also, in this layout, playing the 8 even if declarer played low would be risky. What if declarer has K10x of that suit, which is very possible? Now we've given him two tricks where he's only entitled to one.

GP, one of the problems learning how to play bridge by reading Goren is that it is more difficult to find partners who play the system and therefore understand the nuances of old-fashioned bridge. Plus, some of Goren's system is just not as good; for example, I don't think Goren used weak two bids, did he? I can't imagine playing without them and you should learn them sooner rather than later. Just stick to disciplined weak-twos at first.

[TCO]

weak twos may be better in the abstract. There are more people who play strong though. at least on Pogo.

[Rex Little]

Pogo may be unusual in that regard. Playing duplicate on MSN Gaming Zone, I've only run into weak-2 players.

[Bird]

Originally posted by Rex Little
Pogo may be unusual in that regard. Playing duplicate on MSN Gaming Zone, I've only run into weak-2 players.

Hehe, "may be" is an understatement. I can virtually guarantee you that you won't run into any tournament players or players on MSN or OK Bridge who play strong twos (they may not exactly always play weak twos, but they won't play strong two bids).

[TCO]

duplicate attracts the strong 2ers...

[Bird]

Originally posted by GP
duplicate attracts the strong 2ers...

No. No one, and I mean no one, plays strong twos in duplicate.

[TCO]

I meant the other way...sorry. Brainfart.

Meant that rubber players are less weak 2ish than duplicate.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Bird
Declarer always has a heart trick and there's nothing you can do about it. The point is that there is no reason not to set up your second heart trick.

My point was leading hearts will set up the dummy's ♥J. Also, the whole point of leading the forth of the longest suit against a no-trump contract is to set up extra tricks in that suit. Without at least a side entry it's not a good first lead. A safety lead is probably better.

Originally posted by Bird
Assuming declarer has the heart king (without which he has no chance), declarer will have to duck the heart to prevent the defense from getting three tricks in that suit. But don't return a low heart because you do not want to mislead partner and have him continue the suit, so return your remaining high heart.

I don't think he will. If you have the ♥K, you'd cash it and then lead to partner's Q, setting up the extra trick. If you don't, what's the point of leading into dummy's jack?

Originally posted by Bird
Given partner's lead, there is really no hand where that could be wrong. And if the bidding was insane and partner happens to have an entry so that he clears the heart suit, you don't care anyway.

Hm, why did he lead from Qxxx with no entry?

Originally posted by Bird
Anyway, assume you return a high heart, declarer ducks it and partner wins the queen. You have a very good partner, and he returns a high spade, which declarer ducks to your queen. Up to you again.

Play a heart. Declarer's king will fall on top of dummy's jack, forcing him to lead.

[TCO]

UR, he led from Qxxx because that was the unbid suit.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by GP
Sounds good except for Precision. I've been playing a bit in another system. Learning a new (and rare) system not a high priority...

Precision is very popular among advanced bridge players. The thing is, if you want to learn it later on, you need to unlearn SA, which can be very painful.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by GP
UR, he led from Qxxx because that was the unbid suit.

My understanding was the ♥3 was the forth of the longest suit, a defense very often used against NT contracts. The idea behind it is to generate extra tricks in that suit.

The thing is then, it rarely works with only one entry in the hand.