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- (I'm just going to list things that I don't already have memorized and would like to be able to review.)
- Acknowledgments
- There is a "Better Bridge Advisory Committee" which is made up of absolute top/world-class players.
- The 1. The Basics
- When you can't "follow suit" and you play another non-trump-suit card instead, that's called "discarding" ("He discards the five of clubs.").
- If you can't follow suit and you play a trump-suit card, that's called "trumping" or "ruffing".
- In whist, a predecessor of bridge, the last card dealt was turned face up and that suit became trumps. The dealer then picked up the card and the deal was played out. The game involved an element of luck because the partnership with the majority of trump cards had an advantage in the play.
- This reminds me of how one suggestion for making Risk less luck-based is to allow people to bid over continents / territories. That would be the same as what happened with whist.
- A bid consists of two parts, a 'level' and a 'strain'. The level is the number of tricks the partnership is willing to try to take beyond an initial six tricks, called 'book'. So a bid at the 'one level' is a commitment to take at least seven tricks, six plus one. To start the bidding, therefore, the partnership has to be willing to take the majority of the tricks. The highest bid is seven, a commitment to take all thirteen tricks, six plus seven. The strain is the suggested trump suit or the suggestion to play in notrump.
- Here's an example of the way the level and strain are referred to: "One Heart", "Two Diamonds", etc.
- The bidding can result in a tie. One partnership might be willing to take seven tricks with hearts as trumps; the other side might be willing to take seven tricks with spades as trumps. To break ties, the suits are ranked in alphabetical order with clubs as the lowest ranking suit, then diamonds, hearts, and spades. Notrump is ranked higher than any suit.
- I like how this explains the motivation for ranking the bids by suit (i.e. "It's just to break ties.").
- On some deals only one side 'competes' during the bidding conversation. On other deals both sides compete for the privilege of naming trumps. This book focuses on bidding without competition, where only one side is bidding.
- The partnership is ideally searching for an eight-card or longer combined 'trump fit'. If an eight-card fit cannot be found, the partnership will usually settle in a notrump contract. Much of the bidding discussion for the remainder of this book will focus on how the partnership communicates through the auction to uncover a suitable trump fit.
- Declarer and Dummy: Auction bridge introduced another change from whist. This was the way the deal was played out after the auction. (This concept was originally introduced in dummy whist, a variation of whist that was played before auction bridge.)
- Very interesting. This seems to be more evidence for the idea that bridge is so complicated to learn because it has rules that were added to solve gameplay problems with simpler versions of the game.
- The player to the left of declarer makes the 'opening lead' to the first trick. The dummy hand is then placed face up on the table in four columns of suits facing declarer, with the highest cards closest to the edge of the table. If there is a trump suit, it is placed to dummy's right, declarer's left.
- So, remember that the dummy hand is only shown after the first card is played.
- In duplicate bridge, declarer names the card to be played from dummy and declarer's partner places it close to the edge of the table.
- The declarer's side will become the 'offense', with the declarer trying to make the contract during the play. The other side becomes the 'defense', trying to prevent declarer from taking the required number of tricks.
- Contract bridge: A problem with auction bridge was that the play was not always exciting. To win an auction it was only necessary to outbid the other partnership. If the other side was unwilling to compete, the auction could be won at the one level and declarer was only committed to take seven tricks. To increase the challenge, bonuses were awarded if the partnership was willing to commit, or 'contract', to take a specified number of tricks and was then able to fulfill, or 'make', the contract during play. Auction bridge evolved into 'contract bridge', the form of the game today. This makes the auction and play much more challenging. Even if both sides aren't competing for the privilege of naming the trump suit, one partnership may continue bidding until a bonus level contract is reached. Since the bidding usually goes higher than in auction bridge, there is more chance for the defenders to 'defeat', or 'set', the contract and receive a bonus.
- Grand slam is if you win all 13 tricks, small slam is if you win 12 of 13. To get the game bonus you either 1) win 9 tricks in notrump (3-level), 2) 10 tricks in spades or hearts (4-level), or 3) 11 tricks in clubs or diamonds (5-level).
- Because they require fewer tricks for a game bonus, hearts and spades are referred to as the 'major suits'. Clubs and diamonds are the 'minor suits'.
- NW: Why do hearts and spades require fewer tricks for the game bonus?
- A contract that does not reach a game or slam bonus level is called a 'partscore', or a 'part game'.
- Tricks taken beyond those needed to make the contract are 'overtricks'. Tricks by which declarer falls short of making the contract are called 'undertricks'.
- The 'distribution', or 'shape', of the hand–the number of cards in each suit–also plays a part. A long suit is useful as a potential trump suit and as a source of tricks. There are different ways to value distribution but the most common in today's game is to assign a valuation point, called a 'length point', for each card beyond four in a suit.
- To take nine tricks in notrump (and get the game bonus) requires about 25 combined points; a game in spades or hearts requires about 26 points; and a game in diamonds or clubs about 29 points.
- To start the auction, the following guidelines can be used: With fewer than 13 points, pass; With 13 or more points, open the bidding.
- For now, start with the longest suit, not the strongest, when suggesting a trump suit. With two equal length suits, open the higher-ranking.
- The partner of the opening bidder is called the 'responder'. The response depends on the opening bid. The general idea is that responder bids to compete if the opponents are also bidding, or to improve the contract.
- When you bid higher than someone else, that's called an "overcall". "Calling" seems synonymous with "bidding" in bridge.
- Before choosing the first card to play from dummy, plan how you are going to take enough tricks to make the contract. There are three suggested stages–A, B, and C–in making a plan: A: Assess the situation. B: Browse the Declarer's Checklist to develop extra tricks. C: Consider the order.
- Assess the situation - This stage can be divided into three steps:
- Goal. Start by considering the number of tricks required to make the contract.
- Sure Tricks. Count the 'sure tricks'. Sure tricks, or 'winners', are those that can be taken without giving up the lead. An ace is a sure trick; an ace and a king in the same suit are two sure tricks.
- NW: What does it mean to "give up the lead"? Doesn't the defense have the lead at first? So does that mean that a sure trick is a trick such that "once you have the lead, you're guaranteed to win these"?
- Extra Tricks Needed. If you has as many sure tricks as tricks you need to fulfill the contract, move to the third stage; otherwise, go to the second stage.
- Browse Declarer's Checklist to develop extra tricks
- There are several techniques used to develop, or 'establish', extra tricks when you don't have enough to make the contract. These are discussed in the upcoming chapters.
- Consider the order
- When developing and taking tricks, the order in which the tricks are played is often very important. For now, here are two considerations when you have the tricks you need:
- Draw trumps. If you have the tricks you need, start by drawing trumps. Now the opponents will not be able to use their trumps to ruff any of your winners in another suit.
- Take the tricks. If you have the tricks you need, take the tricks and run. Make the contract before anything goes wrong. Extra tricks aren't as important as fulfilling the contract.
- When developing and taking tricks, the order in which the tricks are played is often very important. For now, here are two considerations when you have the tricks you need:
- Assess the situation - This stage can be divided into three steps:
- Defense - Choosing a card
- Like declarer, the defenders should make a plan, but this is more challenging because they can't see each other's cards and can't even see the dummy until after the opening lead is made. Instead, the defenders usually follow some general guidelines until they can clearly see a way of defeating the contract.
- Opening lead against notrump
- When defending against a notrump contract, the partnership usually wants to try to develop winners in its longest combined suit. Because there is no trump suit, declarer can't stop the defenders from taking their established winners once they gain the lead. If partner bid a suit during the auction, lead that suit. Otherwise, the guideline for choosing the suit is:
- Choose the longest suit.
- With a choice among suits of equal length, choose the strongest suit.
- The defenders can exchange information through the card that is led. When the suit has a 'sequence', three or more touching cards, that is headed by an 'honor', the top of the touching high cards is led. An honor is one of the top five cards in the suit–the ace, king, queen, jack, or ten. If the longest suit doesn't have a sequence, the guideline is to pick a low card. From the days of whist, the popular guideline has been: lead fourth highest from the longest and strongest suit. The fourth highest is the fourth down from the top.
- The top of a broken sequence is also led against a notrump contract: A-K-J-4-3, K-Q-10-7. The top of an interior sequence can also be led: A-J-10-3, K-10-9-5-4.
- When defending against a notrump contract, the partnership usually wants to try to develop winners in its longest combined suit. Because there is no trump suit, declarer can't stop the defenders from taking their established winners once they gain the lead. If partner bid a suit during the auction, lead that suit. Otherwise, the guideline for choosing the suit is:
- Opening lead against a suit contract
- When there is a trump suit, the strategy changes. Leading the longest suit has less appeal. Even if winners can be established in the suit, declarer's trump suit can prevent the defenders from taking them. When choosing the suit, it is preferable to pick one with two or more touching cards headed by an honor. On occasion, a short suit can be led with the hope of (NW: later?) trumping declarer's winners in the suit.
- When choosing the card:
- Lead the top of two or more touching high cards.
- Lead the top of a two-card suit, if leading a short suit.
- Otherwise, lead low, fourth highest from a four-card or longer suit.
- Note: Against a suit contract, a low card is not usually led if the suit has the ace. Instead, the ace is preferred, or another suit.
- Leading to Subsequent Tricks
- Unless there is clearly a better choice, a useful guideline is to return the suit led by partner. The partnership wants to work together to develop tricks.
- NW: What does it mean to "return the suit"? Does that mean that if my partner opens, and I end up winning the trick, then I should play another card of that suit?
- Unless there is clearly a better choice, a useful guideline is to return the suit led by partner. The partnership wants to work together to develop tricks.
- Second hand play
- When the first card to a trick is led by declarer or from dummy and you are next to play, you are referred to as 'second hand'. Here are two useful guidelines:
- If a low card is led, you generally play a low card, second hand low. Your partner will be playing last to the trick and will be better placed to know what to do.
- If an honor is led, another guideline is to cover an honor with an honor. If your honor gets beaten itself, you've used up two of your opponents' honors for one of yours.
- When the first card to a trick is led by declarer or from dummy and you are next to play, you are referred to as 'second hand'. Here are two useful guidelines:
- Third hand play
- If partner leads to a trick, you are 'third hand', playing the third card to the trick. The guidelines are:
- If partner's card is winning, or likely to win, the trick, play low.
- Otherwise, play third hand high, attempting to win the trick.
- If partner leads to a trick, you are 'third hand', playing the third card to the trick. The guidelines are:
- My wrong answers to the quiz questions
- Quiz 2
- k) 17 (17+0) 1S (Slightly wrong; should have bid notrump)
- l) 13 (11+2) 1D (Slightly wrong; should have bid 1S because it's a higher-ranking suit than Diamonds. So the high-card points within each of two suits are not to be used as the tie-breaker.)
- Quiz 3
- e) KS (I needed to reread to pick an answer)
- i) KD (Wrong; I misread KJ as a sequence)
- Quiz 2
- Things I noted from the example deals:
- Deal 1: "South accepts North's choice of a trump suit by passing." ← The way I guess I would read it is, "South doesn't have enough points to go for game, so passes.". Is that right?
- Deal 2: "East, the dealer, has 17 high-card points. The longest suit is the weakest four-card diamond suit, so East suggests playing with no trump suit by opening 1NT." I didn't see the extra trick in clubs.
- Deal 3
- West has enough to compete for the contract and overcalls 1S.
- So the two partnerships are *competing* for the right to choose the trump suit. You aren't just bidding because "that's what's done". There is a reason for it.
- Unwilling to go to the three level, South passes
- How did South decide that the three level would be too difficult?
- West has no reason to bid any more since the partnership is already winning the auction.
- This is very different (and easier to understand) than the complicated "Well we need to see if we can go to game" logic that was presented to me at the meet-up.
- Deal 3 is a useful one to review for defenders' strategy.
- West has enough to compete for the contract and overcalls 1S.
- Q: *Why* should you play the top of two or more touching high cards when opening against a suit contract?
- Q: *Why* should you open with the fourth-highest card against a suit contract?
- Deal 4
- From the opening lead of J-D, East knows that West doesn't hold the Q-D. Since it isn't in dummy, declarer must hold that card.
- So *that* is why you lead the top of a three-card sequence that ends with an honor (in this case it was J-10-9 of diamonds).
- From the opening lead of J-D, East knows that West doesn't hold the Q-D. Since it isn't in dummy, declarer must hold that card.
- "The first game of contract bridge was played aboard the cruise ship Finland that sailed from San Francisco in October 1925. The brainchild of Harold S. Vanderbilt, the new scoring system was tested by Vanderbilt, Francis M. Bacon II, Dudley Pickman Jr. and Frederic Allen and soon became the rage at such fashionable summer resorts as Newport and Southampton." - American Contract Bridge League Bulletin, December 1975
- 2. Notrump opening bids and responses
- Opening with this bid
- An opening 1NT bid requires two features:
- 15, 16, or 17 valuation points
- A balanced hand
- There are terms for short suits:
- A void: zero cards in a suit
- A singleton: one card in a suit
- A doubleton: two cards in a suit
- A balanced hand is one that has no void, no singleton, and at most one doubleton.
- A hand is too strong to open 1NT if it has more than 17 points.
- If a hand has at least 13 valuation points and does not meet the requirements to bid 1NT, it should instead be bid at the one level in the longest suit.
- An opening 1NT bid requires two features:
- Responding to this opening bid (as the partner of the opening bidder)
- The partner of the 1NT opening bidder is the responder and is responsible for deciding whether the partnership has enough to go for a bonus level or to be satisfied with a partscore contract.
- Responder knows more about the combined partnership assets than the 1NT opener. It's the player who knows more who makes the decision, not the player with the strongest hand.
- Responder makes two decisions:
- How high the partnership should bid.
- Where the contract should be played.
- Opening with this bid
Bridge Basics 2: Competitive Bidding
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