Five Uncommon Conventions You Should Play April 5, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Convention, Intermediate
15 comments
Generally I think most players, especially intermediates, play too many conventions. Most of the time they come up too infrequently or have very small gains that aren’t worth the trouble. However, there are a few conventions that are both frequent and useful that most people aren’t yet playing. Here they are in no particular order.
A jump cue as a transfer to 3N in the auction 1m-(1M)-3M. If you think about it, with almost every holding you have in overcaller’s major you want partner to declare the hand. Axx, AQx, Kxx, AKx are the most obvious examples. You give up a splinter to play this, but a splinter in support of a minor is very rare compared to an antipositional 3N bid.
Transfers after 1M-(X)-? starting with 1N. This is becoming more popular, and for good reason. Losing your natural 1N bid frees up two ways to raise the major. The direct raise is weak, and a transfer raise is constructive. This is very good, because with 3 trumps you always want to preempt the opponents, but you can’t jump to 3 the same way you can when you have 4 trumps. Being able to bid 2 and not have partner game try or jump to game is like having your cake and eating it too. Losing the natural 1N is not a big loss, with 10 you can XX and with 7 you should pass anyways, so you are only losing with 8 or 9 balanced without 3 trumps. In return you get not just 2 ways to raise, but also the ability to immediately show your suit regardless of whether you are weak or strong because you are guaranteed to get another chance to bid. You would hate to have to XX with a strong 1 suiter and be susceptible to preemption by LHO. You would also hate to have to pass with a good 6 card suit and nothing else. Another example of getting to have your cake and eating it too.
Jump cue as a mixed raise after an overcall. This is a convention I see misused all the time. The biggest question is, what the hell is a mixed raise? The best definition I can come up with is a hand too good for a preemptive raise, and a hand not good enough for a limit raise, with at least 4 trumps and offensive values. With nobody vulnerable if the auction goes (1
) 1
p ?
KJxx 
x 
xxxx xxxx bids 3
KJxx x Axxx Qxxx bids 2
KJxx x Kxxx xxxx bids 3
The third hand is a common hand type that is very difficult to show. I see people bid 3 with hands strong enough for a limit raise, and hands that are more balanced and defensive (which should just bid 2) so often that it takes away from the value of having a mixed raise to begin with. You can get to a lot of light games by using these correctly.
Suit Preference in the trump suit. Ok, this is a carding agreement, but it’s a very important one that all top pairs and few intermediates use. The idea is simple, you show whether you like the high or low suit (sometimes the middle is in play) by the way you play your trumps. With 2 just play up the line with no preference. That way only a high low is a strong signal. With 3 play the middle for no preference. This extra signal can make all the difference for the defense.
Invitational jumps at the 3 level after partner opens. These apply when partner opens 1x, and you bid 3y where y is lower than x. This is also only for 2/1 players. The problem is an auction like 1 p 1N p 2 p 3. This could just be a weak hand with long clubs and isn’t invitational, so with 9 to 11 points and a good suit you need another way to bid. I propose bidding 1 p 3 with that hand type. It also protects you from preemption and sometimes has a preemptive effect of its own. Ideally you would have a good 6 card suit and not Hx in support of partners major, but you aren’t always dealt an ideal hand. Just remember partner will pass with a stiff and a minimum, because if he bids anything else it’s forcing.
I think if everyone reading this adds these methods my email will be flooded with thank you notes.
You’re welcome!
Punishing X’s of Artificial Bids March 29, 2009
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Advanced, Bidding
1 comment so far
One of the biggest problems of modern science is giving the opponents the chance to double (or not double) artificial bids. However, since the doubles give us extra bidding room we should be well versed in turning the tables on the opponents. These opportunities come in four categories: stoppers, competitive bidding, slam bidding, and Stayman. I’ll discuss each:
In stopper ask auctions often you cannot diagnose when both players have a half stopper and sometimes you cannot rightside the contract. These issues are easily solved when they make a lead directing double. Suppose the auction goes
1-(2)-3-(P)-3-(X)
Now a redouble by responder shows the ace so opener can bid 3N with Qx and rightside the hand. Responder can pass with an unremarkable hand which gives opener the chance to redouble with a partial stop. This requires discussion, but common sense dictates that both sides should not be redoubling with the ace. Here if opener had the ace he’d bid 3N himself to try and rightside opposite responder’s possible Qx. Finally if opener XXs responder bids 3N with a partial stop himself (think Qx and Jxx). This is a little tricky, but well worth the effort.
Next are competitive auctions. For Instance,
(1)-1-(P)-2-(X)
Most experts play 2 is weak and pass is a little stronger. In my opinion a superior distinction is between offensive and defensive minimums. This prepares for a 3 level decision. So with 5332 or (gasp!) a 4 card overall, pass, and with 5431 or 6322 bid. Of course use your judgment based on honor location as well. With extra values you have a lot more bids you can make (like XX for starters, which most people have not defined).
In Slam bidding sequences when they double your cuebid going back to your suit is definitely the weakest action. Redoubling shows a first round control. That may seem strange, but you don’t want to redouble with a second round control only to find out your partner has one as well! You should often pass to show interest and see if partner can redouble (first round control since he’s already cuebid the suit) or not, but you may want to cuebid yourself lest you never get the chance.
When they double Stayman the main issues become club stoppers and rightsiding. Remember if opener has no club stopper, responder is the right side.
Here is my favorite structure:
1N-(2)-X-
P- No stopper. Then responder XXs as restayman, and opener responds with the major he doesn’t have (remember who the rightside is!). If opener has no major he responds 2 as usual. If responder does not redouble he’s showing a garbage stayman hand type.
XX- Business, at least 4 very good clubs.
Other bids- Normal Stayman responses and promise a club stop.
As you can see, there are many ways to fight back against these doubles. Sometimes they direct the killing lead, but sometimes they help us find the best contract. If you know how to handle these situations, they’ll probably start doubling less!
1C-(2D)-X… April 22, 2007
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Advanced, Bidding, Convention
9 comments
I have been thinking a lot lately about auctions that start 1-(2)-X-(p). This seemingly simple auction can quickly become one of the murkiest constructive bidding sequences in bridge.
The double can be made with both 4 card majors, one 4 card major, or a 1 suited hand with a major. It could even be made with 5-5 in the majors and a weakish hand. Opener can then bid a 3 card major himself or make a very nebulous cuebid. Fundamentally both the double and the cuebid are overloaded.
For instance, if the auction started 1-(2-X-(p)-? one might bid 3 with any of the following hands:
- KQ43 KQ2 A43 AJ2
- A2 A3 432 AKQJ32
- KQ32 KQ92 4 A652
- KQ3 AJ2 872 AKJ4
On hand 1 opener cannot just bid 4 as partner may have a 3 card suit, and 3N may be the right spot.
On hand 2 opener just needs a stopper and doesn’t want to bid 4 and bypass 3N.
On hand 3 opener has an invitational strength hand with 4-4 in the majors and wants partner to pick a major. Some people may even be planning to pass a 3M bid by partner!
On hand 4 opener is strong and balanced with no stopper. and is hoping partner can bid 3N.
So the cuebid covers a GF with 1 major, strong with clubs, invitational or game forcing with both majors, or strong balanced with no stopper. Great! The first thing that is clear is that the cuebid needs to create a force. With hand type 3 you just have to bid game or bid 2 of a major. What’s not clear is what responder’s duty is; bid 4 card majors up the line or bid NT with a stopper? If he bids NT with a stopper then a major suit fit may be lost opposite hand type 1 (the most common). If he bids majors up the line then hand types 2 and 3 are screwed. Not to mention that 5-3 fits are going to be very difficult to find.
We also have the issue of finding 3N when opener has one 4 card major and a stopper and responder has no stopper and the other 4 card major. For instance if you have hand 1 the auction might go 1-(2)-X-(p)-3-(p)-3-(p)-3-(p)-? Should responder always bid 3N here, with or without a stopper? This risks some silly 3N contracts as well as wrongsiding the contract if the stopper is Kx or the like.
These aren’t even the only problems with this auction. The other day I had an auction start 1-(2)-X-(p)-2-(p)-3-(p)-? My partner had 4 hearts and a diamond stopper and bid 3N, worried I had a hand like 4333 with no diamond stopper. I had 4 hearts and a game going hand and was worried my partner had bid 2 with only 3. If you don’t believe this is possible, ask yourself what you would do with a hand like Kxx AKx Qxx xxxx. 2N is horrible with this hand type and 2 is really your only choice. Anyways, I passed 3N and we missed our best spot of 4. I pointed out to partner that he should bid 3 and I would bid 3 with 3 hearts and no diamond stopper. While he agreed with this he wondered what would have happened if our fit was spades and not diamonds; I would be endplayed over a 3 rebid.
There are no great solutions to this problem, but perhaps with some artificiality we can improve on this auction.
Bob Hamman has played for a long time that jump shifts are forcing after a negative double. In this auction 3M can be forcing, and that eliminates hand 1 from the immediate cuebid. Over 3 partner can bid 3 without a fit or diamond stopper and opener can bid 3N with a stopper. There is still a guess over a jump to 3 though.
This would leave the direct cuebid to show a strong hand with clubs or a strong balanced hand without a diamond stopper. This would leave responder free to bid 3N whenever they have a stopper, and bid 3M with a 5+ card suit. Definitely a big improvement.
Even better would be to use 2N as an artificial bid. Really, bidding 2N with a weak NT is not a good option anyways, you may have only half the deck and would much rather play 2 of a major. 2N could puppet to 3, then 3 could show 4-4 majors invite, 3M could be that major plus a stopper in diamonds, game forcing. 3N would be 18-19 balanced with a diamond stopper. A direct 3 would simply be GF in clubs or strong balanced without a stopper, 3M would be natural and forcing, denying a stopper, and a direct 3N would be based on club tricks and a diamond stopper (so partner won’t pull with a 6 card major). This solves all hand types and eliminates guessing.
That would mean that 2M could frequently be based on a 3 card suit. Over the cue you only have a problem sorting out stoppers and 4-4 fits if opener has 4 spades and a stopper and responder has 4 hearts, less than 4 spades, and a stopper.
I think this is a great improvement for almost no cost on one of the worst auctions in bridge. You only lose a natural 2N (useless) and invitational 3 of a major bids (of very limited use), in order to gain a lot of clarity on the NT vs major decision. A nice advantage of forcing 3M bids is better slam bidding as well (as trumps are set earlier).
Blogroll Update April 21, 2007
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: blogroll
2 comments
The blogroll was becoming a little haphazard so I decided to organize and update it. It is now broken up into three categories; bridge blogs, other bridge sites, and non-bridge sites. I ended up reading over all of them again and decided that a review was in order.
Bridge Blogs
DavidC’s Bridge Blog- Written by an English junior player, this blog deals mainly with bidding theory and system design. The author has a very good grasp on bidding theory and expresses himself clearly. Some of the principles he writes about have never been written about before though very sound theoretically. The content is mainly for advanced players or higher. He also writes about the laws of bridge. This is probably my favorite bridge blog and I really recommend it to anyone interested in bidding theory. Updates fairly often.
Gavin Wolpert’s Blog- Written by a young bridge professional and recent star of a documentary. Gavin writes mainly about his life as a bridge professional but also has some system related material. If you are interested in the life of a bridge professional this is a great read. Updates frequently.
Stacy Jacobs- This blog has both bridge and non-bridge related material. Stacy is an excellent writer and posts frequently. Her bridge posts are generally short discussing tournaments she’s been to or hands she’s seen recently. The bridge content is mainly geared towards advanced or better players, but she has some great stuff about writing as well.
Jinzhou’s Blog- Written by the star of Singapore’s junior team, this blog outlines his run to the bronze medal at the World Youth Championships in Thailand. A great story to read, but it is obviously not updated anymore. Obviously I enjoyed it.
Mike Develin- Written by a former American junior internationalist, Mike pretty much discusses all of his recent sessions and includes lots of hands. The material is suited to players of all levels, and the blog is updated frequently.
The Korbels- Written by an expert Canadian junior couple, they write about interesting hands they play on BBO and in real life and include some tournament reports. Though one of the best written bridge blogs, it suffers from a lack of updates.
The Beer Card- Written by a keen Scottish player, Paul discusses lots of hands as well as random bridge news and issues. Lots of interesting content, and updated frequently and suitable for everyone.
Ulf Nilsson- Written by a Swedish internationalist, Ulf has great insight onto a lot of hands from high level play (though I don’t always agree with what he says). He also discusses some theory. The only complaint I have is that his hand diagrams are hard on the eyes. Expert players will enjoy this blog a lot. Ulf updates almost every day.
McKenzie Myers- Written by a youngish bridge pro, mainly contains tournament reports and some hands. His writing style is very funny, and I think anyone with a sense of humor will like his posts. Updates frequently.
Jonathan Ferguson- Brand new bridge blog, but knowing Jon he will not be afraid to be very open and vocal about his thoughts. He says he will show you hands that are good, bad, and ugly. So far he averages about 5 posts a day; I doubt he will be able to keep that up though.
Jeff Miller- Written by an expert player from the Chicago area, Jeff posts very interesting hands and ideas and is very in depth. Mostly geared for advanced or better players, he doesn’t update much anymore.
Glen Ashton- Glen covers some pretty esoteric conventions and systems. If that’s your thing you will like his blog. Updates sporadically.
Badmonsters- The author of this blog is very unique because she is an intermediate player. She discusses her attempts at learning to become a better bridge player from that point of view. So if you’re a beginner or intermediate you will really like reading her thoughts; you can probably relate.
Ken Rexford- Written by the author of Cuebidding at Bridge, Ken has a whole blog about cuebidding. His ideas are very far out in left field, but if you like reading about really strange ideas this is definitely the blog for you. He has not updated in a while though.
Raffles Bridge- A group blog written by intermediate or advanced players who are all part of the same bridge club. The content is mainly suitable for that level, and discusses some hands as well as theory. Updates are not frequent.
Other Bridge Sites
BBO Forums- By far the most active bridge related forum. Basically this is just a large community that discusses all aspects of bridge at all levels. I am slightly embarrassed to say that I have over 5,000 posts there. I really recommend this site.
Richard Pavlicek- The most comprehensive bridge site out there. Includes several features like a card combo analyzer, suit break calculator, teaching materials, and play contests. Easily the best bridge site on the web.
The Cavendish Invitational- Website of the only big money bridge tournament in the world. This event is coming up in May and is very exciting even as a spectator. If you don’t know about this event or want to see who’s playing in it, go now.
ACBL- The American Contract Bridge League runs all the tournaments in North America (except for things relating to international play). Lots of information about upcoming and past tournaments, masterpoint races, and other things involving the league.
USBF- The United States Bridge Federation runs all the trials to decide who represents the US in international competition. Mainly useful for information regarding those trials.
Matt Meckstroth- Personal webpage of the son of Jeff Meckstroth, some humorous content as well as interesting features like Hand of The Month and WWJD (what would Jeff do?). Hasn’t been updated in a while though.
Bridge Is Cool- The ACBL’s attempt to market the game to juniors. Although I have been critical of this site, it is at least a start in a proactive campaign to make the game attractive to my generation as well as the next. I know the ACBL is trying to improve on this site as well.
World Bridge Federation- The Federation that oversees all world competitions as well as world rankings. To see the rankings or news from upcoming or past international tournaments go here.
Jerry Helms- Personal site of expert player and teacher Jerry Helms. Includes articles and a biography, as well as information on his seminars.
Poor Bridge- Hilarious site with articles about bad bridge. Lots of articles and features like “Poor Bridge of The Week.” I never fail to leave this site laughing.
Cocktail Bridge- Written in Croatian, but does have some english articles including an interview with me.
Mike Gill- Written by a former US junior player, includes a short biography as well as several interesting hands and a write-up of the World Youth Championships in Thailand. Mike has some really funny hands in the Amusing Deals section.
Siege- System notes for Mike Bell’s system Siege. Very interesting system that has a natural base with lots of artificiality and transfer responses to 1 club. Similar to what I play with Josh Donn.
Inquiry 2/1- Inquiry’s system notes. Includes some interesting stuff including MisIry transfer preempts.
Non Bridge Sites
Overcoming Bias- Great site which discusses many of the inherent and societal biases we have and how to try to overcome them in order to become more rational people. Updated every day and easily my favorite blog on the net.
God of The Machine- Written by a bridge player (using the term loosely) but containing no bridge content. Aaron writes about a lot of things including poetry, literature, ethics, philosophy, and culture. In my opinion his mini-blog is better than his actual blog. The mini-blog is updated frequently but his main blog updates are erratic at best these days.
If you have a good bridge related blog or website that I don’t know about just e-mail me and I will consider blogrolling you.
How To Read Your Opponents… Hesitations? April 1, 2007
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Advanced, Inference
1 comment so far
Bridge and poker have a lot of similarities, but they diverge wildly in rules about tempo. In poker anything goes, you can hesitate whenever you like and try to fool your opposition, but in bridge you can never purposely mislead your opponents by hesitating. However, you can take inference from the opponent’s hesitations (but never from partner’s). This gives you a huge advantage if you know how to filter through this information and figure out what it means.
Let’s start with an easy one. The opponents bid 1-1-2(hesitation) uncontested. The opponents are intermediates. What does the opening bidder have?
He will almost always have a 3 card raise. The other possibility is something like a 4441 14 count that was thinking of jumping to 3. However, most intermediates would not think about jumping with the latter hand, and if they did think about it they would probably do it. With a hand like 3451 it would take them some time to raise since it might just be a 4-3 fit. If you are thinking of balancing, it’s less likely to be right with the information you now have. It also is more likely to be right to lead a trump if the opponents get to 4.
How about this one, you open 1 and your LHO thinks for a while and passes at favorable vulnerability. What does LHO probably have?
It is very likely he has at least an opening bid with diamond length. If you end up declaring this information could be very useful. I once had a funny hand where after that start to the auction my partner responded 1, and with 6 mediocre diamonds I chose to rebid 1N. Sure enough LHO had 5 diamonds and 1N was much better than the normal 2.
The thing you have to do to figure out what type of hands your opponents have for their hesitations is ask yourself what kind of hands will have a problem. Maybe in the latter case your LHO was thinking of overcalling for instance, but at favorable vulnerability if he wanted to overcall he probably would have. All the hand types where he will have a problem are hands with long diamonds and a good hand.
The best, and most confusing, clues you will find from the tempo come from the play. It is important to remember in the play that very often the opponents will try to deceive you with their tempo even though they are not allowed to. That is fine though, we can still exploit their tendencies.
Suppose you have Qxxxx in your hand and AJT9x in dummy. You lead the queen, LHO fumbles and gives it a 2 second hesitation and plays low. You should 100 % go up with the ace. If LHO had Kx he would never be considering playing the king looking at all the high ones in dummy. He would play low smoothly with that. With xx he may be idiotic enough to think that hesitating and playing low will make us think he has the king. Don’t fall for it.
Now, suppose you have xx opposite KJTx and your opponents are experienced players. You lead towards the KJTx, and LHO thinks for a noticeable amount of time and plays low. Without the ace he wouldn’t think for a long time as you could call him on it, if he wanted to deceive you when he held the Q he would think for maybe 1 or 2 seconds at most. So he has the ace. Why would an experienced player think with the ace in a situation he’s probably seen 1000 times? With just the ace he would play low quickly. In my experience, they always have the AQ in this scenario. They want you to know they have the ace so that you go up with the king. So play the jack and lead up again, that way you’ll have 2 tricks available from the suit. Be careful though, if your opponents are very inexperienced, they may just have the ace and not know what to do.
What happens if the opponents deviate from their tempo by playing very FAST? I had an interesting scenario involving that recently. I was in 7N. In the end game I had a good heart in my hand, a losing club, and a small diamond. Dummy had the AQ of diamonds and a losing club. RHO was known to have the winning club. I led my good heart and pitched a club from dummy and RHO pitched an extremely quick diamond. Now I had to guess whether I had squeezed RHO or if the finesse was on. I judged that RHO would only pitch a diamond that fast because he had seen the squeeze coming and was scared if he pitched a diamond slowly I’d realize he must have the king. As a result, he pitched too fast to compensate. If RHO simply had 2 small diamonds he would have nothing to worry about and would pitch in his normal tempo, or even hesitate to try and mislead me. So I dropped his now stiff king and made my contract.
Another situation where they’re playing fast is when they literally pull a card to play before you have called from dummy. This almost always means that they’re going to follow suit and cannot beat any finesse you could take. So if you have KQTxx opposite Ax and play the ace and another one and RHO pulls their card and is about to play it before you have even played from dummy I would recommend finessing the ten.
I cannot go over every situation where a variation from normal tempo gives you information, there are simply too many of them. Don’t ignore it though, try and logically figure out what their problem could be and take advantage of it!
A Classic Fit Jump September 2, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Advanced, Bidding
8 comments
Nobody is vulnerable and you pick up K9742 74 6 KJT87. LHO passes, partner opens 1 and RHO makes a takeout X. You’re not sure how to describe your hand, but luckily you have you have a 4 gadget at your disposal to show 5+ clubs, 4+ spades and a game going hand. In fact, this would be the textbook hand for that auction. This “fit jump” enables partner to accurately judge what to do if the opponents compete to the 5 level and can get you to a low HCP slam opposite a prime double fitter. It’s the perfect bid right?
WRONG!
A bid being the perfect description of your hand does not necessarily make it the right bid. Though in constructive auctions I advocate describing your hand as well as possible, competitive bidding is a completely different matter. Tactical approaches that will make life hard for the opponents should often be adopted, even at the cost of some accuracy.
The biggest problem with the 4 bid is that it gives LHO entry to the 4 level to introduce a save-suggesting bid. For example, with a hand like 63 KQ853 Q542 94 LHO can bid 4 to invite his partner to save in 5. This way they get to communicate and judge intelligently whether they should be bidding at the 5 level or not. Had you just bid an immediate 4 your left hand opponent would be forced to pass with that hand, and your RHO would also pass without significant extra values.
The other problem with 4 is that you aren’t just telling your partner what your hand looks like, you’re telling the opponents. That information gives them an even greater ability to judge whether to bid on, double you, or pass. If RHO has a balanced 18 count with most of his values in the red suits, he would have to double back in if you jump to 4. However, by jumping to 4 you alert him that his red suit tricks are not cashing so he will no longer feel compelled to double you. Likewise, LHO will not X 4 with a random 10 or 11 after a 4 bid unless he has values in the black suits. He will even know that his red suit values are likely to be working on offense and may save or suggest a save that he wouldn’t have done after the more straight forward jump.
What about the potential downsides of disguising your hand with an immediate jump to 4? If the opponents do go on to the 5 level then you will be poorly placed. You will guess right some of the time, but not as much as you would have had you started with 4. This risk is not as great as it seems though. With LHO being a passed hand he is unlikely to have a long enough suit or a good enough hand to bid at the 5 level. If he does bid, it will most likely be a card showing X which will generally be passed out at such a high level. You also might miss a slam, but that would be a rare occurrence after RHO has shown opening values. Partner would need to have a great fit, and in that case the opponents may have one as well and might have a cheap save at the 7 level.
It is worthwhile to note that the problems of making a fit jump in this auction are so severe because the suits involved are spades and clubs. If you made the hand 6 K9742 KJT87 74 after partner opens 1 and RHO Xs, a 4 bid would have a lot more appeal as you now give the opponents very little additional useful room. Since you need to prepare for the likely 4 bid it now becomes a good tactical maneuver to describe your hand. However, in the original example a fit jump is clearly a tactical blunder.
Promoting Bridge April 29, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: future, promoting
17 comments
It’s no secret that in North America the game of bridge is effectively dying. The average age of ACBL members keeps rising and you see less and less young faces at tournaments. As well as promoting the game to retired people with lots of free time, efforts need to be made to get younger people interested in bridge. In order to understand how to go about this, two key questions need to be asked.
First, what will attract teenagers to the game? As a teenager myself, if someone were to tell me that bridge is great for the mind and a very interesting game, I wouldn’t have any desire to learn the game.
I would be interested in the great rivalry between USA and Italy, the huge money that professionals are making, big prize money tournaments like the Cavendish, and the great party atmosphere at night during tournaments. Though these things have nothing to do with the game itself, they are interesting and would make me want to become a part of the bridge scene. To do this, obviously I’d have to learn the game.
There was a great poker movie made in 1998, Rounders, starring Matt Damon. To watch this movie and enjoy it, you would literally need no knowledge of how to play poker. The movie was a hit, and many college kids started playing as a result. The natural reaction to being captivated by a movie about poker is to actually go out and learn how to play. Of the people who do that, some percentage will keep playing for the rest of their lives. The point is not to market the game, but to market the drama and atmosphere that surrounds the game.
Imagine a movie about a young bridge professional trying to make it in a highly competitive world. He falls into the trap of drugs and drinking during the wee hours of the night during regionals and nationals and hits rock bottom. At some point, he rises above all of this to greatness. At the climax he’s playing his nemesis, the antagonist who has stolen clients from him and bad mouthed him throughout the movie. He pauses when the player leads away from an ace and he must guess the contract to win the match and the tournament. He finally guesses, and wins tens of thousands of dollars as well as the respect of everyone. It may sound silly, but you wouldn’t need to know how to play bridge to watch this movie and many would enjoy it.
Some mainstream media effort could easily be made to create an influx of juniors to the ACBL. A movie, a documentary, articles in widely read magazines about the life of a young bridge player, a TV show with a main character that is a bridge player, even a reality TV show. Trying to put an actual bridge game on TV will never achieve great success, but making the bridge world and the atmosphere a part of some bigger picture could.
The ACBL, with it’s site “Bridge Is Cool,” has failed miserably at understanding what will appeal to a teenage audience.
We also must wonder, what existing markets can we tap into that include young people? There are certainly some people we can advertise the game itself to. It’s obvious that the millions of teenagers that play spades, a trick taking game similar to bridge, are such an easy market to attract to bridge. They devote some time to playing card games, they already understand the basic rules of bridge, and they are willing to spend some time to learn a game. As I write this there are almost 7,000 people playing spades on Yahoo. Most are teenagers. Why are we not actively trying to get these people to play bridge? It makes absolutely no sense.
Other board games, card games, and strategy games have young players who would be quite interested in learning the king of all card games. We need to make a site that we can direct those people to, and somehow make the site available to them. That was probably the goal of Bridge Is Cool, but something more appealing to this type of person is needed. The more times that prize money and huge amounts of strategy are mentioned the better.
The other market is school kids, particularly those in advanced math classes. By junior high it’s too late, there are so many other interests that bridge will not be a priority. I think the ACBL is already doing a great job in teaching bridge at elementary schools so I won’t expound.
In order to save the game of bridge, those in power need to understand the new generation. As a member of said generation, I will tell you with confidence that Bridge Is Cool will not appeal to ANYONE. A new game plan needs to be drawn up before it’s too late.
Money Bridge Review April 28, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: BBO, money bridge
3 comments
Bridge Base Online has recently started offering a format that enables its users to play bridge for real money. This is like a dream come true for me. I missed the days when money bridge was popular, and unless you live in New York, Chicago, or London it’s tough to find any club that offers any kind of rubber bridge. Even if you do, they won’t be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The ability to play long sessions of bridge for money will not only satisfy my gambling needs, it will make me into a better player. All of this is great, but what about cheating?
BBO found a brilliant way to circumvent any kind of possible collusion or cheating. Instead of playing with a human partner, you play with a GIB robot against a human and another GIB. Kibitzers are also disallowed. Not only does this make it impossible to cheat, it is also very fair. Regardless of the mistakes GIB makes, long term it will average out. So if you are better than your opponent by a margin greater than the rake, you will profit.
Despite some (inevitable) complaints, GIB really plays pretty decently. Once the best computer program in the world, it is still in the top 3. Of the opponents I’ve faced for money so far, GIB was probably better than half. His declarer play is superb but his bidding and signaling are erratic. There are 3 speed settings and the slower he plays the better he plays. Unfortunately, the slowest setting is painfully slow. I prefer to play with GIB set to medium speed. You will never misunderstand a bid GIB makes because you can click on whatever he bids to see what it means. Figuring out GIB’s strange tendencies and what bids trigger it to do costly things will be a huge part of being successful. Potentially you could do better than a player more skilled than yourself if you handle GIB better. This is true in live money bridge as well; handling partner is a very necessary skill.
If you like action, you will like the format. It is scored in total points with seating and vulnerability assigned randomly at the beginning of each hand. Basically, there is massive variance. I have already experienced swings of plus and minus 12,000 points. As the saying goes, the next best thing to gambling and winning is gambling and losing. Do not be disillusioned; if you are a winning player you will profit long term.
I do have a few gripes. Mainly, the maximum stakes to play for right now are a penny a point. Eventually, I hope to see this maximum get higher and higher, maybe to as much as 20 times that number. Since it’s still in it’s infancy, I can understand keeping the stakes small for now. Also the rake, though they cut it in half from its original cost, is still relatively expensive. They rake 5 points a hand per person unless the board is passed out. They also charge you a percentage of your deposit to pay PayPal. I hope if the stakes get higher, they will rake less proportionately for the bigger games. Perhaps 3 points a hand for a 5 cent game.
Besides those two complaints, I am very excited and happy with online money bridge. The potential is endless. Currently BBO is testing money bridge tournaments complete with a leader board and everything. I have a feeling those will be extremely popular. I encourage everyone to try it out unless you are in a state that classifies bridge as a game of chance. In that case, money bridge is illegal in your state, and you should write your congressman letting him know how stupid that is.
Keep in mind if you’re playing against someone who you feel plays well you should quit. Many good players are playing under aliases (including me). It’s always fine to just leave and play against someone else who is worse.
How To: Improve Your Game April 26, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Improving, Intermediate
5 comments
The most frequent question I am asked is, “What can I do to improve my game?” The truth is it’s a lot of hard work. As in most areas of life, there are many more people who desire to become better than people willing to put in the work to achieve it. For those still interested, here is a guide to improving your bridge game no matter what level you are currently at.
Step 1: Play many, many, many hands. This cannot be underestimated. The more hands you see and experience you get, the better you will become without even doing anything else. While you are playing these hands, count. Count points, count shape, count winners, count losers, count everything. Form a picture of the hand, and change it with each trick that goes by until you know every card. The more you do this the more natural it will feel. Honestly, it is impossible to play good bridge without counting. Online bridge is great for this purpose.
Step 2: Evaluate. After each session you will need to objectively evaluate how you played. What boards did you lose imps on? Why did you lose imps on those boards? Could you have done anything or were you unlucky? This will be a very hard process, because you will realize that you suck. In reality, we all suck, and we just strive to suck less. After you go over the hands with yourself enough, you are going to find certain weaknesses in your game. Right now I feel like I give up the most on opening leads. I am getting into computer simulation, and forcing myself to take more time with leads. Leads are obviously not an exact science, but I’m sure I could do better. Whatever your weaknesses are that are causing you to drop imps, figure them out and don’t feel embarrassed.
Step 3: Plug your leaks. You know what your weaknesses are, so fix them. This will not happen overnight. The main thing to do here is read. If your cardplay in suit contracts is a big weakness, read any declarer play problem you can find in a book or message forum that has a trump suit. Try to work it out. Really try, don’t just think for a minute and then look at the answer. The other thing to do is to think. Really think about certain problems that you get wrong, like 5 level decisions. If you don’t bid 5 over 5 enough, what is wrong with your evaluation? Perhaps you don’t realize the power of a void in the opponents suit. Sometimes the problem is mental, and you have to fix it mentally. If you are unable to do this on your own, discuss hands with better players. Sometimes hearing their thinking process will make it clear to you what the error in your thinking was.
Step 4: So, you’re now capable of analyzing every hand and not doing anything stupid. Sometimes you still do though, why? Once your game is at this level and you are technically proficient, you need to work on your head. Bridge is a mental game, and you need to be at your best all the time. Many capable players play poorly because they have problems focusing and concentrating. Sometimes they don’t get enough sleep, or play distracted. Sometimes they can’t get over a bad result and do something stupid after that. Don’t fall into these traps. Figure out how to get your mind right, and what the best conditions are for you to be able to focus and give it everything you have. Again, this requires introspection to figure out what’s going on. Only you can know, and only you can fix it.
Repeat. I guarantee if you go through these cycles many times and swallow your pride and ego and really work hard at doing these things, you will find tremendous improvements. I still go through this cycle routinely, and hopefully I always will. Nobody is too good to improve.
Sound like hard work? I’m exhausted just writing about it.
Psyches April 25, 2006
Posted by justinlall in Articles.Tags: Bidding, Psyches
4 comments
Psyching. The word alone carries such a stigma in the bridge world that most are too scared to ever try it. Those who do are often shunned and ostracized. Still, psyches and tactical bids are a big part of the game and are perfectly legal and often very effective.
If your opponents know that psyches are in your arsenal, they will often suspect that you have done it even when you’ve just bid normally. Even if they’re not sure, there will be doubt in their minds. Having that reputation is more valuable than anything you will ever gain from your actual psyches.
I psyche in real life about twice a year (if you do not include light openers in third seat or light overcalls which are done systemically and marked on my convention card) and that is about two more times a year than most people! The fact that psychic bidding is so rare adds to the effectiveness; even most experts have little experience dealing with it and don’t design their systems to cope with it.
Psyches may seem like random bids but there is certainly a logical reason behind every good psychic bid. Typically you will want to satisfy all of these criteria before considering a psyche:
- Have a limited partner. You don’t want to open 1N with 0 points in first seat; partner may jump to 6. Partner will need to have limited his hand in some way to make sure that things don’t get completely out of control.
- Have a suit to run to. Ideally you will have a fit for partner or a long suit of your own. Also ideally, this suit will be higher ranking than the one you’re psyching so that if you have to run after getting doubled when partner raises you can at least stay at the same level.
- An understanding partner! Psyches will not always work out and are high variance actions. If you are playing with a partner who will get very upset by a psyche gone badly, you’re better off not even trying it.
Let’s look at some examples where a psyche or tactical bid is most often employed. Some of these bids are known as “baby psyches” because they are so easily unmasked.
Third Seat
Most psyches are done in third seat. This is because partner has limited his hand with a pass and if you are very weak you already know the opponents can make a game (or more). Sometimes throwing up a smoke screen will deflect them from their path.
A third seat 1N is the most common psyche. Let’s say you had x xx JTxxxxx Qxx and were not vulnerable with 2 passes to us. Instead of the normal 3 bid you may mix it up with a 1N opener. This is especially true if the opponents play one of the many common systems that don’t allow for a penalty double, such as DONT. They will have no way to bid a strong balanced hand, or to show any hand as powerful as the one they probably have. If partner bids any kind of transfer or stayman, we will just pass (we’re not doubled, and if we get doubled we can run to diamonds). Even if the opponents do have penalty doubles available, when we run what is forcing for them? What do doubles mean? Who has shown what strength? Even most expert partnerships won’t know, so you will have achieved your goal of confusing them.
You may even try a 1 opener if you are really adventurous. It could work wonders if you pick off the opponents fit, but it is much more dangerous. Partner may well hang you if he has a good fit for spades, and you will be forced to run to 5 which could be disastrous.
A less common hand type for a 1N psyche is what I call a semi-bluff (taken from poker). Say you had xx xx AKJTxx Axx white/red in third seat. A 1N opener would have a number of ways to win. The opponents could be cold for 4 of a major or a major suit partial and miss it, and if partner bids 3N you may well make that with your trick source. Remember, the more imaginative the better because the opponents will not expect it.
When Partner Preempts
Most psyches that are not done in third seat are done after partner makes a preempt. Again, he has limited his hand and isn’t going to go crazy no matter what you bid. Let’s say partner opens 3 and you have xxxxxAxx QJxxx not vulnerable. If RHO passed, you may choose to bid 3N. This will work if the opponent’s points are divided equally, in which case they will both pass. I do not recommend ever trying this psyche if RHO has Xed, it has no chance of success.
Again, you may try the more risky psyche of 3. This could pick off enemy fit and create mass confusion, but is more likely to lead to something bad happening. If you REALLY wanted to be tricky you may try jumping to 4 when partner opens 3 on a hand like xxxxx — xxxxxxxx. Most people would treat a X of 4 as takeout (or just a strong balanced hand). LHO may really be put to a tough problem if he can’t make a penalty X. The possibilities are endless.
Psychic, Cuebids, or Splinters
Psyching game tries, cuebids, and splinters are pretty well known tactics most notably employed by Zia. Say you had AKQxxx x xxx AKx. You open 1 and partner raises you to 2. Obviously you are going to 4, but you might try the effect of bidding 3 to deflect the lead. The same applies when you know you’re going to jump to slam, but have a potentially dangerous lead possible. You might try cuebidding that suit first.
Hands to psyche a splinter are rare, but let’s say you had AKQx — xx AKxxxxx. You open 1 and partner surprises you by bidding 1. Although partner is not unlimited, you are going to take control of this auction. You may try splintering in diamonds and then asking for aces to try and get the heart lead.
Overcalls
If partner passes and RHO opens, you may still try a 1N or 1 of a major psyche. This will pretty much always get smoked out because LHO will always have a penalty double available, but it still creates problems. If LHO Xs and bids a new suit is it forcing, or does he need to jump? Can he make any takeout Xs? Even though they know you’ve psyched, it’s not clear they know what to do about it.
One psyche I have made before is to psyche michaels when partner was a passed hand and RHO opened 1. The best hand type to do this with is long spades and short hearts. The opponents will never have a natural heart bid available, and you can correct hearts to spades. This is dangerous though; partner may keep correcting spades to hearts!
Also Ran…
The only other common psyche is when partner opens 1 of a minor and RHO either Xs or passes. With a big fit for the minor (7+ cards) and a very weak hand, you may try psyching your short major. I wouldn’t recommend this though, because if partner raises you to game correcting back to his minor is a cuebid. Basically, partner isn’t limited enough to make this psyche. Opposite a precision 1 opener, such a psyche is MUCH more attractive.
The key is creativity. Don’t always make one of the psyches above, try and look for new opportunities where a psyche has a good chance of success. Keep in mind you cannot psyche any strong and artificial bids, like a strong club or game forcing stayman. Also, do not make the same psyche with the same partner in a short time period. That would create an implicit agreement. Everyone should be on fair playing ground, partner should have no more right to know that you may have psyched than the opponents. Everyone should have to figure it out on their own, using bridge logic. If you ever get to the point that you are underbidding because you know your partner tends to psyche 1N openers in third seat, you are fielding his psyche and are doing something illegal. You cannot field a psyche unless you can figure out from the auction that someone had to have psyched.
I don’t recommend psyching at your local club game, or against weak players at a small tournament. The players there are mainly social players looking to have fun. If you are a seriously competitive player in one of those environments, you are a minority. It is perfectly legal to psyche but you will be ruining the fun of others, and for what gain? To win a club game that you probably would win even without psyching? Sadly, it took me a while to realize this. Against other competitive tournament players, or in a flight A regional or higher go ahead and psyche if you feel like it’s right, and don’t feel badly about it.
