Aloha, Bridge Players!
We had a nice group at this week’s Hilo Bridge Club lesson and we had a thoughtful discussion. Today’s post summarizes the main lesson pointers that resulted from two parts of discussion.
Exercise 1: It’s your call. Bidding so far:
You are East holding:
What does West’s 2♥ bid mean? Your call?
Think of your answer before scrolling down.
Have you discussed this situation with your partner? Are systems on as if you had opened 1NT? Your partner is captain of the hand. If partner’s 2♥ bid is natural, she wants to play it there and you should pass. If it’s a transfer to spades, you should bid 2 spades and await developments. Here is relevant portion of a convention card the way I like to play it, with Systems On:
Exercise 2. Declarer Play: Plan South’s play at trick one in 4♠ after the following auction:
West’s opening lead is the 8♣. Your plan?
Think about your plan and play to trick one before scrolling down.
How many losers do you have? Possible losers are 2 spades, 2 hearts and a diamond for a total of five. You need to reduce the number of losers to three. Think about the bidding. What kind of a hand does East have? How about West? Specifically, who has the king of spades, the king and queen of hearts, the ace of diamonds? I am sure you have figured that out, so I leave the solution as an exercise for the reader. But please let me know if you are still puzzled.
Here’s a good link to the basics of counting losers in a suit contract.
BTW, do you like North-South’s bidding?