September 2011 - 52

Claim with Colchamiro

Mel Colchamiro
www.melbridge.com

Baseball and bridge
Baseball and bridge have an amazing thing in common - numerical
symmetry when it comes to winning
down the stretch.
In baseball, the team leading its division usually has a winning percentage above .600. At matchpoint bridge,
to win your section, you usually have
to have at least a 60% game.
Over the course of the 162-game
baseball season, every team - even
the ones who win the pennant - usually loses at least 60 games. A record
as good as 102-60 (.630) will almost
always win the division; so, too, will a
63% score win its section and frequently, the bridge game overall. But
within that 63% game there are sure
to be some below-average (losing)
boards. Think of each board like a
single baseball game - one segment
of a long session (season).
I have to admit that the baseball
analogy is imperfect because in
bridge, unlike baseball, getting a zero
is worse than scoring a little below average. "So Mel, don't I need some tops
to offset some of my zeros to win the
duplicate?" Yes, you do, but don't try
too hard to make them happen.
52 Bridge Bulletin September 2011

More specifically, don't be a "top
or bottom player." I don't mean be a
pushover, but don't push for chancy
games or slams. Strive to follow world
champion Zia Mahmood's number one
matchpoint rule (echoed by multiple
national champion and fellow Bridge
Bulletin writer Larry Cohen): avoid
zeros. Note that their guideline is not
"try to get tops," but just avoid zeros.
Swing for the fences?
Suppose in a duplicate game you
hold:
K x x x J x A x x x K x x.
Partner opens 1 and raises your
1 response to 2. What now? Well,
you have 11 high-card points. Partner
could have as many as 15 HCP. Should
you try for game? My answer is no.
Even if partner has:
A x x x K x x K x A x x x,
a solid 14-HCP raise, you'll need a lot
of luck to make four. Spades have to
split 3-2 and the A has to be onside;
even then, you'll have to ruff two
diamonds in the dummy. Whew! A lot
of work. If partner's hypothetical K
or K is the queen instead, you'll be
sweating to make even nine tricks.
Furthermore, there are the instances
when partner has correctly raised
from 1 to 2 with three-card support on a hand such as:
A J x K x x x x  A x x x x.
Barring several miracles and a lot of
defensive help, the 10 tricks needed to
make 4 just aren't there.
In June, I was playing in a local duplicate game, and the bidding by the

opponents proceeded:
Opener
1
2
5(1)

Responder
1
4NT
6

(1) 0 or 3 key cards.
Dummy
 K 10 3
AKQ5
QJ8
Q72
Declarer
65
62
A54
 A K J 10 5 4
I smiled when I saw dummy. A nice
hand, I said to myself, but not nearly
as good as responder thought when
she leapt off key-card hunting. Even
though her partner had a solid hand
for his 1-2 calls, and even though
the A was onside, the K was offside. So 6 failed by one trick. They
got a half a matchpoint out of 11.
She had swung for the fences,
struck out and lost the game. They
came in second in their section, losing the East-West "pennant" by two
matchpoints. You can look it up in the
record books!
Note: As many astute readers spotted, the first deal in my July column
contained two Qs. Declarer's hand
should have been:
K Q 10 7 6 J 9 2 6 3 A J 10.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2011