Monday
08Mar2010

Monday, March 8

DateMonday, March 8, 2010 at 02:46PM

Well, unfortunately, we only had 6 folks show up today, so we had to cancel the official game.  However, all the Monday night players owe a huge debt of thanks to Gwen, Galor, Nancy, and Bertha for making the boards for tonight!  Thanks ladies!

We did sling cards for a little while, though, so we got to answer some questions, address situations, etc.

You all have Kathy for the next two Mondays, then I'll be back on the 29th.  Hope to see lots and lots of you there then!

:)

AuthorTheri Andino | CommentPost a Comment |
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Thursday
04Mar2010

Thursday, March 4

DateThursday, March 4, 2010 at 09:23PM

Tonight we spent some time reviewing/relearning/learning for the first time how to respond to partner's opening 1NT when you hold a Major suit.

We have JACOBY and TEXAS TRANSFERS to help us tell partner how many cards in our Major we have and at what level the contract should be placed.

Jacoby transfers (2D showing Hearts and 2H showing Spades) promise 5-card suits with any number of points, all the way down to 0.

Heart Auctions (same principles for Spade auctions):

1N - 2D - 2H - P:  0-7 points, 5(+)c Hearts

1N - 2D - 2H - 2N:  invitational (8-9 points), 5c Hearts

1N - 2D - 2H - 3H:  invitational, 6c Hearts

1N - 2D - 2H - 3N:  Game Forcing (10-14 points), 5c Hearts

1N - 2D - 2H - 4H:  Mild Slam interest, 6c Hearts

Texas Transfers (4D showing Hearts, 4H showing Spades) promise 6-card suits and enough points and/or playing strength to put partner in game.

1N - 4D - 4H - P:  Game but no slam interest, 6c Hearts

1N - 4D - 4H - 4N:  ACE-ASKING, 6c Hearts

Therefore the corollary to these sequences is

1N - 2D - 2H - 4N:  NOT Ace-asking, but rather QUANTITATIVE for Slam (probably 15-17 points with 5c Hearts)

Basic tenets here are that we don't tell partner the same thing twice (so don't rebid a 5c suit when partner already knows you have 5c) and we can't go asking for Aces unless we can guarantee a fit, and the only way Responder can do that is if he holds a 6c suit.

Superaccepts will be coming up in discussion very soon.

(I'll be gone the next two weeks, but will see you all again on March 25, which is a TEAM GAME!)

:)

AuthorTheri Andino | CommentPost a Comment |
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Wednesday
03Mar2010

Monday, March 1

DateWednesday, March 3, 2010 at 11:29AM

Wow, March already!  I had a nice couple of weeks playing and teaching, and I'm glad you all had a good time with Kathy.

Today we talked about PREEMPTING.  There are lots of factors that should come into play when you're deciding whether or not to preempt, but the big ones we talked about are:

1.  VULNERABILITY (and more specifically, risk/reward analysis):  If you're vulnerable, have a better preempt.  If you're not vulnerable, be a little more aggressive.  If you're not vulnerable and the opponents are, be even more aggressive.

2.  SUIT QUALITY:  While some people only like to preempt with two of the top three honors, it's actually more useful to have preempt suits that are full of intermediate cards (like 10s, 9s, 8s, touching sequences, etc).  A good question to ask yourself is "how well can I survive this preempt if partner has just one or none of my suit?"

3.  SHAPE:  In addition to suit quality, hands with shape will be more useful to you as a preemptor.  However, strive to NOT preempt a suit when holding a 4-card Major suit on the side.

One more very big caveat about preempting - when you preempt, you're done bidding in that auction unless partner asks you a specific question.  If the opponents come into the auction and your partner competes as well, it's not up to you to compete even more.   You've done your damage with the original preempt - now stay out of your partner's way!

It will take some trial and error to learn preempts, so start making them!

:)

AuthorTheri Andino | CommentPost a Comment |
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Thursday
11Feb2010

Thursday, Feb 11

DateThursday, February 11, 2010 at 07:37PM

Tonight we discussed a way to deal with the opponents' interference over partner's opening 1NT.  This is a very, vary simplified version of Lebensohl - to which we will slowly add more of its components.

Levels of Interference:

1NT - (X) = SYSTEMS ON:  The opponent's haven't really eaten up any of our space, so we ignore the double and bid as normal.

1NT - (2C) = SYSTEMS ON:  They only took one bid this time, so we can use Double to say "that's what I wanted to bid" and keep all our other bids as they were.  (i.e., 1NT - (2C) - X = Stayman)

1NT - (2D/2H/2S) = now we've lost our transfers, so we get sent into the simplified Lebensohl system we discussed:

Responses:

2-level bids are NATURAL and non-forcing, non-invitational.

3-level bids are NATURAL and GAME FORCING, showing 5-cards.

X = invitational values, no stopper in the opponents' suit

2NT = invitational values with a stopper

[Changing the meaning of the 2NT bid and CUEBIDDING the opponents' suit are the next two steps to add towards Lebensohl]

:)

AuthorTheri Andino | CommentPost a Comment |
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Thursday
11Feb2010

Wednesday, Feb 10

DateThursday, February 11, 2010 at 07:19PM

Tonight we reviewed bids over partner's opening 1NT:

STAYMAN and JACOBY TRANSFERS.

STAYMAN is the bid of 2C over 1NT and asks partner (the 1NT Opener) if he has a 4-card Major.

The responses are:

2D = No, I don't have a 4-card Major

2H = Yes, I have 4 Hearts (and maybe 4 Spades, you can't tell yet)

2S = Yes, I have 4 Spades (and NOT 4 Hearts)

Because the actual 2C Stayman bid does not promise anything about the Responder's hand, these are the only three responses.  Responder will then tell you more on his second bid.

If you as Responder, however, have a 5-card (or longer) Major, and ANY NUMBER OF POINTS, all the way down to ZERO, you should tell partner about it right away.  In order to keep the 1NT Opener's hand concealed as the declarer, we tell him about our Major by bidding the suit right under it - a TRANSFER bid.

ex:  1NT - 2D = I have a 5(+)-card Heart suit;  1NT - 2H = I have 5(+) Spades

The opener should TAKE THE TRANSFER, even if he only has two cards in that suit.  Again, Responder might have ZERO points and just be trying to get us to a better spot (planning to pass the 2-level Major.)

So you've told your partner you have a 5-card Major, now what?  In the second round of bidding you'll tell him about how many points you have:

1NT - 2D - 2H - Pass = I have 5 Hearts and 0-7 points

1NT - 2D - 2H - 2N = I have 5 Hearts and 8-9 points (invitational)

1NT - 2D - 2H - 3H = I have 6 Hearts and 8-9 points (invitational)

1NT - 2D - 2H - 3N = I have 5 Hearts and 10+ points

1NT - 2D - 2H - 4H = I have 6 Hearts and 10+ points

(all these sequences work for the Spades transfers too, of course)

Remember that we try very hard to not tell partner the same thing twice - so if you've already told him you have 5 of your suit, don't bid them again unless you have 6 (and therefore something to tell him he doesn't already know).  Partner can then use the information you've given him to put the contract in the right place.

It's important for partnership trust that you stick to the prescribed responses to these conventions.  If you can't handle answering as you've agreed you will, you shouldn't have opened the hand 1NT! 

:)

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