March 2016 - 48

Newer Players

Newcomer Help Desk
BY BRENT MANLEY

brentmanley@yahoo.com

A friend recently sent a copy of a cartoon published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in July 1939.
The drawing depicted a primly dressed woman talking to a man in a suit. She was going through
a rapid-fire description of the play of a spade contract. This was the caption beneath the cartoon:
"Bridge: The perfect game for those who don't find quantum physics challenging enough."

For many new players, bridge might
seem as inscrutable as high-level science. It doesn't help that the jargon of
bridge can be mysterious. This column and the next three will explore
and explain some of what vexes some
beginners.
Tap - As in, "The defenders tapped
declarer with repeated spade leads and
he lost control."
To tap is to force a hand to ruff. If you
are playing a trump contract with a 5-3
fit, it can often benefit the defenders
if they can arrange to make you ruff
in the hand with the "long trumps,"
i.e, the five-card holding. Five missing
cards will split 4-1 about 28% of the
time, and if that happens against you,
your contract could be in danger if the
opponents can "tap" you by making you
ruff in the hand with five trumps.
If one opponent has four of your
trumps and you are forced to ruff in
the long hand twice, he will have more
trumps than you do. It is often a winning strategy to refuse to ruff in the
long hand.
You have some flexibility if your
eight cards are instead divided 4-4 because you might be able to pull trumps
with one four-card holding and take
the "tap" in the other hand.

48 Bridge Bulletin March 2016

Run - Context determines the
meaning of this word. Say you are playing a notrump contract and you have
this suit: ♣A K Q J 10 7 6. When you
gain the lead and start cashing your
strong suit, you are said to be "running" the club suit. You may be running
the clubs to get to the required number
of tricks, or you might be trying to put
pressure on the opponents, either or
both of whom might have trouble discarding on the avalanche of clubs.
In a different context, "run" can
indicate your decision to bid a different
suit when partner's suit is doubled. You
might also "run" from partner's penalty
double when you are certain the opponents are going to make the contract.
Finally, say you have Q-6-5 in a suit
opposite A-J-10 in your hand and you
play the queen from dummy. If the
queen is not covered and you play low
from hand, you are "running" the queen
through your right-hand opponent.
Pull - Depending on context, this
can be synonymous with "run." If you
are convinced partner's penalty double
is ill-fated, you might "pull" the double
by bidding something. The more common usage is the acting of drawing
trumps.

Onside - Again, you have Q-6-5
in dummy and A-J-10 in your hand.
If you play the queen and it wins the
trick, the king is said to be "onside,"
placed so that the finesse will win. If
the queen in this example loses to the
king, that card is said to be "offside."
Forcing - This term usually applies
to bidding. If a bid is "forcing," it means
the partner of the bidder must not pass
unless there is an intervening call (bid
or double). Some players believe that
only strong-sounding bids are forcing,
but consider this auction:
West
1♣
?

North
Pass

East
1♥

South
Pass

East's 1♥ bid is 100% forcing. East's
bid indicates at least four hearts and 6
or more high-card points, but she could
have a much stronger hand, perhaps:
♠A Q J 6 ♥A K Q 7 ♦K 8 ♣J 10 9
In Standard American or even 2/1
systems, East must start with 1♥. She
obviously has high aspirations for this
deal, but knowing that her bid is forcing allows her to go slowly so she can
find out more about West's hand.
◾
Write to me with your questions or
comments: brentmanley@yahoo.com.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2016