Combine Your Chances
Finding the best line of play as Declarer is always a challenge. Instead of trying to determine the better of line of play A and line of play B the best play is often to choose a combination of the two. Here we look at how to improve you declarer play by combining your chances.
Optimistic and Pessimistic Declarer Play
Having the right mindset is an important part of approaching a declarer play problem. When you are in a good contact start to consider “What could go wrong?!?” and when you are in a bad contract start to make assumptions that good things are going to happen for you!
The King-Jack Guess
When we are defending and the Declaring side holds the King and the Jack in a suit then they will often have to guess the layout of the suit in order to take their most tricks. Here we look at the art of giving them the most difficult guesses we can!
Misfits and Moysians
Finding a fit makes declaring a hand much easier. When we are playing a hand without a fit it is much more challenging. Here we look at some strategies for playing hands that have less than an 8-card fit.
Michael’s Cuebids
When the opponent’s open the bidding and we have two long suits it is useful to be able to show them both immediately. This is especially true when we have a weak hand. Here we look at Michaels Cuebids and see how they help us do this!
Unusual NT
There is another valuable tool for competing in the bidding when we have a two suited hand — the unusual NT. Let’s see how this bidding tool is effective in competitive bidding.
Simple Overcalls by Level
Here we look at Simple Overcalls and how they vary based on situation and level — which is dramatic!
Competing Over 2-level Preempts - Lebensohl
Dealing with preempts is extremely difficult. Here we look at an extremely useful tool for dealing with the opponent’s 2-level preempts — an innovative use of 2NT as a convention, not a contract!
Leaping Michaels
Against the Opponent’s 2-level preempts we have ways of showing strong hands with two long suits by using a special jump overcall called Leaping Michaels. Here we see how to use it.
Bidding Over the Opponent’s 3-Level Preempt
When the opponents make a high-level preempt it makes our life difficult. Here we look at our options for bidding over them and what risks we have to take.
Dealing with 4-Level Jump Overcalls
When we open the bidding the opponents love to preempt and eat up our bidding space. This is especially difficult when their preempt is a jump to game in a Major. Here we look at how to deal with it!
Overcalling a 4-card Suit
It is frustrating to have a good hand and not be able to get into the auction. Here we look at a less used option for getting into the auction when the opponents open the bidding — overcalling a 4-card suit.
Gazzilli
The latest upgrade to “modern expert bidding”. If you love gadgets, this is what you should add to your bidding system.
Partnership Defense Philosophy
In order to defend well you have to work together with partners. Specific agreements are important, but “high-level” agreements are also important. Your philosophy on how we work together and how we signal is the most important part of this.
Dummy has Qxx+
When Dummy has a holding like Qxx (or longer) it is important to have good agreements about signaling our partner, so they can make a good decision about what to do next. This week we look at this situation in detail - attitude, count, suit preference, what does our card mean!?!
More Suit Preference
There is ore to suit preference signals than just the simple cases are trick 1. Here we look at even more places where you may use these valuable signaling tools.
Suit Preference
Our goal on defense is to help our partner. Suit Preference Signals are a way to do this by giving painter information about which suit we would like them to shift to (or where we hold good stuff).
Smith Echo (Reverse)
Against a NT contract, when the opponents win the first trick and attack another suit they are often leading their best suit. In this case, we have an opportunity to communicate with partner. Smith Echo is an agreement that makes use of this situation to tell partner if the opening lead was good or not.
Upside Down Count and Attitude
Giving Count and Attitude signals is a key part of defense. Modern expert players often use Upside Down Count and Attitude to communicate. Let’s see how it works!
Defensive Carding: Discards
When we run out of cards in a suit being played then we must discard. These discards are a great way to communicate with partner. Our first discard communicates a lot of information, but so do our subsequent discards. Here we look at making sure you are making good use of these discards.
