Excerpt from
Forgive Me, Partner!
Chapter 7: Experiments
Matthew: The first hand of any event is always the most difficult for me. My mind isn't working yet, and sometimes I'm nervous. I'm not ready for a bidding problem, and I often overlook something in the cardplay. In physical sports, players warm up, volley and and do exercises. Before a bridge session, why don't we do the same?
The following deal was played in a four-session Mixed Pairs, but for my wife and me it lasted two. Like most of the competitors, we didn't warm up beforehand. Needless to say the very first board presented a problem.
First seat, not vul versus vul, I picked up:
5 3 
J 4 3 
K Q 10 8 2 
10 8 4
I passed and my LHO opened one spade. Pamela passed , and RHO bid two notrump, alerted as Jacoby Two Notrump, a game force with a spades fit. At this point I was sorry I hand't opened an "indecent" weak two-bid in diamonds, just to get the lead. Then I realized that we were at favorable vulnerability and that I was unlikely to be doubled at the three level when they had a known vulnerable game. By bidding three diamonds, I could get my partner off to the killing lead and start the session with a bang.
What did not occur to me was the fact that the vulnerability was tempting for a sacrifice, and an overcall might lead partner into an error if she had a diamond fit and decided to take the sacrifice in five diamonds. Yet even if I had thought of this, the lead-directing bid is extremely tempting. What would you do? Pass or bid?
I didn't even hesitate. I saw an opportunity to take advantage of the opponents' convention, the vulnerability, and my passed-hand status all in one fell swoop. Well, the next three bids I heard were four spades, five diamonds (uh oh), double! The opening lead was made and this was the layout:
|
7 2 |
|
| Q 7 6 |
| J 7 4 3 |
| A 6 5 3 |
| A K 10 6 4 |
 |
Q J 9 8 |
| K 8 2 |
A 10 9 5 |
| A 5 |
9 6 |
| 9 7 2 |
K Q J |
|
| 5 3 |
| J 4 3 |
| K Q 10 8 2 |
| 10 8 4 |
I went down a quick 900. In those days the scoring of doubled nonvul undertricks were 100, 300, 500, 700, 900. Then I made the mistake of explaining the sound reasoning of my bid.
Pamela: Don't explain. If you want to make creative bids, do it with someone else. When you slip in a favorable overcall higher than the one level, you should be looking for a sacrifice. I thought you had some shape, maybe 5-5 in the minors or diamonds and hearts; otherwise why hadn't you opened a diamond preempt?
Matthew: Ah, you see, that's just my point. I thought that my being a passed hand would deny the distribution for a sacrifice. Now you have to admit it was right to lead a diamond. A heart lead is disatrous, and a trump lead gives them time to set up a pitch. Overtricks are important at matchpoints, and holding four spades to 10 tricks would have been a good score.
Pamela: My husband and I already play a uniform system of opening leads. Against major-suit games, without any clues from the bidding, we try to lead in order of preference: an ace-king, a singleton, a king-queen, a queen-jack, or a jack-ten. Barring touching honors, wetry to make a safe lead – one that is least likely to give away a trick. So we almost never start with an unsupported ace, or lead from a suit headed by a king or a queen. We prefer to lead from nothing, or, as a last resort, a trump (a trump canbe dangerous, because it may pick up partner's honor). In that case, my choice against four spades would have been between a trump and a diamond. With three trumps, I would lead a trump, knowing my partner had only one and it couldn't hurt. But with two trumps, I would have led a diamond. A diamond lead is not absolutely safe by a long shot, but itis the safest lead with this hand.
As the reader can guess by now, the point of telling you all this is not only to recommend a solid, partnership system of opening leads, but also to prove that my husband's brilliant lead-director wasn't necessary.
Partnership principles
- Don't experiment at the table. When you think of doing something new and exciting, stop yourself! Check later to see if the experiment would have worked. If so, discuss it with your partner and see if partner would have been annoyed by the action or will agree to play it that peculiar way in the future.
- If you have a regular partnership, think about adopting a set of rules for opening leads.It helps to know partner's tendencies. We recommend conservative leads, in general. However, if your partner likes to lead aggressively, you will need to make more lead-directing bids to steer him away from his strength-leads, and he should know that.
- Do your warm-ups. If it's not practical to play a few deals before an event, read about a few deals in a bridge book. For the bidding, we recommend Terence Reese's "Develop Your Bidding Judgement." For the play of the cards, the best is "Squeezes" by Love. One page of this book will get your mind counting and working. And like an athlete, you will tuned up for Board #1.
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