Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Free your mind

Bridge is a complicated game. Players have so much to learn, and for every rule, there's an exception. Most players learn most of the rules. It's the exceptions that are hard to incorporate into their repertoire.

Playing online last night, I saw this deal:

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


North South
1
1 1NT
2 2
3NT Pass

The auctions were all over the place, but this is a reasonable one. Against 3NT, suppose West leads the 5 -- over to you.

Almost every declarer who got this lead, ducked. Yes, we are taught to duck to try and isolate the West hand in a notrump contract. But instead of playing on autopilot, let's free our mind.

What does West have? If the suit divides 4-3, it doesn't matter if you duck or not. But what about the 5-2 splits?

Can West have K Q J 5 2? No, he would lead the king. Can he have K Q 10 5 2? No, again he would lead high.

Can he have K J 10 5 2? It's possible, but most would lead the jack or 10, depending on their agreements.

Here are all four hands:

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

If you figure out the combination of cards in the club suit, then you can see it's right to click on the A at trick one. Yes, the suit is blocked, if you do.

This is what's called a newspaper hand, but they usually give declarer the 10 and three low ones. This situation is a variation that I thought was pretty cool.

Kate and I played 4 (West overcalled 2 at our table, so we knew 3NT was shakey). She played it nicely and made it with some help from the defenders (they led the Q, and never shifted to clubs).

You can see all the results if you click here. If you do, look for trees (Alan Tenenbaum), who got the low club lead, and made the correct play. Online, there are plenty of terrible players, but not all of them are fish.

Post script:
Overcards dot com is a poker site built by bridge players (TomC and others). If interested, read what they say about the free your mind concept at the poker table here.

Free your mind, the rest will follow
Be color blind, don't be so shallow
-- En Vogue

Update: A commenter (yeah, you jusdealem) acted surprised that an old fart a mature gentleman like myself has heard of En Vogue. For a link to En Vogue/Kelly Clarkson version (it rawks), just click here.

6 comments:

  1. Mojo knows En Vogue! :)

    To answer your question on Bells, you take 40 to Brownsville, turn right at a 4 way stop, then another right at the next 4 way, look for a white, 3 legged cow next to a pepto pink house and take a left. Keep going until your bottom is numb and boom, you're in Bells. Easy peasy!

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  2. Sounds like you can get there as long as the creek doesn't rise.

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  3. @jusdealem: MOJO knows lots of stuff, he's just not tellin'. Added a link, just for you.

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  4. I followed the link..you're right, that version does rawk! I love, love Kelly Clarkson. And I was NOT trying to call you an old fart! You have more energy than I do! I don't know how I'm going to keep up with you on our photo walk...

    Rawk on, Mojo!

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  5. Good grief...playing Bridge sounds like taking a math class!

    Kudos to you!

    I dunno En Vogue.

    Jusdealem's directions are hilarious! Easy peasy! Heh. Heh! What a card, if you'll excuse the pun!

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  6. Went to the overcard site - The Matrix, what a pile of twaddle, but the article very interesting.
    Free your mind? Well, yes, unpredictability makes for the best poker player.
    Bridge I still know nothing about, except there's a lot of shouting involved. As Mojo said,in poker you can only blame yourself, in bridge you can blame your partner (and usually do).

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