Guest Authors

With the posting of the Balancing after 1M - 2M analysis By Dave McClintock the HHI Bridge blog is extremely proud to acknowledge the guest authors and analysis each has written.

0027 - Balancing after 1M - 2M an analysis by Dave McClintock

0025 - End Play an analysis written by Jamie Traudt

0023 - Last Train an analysis written by Gary Donner

0022 - Forcing or Not an analysis written by Geoff Phipps

A complete list of guests authors can be found on blog Pages: Authors  In addition, guest authors are listed in blog: Topics with a link to respective analyses.  

Hilton Head Bridge Club online games

Hilton Head Bridge Club online games are in partnership with Bridge Club of Atlanta online games played on Bridge Base Online. (see HHBC announcement)  To find a game log into BBO click on Competitive, then click on ACBL Virtual Clubs, then type BCA in the upper right hand search box.  If you need help with HHBC online games or BBO, contact Sandy Ritchey. 

0027 - Balancing after 1M - 2M

Balancing after one opponent opens the bidding 1 ♥ or 1 ♠ and her partner raises to two of the suit, 2♥ or 2 ♠.

This analysis is by Dave McClintock. see Pages: Authors

Don’t let the opponents steal the contract from you at the two-level. One of the worst scores in bridge is -110 where the opponents bid and make 2 ♥ or 2 ♠. Note that if the opponents have found an 8-card fit, we almost always have our own 8-card fit. We need to compete!

Thus, the auction at our table should never go 1 ♠ – P – 2 ♠ – P – P – P (Well, almost never!). If the auction died at the 2-level, partner has points, even if I don’t.

What can happen if we balance against 1 ♠ – P – 2 ♠ – P – P – ?

a. We find a fit and make a contract (good for us!)
b. We go down 50 or 100 against their +110 (good for us!)
c. The opponents take the push to the 3-level and go down (good for us!)
d. The opponents take the push to the 3-level and make it (okay for us)
e. The opponents bid on to game and make it (bad for us, but rare!)
f. We go down 150 or more against their 110 or 140 (bad for us!)

Note that only 2 of the 6 possibilities are bad for our side and one of them (e) find a game after a balancing bid is a remote possibility. At matchpoints (pairs), it’s imperative to use that competitive edge. If we go down 500, it’s only one bad board versus the several very good boards we get for competing.

Warning: After balancing, let the opponents have the contract if they bid to the 3-level! Bidding again invites trouble and a big minus score!

 Here are some sample hands after an opponent opens 1 ♠ and her partner responds 2 ♠. Then, pass, pass to you.

0026 - West – Finesse – East

What a difference a finesse makes!

This is a deal Paul Thurston (thurston) West and Keith Balcombe (kbalcombe) East, two World Class Canadians, defended Friday, April 17, 2020 on BBO against two Belgium players sitting North-South.

Auction: The auction is pretty simple. South deals and with 15 hcp, 6 losers and a semi-balanced hand (5-4-2-2) could open the bidding 1 NT, but with a 5-card major opens the bidding 1 ♠. West (Paul) and East (Keith) are silent throughout. North makes a 2/1 Game Forcing bid of 2 ♦. South bids 2 ♥ as natural and North bids 4 ♠.

In the actual play of this contract, on opening lead - T1 Paul (West) leads the ♣ 4 to Keith (East) ♣ A. Keith returns the ♣ 6 to declarer (South) ♣ K - T2.

How do you play this hand?

Playing on BBO

from Sam Marks (Bridge Club of Atlanta) on using BBO

I still get a lot of questions about how to play, convention cards and self alerting. Here are three quick videos that are worth watching. Silvana Morici is the owner of the Sagamore Bridge Club. They have been raising over 200,000 yearly for Alzheimer's Association. She was one of the first clubs online and has spent a lot of time polishing these videos.

How to find our BCA Games

Self Alerting Video by Silvana

Creating a BBO Convention Card by Silvana

How to Bid and Play on BBO by Silvana

You can take online lessons from Silvana Morici see Pages: Silvana Morici

GREAT NEWS!

Effective immediately the Hilton Head Bridge Club is partnering with the Bridge Club of Atlanta to offer daily club games on Bridge Base Online (BBO).  You will now be able to play with and against HHBC players as well as those at BCA.  

All players of HHBC club will be eligible to play.

There are daily games (many of them stratified to enable us to reach all levels of our players).  Game registration is open appx, 2 hours before the games.  The cost for the game is $6 and a portion of that will be returned to our Club.  Games are 18 boards.

BBO Game Schedule  see Pages: Bridge Club of Atlanta

In order to play you will need to visit Bridgebase.com and create a username and password.  After you have registered, you need to purchase BBO$ with a credit card.  The cost of the game is automatically deducted from your BBO account each time you play.  Once you have a BBO account, you can fill out convention cards for each partner with whom you will be playing.

To find the daily club game -- from the main screen go to "Competitive" under "Play or Watch Bridge" --ACBL Virtual Clubs -- look for BCA game.

We hope you will support our Club by playing in these games as well as other BBO games.  
As always we miss our face to face bridge games, but are thankful that ACBL and BBO offers online alternatives.  We appreciate the opportunity to partner with the Bridge Club of Atlanta to make these club games possible.

A great thanks to Beth and Sandy  

Keeping Safe

0025 - End Play

Playing weak notrumps (12-14 hcp) or strong notrumps (15-17 hcp) to show an 18-19 hcp balanced hand opener first bids 1m and on rebid jumps to 2NT.

This deal was player on November 2019 in the Hilton Head Camellia Classic. This analysis is by Jamie Traudt. (see Pages: Authors)

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Playing weak no trumps in a Swiss Teams event, South picked up the following hand and opened 1♣ planning to jump to 2 NT.

Auction: After a pass from West and 1 ♦ from partner, the World Champion in the East seat overcalled 1NT. Double by South. West passed quickly and partner bid 2♦. After a pass from East, South bid a vulnerable 3NT and the attractive woman in the West seat offered a withering look that asked “What drug are you on?” After two passes, a low spade hit the table and declarer saw this lovely dummy.

“Is that the same hand you held during the auction?” he wanted to ask, but didn’t, knowing that his partner might rightly ask whether he didn’t see the 1NT bid on his right, or just chose to ignore it. Enough recriminations.

2019 Mini-McKinney

Unit 252 2019 masterpoint winners in the Mini-McKinney and Ace of Clubs awards in addition the Hilton Head Bridge Club Special yearly awards.

Marvin Shatz Award – Dave Haleks
Craig Gibbons Award – Gerard Gardner
Attaining Life Master 2019 – Stephen Grossberg, Kathy Mootz, Barbara Schulz

Mini-McKinney Winners 2019 Unit 252
Category               Player                     Masterpoints
0-5                  William Murray                 34.31
5-20                Phillip Dobrzynski             23.00
20-50              Murial Murphy                  67.87
50-100            Laural Ludden                 139.74
100-200          Gerard Gardner                186.87
200-300          Jinny Morgan                   112.06
300-500          Dave Haleks                     104.95
500-1000        Scott Vincini                     319.45
1000-1500      Jamie Traudt                     404.83
1500-2500      Tom Schlossberg              263.72
2500-3500      Stanley Hurwitz               300.16
3500-5000      Lesley Fells                      269.36
5000-7500      Gary Donner                    960.91
7500-10000    Ron Perry                         362.03
10000+           Geoff Phipps                    673.96

Ace of Clubs Winners 2019 Unit 252
Category          Player                     Masterpoints
0-5                Carol McCann                  25.74
5-20              Kareen Jacobs                  19.05
20-50            Brian Hudson                   58.45
50-100          Vickie Imhoff                   96.26
100-200        Gerard Gardner              124.74
200-300        Jinny Morgan                   82.45
300-500        Steve McLaughlin            89.36
500-1000      Scott Vincini                   241.65
1000-1500    Jamie Traudt                   253.21
1500-2500    Mary Gilroy                    213.35
2500-3500    George Pope                   253.76
3500-5000    Lesley Fells                    214.84
5000-7500    Adele Newman               294.65
7500-10000  Ron Perry                       317.50
10000+         Geoff Phipps                  291.32

0024 - Minorwood

One of my former students shared this deal from a 2/1 Game Forcing book and asked me to explain the auction, specifically the bids of 4 ♣ and 4NT.

Auction: North deals and with 14 hcp, 6 losers and well place honors North has a solid opening hand. With a nice 6-card heart suit ♥ AK10632 North opens the bidding 1 ♥ with the plan on rebid to bid 2 ♥. South, with and opening hand of 12 hcp and 5½ losers, responds 2 ♣ as 2/1 Game Forcing. North rebids 2 ♥ showing a 6-card heart suit and limiting values (12-14 hcp). South's bid of 2 ♠ is natural showing 5+ clubs and 4 spades.

here is the complete auction ... 

ACBL

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I did get an opportunity to review your Hilton Head Bridge blog.  I think it is good in this downtime that we have things to keep up people’s interest in our game.  Your efforts seem to be a positive step in that regard. 

On behalf of the District, I write to commend and support your efforts with the Hilton Head Blog. Including some hands and other human interest items will hopefully keep up the interest of our members in our game during this slack period. I am sure that you are aware, but some of your readers may not be aware that the League has set up a procedure by which clubs can conduct a game online that is limited to people who have played in that club in the last 12 months. There are also tournaments being held, the proceeds of which benefit local clubs.

Once again, thanks for all your efforts, and if I can be of any further assistance, please contact me.

Mike Kovacich
District 7 Director

You can follow Mike K District Director Report on the D7 website.

Learn more about ACBL, District 7 & Unit 252 see Pages: ACBL

0023 - Last Train (part 2)

Remember from from the auction (part 1) North-South are in a 6♠ contract with South as declarer.  East-West were silent throughout the auction.

This play analysis (part 2) is by Gary Donner playing South on this deal as gdonnersc1 on BBO. (see Pages: Authors)

North-South at the other table ended up in a 4 ♥ contract.  So if the slam is made, it would be a big pick-up.  What does it take to make the slam?

Play: North-South are virtually certain of 10 tricks: 6 spades, 2 hearts 1 diamond and 1 club. Declarer (South) can pick up 1 additional diamond trick by finessing East for the ♦J, but 1 diamond trick does not help. The best source of additional tricks is hearts.The opening lead is the ♠ 4. So the question becomes how to set up the hearts.

0023 - Last Train (part 1)

This post features a great bidding and play analysis of a 6 ♠ slam. The bidding (part 1) features a convention called Last Train invented by Jeff Meckstroth and named after the song The Last Train to Clarksville. The Last Train is the bid just below game in an agreed upon major suit and is the last bid available before setting game at 4M. A Last Train bid is typically made in a bidding sequence where one partners has bid to show an interest in slam and the other partner has more than enough values to signoff in game.

This deal was played as Board 5 Fri. April 3, 2020 on Bridge Base Online (BBO).

This bidding analysis (part 1) is by Gary Donner playing South on this deal as gdonnersc1 on BBO. The play analysis (part 2) is posted as a separate analysis. (see Pages: Authors)

Auction: North deals and with 12 hcp and 6 losers opens the bidding 1 ♥. East-West are silent throughout. South responds 1 ♠ (natural) and North rebids 2 ♣ (natural). South with 16 hcp and 5 losers bids 2 ♦ as artificial and game forcing (GF) as Fourth Suit Forcing (4SF). The fact that South actually has diamonds has not been shown. North rebids 2 ♥ (6 hearts and denying 3 spades) and South rebids 2 ♠ (6 spades). In a game forcing auction North's bid of 3 ♠ does not promise any extras. South is still an unlimited hand and North would not want to use space to go to 4 ♠.

here is the complete deal and auction ...

ACBL District 7

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ACBL District 7 is made up of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, East Tennessee and a portion of Southwest Virginia.

http://district7bridge.org/

Fred Ferguson, an active and thoughtful player, in Hilton Head has reactivated this bridge “blog” for players to continue to get their “bridge fix” during these turbulent times where we have lost access to local clubs and tournaments.  I know many of our players are active on BBO----and that is a fantastic option to keep your bridge skills honed.  

Fred’s “blog” will provide insights on ways you might be able to improve your game and I encourage you to check it out and also give Fred feedback.

Pete Misslin

D7 President

Learn more about ACBL, District 7 & Unit 252 (see Pages: ACBL)

0022 - Forcing or Not

A bidding agreement that is often overlooked by partnerships is how responder bids after opener repeats his minor suit bid of 1♣ rebidding 2♣ . Most players are aware of the New Minor Forcing (NMF) convention over a 1NT rebid (12-14 hcp), but have not discussed how to proceed after the rebid of a minor (12-14 hcp). This is particularly important when responder holds 5 spades and at least 4 hearts.

Some partnerships might have had the discussion that if responder holds 5 spades and 4 hearts bid spades then bid hearts, but does this bidding sequence show forcing values 10+ hcp or not? How does responder proceed with 7-9 points and 5-4 or 5-5 in the majors.

This analysis is by Geoff Phipps. (see blog Page: Authors)

here is a sample deal ...

ACBL Unit 252

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Unit 252 is made up of Beaufort & Jasper Counties.

Thanks to Fred Ferguson, we can offer some analytical Bridge thinking to help ease the enforced absence from our games.  Fred will post his blog on our Unit 252 website for your consideration and enjoyment.  

We can all return to our club games when they are open again with a sharper focus and concentration.  Please check it out.  

Edward Bailey

President Unit 252

Learn more about ACBL, District 7 & Unit 252 (see Pages: ACBL)

0021 - Weak Notrump

Here is a fun slam I played with Dave Woods, our resident Canadian. I like playing weak notrumps. I started playing 12-14 notrumps with my friend and partner Marty Nathan formerly Hilton Head and now Atlanta. In addition to Dave Woods, I play weak notrumps with Jamie Traudt and Geoff Phipps.

This deal was played as Board 9 Thu. March 12, 2020 with Dave Woods at the Hilton Head Bridge Club.

Auction: North deals and with 13 hcp and a balanced hand I opened the bidding 1NT. Dave and I play weak notrumps of 12-14 hcp with all systems ON. East-West are silent throughout. Dave bids 2♠ as a transfer to clubs (we play 4-way transfers). My bid of 2NT denies a holding such as Xxx high honor with 3 cards in clubs (i.e., I don't like clubs). Dave said later he knew I didn't like clubs because he holds all the high honors ♣ AKQJ.

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Please Be Safe ...

novel coronavirus (nCoV) - Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. Coronaviruses can cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases, such as COVID-19. A “novel” coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans..

In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can be mild, such as some cases of the common cold, and others that can be lethal, such as SARS, MERS and COVID-19. There are yet to be vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections.

Please Be Safe ... 

0020 Kibitz the Pros

If you have never seen one of these Kibitz the Pros deals where each player records in turn while playing a deal ... it is fun to watch.

North: Gary Cohler (gcohler) and South: David Berkowitz (mikeyb)
East: Daniel Korbel (dank) and West: Sylvia Shi (sylviash)

This deal was played as Board 1 Mon. June 27, 2016 on Kibitz The Pros on The Common Game.

Warren & Bill

Warren Buffett

Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

Bill Gates

Founder of Microsoft

0019 - Major Suit Checkback

Whether we want to admit it (or not) we are all addicts of bidding conventions, maybe some more than others and maybe some less than others. Some might be minimalists like Ken Gibbs, but most partnerships will have a fair number of conventions in their bidding agreements. Some conventions are official like Wolff Signoff (capitalized) and some conventions are accepted as an extension of a convention. This deal is about one of those accepted extensions called major suit checkback (not capitalized).

This deal was played as Board 9 on The Common Game (TCG) Tue. December 31, 2019.

Hand Evaluation: North deals and with just 3 hcp passes. East in 2nd seat with just 7 losers would like to bid, but with just 7 hcp, East's hand doesn't meet the near average strength rule for an opening hand plus the ♠K is somewhat misplaced, East passes. Give East the ♥K instead of the ♠K and East might be justified in opening this hand. South in 3rd seat with 11 hcp strongly considers opening, but the ♥K is misplaced values. In addition, if South opens South will be giving away where values lie. Put the values of the ♥K (3 hcp) into one of the other suits (any of them) and I would open South's hand 1♦ in 3rd seat.

How should West with 19 hcp bid this deal?

coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

We are going through some difficult times right now.  During this time of quarantine and stay-in-place I want to do my part to keep bridge alive.  I want to do my part to support the bridge community, specifically all of the bridge players at the Hilton Head Bridge Club, the Okatie Duplicate Bridge Club and other ACBL games in Beaufort County and the SC Lowcountry.

I hope you enjoy the blog.  

Fred Ferguson

0018 - Making 3NT

Bidding 3NT on this deal should not be an issue, but taking 9 tricks Making 3NT will be a little tricky.

This deal was played as Board 4 Sat. March 14, 2020 at Okatie Duplicate Bridge Club (Okatie DBC) - last game before the 2020 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic closure.

Auction: West deals and with 15 hcp and a balance hand opens the bidding 1NT. East with 10 hcp and no 5-card major to transfer or 4-card major to Stayman bids 3NT.

West	North	East	South
1 NT1	Pass	3 NT2	All pass

 .
1. 15-17 hcp balanced
2.  10 hcp & no major
.

3NT by West
Lead: ª5 

With an opening lead of the ª5, how should West play this deal?

0017 - The Grand Slam

Bidding a small slam (12 tricks) is not the same process as bidding a grand slam (13 tricks). Typically a small slam requires a solid opening hand (12-14 hcp) opposite a hand that can make a jump rebid (16-18 hcp) or about 32 combined valuation points (or 34 hcp) and control in 3 suits. You would want to be in a small slam when it takes nothing more than a finesse (winning 50% of the time). The grand slam however, requires control in 4 suits AND being able to realistically count 13 winners (winning 65% of the time). Getting to an unmakeable grand slam when the field is playing in game or small slam is a masterpoint killer.

This deal was played as Board 11 Wed. March 11, 2020 with Jamie Traudt at the Hilton Head Bridge Club.

Auction: South deals and in the auction here with 21 hcp and just 3 losers* opens the bidding 2 ♣ as strong and forcing. North's response of 2 ♦ in N/S bidding agreements is artificial and game forcing (GF) promising an A, K or 2 Qs (or better).