Odds and Ends

This post is an attempt to tie a few odds and ends from previous posts.

1. Summary of strong club experience in NZ nationals.

a) Opponents interfere over almost every 1C opening.
b) Bridge has so little to do with bidding system.
c) Playing against weak players helps reinforce our prejudices.
d) Strong club is a lot of fun. Standard sucks.

2. Suit combinations we should know by heart.

1. A3 ............ J10542
Cash the Ace and duck on the way back.

2. A4 ............ Q10985
Run the queen. Counter-intuitive. Compare #4

3 32 ............ AK10987
Cash the Ace. Play low to the ten.

4. Q10943 ........ A5
Cash the Ace and lead low to the queen. Can pick doubleton jack but not doubleton king.

5. J987 ........ K654
Run the nine. Then Run the seven. Superior to intuitive low to the king and low to the nine.

6. Q10542 ........ A94
Low to the ace. Low to the ten. Bet most would "double hook". Need the 8-spot for the double-hook to be right.

7. Q1053 ......... A942
Low to the ace. Low to the ten. Need the 8-spot for the double-hook.

8. J5 .............. AK9843
Cash the Ace. Run the jack. Superior to the routine "low to the jack". Low to the jack is correct when missing the 8-spot.

9. J5 ............ AK984
Cash the Ace. Run the Jack.

10. A5 ............ KJ984
Low to ace and low to the jack (or nine)

11. 32 ............ AKJ94
For four tricks, finesse the nine. If it loses, cash the Ace and King next.

12. Q1082 ........ A953
Finally....Double- hook :)

For combinations 7 and 12, leading a small one away from the ace is better if opponents are known to always hop king from Kx.


3. Officially-disliked system by the WBF.

Ware-Whibley, representing New Zealand, submitted a forcing pass system called Crunch for the Bermuda Bowl. The system would be permitted only in the knockout phases. They were pressured by WBF officialls to withdraw the system before it was posted for the other teams to see. As far as I know, there was no greater reason than that such a system would be a pain for the Americans and Italians to prepare against. It was suggested that submitting such a system may jeopardize the two spots that zone 7 holds for the Bermuda Bowl. They were also informed, even before the appropriate committee had a look, that such a system would probably be disallowed on grounds of incomplete information. With two weeks to go to the bowl, the system was disallowed on grounds on insufficient disclosure for one opening bid. They were not given a chance to improve their documentation.

Why does the WBF bother pretending that HUM systems are legal?