Aces on Bridge — Daily Columns

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, November 16th, 2022


4 Comments

jim2November 30th, 2022 at 2:12 pm

On BWTA, just discussed this with the last person crazt enough to partner me at a tourney.

I would pass under all situations, but my partner would double if NV at MPs.

Make that 3D a spade, or change the JD to a small card while upgrading the JS to the QS, then I would double.

My philosophy is that the more my hand is a minimum in HCPs, then the better it should be in shape. Here, the JD looks worthless and the doubleton prevents the 4-4-1-4 shape.

Iain ClimieNovember 30th, 2022 at 3:32 pm

Hi Jim2, Bobby,

Funny (peculiar) game pairs – it is for overbidders in competition, caution on tight games (1N – 2N – Pass on a marginal decision is often a good idea if the field is split between -100, +600 and the odd madcap result), minus 730 is sometimes a justified risk if +100 is worth little, -800 occasionally is just one of those things and cold games get regularly decked in search of overtricks. And that is without TOCM which strikes me as a little bit like the bridge equivalent of Douglas Adams “Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal”.

Regards,

Iain

Bobby WolffNovember 30th, 2022 at 7:05 pm

Hi Jim2,

The good news from me is that I agree totally with what you would bid and, of course, your reasons for doing so.

The bad news for you is probably the above agreement.

Hopefully, TOCM is not contagious, especially the overwhelming kind, found on the internet.

Bobby WolffNovember 30th, 2022 at 7:18 pm

Hi Iain,

Again, I basically agree to overbidding having more advantages than thought, since the bonus of wannabe declarers IMO, are more prevalent than originally thought. IOW a winning player knows his or her opponents better than do others and like falling for beautiful women, are often morphed into temptation.

However please keep the above a secret, otherwise I will continue to overbid even though my previous action was already a full step in that direction.