Al's bridge lessons in the BIL for beginners

Andrew's Bridge Blog: The Most Damaging Preempts Part V

2012-01-22T14:12:00.000+01:00

Andrew's Bridge Blog: The Most Damaging Preempts Part V

coup à blanc, ducking: whatever

2009-09-23T13:36:00.005+02:00

you call it, it's nearly always explained as a tool declarer uses to succeed in making a 3NT contract.
It's about a situation (in one suit) like this: Auction 1NT-(P)-3NT- all pass
North:
♥ xxxx
over
South:
♥ Ax
West leads ♥King.
A little bit of card reading will tell you that West will most likely have 4 hearts and East 3.
If that's true than West will at most cash 3 heart-tricks. In itself no danger there. You could afford to lose an other trick (to an outside Ace for example) and still be able to make your contract.

But suppose life is not that fair to you and west has 5 hearts leaving East with 2
Now east/west by the same reasoning can make 4 tricks in hearts + again that one outside Ace trick and you are down.

Unless... That outside Ace is with East and East can not reach West by leading a Heart . You can see here that you can be "sure" of that by ducking the first trick and taking the second with your ♥Ace.

This is what they mean with the rule of 7. Count your cards in a suit. Deduct them from 7 and the answer is how many times you shouls duck the lead.

Here 7-6=1. So the second lead of a heart is for you to take.

What i did not realize was that the same sort of reasoning is true when you play a 2NT contract.
♥xxx
over
♥Ax
And again the ♥K is lead by West
Not 3NT but 2NT not rule of 7 but rule of 6 if you reason it all out.
6-5=1 so duck first round and take (smile you have to!!) the second lead of hearts.

Reasoning in stead of rule?
8 hearts out. distributed 5-3 most likely.. no problem. You may lose 5 tricks in hearts.
East/west can take at most 4 (5 minus your ace) 1 loser to spare for that outside Ace.
And again life ain't fair
6-2 distributed. 5 heart tricks + 1 outside ace and you are down..
unless East can not come back to west; unless poor East is again void of hearts
.. so again duck once etc. etc.

Same for 1NT, and 4NT etc.

Ronald

Declarer play for newbies WED 2009-09-16

2009-09-16T09:04:00.002+02:00

The topic of our leson today was "Establishing a suit in NT".

The hands were taken from Barbara Seagrams great book "Planning the play of a bridge hand" chapter 9.

Did you ever experienced, that you established a suit and had no transportation to cash your nice tricks??
OK. Here we are with an antidot:
Coup de blanc and overtake your honors

Hands #1 and #2 showed the principle of ducking to preserve an entry.
Hands #3 and #4 concerned with the problem how to guard against a possible bad break
Habds #5 and #6 showed, that it is sometimes necessary to overtake your own honors to create an addditional entry.

Declarer play for newbies WED 2009-08-05 and MON 2009-08-10

2009-08-11T09:45:00.002+02:00

Today I presented 3 hands, which you find in this movie:

#4 You count 11 sure winners in 6NT. You need 1 more trick.
There are 2 line available:
1) Try the heart finesse and hope for hearts to be distributed 3-3, if the finesse doesn't work.
2) Try the diamond double finesse.
The double finesse has a chance of 75%
The heart finesse has 50% and the chance that hearts are 3-3 under the precondition that the heart finesse is wrong is half of 36% = 18%.
So the chance adds up to 50%+18% = 68%
Therefore the double finesse is superior to the heart finesse.
We'll come back to this hand in the next session.

#1 Is an example where it is a must to pull the trumps at once. Remind: When you are planning a suit contract always ask you the question: Are there any reasons NOt to draw trumps at once? There are a lot of reasons possible. Marty Bergen sez, that in about 40% it is wise to postpone to draw the trumps.

#3 Is a choice which minor to develop. You have 7 sure tricks in the majors and need 2 more.
You have after the lead only 1 stopper left in spades.
Diamonds provide only 2 extra tricks (but that's enough). To promote the diamond you'll lose the lead only once.
Clubs will provide 4 extra tricks but you'll lose the lead twice in the establishing process.
Therefore you must attck the diamonds!!!

Bridge 102 Newsletter (1)

2009-08-02T13:43:00.003+02:00

This newsletter was sent out to the registered mentees.

Hi Bridge 102 students,

I’m looking forward to August 18 to start with you in the mysteries of declarer play.

Just in case you are interested to learn a bit about me:
I’m a retired teacher in math and science. I was a passioned teacher. I’m a good (but not expert) player.
But these things together make a better bridgeteacher (imho) than an expert who has no idea of how to teach his knowledge.
For my information look up my site please: http://www.albrecht-hollstein.de/Bridge/about%20me.htm
Bridge 102 Perequesites
To learn the rules of bridge is no problem at all. Many people in the local clubs know, what they are doing, but to improve and become a good player takes a long time and needs some effort (of yourself LOL).
I can give you advice and example, but the work has to be done by yourself.
But I promise the work will be much fun with every step you feel, how you improve.
To feel how the brain works is a source of happiness.
To prepare the first lesson
1. Download LearnToPlayBridge (LTPB) from the ACBL-site: http://www.acbl.org/learn/ltpb.html
2. To get an idea what you’ll learn in my first 2 lessons, you may look what Fred presents in the
  LTPB chapters 2 and 3: Taking tricks and More on taking tricks
3. To review Sandy’s course 101:
  1. Read Richard Pavlicek’s Learn to play bridge to http://www.rpbridge.net/1a00.htm
  2. Read “Getting started” by Karen Walker: http://home.comcast.net/~kwbridge//start.htm
  3. Work on LTPB chapter 2: Introduction to Bridge
4. Bookmark this glossary of common bridge phrases: http://home.comcast.net/~kwbridge/glos.htm
Links (Just in case you have some time you want to learn more about our beloved game)
1. My bridge site: http://www.albrecht-hollstein.de/Bridge/Bridge%20with%20Al.htm

b. My beginners page
http://www.albrecht-hollstein.de/Bridge/Lessons/For%20beginners/Lessons%20for%20Beginners.htm

c. My blog for beginners: http://al-teaching.blogspot.com/

Richard Pavlicek is one of the best bridge teachers all over the world. I admire his site.
http://www.rpbridge.net/1a00.htm Learn to play Bridge with Richard
http://www.rpbridge.net/1t05.htm Lesson 1
Fred Gitelman wrote a perfect software (BridgeMaster 2000) to learn and improve your declarerplay (in 5 levels from starter to expert)
Level 1 is appropriate for you. Don’t hesitate to order your copy. It is of more value than many lessons I saw.
http://bbi.bridgebase.com/software/bm2kdemo_setup.exe Downlad a free demo
http://bbi.bridgebase.com/software/bmdesc.html description of BM 2000
http://bbi.bridgebase.com/software/bm2000.html order
BridgeClues by Mike Lawrence is a great site to look up daily!!!! http://www.bridgeclues.com/
1. He made a tutorial bidding and play for starters
  1. 38 hands to review the basics of bidding (You’ll find much of the stuff you learned from Sandy and much more)
    http://www.bridgeclues.com:9080/quiz/HomeServlet?handType=bid&dispHomePg=N&level=new
  2. 38 hands to review, what you’ll learn from me and more (The basics of declarer play and defense)
    http://www.bridgeclues.com:9080/quiz/HomeServlet?handType=play&dispHomePg=N&level=new
2. If you are a bit more advanced, you’ll enjoy:
  http://www.bridgeclues.com/ daily 2 problems in each bidding and play (2 levels)
BridgeGuys is a perfect Bridge-encyclopedia: http://www.bridgeguys.com/glossbridgemain.html
You find everything you are looking for.

Have a nice weekend

Bridge 102 - Declarerplay-course for newbies in the BIL

2009-07-30T07:43:00.009+02:00

I will start a series of 9 lessons for beginners following on from TwstofLime's Bridge101 course for starter players.
The lessons will take place TUE 22:00 CEST.

Lesson 1 (Aug 18) will be held in the BBO chatroom and the following 7 in the BIL. (not necessarily consecutive weeks )
Look up the Bil Calendar for more infos.

I will be demonstrating from the table (no players will be required).
Each lesson will build upon the previous one.

Curriculum:

1. Taking tricks (Chapter 3 from LTPB = Learn to play Bridge)
Winning tricks with small cards in long suits
Promotion
More on taking tricks (Chapter 4 from LTPB)
Various finesse combinations (Compare the BridgeClues tutorial hands 1-17)

2. Review how to take tricks (Chapter3/Chapter 4 from LTPB)
Count your winner!
Count your loser!!
exercises in counting winner and loser in complete deals
exercises in determine how many trick s in a suit can be made depending on opponents distribution
basic odds: 50% for a finesse, 75% for the double finesse and 68% for 3-2 distribution

3. Plan a NT contract I
count your loser
Where to look for extra tricks?
entries to the established tricks
Coup de blanc (this is nothing exotic, but an offensive duck only)

4. Plan a NT contract II
hold up play
dangerous opponent

5. Plan a NT contract III
How to play common suit-combinations?

6. Plan a suit contract I
count the loser in the master hand
3 ways to avoid losers: Ruff, Discard; Finesse
Pull opponents trumps if there is no reason not to do so
Reasons to postpone drawing trumps

7. Plan a suit contract II
Use dummy’s shortness to ruff

8. Plan a suit contract III
Use dummy’s length to discard

9. Plan a suit contract IV
Win tricks with lower honors by a finesse.

Material to prepare and review:
How to learn Bridge (provided by ACBL)
BridgeClues Tutorial

To register for this course (receive course notes) please email to albrecht.hollstein@gmx.de

Declarerplay for newbies Wed 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T09:54:00.005+02:00

Today I presented 4 hands. You find them in this movie

#1 Demonstrates the necessity of a hold-up play.

#5 and #7 correspond. You have 5 tricks from the top and need 4 more to make your 3NT contract. Hearts provide 3 tricks after you force out the A. Spades provides 3 more tricks, if the K is onside or 2 extra tricks, if the K is offside. You need tricks from both majors anyway. In the led diamond suit have hold Axx - Kx(x) that means 2 stoppers while opps hold 8(7) cards.
The main question in which priority you establish your majors.
West with his long diamonds is always the dangerous opponent.
We learned to remember:

Always attack the possible entry of the dangerous opponent first.

#4 Shows a simple ducking play to safe the entry to the established long suit (diamonds).
This as clled "Coup de blanc".

.

Introduction to bridge

2009-07-19T08:43:00.004+02:00

Arik Kaplan (angelblue in BBO) wrote a
nice bridge-movie to introduce newbies to the basics of our beloved game.

To view the movie you need (as for all lin-files) to download the proper program from BBO.

Training in declarerplay 2009-07-13 and 07/15

2009-07-16T10:48:00.003+02:00

The movie contains 4 hands all played in 4 spades.

We remember the 3 main methods to avoid loser in a suit-contract:
Plan 1: RUFF
Plan 2: DISCARD
Plan 3: FINESSE

1) We count 2H+1D+2C = 5 losers. There is a doubleton heart in dummy and enough trumps.
Therefore we apply plan 1.
a) We take the heart lead in dummy with the K to unblock this suit. (It is general a good idea to take the honor in the short suit first, if there are not strong reasons not to do so.)
b) We need 2 trumps in dummy. Therefore it is ok to pull 2 rounds of trumps. If the opponents tumps are divided 2-2, you can claim the hand. If the trumps are 3-1, we must hope, that the hearts are not divided 6-1, in which case the heart A could be ruffed.
c) We save spade K and J in dummy, which we need to ruff 2 hearts to prevent an overruff, and pull 2 rounds of trump with A and Q from declarer's hand.
d) To ruff twice twice we need 2 entries to our hand. The 2 red Aces answer this purpose.

2) This hand you find in the movie 3 times: 21 and 22 as students played it and 23 as it should played. The analysis óf the hand is very similar to #1.
BUT you must not play more than 1 round of trumps, else East will take the second and play a 3rd and you are a trump short in dummy.
You must not play dummy's K or J of trumps, because you need them both to ruff (and be sure not to be overruffed)

3) This hand you find in the movie 3 times: 31 and 32 as students played it and 33 as it should played.
No shortness in dummy, but a finesse position in diamonds. The diamond finesse has 50%.
You can do much better, if you establish the diamond Q to discard a heart loser. You have the time to to that, if you play diamond A and small to tricks 2 and 3. If you play trump to trick2, you are lost, because you lost a vital tempo.

4) 4 losers, no shortness in dummy, no lenghth in dummy, so we must adopt plan 3: FINESSE.
AJ10 opposite xxx is a so called "double-finesse" position. You have a 75% chance, that East holds at least one of the missing honors.
You need to lead diamonds twice fom dummy. The only entries are heart K and spade K.
a) Take the lead in your hand.
b) Play trumps to drive out opponents Ace, but be sure to play high cards from your hand so that East cannot destroy your 2nd entry to the table.
c) Use the major Kings as entries for the double finesse in diamonds,

Declarer play for newbies 06-29 and 07-01

2009-07-01T10:38:00.005+02:00

Here you find the hands without comments.

#1 is a very simple and easy but psychological interesting hand. I was in a bad 3NT contract in a IMP-match. 11 tricks in spades can be made without tears. Both me and my partner bid not well. There are 9 tricks from the top (4hearts and 5 clubs) after the lucky lead of heart 7., but I managed to go down, because instead of making a plan how to win my contract, I thought about how the bidding should have gone and played automatically to establish my spades.
Playing in MP this would be excusable, because 400 or even 430 would a bad result, if 45o is there without any doubt. But in IMP my play is for shame only.

#2 Shows the principle of the "Coup de blanc". You have only 1 entry to the dummy and should duck clubs twice to win the 3rd round of the suit with the A.
Fore more info about this coup you'll find on my site for beginners this movie.

#3 and #4 show the principle of the dangerous opponent. The N/S hand are very similar, only the crucial finesse for club K goes into different hands. One time you had to hold up the lead and make LHO to the dangerous opponent, next time, you must take the lead to make RHO the dangerous opponent.
The decision to hold up or not depends on which defender is likely to gain the lead (e.g. if the crucial finesse is wrong.
To learn more about the principle of the dangerous opponent mouse over the examples on my site for beginners and read the article on this topic.

Training in declarerplay 2009-06-22 and 6/24

2009-06-24T09:11:00.004+02:00

This week I continued my training in declarerplay with 5 hands which demonstrated some basic techniques in declarerplay:

#1 A good 6 spade contract. You have to choose between plan 1 (use dummy's shortness and plan 2 (use dummy's length).You must not pull trumps, because you need the 3rd trump in dummy for a diamond ruff.

#2 An ambitious 6NT you need 2 tricks in diamonds from KQx - xxx. You must hope RHO holds the diamond A and you must lead up towards the honorcombination twice. To do this you need 2 entries to the table.

#3 Another nice 6 spade contract. This time there is no ruffing value. But you can etablish a nice 5-carder in dummy (plan2). It is necessary to ruff once to be guarded against a 4-2 distribution.

#4 This time you are in a very bad contract (partner overbid terribly). As always in such a situation your first duty is to make the contract, if possible. Partner will not be amused to hear your complaints about his bad bidding, if you misplayed the hand.

As very often in such a situation you have to look if there is any lucky distribution of opponents cards, which allows you to make your bid and play for it.
If you are in a very bad contract, you must hope for a miracle.
In contrary, if you are in a very good contract, which looks soooooooo easy, be cautious and try to guard against bad distribution (as we did in #3) These 2 methods are the 2 sides of the same medal.

#5 This is an example of simple counting. The lead of spade 2 and play of spade Q from RHO give the exact count of the spade suit (assuming they play standard methods): East started with Jxx2 and West with KQx. From the bidding we know, that East must hold all the other missing HCP. Simple logic tells us to hold up the lead twice, because we'll lose otherwise 3 spades and A and K of clubs. This is a contradiction to the well known "rule of 7", which is only correct, if opponents can get only 1 trick outside the crucial "hold-up-suit".

Training in declarerplay

2009-06-16T01:16:00.005+02:00

Today I started a new series of lessons. The hands are for repetition and review of former lessons. The movies come without any comments just as they are played in the session.
The first of these movies is the log from the lesson held 2009-06-15.

Ronald Pakker attended the lesson and contributed a nice movie as comment. Thanks to Mihailo for editing.

Lesson 17 a "partial" review

2009-06-04T12:09:00.010+02:00

dear endplayers,

In the review of lesson 16 I was maybe too optimistic. I said there:
1. take as soon as possible a trick
2. draw trumps
3. eliminate sidesuits
4. force an opponent to the lead.
I have made this movie from hand 3 in lesson(17) to show you why I was too quick and or too short with those 4 points.

I have a simple site. If double-clicking the link does not work; right-click on the link and choose "save as" to save the LIN-movie on your own computer from where you do start it with doubleclicking.. I hope..

Ronald

EDIT:
I highjacked the file to my site and now doubleclick on this movie works. 2009-06-15. Sorry I overwrote the original link to Ronalds site.
Al

Lesson 17 review

2009-06-03T20:52:00.003+02:00

In lesson 17 you played 4 hands with different elimination and throw-in techniques.

I like especially hand#2 which I presented in 3 versions with minimal changes only, but these changes made all the difference in the play.
hand #2 shows a loser on loser throw-in to put LHO on lead.
hand #2a shows the magic AQ9 where the throw-in is made in the critical suit itself.
hand #2b shows the "near" magic AQ9, where the success is not guaranteed. You must hope for a very favourable distribution (LHO holding J 10 9 in that suit) or RHO falling asleep.

Have fun and good bridging

Al

Lesson 16 REVIEW

2009-05-27T08:44:00.007+02:00

Ronald wrote a nice and very instructive post reviewing lesson 16.

If you are interested to read a summary how to execute an endplay I recommend an article from Richard Pavlicek.
Btw.: Richards site is the best site in the web to learn and impove your bridge. You'll find there very topic you are looking for.

The movie of lesson 16 contains 8 hands of different difficulty.

In the beginners lesson I presented:
two easy hands:
#1 critical suit Jxx-Qxx; exit with the only trump loser
#2 critical suit Q10x-Kxx; exit in opponents known long suit
two more difficult hands:
#3 critical suit A9x-AJx; exit with AJx-Kxx avoiding the finesse
#5 critical suit Kxx-xxx; exit with loser on loser in Axxx-K10x

These were not shown in the lesson, because they are not really beginners stuff
#4 easy hand but the goal is not to make but go -1 only as a good sac
#6 #7 #8 hands with partial elimination

lesson 16, WED 5/20 1am(EDT) , repeated MON 5/25 4pm(EDT)

2009-05-26T08:14:00.007+02:00

This session I was impressed by the logic which made developing a declarer-plan so much easier.
Till now I thought that "Elimination", "Endplay" and "Throw-in" were concepts for expert-players. But Al showed us that all can understand and benefit (from) these playing technics. What struck me most?: The easy part was really the playing of the cards. Once you recognized the opportunity of an endplay; localized your problem-suit; the declarerplan very often boiled down to
1. take as soon as possible a trick
2. draw trumps
3. eliminate sidesuits
4. force an opponent to the lead.

And if there was a dangerous opponent then you have to play/plan your "exit" in such a way that DANGER-(wo)man does not get the lead.

One of the boards showed us a variation where the trumpsuit was used to force WEST to the lead. And west could only play into south tenace or give declarer the possibilty to discard a loser while ruffing in the other hand.

Al told it better and shows more movies on this page of his site.
(lesson 16,17,18 and 19)

Lesson 15 WED 05/13 MON 05/18

2009-05-18T23:48:00.003+02:00

The lesson was held WED 05/13 and repeated MON 05/18.
The lesson MON 05/11 went with random hands, because I couldn't upload the prepared hands. Only my PC knows why this didn't work.

Study the movie with 5 nice and easy examples of elimination and following endplay.
Put this technique in your toolbox and it will save you much guessing and avoid a lot of "bad luck".

Endplay is in many books called an advanced technique. This is not true.
Once you understood the principle it is a very easy technique and it is so much fun.

Study the

movie

Yvon made for you. Look at the explanations and try it yourself next time you play.

lesson 15, WED 5/13 01:00(EST)

2009-05-05T20:30:00.008+02:00

Hopefully today the upload-problems are over so that Al can show you the proper hands.

11 may 2009 the teaching session was played with random deals as practice. Would not know wether (the repeat on) wednesday will be in the same format.

Ronald.

lesson 14, MON 04/20 16:00 (EST), repeated WED 04/22 01:00 (EST)

2009-04-19T23:00:00.002+02:00

Enjoy one of your last chances to execute plan 2 while playing in lesson 14 on declarerplay. (establishing a long suit in dummy to discard losers in your own hand.)

Is there a reason for a rule?

2009-04-19T13:31:00.015+02:00

Dear reader,
There seem to be many rules in bridge. Only one example: "with 13 HCP you always do an opening bid."
Most of them rules have the quality of "say thank you if you have received a gift." why?: "because I say so". I can not remember if I ever thought that a very good reason.

See here for some bridge rules given without a reason. So I warn you; the reason behind those rules please find them yourself!

I think you should only apply/use a rule when you understand the reasoning behind it.

Rules should be there to relieve your memory from all the reasoning that made the rules sensible. But now the strain to your memory seems to become even bigger because you have to remember wich rule applied in which situation.

Some hilarious but very "true" rules i found under "Burn's Laws"
Burn's Law of Total Trumps:
"When you are declarer, the total number of trumps held by your side should be greater than the total number of trumps held by your opponents."

I make the same guarantee for the Rule of Eight as I made for the Law of Total Trumps. If you never again violate it, your results will improve immeasurably.
The rule is applied in three stages:
1. During the auction, ascertain how many aces are held by your opponents.
2. Subtract this number from eight.
3. Do not bid at the level given by the answer.

The next Law is even better:
Burn's Third Law:
You cannot make 3NT on a cross-ruff.

The basics of BRIDGE, our beloved game

2009-04-16T14:27:00.015+02:00

You heard about bridge and like to learn the game?
1. Bridge is one of the most fascinating games ever invented.
2. Give it a try and you'll never relinquish your hold on it.
3. The rules of the game are explained in an hour or two.
  You need some experience to remember them.
4. You'll improve your game every day you practice it. There are no upper limits.
5. But you cannot learn by putting a book under your pillow. It is like many other things: You'll not improve without your own work.
6. The best place to play bridge online is BBO the great bridgesite invented by Fred Gitelman.
7. The BIL (BeginnersIntermediatesLongue) is a private club in BBO founded and managed by Maureen Hall. The club is a great place to learn all about bridge. To learn more about the BIL have a look on the BilBridgeLibrary.
8. If you have any questions ask one of your teachers or contact me by mail.

What is bridge? Here are some links to learn the basics.
1. To get a rough idea of the game look at this nice tutorial on Mike Lawrence's site.
  Mike is one of the most famous players, writers and teachers in USA and all over the world.
2. Another great site (probably the best on the www) is Richard Pavlicek's site
  There you'll find so much stuff, that you'll be overhelmed.
  I recommend to start with these pages:
  Learn to play Bridge
  Bridge Basics Lesson1 (Introduction, preliminaries, bidding, play)
  Later you'll appreciate all the lessons in BridgeBasics.
3. Karen's BridgeLibrary provides with a compact introduction to the basics rules of the game. The heading is getting started and it begins like this:
  Bridge is a partnership game, and therein lies its challenge. You and your partner communicate and share the same score on every deal. Each deal of bridge has two distinct phases: The bidding, which involves all four players, and play, in which three players participate.
  It is a good idea to have this summary to reread what you learned in your beginners lessons.
4. In Karen's Bridge Library you'll find a very useful glossary.
5. The ACBL (AmericanContractBridgeLeague) provides us with a nice download Learn to play Bridge. The software is written by means of the great program by Fred Gitelman, which is also the basic of his bridgesite.
  I'll explain how to use this site in another post.
6. To learn the basics of bidding and play Mike lawrence provides you on his site BridgeClues with 38 basic situations of bidding and play.
  I recommend you to study these 76 hands seriously.
  Btw. BridgeClues post daily 2 bidding and 2 play problems in 2 levels. If you learned the basics I recommend to have a look there every day. There was an old saying in Rome 2000 years before:
  Nulla dies sine linea.
  (No day without writing a line)

review 5th lesson on declarerplay in trump contract, monday 13th of april.

2009-04-14T15:32:00.007+02:00

Nearly all the b's in BIL were obviously scattered all over the BBO-space. Even after repeated calls into the darkest corners of the BBO-lounges only a few found their way back to Al's teaching table.

Well, the lost ones in cyberspace did miss an excellent party. Several 'coup de blanc's were served and savoured. Many high honors were counted to be on deck. And it was not unusual to see the small ones in a suit taking care of losers in the Masterhand. Some felt squeezed, but I am not sure if there was any reason for that feeling. But than I would not recognize a squeeze even while I was actually squeezed.

"losers": a concept around which all boards where the auction ends in trumps seems to circle. Assess your losers; recognize them; pinpoint them and think about how to get rid of some or all of them.

And all of that thinking; all those considerations; all this arithmetic; all that reasoning you are expected to do the moment and first minutes after dummy hits the table.

The link to the movie of this lesson you will find some time in the next days at the left of this review.

lesson 13, MON 04/13 16:00 (EST), repeated WED 04/15 01:00 (EST)

2009-04-03T13:09:00.002+02:00

This is lesson 13, and more precise the 5th on declarer-play in suit contracts. Lesson 13 given on a 13th. Is not that a nice coïncidence. Hope that that will bring luck to us all.

Theme of this lesson will be again discarding losers in the masterhand on an established long suit in dummy. In establishing a long suit part of the success is knowing about distribution. Example. If you have in dummy
♥AK984
0ver
♥652
in your hand than opps will have most likely 3-2 in that suit between them. You have only two tricks from top so you can not handle the three.
Very often it is wise to give away one trick in that suit. After that trick opps distribution will be 2-1.
And now the whole suit is for you! (but please bear in mind statistics are just that.. probabilities.. it could be different!!!)

Giving away a trick very early in the game when all other suits still have stoppers is much better than to wait till the end when the stoppers in other suits are already gone.

While establishing the suit you must worry about the risk that opps trump a winner of you. As usual you will be asked the questions: how many losers.. immediately or delayed.. do you need trumps in dummy? for ruffing losers in masterhand? for entries to the dummies long suit? Do you hold up and why?

Have fun and come and play, kib and stay.

review lesson(12), 4th on trump-declarer-play

2009-04-03T13:09:00.000+02:00

This was no easy lesson at all. From this lesson I show you a screen shot of board number 4. The lead was ♦King.

The masterhand was obviously south (Zuid because my language is dutch)
count the losers: 0 spades+3!!hearts+0 diamonds+1 club makes 4 losers.

You must play to get rid of at least one loser. The one and only big danger was giving the lead to east. As long as west is to the lead the ♥King is save.

You have to keep in mind that you plan to discard a loser in your hand and you need to establish your long club-suit in dummy. (and that establishing implies managing your entries to dummy) The spade suit alone is good for three entries.
So the first trick you have to take with the ♥Ace. ♠2 to the ♠8 was the next. And now you bring West to the lead. Because he promised ♦queen by leading the ♦King you force west now to take with the ♦queen (protecting your ♥king!!) . So do not spoil your own fun by ruffing but throw away a losing club!! The ♣5 will do nicely. Loser on loser. Whatever west does play now, the next trick is yours. As long as you take care to keep the ♠9 or ♠10 of in hand to be able to use the ♠J as an entry to dummy you will finally, ironically, only lose that ♥King. Contract made with an overtrick.

As Al said not really a beginners-hand; but surely a hand that rubbed in that as long as you get rid of enough losers in the masterhand your contract is safe.

For the movie click here.

Timezones

2009-04-01T08:49:00.005+02:00

The different time-zones are a great problem for the BIL and especially my classes.
Things are going more worse when DST is taking place at different days in different countries.
Looking for a solution to this problem I found a nice add-on for my firefox called FoxClocks. Maybe you want to give it a try.
FoxClocks is an extension for Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird to display world times in your statusbar (or any toolbar).
This is how my firefox-statusbar looked at 8:55 CEST (European summertime) on WED 2009/04/01:

Al

lesson 12, MON 03/30 16:00 (EST), repeated WED 04/1 01:00 (EST)

2009-03-28T12:27:00.004+01:00

Please check your summertime.
Different parts of the same continent shift to summertime on diffferent dates.
This lesson is held on Berlin-Amsterdam-Paris (central european) time.
Monday 22:00 PM and repeated at
Wednesday 07:00 AM.

The lesson is about declarerplay in suit contracts. More specific about discarding losers in the "masterhand" on dummy's long suit. (but please bear in mind that sometimes dummy can be the masterhand!)

You can only discard losers this way if the long suit is established.

So you have to answer all sort of questions..
Can you afford to establish that long suit immediately?
Should you draw trumps first?
Should you be afraid of a ruff by opps while establishing that long suit?.
How about entries?.
Can you reach dummy enough times to establish the suit?

Please join us on the announced time in BIL and enjoy learning in a friendly atmosphere.

lesson 11, review

2009-03-27T13:08:00.002+01:00

The LIN-movie of this lesson is available on Al's site. In the column on the left you can click the link.

I will not repeat what is told extensively in this movie. To me the most exciting part was defining what makes a hand a "masterhand". Yes i know; first: "do not touch the dummy".. second: count your losers .. , but do that loser-counting in the masterhand!!!

So pretty quickly you have to decide what the masterhand is after dummy hits the table.
Generally you count the trumps in hand and you count them in dummy. The hand with more trumps is the masterhand. But...
Sometimes in dummy are four trumps and in your hand there are four..
Now you count the losers in both hands.. The hand with fewer losers becomes the masterhand..
But....
Sometimes both hands are matched in their loser-count..

In that case the quality of the trumps is looked into. The hand with more honors in it becomes the masterhand..
But....
Sometimes both hands are equal in this aspect too!

Well then you look into how easy/quick/with the less danger you can get get rid of the losers in that hand..

And being that equal? Send Al a mail and hope he answers you before you play that first card in dummy?

I surely learned some "facts" from this lesson..
One of the many facts seems to be that every rule has it's exceptions.. So i will not be surprised too much if in one of the next lessons the masterhand will be the masterhand for a totally different reason.

Ronald

Lesson 10 WED 02/25 repeated SUN 02/29 4pm EST

2009-03-24T23:05:00.005+01:00

This will be the second lesson about "declarer play" in trump contracts. In the previous lesson the focus was on getting rid of losers in the masterhand (the hand with the most trumps in it!) by trumping them in the other hand. In these lessons the masterhand will be mostly south . Than dummy will be the hand in which you can trump (ruff) your losers... or... if you have a suit with more cards in dummy than in your hand you could play to discard on that suit, once it is established, losers in your hand or end up with extra tricks in dummy.

("Mostly", because sometimes you will decide dummy must be the masterhand...)

Easy enough if AKQ are in dummy and in hand you have the 7. Play the seven to the ace and you can discard two losers on the KQ..

More difficult would be having JT987 in dummy and in your hand 23.. The 6 outside cards are most likely 4-2 distributed and since AK and Q are out you will have to give the lead three times to opps before the suit will be established and you have two free tricks! Now you have to look for three entries to dummy. Sometimes your trumpsuit is the only source for entries.

And than all the dangers you can/will meet.. will opps rob your entries?.. can they force you to play a trump in the masterhand?... Can opps find a cross ruff and play you down before you can execute your plan?..

Enough food for thoughts and considerations to take really time before you touch that first card in dummy

Ronald

Lesson 9 WED 02/18 repeated SUN 02/22 4pm EST

2009-02-18T08:34:00.010+01:00

"How to play a suit-contract"
This is the first lesson in the new series.

The play of a suit contract is in general much more complicated than to play a NT-contract.
To get a better idea you might look up this article on my site:

This is a general rule in suit-contracts too: Make your plan of play, BEFORE you touch a card in dummy!!!
In suit contract we count primarily the number of losers, not the sure tricks.

You get to know the 2 most important ways to avoid a loser:
Plan 1: Ruff with dummy's trumps
Plan 2: Discard on dummy's long suit.

We confront you with the 2 most common dangers in a suit contract:
1) To suffer a ruff by defenders.
2) To be forced to ruff in the long hand too often.

These questions you should always ask yourself before playing the first card:
1. How many losers do I have?
2. Are those losers unavoidable or delayed?
3. How can I get rid of some losers?
4. Shall I draw the trumps right away and how many? (to make my bid safely)
5. What may be dangerous for my bid?

The most important decision declarer has to make is if he should draw opponent's trumps at once or if he must postpone this.
This will be the topic of the next lesson.

Review Lesson 8a 8b 8c

2009-02-10T22:11:00.019+01:00

Lesson 8a / 8b / 8c are together in one movie
You can download this commented movie from my site
Lesson 8a hands 1-4
Lesson 8b hands 4 4a 5 5a concerning especially the "dangerous" opponent
Lesson 8c hands 5-8

Lesson 8b showed 4 very similar hands. This is one of them:

sv|b|mb|p|mb|1c|mb|p|mb|1h|mb|p|mb|1s|mb|p|mb|3n|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pg||" height="290px" width="290px"/>>blahWest leads the diamond Q against your 3NT.
You count 5 sure tricks 1S+2D+2C=5.
So you need 4 more. Spade provide 2-3 and hearts 3 extra tricks.
You need to establish both majors and may lose the lead twice to SK and HA.
The question is which major to tackle first.
If you assume that West has led from the diamond length, he is the dangerous opponent, which should not be on lead when the diamonds are cleared for him.

Now answer these questions:
1) Hold up the lead or not?
2) Where to take the diamond lead, if you take it.
3) Which major to develop first.
The critical situation is, when West holds heart A and East spade K.
Try to answer the question before you read on.

Now click on "Next" every time to see the next trick played.

blah1) Don't hold up trick 1. You would dislike a club-switch.
2) Though it doesn't matter concerning entries, you take the first trick in your hand.
3) Start attacking the possible entry of the dangerous opponent (WEST). Start playing hearts.

During play you can click on EAST SOUTH or WEST to kibitz that seat only. A second click shows all 4 hands.
Right click in the diagram allows to hide played cards or show them if they are hidden.

The next hand has identical card for N/S but another bidding.
Diamond 8 is led.
md|2SJ32HKQ76DA32CA54,S765HA8543D86C932,SAQT9HJT2DK54CK76,SK84H9DQJT97CQJT8|
mb|p|mb|1C|mb|1d|mb|x|mb|p|mb|1s|mb|p|mb|3n|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|
pc|d8|pc|D4|pc|d9|pc|DA|
pc|sJ|pc|s5|pc|S9|pc|s4|
pc|S3|pc|s6|pc|ST|pc|sK|
pc|dQ|pc|D2|pc|d6|pc|D5|
pc|dJ|pc|D3|pc|h5|pc|DK|
pc|HT|pc|h9|pc|H6|pc|hA|mc|10|

"height="290px" width="290px"/>>blah

Some thoughts on the future of these sessions

2009-02-10T17:09:00.000+01:00

Some premises:

1. Small number of students at Al's current sessions on declarer's play and difficulties to find volunteers is something that should be overcome, for the benefit of BIL members. Lessons are excellently chosen and prepared in advance and their presentation makes them even more useful. Tips on how thinking process should go at the table are priceless for any BIL member (I will not mention other clubs, on purpose).

2. Beginners are usually shy and afraid of playing in front of a crowd of kibitzers. All of them do want to learn, but it is very hard to sit at the table for the first time. Sometimes it seems to me that they think that the lesser number of students around the table, the better for them is to be relaxed, ask questions and participate. But when the number of students at the lesson is large enough one can see that she/he is not alone with all her/his doubts, and noticing that there are a lot of bridge players with the same "Why?" and "How?" questions makes them more willing to be active.

3. Intermediates also want to learn but are afraid to be exposed in lessons aimed for Beginners only - so they will be around the table, invisible, learning, but not active.

4. The line that separates Beginners from Intermediates is very thin and not easy to make. But sometimes, like in this case, it is not important. Important is to play those hands with confidence: make the plan, see pros and cons of possible lines of play and execute the plan precisely. Those are skills important for (and, I am afraid, often missing of) both Beginners and Intermediates.

So, if at least something of above is true, I would suggest:

1. The restriction "For absolute Beginners only" for these lessons to be removed.

2. Finish this series of lessons for Beginners with the remaining hands of Lesson 8 but announce the next round of lessons for all BIL members (both Beginners and Intermediates).

3. Start the new session with a resume of the previous one (making the plan) and repeat hands from Lesson 8.

4. Continue planned lessons (with more students, I hope).

I am curious to hear other's thoughts on this subject.

Mihailo

coming soon; lesson(8) review

2009-02-08T23:48:00.003+01:00

Today we have seen the second part of lesson(8); Playing your hand with no trumps is more often then not a race between you as declarer and the honourable opponents.
Playing 3 NT is easy if you see 9 tricks from top. But when some of your tricks only come to you when and if the opponents are so friendly to give them to you the playing becomes more difficult.

And like you manouvre yourself sometimes in a situation where you have 2 free hearts in dummy but can not reach them because you have no longer an entry to dummy, so sometimes you can play your own cards and dummies cards in such a way that one of the opponents has two free clubs but never comes to the lead.

The dangerous opponent; the safe opponent; and how to break communication between the two is what makes playing in "no trumps" so difficult; and so fascinating.

lesson(8); third and last part, Wednesday 11 FEB'09 starting 1 a.m. (EST)

2009-02-08T23:33:00.013+01:00

Repeated Sunday 15 FEB 2009, 4 p.m. (EST)

Playing without trumps; some love it - some hate it. Before the subject is changed now a last chance to recapitulate the knowledge of previous lessons.

Lesson(8) continued, Wednesday 4 FEB 2009, starting 1 a.m.(EST)

2009-02-02T17:50:00.005+01:00

For your convenience the lesson is repeated at Sunday, 8 FEB 2009, starting 4 p.m.(EST)

Anything you could have learned in the previous 7 lessons can be found and, if you have your turn at playing a hand, applied in this lesson. Assessing the "danger-hand"; managing and/or creating entries to the hand with the long suit; into which of opps hands you choose to finesse?; do you need to hold up? and if "yes" how many times.

Hope to see you all at one of Al's teaching tables.

2009-01-20T17:29:00.015+01:00

Lesson(8), Wednesday 2009-01-21, starting 1 a.m (EST)and repetead on Sunday 2009-02-01.

The topic of this lesson will be playing NT contracts.
You will have the opportunity of using all the play techniques you have learned in class to win NT contracts.

Lesson(7), Wednesday 2009-01-14 Review

2009-01-13T23:27:00.074+01:00

You find the movie to this lesson on my site.

All the boards have the long suit in diamonds (except, board#5) and will be played in 3NT. You and dummy have 8 cards in this suit, so opps have 5 (13-8) and most probably distributed 3-2.( but when you make the plan you will try to be covered with all distributions 4-1, and 5-0) You will see that dummy has the diamond suit in sequence and only 1 0r 2 top honors are missing (except in board#4 and #5).When you make your plan, and as you are going to establish your long suit you must ask yourself if you have enough entries to dummy or need to create more entries.

Example#7.1
You have 7 sure tricks, you need 2 more that will come from ♦ suit and you have only 1 outside entryA♠ (the only entry you need).As you have learned before, you must establish the long suit before eliminating this entry. Therefore, you win opp's lead with K♠, and now it's time for playing ♦, but how are you going to establish the ♦ suit? All you need is to get rid of A♦.You have a sequence with all the high cards of the suit, so it doesn't matter which card of the suit you play from dummy's hand . At this point, if this has happened, you know that the suit is established, so dummy has all diamonds winners waiting for you to be cashed.
Next, opps take the lead, but you will win what opps play because you have stoppers in all suits. After taking the lead, now it's the time to use the saved entry to reach dummy and cash the remaining ♦ and the rest of your tricks. Contract is yours!!!.

Example#7.2

This hand is very similar to #1 but without an outside entry. You have 5 sure tricks and need 4 more that again will come from ♦ , so that means you need to create an entry in dummy after establishing your long suit. But how? By unblocking your ♠ suit. You and dummy have Axx - QJ10♠, the only missing honor is K so you must force opps to play it, preserving the remaining honor (Q or J) as an entry. Besides, you and dummy have only 6 cards meaning that opps have 7 and most probably West has the long suit. So after opps lead you win the round with A♠ and inmediately get rid of the A♦. Then, as West was discouraged by his partner to play ♠ suit it will lead another card of the remaining suits, but it doesn't matter, because you have stoppers for all suits. After winning the next trick, it's time for creating the needed entry by playing the ♠ suit. When opps take the trick only with the K, your remaining honor (J or Q♠), depending what you have played before, becomes in the entry that will allow you to take the rest of your diamonds.

Example#7.3

In this board you have 6 sure tricks and need 3 more that will come from ♦ suit without an outside entry. The play technique is very similar to the above board. You will play in the same way, winning the lead in your hand with A♠ and then taking rid of the A ♦ by using Coup en Blanc if you want (forcing opps to play A in the second round). Then you need to create and entry in dummy's hand, and as you are thinking that J♠ will be doing that,you need opps play the Q (the missing honor). Applying the rule of 11, you can gess that West has the Q. Therefore, you will play 9♠ and West could play Q . The difference is if they win, you could create the entry by saving the J♠ and playing a small card from dummy. But if you win(opps play 10) and you play the J you are just in the hand you need to cash the rest of the tricks. Did you see it? Your only chance to make the contract is by forcing opps to play the Q inmediately you have established your long suit.

Example#7.4
You have 6 sure tricks and need 3 more from ♦ suit again with 1 entry outside the long suit (A♣). Here, you must win the opps'lead because you are afraid opps switch to ♥ suit. Then you must play unbloking the ♦ suit by leading your honor and overtaking in dummy with A♦, following with another one until Q shows out(you have established your long suit). After taking West his tricks in ♠ suit, it will play in the other suits where you have stoppers and that it's the moment to reach dummy with the saved entry in ♣(remember, always you must establish your long suit before using your entry in dummy). Now, contract is yours!!!.

Example#7.5
You have 8 sure tricks and need 1 more that will come from ♦ suit without an entry outside (now your long suit is ♣: 8 cards), but as you are going to give the lead 2 times (2 top ♦ are missing) to opps you will need to create a new entry. The question is from which suit? Of course, from ♣ suit (you have learned before that you can create a new entry inside your long suit when you don't have an entry outside ) and how? by unblocking the suit to discover a hidden entry.
You win opps lead and play ♦ (lead low to Q) to force opps to play their top honors and could get the extra trick. Next step, you can win all opps' lead (except, they play ♦ helping you ). Now, it is time for establishing your long suit ♣ and create your second entry. How?. By playing your top honors from your hand and low in dummy, and then unbloking the suit playing the last honor J♣ and overtaking with the A♣ in dummy. Playing like this you have created your second entry 8♣(the only card of that suit). Now, you play from dummy the J♦ to force opps to play the A♦. Finally, after winning opps lead you can use your second entry and take your tricks to make the contract.

I want to give special thanks to Ronald for all the support and help that I have received from him.

Lesson(7) WED 01/14 and SUN 01/18

2009-01-08T18:11:00.025+01:00

Lesson (7) Wednesday 2009-01-14 starting 1 a.m (EST) and repeated on Sunday 2009-01-18 starting 4 p.m (EST).

The topic of this lesson will be again about "Communication ". The main idea is the same of last lesson: establishing your long suit and mantaining comunications with dummy to get the extra tricks needed to make the contract. You will be focused on saving and creating entries in dummy's hand, and taking care about unblocking declarer's hand to avoid communications problems.

Lesson(6), Thursday 8 jan 2009 review.

2009-01-08T14:33:00.005+01:00

You find the movie to this lesson on Al's site.

All hands were about communication. All hands were about entries. The first board you see at the left. You have to play 3 no trumps. From top you count 7 tricks. (1♠, 3♥, 2♦, 1♣).

You need 9. You have to find another 2. Not touching the first card in dummy you decided clubs would be the source of those 2 tricks.
No quick tricks available to the opps. Nice, we can afford to give a trick away without having to be afraid the opps have 5 tricks before you have 9.
Arithmetic with clubs: you have 8 (yours and dummies)
There are 5 with the opps. Probably distributed 3-2 between them. You make your shrewd declarer-plan:

If you can manage to play the ♣A the third time you play clubs there is a big chance that the ♣7,♣6 and ♣5 will be tricks for you. From your hand you can play two times a club. So to play a third time clubs you have to cross to dummy. Only the ♦A gives you that opportunity. So remember while playing: DO not touch that ♦Ace till you need it.

And do stick to your plan. Do NOT play the ♣A in the first round of the suit whatever the left opp throws on the table!
You will end up with 10 tricks.

More in general; many times you have to establish a long suit in dummy to get the tricks you need. If dummy has no entries in a side suit the long suit itself has to provide an entry. That's why you have to take your time analyzing the possibilities before touching the first card in dummy.

Can you replay the lesson-hands in your favourite computerprogram?

2009-01-05T18:02:00.003+01:00

Depends.

Very few programs can read LIN-files directly. GIB maybe can do it. There are more programs that can read PBN (Portable Bridge Notation) files.

If LIN-files are converted to PBN-files, without the comments , you could load that file into your bridge-program and and see how well you would do then.

I think you would have the most problems with the auction. Not all programs would bid the hands like they were bid in Al's lesson-hands. Maybe you can force the bids being the same as in the lesson.

If you want to know more about this you can leave a comment here..

Lesson(6), Thursday 8 JAN 2009, starting 1am(EST)

2008-12-27T20:50:00.026+01:00

Please pay attention, that the lesson this week is rescheduled from WED to THU.
!!! this lesson will be repeated at Sunday JAN/11 2009, 4pm(EST)!!!!
The repetion will be on SUN in general from now.

This lesson has the topic: Communication

All hands have in common you will find a long suit in dummy but you will not be able to reach the dummy once you established the long suit unless you plan your trick-taking with care.

These are the topics of the hands.
How to treat this long suit:
#1 Axxxxx - xx with only 1 entry outside the long suit.
#2 Axxxx - Kxx with no outside entry.
#3 KQxxxx - xx with only 1 entry outside the long suit.
#4 Axxxx - xxx with no outside entry.
#5 AJxxx - Kxx with no outside entry, 4 tricks needed from the suit.
The last hand is a so called "safety-play".

There are two hands in Fred Gitelman's Bridgemaster 2000 demonstrating the same issue:
A21: AKxxx - xxx with no outside entry.
A29: AKQxxx - xx with no outside entry. Another example for a safety play.
.

Lesson(5) Addendum

2008-12-27T07:42:00.003+01:00

HELLO BILLIES,

I want to recommend you the Bridge Master 2000 to gain confidence on the play of the hands. It’ s a CD that was developed by Fred Gitelman as you must know he is the man who created the BBO and thanks him all the bridge players could play the game online.
The CD is a wonderful tool for all players. There are a lot of hands to play and also is included an explanation of how to play them. The hands are distributed in five levels and we can see in the first level a few of them that can adjust very well with Al’s last lessons about How to play suit card combinations:

I want to share with all of you this ones:

# A4. How to play J 10 9 8 - AK32 8 cards in the suit
You must play low from dummy to the As or K just in case there is a stiff Q. Second you play J from dummy.
In this hand distribution was 1-4 so we must repeat the finesse from dummy. We had enough entries to table and intermediate cards to cash one high honor and then finesse as often as necessary..

#A5 How to play J1098 - AK432 9 cards in the suit
If the distribution of the missing cards is 2-2 you don’t need to finesse . In this example and with this distribution it works the old saying with 9 never, because the Q will drop (remember the tittle of lesson 3). But remember this old saying is only adopted, if you have no other clues.

Up to now we see the final contract always in NT, but in this 2 hands the contract was 6 Hearts (this suit is where is the combination we have to manage) but remember we have to count the losers with a contract suit.

#A7 How to play A5432 - KQ109 9 cards in the suit
Here again, as we saw in last review LEAD LOW TOWARDS HONORS and you will discover that West show out. For example I played 2 towards K or Q . Distribution is 0-4 so we follow low from dummy and play as declarer according what card plays East. Holding 10 and 9 you can cope with every 4-0 distribution.

#A8 How to play A5432 - KQ98 9 cards in the suit
This time you are missing the 10. You must lose a trick, if RHO holds J10xx, but you can finesse twice, if LHO is the victim. So your first card is the A to hold KQ9 intact.

#A10 How to play AJ1098 - 432 8 cards in the suit
Play the double finesse. You must hope, that LHO holds at least one of the honors K or Q.

#A19 How to play KQJ - 432 6 cards in the suit ( spades)
And AK10 - 432 6 cards in this suit ( diamonds)

In this example we need 2 additional tricks: 1 could come from spade and other from diamonds so the only hope is that Q and J are sitting in front of AK. That is only 25% chance, but this is better than nothing. If you have only a small chance, go for it.

I hope this will be useful for somebody, but you will get more help trying with the CD

Patricia

Many thanks for this comment Patricia. I edited it and made a new post.
12/27 Al

Lesson (5) Wednesday 2008-12-17 Review

2008-12-17T09:54:00.004+01:00

Today the topic was again

How to play standard suit-combinations

You find the movie to this lesson on my site.

The clue in the hands 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. and 5.4. is that it is often wise to

Lead low towards honors

Example 5.1. How to play: AKxxx - Jx for 4 tricks
Answer: You have alway 4 tricks if the suit is distributed 3-3. Low towards the j makes 4 tricks, if RHO holds Qx or Qxxx too. So the odds for this line of play to make 4 tricks are about 60%

Example 5.2 How to play: KQx - Jxxx for 3 tricks.
Answer: No problem, if the suit is distributed 3-3 with the opponents. But to make 3 tricks if LHO has Ax, lead towards KQx twice and say hurray, if LHO produces Ax.

Example 5.3 How to play: AJ10x - Qxx for 4 tricks.
Answer: The K must be with LHO to have any chance for 4 tricks. Then all is well if the suit is distributed 3-3. But you can guard against Kx with LHO by leading twice small towards AJ10. Don't waste the Q, LHO will cover.

Example 5.4 How to play: QJx - Axxx for 3 tricks.
Answer: This is a very common and instructive example. If the suit is distributed 3-3, you have 3 tricks anyway. But there are some 4-2 distributionswhich allow you to win 3 tricks too. Most beginners will make the mistake to try the finesse. But the finesse doesn't help against any 4-2 distribution. If the finesse is on, RHO simply will cover your Q, you must take the A and will lose 2 tricks against any 4-2. The solution is to lead

Example 5.5 How to play: AK9xx - Q10x for 5 tricks.
Answer: Play the Q then 10 to the A. If RHO shows out on the second round, you can come back e.g. with club to your hand, finesse to the diamond 9 and cash the rest. If you don't unblock the 10 in the second round of the suit, you'll be blocked.

In the lesson a student remarked correctly, that you must finesse the 10 in the second round if LHO shows out and you'll win, if you need only 4 tricks from the suit.

Lesson (4) Wednesday 2008-12-10 Review

2008-12-10T20:32:00.009+01:00

Today the topic was

How to play standard suit-combinations

You find the movie to this lesson on my site

Example 4.1. How to play: Axx - KJx for 3 tricks
Answer: play the simple finesse

Example 4.2. How to play: xxx - AJ9 for 2 tricks
Answer: First finesse he 9, and later the J.

Example 4.3. How to play: Q10xx - AK9xx for 5 tricks
Answer: First A or K and finesse accordingly if somenone shows out.

Example 4.4. How to play: Q8xx - AK9xx for 5 tricks
Answer: First Q and finesse twice, if LHO shows out. No chance, if RHO shows out.

Example 4.5. How to play: AKQ43 - 10982 for 5 tricks with no outside entry to the 5-carder.
Answer: First 10 to the A. If RHO shows out, back to your hand and finesse the 9. If all follow, continue with K and Q, but be aware to unblock 9 and 8.

Example 4.6. How to play: KQx - Jxxx for 3 tricks.
Answer: No problem, if the suit is distributed 3-3 with the opponents. Lead towards KQx twice and say hurray, if LHO produces Ax.

Lesson(4) Wednesday 2008-12-10 _______ starting 1am and repeated 4pm EST

2008-12-06T07:14:00.003+01:00

The topic if this lesson will be: "How to play simple suit-combinations"
For instance do you know the correct play holding A32 opposite QJ54 to make 3 tricks?

Lesson (3) Wednesday 2008-12-03 Review

2008-12-04T06:36:00.032+01:00

Today the topic was

Don't let a dangerous opponent get the lead
Don't believe old sayings (with 9 never)

You find the movie to this lesson on my site.

Example #3.1
6 sure tricks, you need 3 more from the diamonds.
If the diamond K is with West you'll score 10 easy tricks.
So we state: It is East, who may get the lead, because he may win the crucial finesse.

There we must play the spades in a way, that EAST is not dangerous.

This can be done by holding up twice
according to the Rule of 7.

Be sure to underatand the rule of 7 correct. The rule tells you not to hold up or not, but how often to hold up, if you analysed it necessary to hold up.

Example3.2
6 sure tricks again. 3 more tricks needed from diamonds. This example is very similar to the previous one. The important difference is that the crucial finesse in diamonds may be won by WEST. So he must not be dangerous. He must not be able to cash his long spades.
So the correct play in this hand is to take the first trick with the A of spades and keep the potential stopper (against WEST) with J2 intact.

Example 3.3
6 sure tricks again. 3 more needed from diamonds. 11 easy tricks, if you guess the diamond Q right.
You are in the very comfortable situation, that you can fix which opponent is dangerous and which opponent may eventually get the lead.
It is not wise to execute the Bath-Coup here, because when West switches to a heart after your hold up and you guess the diamond Q wrong, you are down.

Your plan therefore should be:
1) Take the lead with spade A, because you are afraid of a switch. Now EAST is dangerous while WEST is not dangerous (J2 is a stooper against WEST).
2) Play the diamonds in that way that ensures, that EAST never will get the lead. I.e. play low to the A of diamonds and finesse the 10 on the way back. As the cards lie your fine play will be rewarded by an overtrick. LOL

Lesson(3) Wednesday 2008-12-03 _______ starting 1am and repeated 4pm EST

2008-11-19T21:27:00.010+01:00

Help with BBO Movies - "LIN Files"

2008-11-19T19:29:00.004+01:00

If you have trouble reading a BBO Movie file attachment from a web site, or have trouble displaying it on your computer (for example, some of the text is cut off), you may find the following tips useful.

The BBO movie is a "lin" file.

LIN files are designed to display best in 1024/768 resolution

They do not display properly with 800 x 600 resolution. See your Control Panel > Display > Settings to change (you can change back).

Your BBO option should be checked for "wide screen". Log in to BBO, click on Options, be sure to click APPLY before closing the window.

Please contact yvon at yvonvanasse@gmail.com if you need assistance.

Lesson(2) Wednesday 2008-11-19 review

2008-11-19T10:04:00.019+01:00

Today we saw 4 examples, where declarer had to decide between 2 suits, which of them should provide the needed additional tricks. We learned also to be careful with the later entries to the established tricks.
You find the movie to this lesson on my site.

Example #2.1
8 sure tricks. We need one more.
Clubs will provide 4 more tricks after the A is gone. BUT good defenders will take their A and cash 4 more spades at least.

Even a hold-up in spades doesn't work, because you have hold only 4 spades between your hand and dummy. Spades had to be distributed 7-2 if the hold-up should be successful.
You must look for the 9th trick elsewhere and the only possibility is the heart suit.

Example #2.2
7 sure tricks. Diamonds could provide 3 more, if they are distributed 3-2. But while establishing the diamonds you must give defenders the lead twice. If spades are not distributed 4-4, you'll lose 2 diamonds and 3 spades. A better chance provides the heart-suit. You'll have 1 trick for sure and a second, if the heart Jack is onside.

Play a heart at trick 2, hold on your breath and finesse the 10. Continue with K or Q and club K will be an entry to your 9th trick.

Example #2.3
8 sure tricks. Diamonds will provide 3 more after A and are gone. But exactly that ius the problem: Defenders will score 2 diamond and 3 heart tricks before declarer will get his 9th trick.

Therefore declarer has to look for another source of tricks. Declarer should take the heart K at the table and play 5 rounds of clubs discarding 2 diamonds from the table. If opponents discard some hearts, he can try to establish a diamond trick. If not he must lead a spade towards the Queen and hopes the K is with West.

Example #2.4
8 sure tricks and 4 more in diamonds, if the Q is onside. But if East holds this Queen, the contract is in jeopardy. Defenders may score 2 diamond and 3 spade tricks.

There is a 100% for the 9th trick in the heart suit. But you must be careful:
1) Take the lead in your hand with spade K to spare the spade A in dummy as later entry to the heart Q. This is another example not to follow the rule of 7.
2) To unblock the suit play heart A and another heart towards the Q, J. You'll score 9 tricks with 100% certainty.

Playing MP instead of IMPs the decision is very tough, if you only should secure your contract or try for overtricks. But that isn't a topic for a beginners lesson.

How to comment a post.

2008-11-18T08:18:00.002+01:00

If you want to comment one of these posts, click on the link ".. comments" in the next to bottom line of the post you want to comment.
Write your comment in the window popping up, chose a identity (easiest: "anonymous") and submit your comment.
You'll see your comment not at once but at least the next day, because the comments must be released by an admin.

Lesson(2) Wednesday 2008-11-19 starting 1am and repeated 4pm EST

2008-11-15T09:57:00.006+01:00

In our first lesson you learned the 4 steps to make your plan in a NT-contract.
1) Count your sure winner
2) Determine how many additional tricks you need to make your bid.
3) Decide which suit(s) may provide the missing tricks.
4) Check up, what harm opponents can do while you are trying to establish the additional tricks.

In the second lesson on NOV 19th the focus is on topic 3) to decide which suit you chose to develop.

The lessons take place in the BIL in BBO at 1am EST and 4pm EST.

These lesons are for strictly beginners

2008-11-15T09:49:00.003+01:00

These lessons are indeed as I have advertised STRICLTY for BEGINNERS

Unfortunately the BBO Teaching Table software does not allow us to restrict kibitzers to a level

Nor can we block chat to the table because if we do that the Teacher and the BILAssist will not be able to communicate with the players, nor would the players be able to see the Teacher’s comments.

The Teacher (XX1943 - Al) will set the table permission to sit so he will be able to ensure that only the players the BILAssist has announced get to sit to play. The BILAssist will check the profiles of any who ask to play when allocating seats for the round changes.

We can tell the intermediates who call in to remain silent and we can order them not to send any private messages to the players and /or any beginner kibs.

We will enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy for any interference of any kind and we will take action against any who do anything to spoil these lessons for the BEGINNERS for whom the lessons are intended.

Now it is over to you to help us and yourselves

if you receive any comments by private chat while at the table immediately inform the BILAssist or XX1943 (Al) giving them the ID . Do not hesitate about doing so !

Learn to take and practice taking screen shots to send to me – admin@bilbridge.com - how to do this depends on your keyboard - mine is very simple I just key in the PrtScr key (next to the F12 key) that takes a ‘picture’ of the screen as it is at the time though nothing seems to have happened. Open your email programme select a new email and key in Ctrl + P ( to paste ) and the ‘picture’ is there to send to me later Screen shots are irrefutable and will be acted on immediately

On your BBO profile have Log Chat enabled – this puts a record of the session on your harddrive very useful and you can also copy/paste sections to send to me if necessary

You can set your profile (key in Ctrl + P) selecting the ‘Friends TAB” click on show enemies then type in the box the ID of the person and click on add > Apply then Ok to close Now you can block chat from that ID by going to the “Chat” TAB and tick Block chat from enemies

Remember !! these are YOUR STRICTLY for BEGINNER lessons

Volunteer to sit

When you have a question ask it – as Al says there are no ‘dumb’ questions so speak up

Report any interference

Follow up on the lessons by visiting this Blog site each week – there is also a link to here in the Beginner Section of the BIL Library www.bilbridge.com >Explore BIL> Beginner Section > lessons
Post on this Blog any questions that come to you after the lesson
When you are kibitzing take notes and write them up later – that is known as ‘taking ownership ‘ of them and is an excellent way for the mind to recall those snippets at the table/s in future.
Play as much as you can in between lessons – practice, practice, practice
Use the BBO Chatrooms to look at the hands and talk about them with a fellow player – how to use the Chatroom is in the BIL Library > About BIL > BIL/BBO is in the BIL Library FAQ section

Set up the BIL Calendar About BIL> Events Calendar (you know where LOL ) to send you an email reminder so you don’t forget and will also find out if a session has to be cancelled for some reason
Remember BBOFlash users have to also have BBO WIN 5.0.3 to be able to see teaching tables properly so mention that if you tell a friend about these lessons.
Scroll though the Kib box ( Bd# box top left of screen at a table) cursor over the names to see the profiles and add all your fellow beginners to your Friends List ( Ctrl +P Friends TAB ) then you will see them easily when they are online and you can make up a table to practice together in the BIL - if any BILFriend ID is online ask them if they have time to play with you – it is good for your bridge to play with better players.

We will do all we can to make these YOUR lessons but you must help yourselves too !

ENJOY & LEARN

Maureen (hallway),Founder/Manager, Beginner Intermediate Lounge (BIL)

Cherish Your Partner and Respect Your Opposition

Some thoughts on these lessons

2008-11-13T23:13:00.003+01:00

To an unknown fellow Absolute Beginner student

As a typical bridge player that self-acclaimed himself as an Intermediate, I take the liberty to advise You, my fellow student Absolute Beginner. It is not modest, I confess, but believe me, it is honest.

After the hold-up technique covered in the first and the percentage play in the second lesson of the "Declarer play for beginners" serial of Al's lectures you might have impression (or even fear) that these topics are too advanced for novices in bridge.

That is not true, of course.

The main topic in both lessons is the very basic one: Making the plan.

If I may say, this is the basic and most important bridge skill for declarer (and for defenders too, for sure). It is necessary for declarer to understand the need to investigate all possible (available) techniques in advance and not grab the one that seems the best at first glance. True, you've just started to make the building without, perhaps, limited number of tools (maybe You don't know percentages of the possible distributions and finessing is perhaps the only technique You know), but understanding the need to think of pros and cons for applying each of these tools (known techniques) and finding that there is no chance in some of them is the giant step forward.

In other words: there is a possibility that you will not know how to play these hands, but if you recognize what lines of play have no future, you are improving a lot.

So be patient, be self-confident and think.

The fourth foundation of the building you are making now, sometimes known as "Declarer play", is already there: you have one of the best teachers available.

Mihailo

Lesson (1) 2008 November 5th

2008-11-06T11:28:00.022+01:00

In this first lesson you learned the rule #1 of declarerplay:

Make your plan before you even touch a card in dummy

We learned that the plan to play a NT-contract consists mostly of 4 questions:

1. How many sure tricks do I have?
2. How many tricks do I need yet?
3. From which suit(s) will the needed trick(s) come?
4. What may happen, while I try to establish my tricks?
4.1 Can opponents do me any harm?
Will they establish their suit before I can establish mine?
4.2 Is there a dangerous opponent?
4.3 Are there enough entries to my long suit
(either in dummy or in my hand)
4.4 Is there a danger to block my long suit(s)?
4.5 What do I discard, when a long suit is played?

Example #1.1

This hand demonstrates the principle of the simple hold-up to cut defenders communication.
It is instructive too, how to avoid blocking the club-suit.

Example #1.2

This hand demonstrates the necessity of a double holdup according the rule of 7.

To learn more about this rule look up this:

Example #1.3
This hand demonstrates the danger of a suicid squeeze, if you cash a long suit with potential not sure winners in the other hand.

You find the movie of this lesson with the commented and recommended play on my site.
To view this movie you need the BBO-software netbridgeVu.exe
This software is ready to download from the BBO-site

.

Lesson (1) WEDNESDAY 2008-11-05

2008-10-04T20:04:00.003+02:00

This first lesson concerning declarerplay in a NT-contract has these topics:
1) After the lead: Make your plan before you touch a card in dummy.
2) The race between declarer and defender.
3) A sharp weapon: The hold-up
4) The rule of 7

Welcome to all, who attended one of my lessons

2008-10-04T19:45:00.004+02:00

Here is the place, where you find the movies from my lessons.
Here is the place to ask all the questions you had no time to ask or forgot to ask during the session.
Here is the place to share your thoughts about my lessons.
Here is the place to make suggestions or corrections or ..............

Welcome to all who found this blog by chance

2008-10-04T18:57:00.008+02:00

Bridge is the most faszinating game all over the world.
If you like some more informations, please look here:
Wiki Overview
Getting started
Learn to play bridge
Download the ACBL learning software
Bridge is cool (from the ACBL)

ACBL (AmericanContractBridgeLeague) is your best partner in bridge.

BBO (BridgeBaseOnline) ist the best place to play online-bridge.

BIL (BeginnerIntermediateLongue) is a private club in BBO founded by Maureen Hall to create a pleasant and friendly place to enjoy learning and playing this wonderful game.

My name is Albrecht Hollstein aka Al. My BBO-nickname is xx1943. I'm teaching in the BIL since 2005. You find a lot of bridge-stuff on my homepage.

I'll start a series of lessons for absolutely beginners on WED November 5th 2008.
These lessons take place in the BIL in BBO 7am CET and are repeated 22:00pm CET.
(CET is EDT+6)

The topic of the lessons is declarerplay. Remarks about bidding and defense are given only if necessary.

Al's bridge lessons in the BIL for beginners

Andrew's Bridge Blog: The Most Damaging Preempts Part V

coup à blanc, ducking: whatever

Declarer play for newbies WED 2009-09-16

Declarer play for newbies WED 2009-08-05 and MON 2009-08-10

Bridge 102 Newsletter (1)

Bridge 102 - Declarerplay-course for newbies in the BIL

Declarerplay for newbies Wed 2009-07-29

Introduction to bridge

Training in declarerplay 2009-07-13 and 07/15

Declarer play for newbies 06-29 and 07-01

Training in declarerplay 2009-06-22 and 6/24

Training in declarerplay

Lesson 17 a "partial" review

Lesson 17 review

Lesson 16 REVIEW

lesson 16, WED 5/20 1am(EDT) , repeated MON 5/25 4pm(EDT)

Lesson 15 WED 05/13 MON 05/18

lesson 15, WED 5/13 01:00(EST)

lesson 14, MON 04/20 16:00 (EST), repeated WED 04/22 01:00 (EST)

Is there a reason for a rule?

The basics of BRIDGE, our beloved game

You heard about bridge and like to learn the game?

What is bridge? Here are some links to learn the basics.

review 5th lesson on declarerplay in trump contract, monday 13th of april.

lesson 13, MON 04/13 16:00 (EST), repeated WED 04/15 01:00 (EST)

review lesson(12), 4th on trump-declarer-play

Timezones

lesson 12, MON 03/30 16:00 (EST), repeated WED 04/1 01:00 (EST)

lesson 11, review

Lesson 10 WED 02/25 repeated SUN 02/29 4pm EST

Lesson 9 WED 02/18 repeated SUN 02/22 4pm EST

"How to play a suit-contract" This is the first lesson in the new series.

Review Lesson 8a 8b 8c

Some thoughts on the future of these sessions

coming soon; lesson(8) review

lesson(8); third and last part, Wednesday 11 FEB'09 starting 1 a.m. (EST)

Lesson(8) continued, Wednesday 4 FEB 2009, starting 1 a.m.(EST)

Lesson(7), Wednesday 2009-01-14 Review

Lesson(7) WED 01/14 and SUN 01/18

Lesson(6), Thursday 8 jan 2009 review.

Can you replay the lesson-hands in your favourite computerprogram?

Lesson(6), Thursday 8 JAN 2009, starting 1am(EST)

This lesson has the topic: Communication

Lesson(5) Addendum

Lesson (5) Wednesday 2008-12-17 Review

How to play standard suit-combinations

Lead low towards honors

Lesson (4) Wednesday 2008-12-10 Review

How to play standard suit-combinations

Lesson(4) Wednesday 2008-12-10 _______ starting 1am and repeated 4pm EST

Lesson (3) Wednesday 2008-12-03 Review

Don't let a dangerous opponent get the leadDon't believe old sayings (with 9 never)

Lesson(3) Wednesday 2008-12-03 _______ starting 1am and repeated 4pm EST

Help with BBO Movies - "LIN Files"

Lesson(2) Wednesday 2008-11-19 review

How to comment a post.

Lesson(2) Wednesday 2008-11-19 starting 1am and repeated 4pm EST

These lesons are for strictly beginners

Some thoughts on these lessons

Lesson (1) 2008 November 5th

Lesson (1) WEDNESDAY 2008-11-05

Welcome to all, who attended one of my lessons

Welcome to all who found this blog by chance

"How to play a suit-contract"
This is the first lesson in the new series.

Don't let a dangerous opponent get the lead
Don't believe old sayings (with 9 never)