By Val Rhead
If you and your partner are invited to a party, you check your calendar to see if you’re free that night, and if you like the people, you go. If your partner invites you to a Four Spade contract in the game of Bridge, it’s more complicated.
First of all, you both will evaluate your hands, adding up high card points and length points. (A five-card suit gives you one length point, a six-card suit gives you two.) After the partnership has found their “Magic” eight card or better fit, both partners can add points for shortness. (three for a void, two for a singleton and one for a doubleton.) The player with a void in the dummy hand, can add up to five extra points if she has five trump. Why is this? The reason is that you can make extra trump tricks when you ruff in the dummy. If there are five trump in declarer’s hand and five trump in dummy which has a void, it may be possible to trump up to five times when the void suit is played and ruffed in dummy before the trump is drawn. Declarer could make a total of ten trump tricks in this fashion.
Your partner opens the bidding One Spade which shows at least five Spades and 12 to 21 points. You reply Two Spades which limits your hand range 6 to 9 points. Your partner is now the Captain of the hand. She knows how many points she has in her hand and she knows, within three or four points, how many points you have in your hand. Let’s assume that she has seventeen points—a nice hand. She thinks hard and does some math. She knows that she needs twenty-five points to have a play for game in a major suit or in No Trump. If you have only six points, the partnership total would be twenty-three—not enough. If you have nine points, the partnership total would be twenty-six. She bids Three Spades inviting you to bid game if you are at the top of your 6 to 9 bid. If you are 6 to 7 points, you will PASS. If you are 8 to 9 points, you will accept the invitation and bid Four Spades. Tres simplement!
There can be additional considerations. If your opponents have entered the bidding, not all hands of the same point count are created equal. The point count of a hand can go up and can go down as the bidding proceeds. Your point count can go down if you have Queens and Jacks in a suit bid by your opponents. These cards may be useless. If you have a singleton King in a suit bid by your left-hand opponent, it may be useless too. However, if that suit was bid on your right, it may take a trick when your opponent tries to finesse. So once you have made these adjustments to your point count, you may decide that you have enough for game and accept the invitation. She who knows goes.
If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group or ask a bridge question, send the information to [email protected] and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Games at the Huntsville Club for the winter Jan-Feb-Mar are now Tuesday 1pm, Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For partners and information call Susan Marshall 705 787-5454 or email [email protected].
PLEASE NOTE: For the rest of the winter, the Tuesday afternoon 1pm game will be held downstairs in the warm basement. To avoid the long stairs, you also may enter from the door on Main Street.
The games Jan 10 and Jan 17 were cancelled due to the weather.
The following winners are for Tuesday, Jan 3 with 10 pairs playing a Howell movement. 1/2. Bev Howard and Gail Lederer; 1/2. Liz Graham and Dorothy Russell; 3/4. Mary Whitehead and Helen Pearson; 3/4. Mary Simonett and Kel Andresen; 5. Beryl Clayson and Paul Clayson
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games at the Bracebridge Club are at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road 7pm Monday evenings. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time.
The following winners are from Monday, Jan 16 with 18 pairs playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Bev Parlett and Vern Foell; 2. Mary Mitchell and Susan Maddocks; 3. Mary Luke and Donna McIntosh; 4. Kel Andresen and Jim Smith; 5. Mary Hogarth and Albert Eatock; East-West 1. Liz Barnes and David Bryce; 2/3. Joanne Garvey and Don Evans; 2/3. Rena Leventhal and Arno Liebster; 4. Gail Lederer and Hazel Bowes; 5. Lyn Walisser and Bev Howard
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