BRIAN GLUBOKBrian is a highly accomplished American bridge player hailing from New York City. Glubok, an alumnus of Amherst College, has consistently excelled in North American Bridge Championships, securing numerous titles, including wins in the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams, Reisinger, and Spingold events. In addition to his domestic success, Glubok came close to victory in the World Mixed Pairs Championship in 2010, finishing as the runner-up.. Archives
October 2024
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #145/29/2024 Collectively, our society suffers from a lack of a universal popular culture. In the background on my laptop as I revise this blog I had a cavalcade of Catskill Comedians cascading through. Funny guys. That scene was at its apex in the sixties and seventies - when I started playing tournaments we still had congresses in the Catskill Mountains, in Liberty, New York, a straight shot up the Thruway from the city. For years the tournaments were held at Grossinger’s, then at a slightly lesser resort, The Pines. Both of them dust and ashes but still we play on. I’m not bothered that those institutions are gone - that’s what happens to institutions. I am bothered that there’s not much of a scene any more - no active regional circuit, no active money clubs, the few remaining vibrant bridge clubs, in New York or South Florida, ethereal shadows of their former selves. The absence of a common popular culture compounds the problem - to have to explain who Henny Youngman was, or Rodney Dangerfield, or Lenny Bruce - it kills the whole bit. ***** Coping with change is difficult for most of us. All of us deal with this problem. I try to allow and invite mystical elements to enter my life, I accept random events as direction from the cosmos. Still trying to find my way, and hoping that these essays might help you find yours. Whole lotta convergence going on - here’s Elvis on the subject: Everyone loves Gazilli, right? It strikes me as an unplayable method - what does responder bid after 1S - 1NT - 2C - ? with Q, Jxxx, Kxxxx, xxx - I just looked into Gazilli a bit more - the whole thing makes no sense to me. Consider: The bidding begins 1S - 1NT - 2C - this 2C bid shows “Either clubs in a spade-club hand, or artificial, with 16+ - Sounds plausible, so far - almost plausible, anyway. Stay with me, it gets better: How do we continue after this miracle panacea, the 2C re-bid after 1S - 1NT - ? With more artificiality, naturally - Responder can bid 2D, also artificial - Opener showed 16+, responder showed 8+, we deem ourselves to have adequate values for game and now we can have the long leisurely auction that modern players so relish. Now we can dance around indefinitely and eventually play in some game contract. Groovy! Best thing to come along since sliced bread and the Two-Over-One Bidding System. What about those cases when responder has fewer than 8 points? Well, then, he simply makes some natural bid over 2C, anything besides 2D. As a practical matter, responder will often bid 1NT with fewer than 6 HCP - certainly we wouldn’t want him to pass with Void, ATxxxx, xxxx, xxx. We play along with the dogma and accept that responder needs 6 HCP to bid 1NT in response to partner’s One Spade Opening. Certainly any of these three hands are mandatory responses: X, Jxxx, Qxxxx, Kxx - void, QJxx, Kxxxx, xxxx - J, QT9x, K98xx, Jxx - Unless I’m missing something, then using Gazilli, there is no possible bid for any of those rather commonplace hands after 1S - 1NT - 2C. So basically it’s a totally unplayable convention. Then why do so many glamorous bridge stars, both Italian and American, play it? It’s the marketing, Moshe, it’s the marketing! ***** My father would have been 100 years old earlier this week, he had at least three core thoughts I want to pass along to readers here - he liked to kind of speak these to me as an aside, he didn’t mind being overheard by another family member, but he didn’t want to be challenged on the point - he just wanted to be sure I got it: “Brian,” he sometimes told me, “Always remember this:” Had I been a more astute and present son, I would have been able to interject, “Remember what, dad?” Rather, I was rather a sullen lout, brain-dead before my time, distant and detached almost before it was a thing - undaunted, he would bull ahead, thus: “Just because everybody says something is so, that doesn’t make it so.” ***** Speaking of Gazilli, on the third-to-last round of the Platinum Pairs, I kibitzed Nick Nickell and Ralph Katz play this board - Board 23:  Responder holds Void, Txx, Kxxx, KT9xxx. Partner openss One Spade, you respond 1NT, partner bids 2C, Gazilli.
In this case responder’s hand is easily biddable playing Gazilli, unlike those I cited earlier. Even with fewer than 8 points, with six card club length responder has a happy 3C bid available over Opener’s artificial 2D. At the table, Katz, having opened with One Spade holding AQJxxx, AQx, AQx, passed 3C, and found himself declarer, in light of his artificial 2C rebid over 1NT. For a fleeting moment I thought I had finally witnessed the deal that I’d been seeking for decades - a hand where you “needed Gazilli”. But no: Without Gazilli, you’d probably play in 3S or 3NT - either of which is about as good (or bad) a contract as 3C. There is an interesting aspect to the spade suit on this deal. Considering the actual suit, you might want to play the ace and then low on the second round of the suit. This will allow you to lose one fewer trick in the suit when it breaks five-two, with the king doubleton. The chance of a 5-2 split with the king doubleton is about four percent (14% x 28%). If we added as little as the eight to that suit, there would be more to be said for banging the suit from the top, as you usually would. Primarily because you have an excellent chance to find the ten-nine tripleton - around 7%, I’m estimating. You’ll have to consider the whole hand: If you can assure your contract with four tricks in this suit, then ace and then low gets the nod. Few players can conduct that line of reasoning and then follow it at the table, even without precise percentages. If you’re one of those players, simply play for most tricks - the reason to do this is simple: The best play for some specific, lesser number of tricks (nine tricks to make three no trump safely, say) is almost always the same as the best play for the most tricks possible. Pro Tip / Executive Summary: At matchpoints, forget about “Safety Plays” - just go for maximum tricks on every hand. It will make your life way simpler and you’ll win more tournaments. Your partners will appreciate it, too. What’s not to like?
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Diary of a Bridge Pro, #135/22/2024 Springfield, late March - after a mostly mild winter, the weather is turning warmer here on the Central Plain - in the 40's already when I scurried across the street to the house where they do the 12 step meetings at 7 each morning - Today I just sat outside and soaked in the uplift - I felt the power of thirty or forty people forming a circle and engaging in group prayer. Often I like to be part of it, but other days it's enough for me simply to be nearby - I almost feel as if it’s too much light to be exposed to if I actually go inside, stay the duration, and fully participate in the circle. I'm aware that it's possible that I often feel things stronger than other people. I’m recruiting additional bloggers to supplement my own, I’ll take a stab at ghostwriting a blog for Joe Grue: JG: Home for two days since the nationals. Tried to console John about losing the Vanderbilt Final - also tried to get ice for margaritas. No luck with either one. Headed to South America for bridge and golf next week, after the NY GNT District Finals Friday - same opponents we lost to in the Finals last year. Last year we didn't really want to be the squad for Chicago, this year we do want to be the team in Toronto. The chance of those four guys playing well for eight segments in a row (four last year, four this year) - is about the same as me holing a five-iron from 75 yards. It could happen, but not very likely. Note to Self: Buy some new sunglasses for Cartagena. Later This Spring: Gatlinburg Regional, April 14-21. ***** BG Again: Here's another interesting deal from the Platinum Pairs - the play was interesting too, but we’ll just discuss the bidding right now.  First position, vul against not - QJxx, KT9x, KJx, Jx -
My own standards dictate: With balanced hands, it is only in very rare cases that I will pass a 13 count, or open a 10 count. With 11 or 12, I’ll choose. Not vul, I’ll open 90% of 12 counts, and maybe 70% of 11 counts - vulnerable I’ll have slightly sounder standards, and I’ll open 80% of 12 counts, and around half my 11’s. So to me, the hand above is a clear pass: In evaluating whether to open, I’d consider the plusses and minuses: Plusses:
1) No Aces 2) Ace-to-jack ratio really bad
Personally, I consider this to be a really bad idea. But let’s go with it. Sitting over the One Diamond Opener, at favorable vulnerability, Marshall Lewis held A987x, x, xxx, QTxx - light, but justifiable, givien all the circumstances - After a One Diamond Opening, the overcall of One Spade, vulnerable, with A9xxx, x, xxx, QTxx - I can live with it, but I don’t like it. If the opening is One Club, not One Diamond, then I think a One Spade overcall, vulnerable with only 6 HCP - bad idea all around. Let’s swivel back to the problem of responder. KTx, Q87xx, Txx, Ax - your partner opens One Diamond in second seat, and the next player overcalls One Spade. What do you bid? If you play 2H as non-forcing on that sequence (do you?) would that change your bid? At the table, South went with a Negative Double - the popular choice, I expect. Back to West: This is a really bad 11 count - No aces, three jacks, a doubleton jack of clubs and the king-jack of diamonds in front of the One Diamond Opener. After reflecting on the question, I think a simple raise to 2S is a stick-out here, though I'll admit I didn't realize that at the time, kibitzing the hand in Kentucky early on that Sunday evening. With the benefit of time for reflection, I now see this hand as the worst 11 count ever, with partner and both opponents bidding - no hope for a double fit - best to "go low". ***** The bidding began (P) 1D - (1S) - Double - (2C) - in the system favored by Xu - Lewis, this bid shows a cue-bid raise of spades - a 3 or 4 card fit and 10-11 HCP (could be more if an unpassed hand, but - when all four players are bidding - it’s rare that you have this much, even rarer to have more. This deal is a good illustration of The Law of Unintended Consequences: By choosing the (transfer) cue-bid of 2C, rather than a direct raise to two or three spades, West leaves N-S room to find their heart fit. When you have a hand where, as here, you are subminimum for your previous action, it is natural to want to pass over 2C, but there was a cost attached: Then, East compounds the damage - he passes the double - this allows South to get his hearts in at the two level. Much more effective for East to simply raise to Two Spades - he could be forgiven for raising to three. If he does elect the transfer cue-bid, West needs to bid 2S after the double of 2 Clubs - gotta take the two level away from the bad guys. ***** I just got an email from Zach Grossack, he agreed to help me conduct a Master Solvers Club type bidding contest for WBS - maybe this is a good hand to start with: A987x, x, xxx, QTxx - Favorable vulnerability, they open 1D in front of you. Pass, One Spade, or Two Spades? I’m super-stoked about conducting an MSC type feature with Zach - everybody loves that type of bidding contest, popularized in Bridge World Magazine many decades ago. Problems are posed, the panel answers and comments - the audience answers as well - they love to comment, too, if they’re allowed to - and even if they’re not. Blog #14 to follow. But first, one more bidding problem for you - this hand was held by Ralph Katz in the second to last round of the Platinum Pairs, played shortly after the previous deal: AQJxxx, AQx, AQx, x: We’ll impose the majority choice of One Spade upon you as your opening bid. Partner responds One No Trump. What do you bid now?
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #125/17/2024 Springfield, Illinois - March 29 The weather is turning warmer here on the Central Plain - we’re coming out of winter and this morning the temperature was above freezing, in the 40's, when I scurried across the street to the house where the 12 step meetings are held at 7 each morning. Today I didn’t attend the meeting, I just sat outside by the window and tapped into the uplift - I was conscious of the power of two or three dozen people just a few feet away, engaged in group prayer. Here’s a hand from the one day I played in Louisville - that night I had my best dinner of the week, we made a foursome with the Feigenbaums and Margie’s Swiss-American client. Super-classy restaurant, très chic - this song appeared in the background earlier - “The In Crowd”:  Board 3 was our third board. Vul against not, I picked up a solid 11 count: xx, AQT, AJT9x, xxx - an 11 point hand, vulnerable, is classified as an "Optional Opening" - This eleven count has all the Adjustment Factors in its favor, so I deemed it an auto-opening - I begin the bidding with One Diamond. My LHO had AKT8xx, xx, xx, Q109 - That looks like a book Two Spade bid to me. A few might bid One Spade, some others might bid three, but most will bid two, as my opponent did. Aaron Jones was on my right, playing pro opposite the Two Spade bidder. Partner Ellie had J9x, J9xx, KQ, AKxx - a 14 count with four hearts - we all agree, that’s an automatic negative double. AJ passed on my right and it was up to me again. I didn’t see any alternative to the obvious 3D bid - I rate 3H 4/10 and 2NT even lower. The bidding continued with a 3S cue-bid from partner - most opponents would double the cue-bid with Aaron’s hand, holding Queen-doubleton in partner’s cue-bid suit - many would double, but there’s a lot to be said in favor of passing - I continued with 4D - with a better hand, say the king of clubs instead of a low one, I would prefer 4H. Let’s dive deeper into the sequence: 1D - (2S) - Double - (Pass) - 3D - (P) - 3S - (P) - ? I’ll channel my inner Edgar Kaplan for some of the commentary to follow - also my inner Glubok, and my inner Roshi Wilsonovich. Roshi has been supplementing his income playing poker on the Budapest - Berlin - Prague circuit - he’s been applying some principles that he’s picked up at the poker table, let him talk about ranges as they pertain to this sequence: RW: We begin with the One Diamond Opening - the message conveyed by this opening is not that different today in 2024 than it was in the 1930’s when Pat Wilsonovich was born in Vilnius. If balanced, the vulnerable opener is expected to have a minimum of 12 points, possibly only eleven if the hand also contains the requisite (2 ½) Quick Tricks. Opener could have as few as 9 HCP with an extreme hand like KTx, void, AQT9xxx, xxx, or as much as 22 with a hand like K, AKJ, KQTxx, AQxx - as few as three diamonds with AKJx, ATxx, xxx, Jx or as many as 10 solid with a hand like Kx, void, AKQJTxxxxx, Q - Let’s just stick with the opener’s range - His second call, the Three Diamond bid after partner’s negative double of Two Spades, tells us much more about his hand:
Okay, let’s jump over to responder’s side: Responder made a negative double of Two Spades - partners always take this action with sub-minimums - really they should wait for 9 HCP to feel obligated to act, but they often double with 7 or 8 - regardless, Opener is entitled to expect 9 HCP and four card heart length for this action. So after Opener’s 3 Diamond bid, responder applies a point count assessment - here is how you may want your partner to evaluate in this spot: 9-10 HCP - try for a plus in 3 Diamonds - Pass 11-16 HCP, with a spade stopper: Bid 3NT and try for game there 11-13/14 HCP, no spade stopper: Cue-bid 3S - The three diamond bidder will always bid 3NT with a stopper. If he doesn’t bid 3 No Trump, but simply retreats to 4D, then pass and hope he makes exactly ten tricks. 15+HCP, no spade stopper: Cue-bid 3S - if partner goes back to 4D, put him in 5 15 points is too much to play below game, even with an extreme hand like Jxx, AKQJ, x, KJxxx (if you elected to pass 4D with this 15 Count I would be impressed, but think you took the right action) ***** BG: Roshi took the long way ‘round to explaining why I didn’t bid 4H. My thinking on the matter is so ingrained that I didn’t need to conduct it again when partner bid 3S - I reasoned: Trying to make game in a 4-3 fit on these hands is usually too hard, like pushing water uphill. Partner’s most likely hand is 11-13/14 with no spade stopper - we’ll be off two spades plus - if he has something like Jxx, Kxxx, Kx, AJ9x then 4D will be plenty high enough - I like to refer to bids like 4H as “Skating off into minus”. DW: What Brian is trying to say is that Responder is looking for the no trump game and may not have enough to go past 4D if there’s no spade stopper. BG: Yes: It’s important to note this, by the way: With x, AQx, AJTxxx, Jxx, Opener would bid the same way as I did with my 5-3-3-2 - but based on the singleton spade, Opener would be obligated to jump to 5D (or possibly bid 4H on the way). DW: So I think that’s why Brian said that he would bid 4H with this pattern with a better hand - xx, AQx, AJTxx, QJx, for instance - BG: Yes, that’s the point. I treat Ellie’s 3S bid this way:
***** Naturally Ellie and I didn’t address this situation in our hurried conversation about bidding methods. Regardless, in Louisville, when the deal was played at the table, EF followed the parameters I laid out here. Holding Jxx, J9xx, KQ, AKxx, he passed me in 4 Diamonds. I was able to finesse against the king of hearts but still had to lose a third trick, along with the two spade losers off the top. Even with the ten and nine of hearts, 5 Diamonds is way against the odds - maybe a 30% contract. ***** I often mourn the loss of a universal popular culture - so I can’t expect our readership to be familiar with Pete Rose, though most will be: Pete Rose was a hard - charging baseball player, a star for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970’s - Rose played with tremendous intensity, he is the all-time MLB leader in base hits, but that tremendous intensity was his signature. “Charlie Hustle” was his nickname. Here’s ten minutes of Pete Rose highlights, compiled by Dominick Clafin: Rose was known for being able to calculate his new batting average to at least one decimal point on his way down to first base - not only was he fast on the base paths, but apparently he was good at math too - just like Aaron Jones on this deal.
Ellis and Aaron know each other for eons from the Southern California bridge scene, Ellis was already a club owner there when Aaron came on the scene ten or fifteen years ago. We finished the companion board and completed the round with a few minutes on the clock. I stood, Aaron did too. Like Pete Rose on the way to first base, I had already worked out most of what I needed to know about the hand - so had Aaron:
“Story of my life,” I’m thinking to myself, half an hour into my nightmare session with Ellie - “Stay out of a poor game but the cards lie perfect so it makes….” “Yeah, bad luck for you,” Aaron comments to me as we walk to the water stand - “Four Hearts has to make, dummy’s got the nine of hearts and then I’m out of spades when I get in….you gotta be careful to cross in clubs or they can play a second round of diamonds to cut you off from your hand,” he said, evincing plenty of empathy - kind of a reverse schadenfreude, almost embarrassed for his own good fortune. “Yeah, I was happy that Ellie passed below game when I saw the dummy, I thought that Four Diamonds was the limit of the hand, but you’re right, there’s no going down in Four Hearts.” “‘Ellie?’” Aaron echoed. “You call Ellis ‘Ellie’? I never heard him called that before.” “Really?” I replied. “I never call him anything else!”
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Diary of a Bridge Pro #115/13/2024 Springfield, March 28, 2024 Now that I have DBP to maintain, my life has changed. I feel as though I’m rolling out Glubok 3.0. I’m better “tethered” now. I learned this term when Chris Compton spoke of it a few years ago in a conversation we had just after Justin Lall died - Chris told me that in JLall’s last years, he gained some tethering by having a pet. Maybe this blog will help keep me better tethered - isolation stinks. ***** Sunday I fly to Florida to partner up with my client Walter for a couple of pair games at the regional there. Playing in tournaments, not playing in tournaments - it raises identity issues for me. If I don’t play bridge, do I exist? Some folks sail through life without confronting issues of personal identity. I am not one of those people. The hotel lobby in Springfield where I'm typing this is swarming with many dozens of high school students from around the state of Illinois - earlier today I managed a dozen minutes at the 12 - step meeting across the street. I get great uplift from their meetings - also the pre-meeting in the parking lot, and sometimes the post-meeting as well. I think our bridge scene could borrow several of their rituals to our benefit - each meeting includes a moment of silence, the serenity prayer, an assertion of the group’s non-affiliation and the broad guarantee of free membership for those who desire to not drink. I saw the Carole King play at the local theater the other night, I found it super entertaining and also very emotionally moving. I was around 12 when Carole King had the world’s best-selling album ever with “Tapestry”, The characters in the King play were from the same world as the kids I grew up with, except 15 years older and 30 miles to the southeast, NY’s Westchester County as opposed to King County, the borough of Brooklyn. Here’s King singing “Beautiful”:  Here's some Platinum Pairs from the recent nationals in Louisville: Consider Board 24. The expert pair I watched had a modern sequence to 3NT. A bidding idea that once seemed wacky now seems reasonable: 1C - 2NT (forcing, 13-15, may have a major) - 3C: Do you have a four card major? Regardless of the bidding sequence, all roads lead to 3NT - at the table where I watched, South stabbed from his three small hearts, rather than a diamond lead from King-fifth - on this hand that was a good move. Declarer won and hooked the club - I think North should duck here - this is kind of a “feel play”, rather than one based on analysis - with that club lay-out (AQJ9 in dummy, with you holding King-ten-fourth behind the dummy), you’re usually better off ducking. So duck! At the table the defender took the first club and played a second round of hearts. Declarer let the heart go around to dummy and cashed a high club. At this stage, it seems to me you want to play a spade to your king and a spade to dummy’s jack - no rush to play on clubs, save that for last - retain the option to finesse against the ten of clubs in the ending. Music lovers among the readership may appreciate this link to a second Carole King song: "You've got a Friend" - with James Taylor, 1971 My Wish For You, Today’s Pro Tip:
Get tethered, stay tethered! Thanks for reading, more tomorrow.
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Diary of a Bridge Pro, #105/6/2024 Hi All, Louisville is now history - another NABC in the books. Many of us prefer to call these tournaments “Nationals”. Either way, Louisville was a life-changing tournament for me. When I arrived at the playing site in Louisville, I enjoyed a convergence - as I described last week in Blog #1, I ran into Richard Oshlag, almost immediately upon arriving at the venue. The Fast Pairs in Toronto has been named for him - he’s won it twice already, and been an ace “computer guy” for the league for literally decades. So while most events are named for deceased bridge personalities, in Richard’s case they made an exception. Personally, I love fast-paced events - I find bridge is a much better game when played fast. Minutes after I ran into Richard, the Maiers told me about the Baron-Barclay program for bloggers, Those two encounters happening within minutes of each other, that struck me as a convergence. I took that as a sign - the universe telling me: "You should do this." ***** Another convergence occurred when I played against Paulo Brum, the Brazilian - American bridge expert now living in Ohio. Paulo and I had discussed meeting in Louisville, but the universe was taking no chances, so I faced him for two boards in the pair game. He is 25 years past his junior days (still a young guy by bridge standards), with immense drive - perfect for what I’m trying to build. The blog and the agency launched simultaneously, I ran a similar agency, matching pros and clients forty years ago, when I was first out of college. During lockdown, with live bridge dead and online bridge the only game in town, I resurrected the agency idea and put it into practice once more. As for blogs, I’d always thought that would be a good medium for me, it just took me until now to actually start writing and posting one. I tried something similar for Jay Whipple at a Florida regional, I’m thinking it may have been Daytona Beach, 2019 - I wrote a bulletin-board style column for the online DB there, under the byline “Roshi Wilsonovich”. ***** Here’s a deal from my Saturday in Louisville, Board 23 - Working Title: The Point Count is Your Friend - |
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