Diary of a Bridge Pro #20

​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:

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​ 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.

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