September 2019 - 62

Advanced Players

My Bridge and Yours
BY FRANK STEWART

The role of memory - long-term and
short-term - at bridge reminds me of
the sweet elderly couple who had taken
a course to improve their memory.
The husband was trying to recall the
instructor's name.
"What's that flower?" he muttered,
"with thorns and a sweet smell?"
"A rose?" someone prompted him.
"That's it," he said, looking at his
wife. "Rose, who was the instructor for
that memory course?"
In a local pairs event, North-South
are vulnerable, and I am East with:
♠Q 5 3 2 ♥8 6 5 ♦A Q 4 ♣Q 8 7.
South deals and opens 1♣, and my
partner and I are never in the auction.
North responds 1♠, South rebids 1NT,
North raises to 2NT and South goes
on to 3NT. Everyone passes, and my
partner leads the ♥Q.
♠ A K J 10
♥43
♦J96
♣J653
♠Q532
♥865
♦AQ4
♣Q87
West

North

East

South
1♣
1NT
3NT

Pass
1♠
Pass
Pass
2NT
Pass
All Pass
North's raise to 2NT was hungry -

62 Bridge Bulletin September 2019

frs1016@centurylink.net

some would say famished. At IMPs, the
odds favor bidding aggressive vulnerable games. Suppose you bid 4♠ and
make it for plus 620, and in the replay,
your opponents stop in 3♠ for plus
170. You gain 10 IMPs. Now say you go
down at 4♠ for minus 100 when they
are plus 140. You lose 6 IMPs. So you
figure to gain by bidding a game that
has about a 40% chance.
Those odds assume that you won't
go down more than one and won't
be doubled. They also apply over the
course of many deals, If you played a
one-deal match, they wouldn't matter,
and they matter only in a limited way
in a short Swiss match.
On the ♥Q lead, I follow with the
♥5, and declarer wins with the king.
He cashes the ♣A and leads a spade:
7, ace. He returns a club to his 10, and
West follows low. Next comes a second
spade: 6, jack - and I take the queen.
If West led from A-Q-J-10-x in
hearts, I can beat the contract with
a heart return (or with any return,
because declarer will have only eight
tricks to cash). But I do remember the
bidding. South accepted North's game
invitation, so I can assume that South
has a little extra strength. I doubt that
he would accept with:
♠9 8 4 ♥K 9 7 ♦K 7 2 ♣A K 10 9,
so I lead the ♦A. West encourages
with the 8, and I continue with the
queen and a third diamond, beating the
contract because the full deal is:

♠ A K J 10
♥43
♦J96
♣J653
♠76
♠Q532
♥ Q J 10 9 2
♥865
♦K853
♦AQ4
♣42
♣Q87
♠984
♥AK7
♦ 10 7 2
♣ A K 10 9
At the other table, the bidding
started the same way, but North passed
1NT despite being vulnerable. Regardless of the game-bidding odds, to raise
with that North hand wouldn't occur to
me. My teammates were plus 120, and
we gained 6 IMPs.
In retrospect, I wonder if South
might have accepted a game-try with
the hand I assumed he wouldn't hold
(above). Partnerships should have an
agreement about bidding vulnerable
games. You can stretch to invite - the
approach I prefer, lest good games be
missed - or you can invite soundly and
stretch to accept - an approach that
may let you avoid going down in your
try. But if both players stretch, hopeless games will result.
◾
September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2019
