​Opposite Joe's 2NT opening, I held T9xxx, T8, QTx, JT7 - I transferred to 3 Spades and passed, the preferred approach with this hand type (0-4 HCP and a five card major).

  Using the method discussed in yesterday's "Blog #20" ("Wilsonovich Responses to Two Clubs?") the bidding would go: 2C - 2S - Pass.

  Since we finished with the normal eight tricks, that auction would have led to a result of +110, rather than -50. a swing of about 1/4 of a board, or 1% on our final session score.

  As most of you realize, if you can pick up a 1/4 board here and a 1/4 board there, simply by stopping at the two level rather than getting to three, this will have a big impact on your results in the long run.

  *****

  I want to begin to write on bridge as a means for personal growth - whether we're fully conscious of this or not, I believe this is a major reason that many of us play. Top Five Ways Bridge Can Contribute to Your Personal Growth:

  1) Playing Bridge Helps You Think Better, Makes You Smarter
  2) Playing Bridge Forces You to Improve Your Capacity to Fit Well in a Group Setting
  3) Playing Bridge Leads You to Improve Your Behavior at the Table, Interacting with Others
  4) Playing Bridge Professionally Leads You to Work at Providing Desirable Services to Clients
 5) Playing Bridge Introduces You to Hundreds, Even Thousands of Different People from Widely-varied Backgrounds and Countries

  *****

  More From the Diary: 

  After the game, Joe, Paulo and I went for dinner in an amazing session on the 52nd floor of a complex on Bloor Street. A sushi restaurant, the eatery was elegant but not pretentious, pricey but not insanely so.

  Easy to see why the rich like being rich.

  *****

  Yesterday Paulo didn't play, so he took the opportunity to re-work our website, placing the link to these blogs near the top of the home page. We should have presented it that way from the start, of course, but neither Paulo or I is a professional web designer, or even an amateur one, so all things considered we did a decent job of designing the site and getting it before potential readers.

  "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," that's one of our slogans (We didn't make that one up, someone else did.)

  *****

  Three of our WBS pros, all juniors, have had some success here. Specifically:

  1) Harrison Luba, Second Place in the GNT's, representing New England. His teammates included Emma Kolesnik, Adam Grossack and Cenk Tuncok. Spectacular! Harrison's best result ever.

  2) Ethan Wood, leader after one day in the Bruce LM Pairs 

  3) Louis-Amaury Beauchet, Second in the Regional Pair Game yesterday, with Robert Ives of Bethesda.

  *****

  Donna Compton will be recommending this blog to the Comptons' vast following, so let me take this chance to recommend her annual Santa Fe "Land Cruise". I'll provide more information and a link to their web-site in an upcoming blog.

  Call For Reader Input: Let me know what you'd like to see more of in these columns - interesting deals, system suggestions, Inside Bridge stuff, public service announcements, notices of high finishes by WBS pros, more diary type entries. I really want to know.

  Regards From Toronto, and bye for now!

  - BG

​Toronto, July 22

  This Summer Nationals (our 88th?) is going well, despite a serious glitch due to a worldwide commercial air travel crisis which occurred as players were first arriving. Attendance and table counts are well above expectations and special events, like last night's "Beyond Bridge" game and karaoke gathering drew an exuberant crowd back to the convention center.

  Las Vegas defeated New England in the finals of the GNT yesterday by 5 IMP's in an extremely close match. Zamir and Toledano of Israel won the LM Pairs. 

  Bridge teacher Jill Marshall won the two-session Fast Pairs, while Jerry Helms won the morning side game.

  Kismet Fung and I managed a low overall in the inaugural Summer NABC two-day Open Pairs. Here's an interesting deal we played in the morning session:

2NT is the ugly duckling contract at bridge - almost as bad as five of a major.

  I've been using a method where we almost never have that 2 No Trump - All Pass sequence, here's how it works (simplified somewhat for our purposes here).

  With the point count and balanced distribution generally required for a 2NT opening (20-21, let's say), Opener begins with 2 Clubs.

  Responder then categorizes their hand into one of two types: Game Forcing, or Weak. With 5 or more HCP, they should treat their hand as game-forcing - with those hands, begin with an artificial Two Diamond response.

  With fewer than five points, responder makes one of these five "Weakness Responses":

  2 Hearts: 0-4 HCP, 4+ Hearts
  2 Spades: 0-4 HCP, 4+ Spades
  2NT: 0-4 HCP, 4-4 in minors
  3C: 0-4 HCP, 5+ Clubs
  3D: 0-4 HCP, 5+ Diamonds

  On the board in question, yesterday's #25, the responder to the 2NT opening held x, QT9x, xxx, xxxxx - the "system response" with this hand is 3C - 2H is a possible alternative, but 3C is preferred, for 2H might lead to a 4-2 fit (this happens less often than you'd expect, and even when a 4-2 fit ensues, the matchpoint result is, on average, less poor than you'd think, but still, 4-2 fits should be shunned).

  So on this hand the recommended sequence is 2C - 3C - Pass - 

  While 2NT is likely to go down, 3C is likely to make - possibly with an overtrick.

  Score one for the system!

  *****

  On the diary side, I'm enjoying conversations with old friends from the course of my fifty years in the sport, and with new and newer ones too. I've been slow to resume playing at nationals since they resumed after the shutdown of 2020-2021 - I played a few days in New Orleans, Chicago, and Louisville, but this is the first nationals where I expect to play most of the days.

  I'm intending to write more on bridge as a means for personal growth - this is a subject which fascinates me. One core aspect of this subject is the need to be present on whatever board you're playing at the time - don't dwell on the past, don't get ahead of yourself, thinking about the celebration you're expecting to enjoy afterwards - just play the hand you're playing right now - it's the most important hand you'll ever play, as bridge sage Valerie Stranza of New York liked to say.

  I thought I might have a lot more to say on this subject, but one of my personal growth resolutions was to develop a better editing mechanism (run my mouth less).

  I give myself a B - minus on that one!

  Another resolution I made, this one before the shutdown, was: Double part-scores more often in close competitive situations.

  That resolution certainly came in handy on this deal, also from yesterday's Pair Game Final:

​ I held, as North: Kxx, AJT, Qxxx, xxx - with my balanced 10 count I passed as dealer, and partner opened One Diamond in third position. I responded 1NT - this was passed around to RHO, who reopened with double. I reasoned that the opponents would probably go to two of a major, so I immediately went to 2 Diamonds - I wanted to get my diamond fit in, to help partner determine what to do on the next round of bidding.

  Two Diamonds was passed around to RHO, who competed to 3C - this made the sequence now:

  P (P) 1D - (P) - 1NT - (P) - P - (Double) - 2D - (P) - P - (3C) - ?

  Recalling my resolution, I doubled, despite my useless (xxx) defensive trump holding.

  Plus 300 got us a 98% board, while plus 100 would have been just above average, 58%.

  Key Conclusion: Consider where you can improve, resolve to do so, then - try and adhere to your resolutions.

  Regards from the summer NABC - if you're here, enjoy your game, and come and say hello if you see me and are enjoying these columns. If you're reading this somewhere else, I hope you're enjoying what you're doing, and present for those around you.

​Toronto, July 21

  Last week's heat wave here has broken and the weather is now ideal - the several thousand players who have congregated for the summer nationals are generally in great spirits as we gather for the games at the Metro Convention Center and patronize the local restaurants and watering holes.

  The Blue Jays are playing baseball at home this week, blocks from the tournament site. Pedestrians in branded gear stream by in droves, mixing with the bridge players and also with a talented busker playing weathered classics like this one by Roger Miller: King of the Road:

​ I'm typing this for our readers from my new digs, an elegant mini-suite on the 41st floor of the Queen Street Sheraton - this is how I want to live! The suite came my way via one of bridge's most legendary Road Warriors, Chris Compton - let me take this opportunity to thank he and his wife Donna for passing it along to me, it's great here. 

  Here's a quick bridge hand, then a bit more on some subjects of even greater personal interest.

 Board 10, from the first session of the newest National Pair game, the two-day (Saturday-Sunday) Open Pairs. 

  South holds J9876, void, QJx, AT9xx - after a 1H opening on his right, both sides vulnerable, he made a Michaels 2H cue-bid. Some other time we may debate the merits of this convention, and the use of it with this hand. Certainly it is wildly popular, and certainly many or most players might take that same action with that 5=0=3=5 eight count - 

  After 1H - (2H) - ?, I contributed my auto-pass with Qx, xx, ATxxx, Jxxx - the bidding continued with 2 Spades on my left, 3 Hearts from partner Kismet Fung, all pass.

  After a spade lead, Kismet played well to make ten tricks and notch a 75% board for our pair. 

  Here is the key point I want to note about this board: South should have led a diamond from Queen-jack third, not a spade from Jack-nine-eight fifth.

  Avid students of bridge literature will be familiar with this seminal classic on opening leads:

 https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Suit-Contract-Leads-David/dp/1554947693

  If you haven't read it recently, or ever, I'll provide you the key conclusions:

  Leads from worthless holdings (three or four small) are good.

  Leads from broken honor holdings (K9xxx, J98xx, QTxx) are bad.

  Leads from three card holdings headed by two honors are good.

  On this deal, a diamond lead from queen-jack third would have gained at least one trick for the defense, possibly two, compared to the spade lead to jack-nine fifth.

  The swing in matchpoints from the choice of opening lead on this deal is substantial - we got 75% for plus 170, would have gotten 56% for plus 140, or 21% for minus 100.  Over half a board swing, potentially, from his choice of opening lead.

  Executive Summary: Take care with your opening leads, avoid broken suits, lead from holdings like Queen-jack third or Jack-ten third whenever that seems a reasonable choice.

​*****

  I've determined that for upcoming blogs, I want to deal more with subjects like bridge as a path for personal growth. I believe that this is where bridge can be it's most valuable to those of us who play (pretty much everyone reading this). I have a ton of work to do in this area, I suspect it never ends - you never get there, you're always going there.

  *****
 
  A reader / editor has suggested to me that this column should feature more "Inside Baseball" ("Inside Bridge"?) type material - how do bridge pros deal with client - poaching, for instance?

  My anecdote from the first full day of the tournament ties together a ton of those themes - Compton, client - poaching, personal growth - so, here:

  Day before yesterday, I joined the Comptons at a local eatery for a great late lunch - Scaramouche. Their website, if you're interested:

  https://www.scaramoucherestaurant.com/

  As Chris tried to convince me to take his second suite off his hands (I'm glad I did!) I bared my soul and talked with the Comptons about personal growth and related matters, like rehabilitating Glubok - healing broken relationships, especially.

  "Well, naturally, bridge pros hate it if you steal a client," Chris commented.

  This is of course self-evident, but also a real issue - only so many clients, and so many pros, and in the vast majority of cases a bridge pros next client used to be someone else's - certainly if we were barbers, we couldn't give haircuts only to customers who'd never had one.

  Still, I aspire to better relations, so - 

  That morning at the tournament, I had chatted with a prospective client - an interesting guy, he was a tech tycoon who invented the leading double-dummy solver (not Goren in a Box, the other one) in his spare time - he was playing with a Vegas pro in the first day of the LM's when we spoke - not sure if I should mention names here, but the point is:

  I aspire to better behavior - so when I saw the pro with his beautiful side-kick just after my lunch with Chris and Donna, I approached him and said:

  "This is probably the worst time to speak with you (who relishes being interrupted under those circumstances?) but - I spoke with Bill this morning about playing, but ... if you'd rather I didn't .... I won't....I didn't know if he was one of your main guys, or just someone you play with every five years...."

  "No, he's my main guy," the pro acknowledged.

  "Well then I won't ask him to play," I said.

  "Well you can if you want," the pro told me, diffident.

  "Of course I can!" I asserted, vehement, my old abrasive self once more. "This is America."

  Actually, we're in Canada, but that's a free country too, as they say.

  "But I won't," I concluded. "I'll be friendly with him, but no playing bridge!"

  "Thanks, Brian, I appreciate it," Dan told me.

  *****

  Key Takeaway: It's NEVER too late to try to be a better person. And always worth the trouble. And who knows? You might get some blog material out of it.

Fairfield, NY, July 9

  The heat is scorching here in suburban NJ this July, but it's plenty cool indoors at the Fairfield Hilton DoubleTree, where the tournament is played. Jazzy Jill was in the lobby on her laptop, teaching a zoom class. Directors Metcalf, Weinstein, and Cole were busy laying out the tables and guidecards. Hospitality workers dispense candy and stickers, and the tournament organizers fret over table count. If there are a few spare minutes in the morning, TD's reminisce about the now bygone era when attendance was greater - tables had to be set up in all the conference areas as well as the main ballrooms - now, they're happy if there's no decline from last year, and if table counts can be sustained at 60% of pre-pandemic levels.

  My client Wall Street Walter (WSW) lived for most of his adult life close to this venue here in Essex County, so this is a natural tournament for us. He was hosting his family including grandchildren over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, so we booked to play Monday and Tuesday (yesterday and today, July 8 and 9). I didn't play on the 7th, but I went to the site in the morning just to visit, then down to Parx Casino to play poker. Yesterday I got to the site way early once more, saw tons of friends, old and new - rounders, really, lots of locals but also tons of people I know from the circuit.

  We faced an old friend in the first round, Israeli-American pro Erez Hendelmen. The very first deal of the day I had a strong playing hand, a 6-4 fourteen count:

​ x, AQJ87x, AKTx, 9x - Second seat, both vulnerable, I opened One Heart, and the bidding continued:

  (P) - 1H - (1S) - Double - (2S) - ?

  Had RHO passed, I might have bid a simple 3H - after the spade raise, I felt I needed to jump to game - my 4H call ended the bidding.

  Partner's hand was Axx, x, Jxxx, KJTxx, a good fitting nine count. A solid minimum, though I would have liked it much better if he'd had a second trump for me: 

  The spade king was led - I won the ace in dummy and took the trump finesse. This lost and I ruffed the spade continuation. I now drew trumps and considered the missing ace-queen of clubs.

  Elementary card-reading led me to the winning play in that suit - with the high spades and king of hearts marked on my left, it became routine to play a club to dummy's jack - RHO needed the club ace for his raise to Two Spades, he didn't have any points to speak of in the majors, and the most he could have in diamonds was the queen - 
  
  The defense might have done a trick better if righty had ducked the first round of clubs - unable to use the suit, I would probably have taken the diamond finesse, and lost a trick there - ducking the club is not a hard play, partner's count signal will tell you what to need to know (don't forget to play second highest from Q632!) or you might infer that since declarer has a singleton spade (and shown up with six hearts as well), then a singleton club is unlikely.

  With the clubs coming in, I had an easy overtrick for plus 650 - 86% score on the first board of the day, just the kind of start you want. Starts matter, it isn't simply superstition that states that the first board sets the tone of the session and day.

The second board was interesting too, Board 8 - I had another fourteen point opening, in this instance it was 9, J9x, AQ98x, AKxx - I opened One Diamond, once more Erez overcalled (this time with One Heart) and Wall Street Walter made a specialized bid of 2H - we had gone over the method within the previous hour, Walter's 2H cue-bid showed six spades and a split range, either 5-8 or 11+ HCP - 

  I bid 2 Spades, prepared to play there opposite a weak jump shift - Walter bid 3H, indicating the stronger (game-going) range - despite holding only a one-card fit, I leapt to 4 Spades, on the strength of my 14 HCP.

  Erez led a low club, and dummy tabled: KQT6xx, KT8x, Kx, x - I won in my hand and found the winning play in spades*, low to the king and low from the dummy. 

  74% for plus 420.

* Editor's Note - Brian makes it look easy but I bet lots of players would have tried running that 9 of spades, and thereby expose themselves to a later heart ruff. I'll ask him to make further comments about his decision here -- PB

  We made few errors on the day, but didn't get too many gifts in the second session - we had to settle for fifth place, of perhaps 40 pairs (plus another 30 or so in the Gold Rush).

  The winners were Glenn Robbins and Jiang Gu - Glenn was a frequent client prior to the pandemic, and Jiang is currently leading the race for the point trophy this year - they play a system based on the one I taught to Glenn, transfer responses to One Club, Wilsonovich Style. Glenn credits their success to his use of that Method, they have had great results this year, with first or second place finishes in close to half the regional pair games they play.

  If you're curious about the system we used to reach 4 Spades on Board 8, here's how it works:

  When the opponents overcall 1H, after we open One of a Minor, this is what responder's bids mean:

  Pass: Bad hand, marginal hand worth a bid, or a penalty pass of 1H, hoping that partner reopens with a take-out double (which you intend to convert and play for penalties).

  Double: Like a negative double, but shows four or five spades, not "usually four, never five, sometimes three", like a standard negative double. 

  One Spade: Not Spades - a hand worth bidding (usually 8+ HCP) and fewer than four spades.

  One No Trump: Like standard, but slightly sounder - 8-10 HCP, and a double heart stopper. Any hand that bids 1NT could bid One Spade instead.

  Two of Opener's Minor: A simple raise, typically a four or five card fit and 7-10 high.

  Two of the Other Minor: I play this as 7-11 and non-forcing (negative free bid) but you can play this forcing, like the field, if you prefer.

  2 Spades: The jump-shift in spades shows invitational strength - 9-11 HCP and six spades.

  2 Hearts: This cue-bid also shows six spades, and a better or worse hand than the immediate jump shift - either 5-8 or 12+.

  This method works well for a handful of reasons, if you try it let me know what you think.

  And if you like playing in regionals, give this one in suburban NJ a try - no special features, but good competition in a convenient (northeastern US) location.

  - BG