Thursday, June 28, 2012

EMS

Monday evening when I played with Cristi there came a time when she opened 1 heart.  My RHO passed, and since I held only 7 HCPs and was void in hearts (with bad spades) this was cause for great concern. What if my LHO was loaded in hearts and also passed? Disaster! Should I come to the rescue and bid my suit, diamonds?  I was well aware that this would put us at the two level, causing my partner to think that I had a much better hand than I did.  This could put us on the road to somewhere we didn't want to go.  

I bid 2 diamonds.

The opponents came into the auction and we ended up playing defense.  Afterwards, while waiting for a table, one of the opponents, an A player, approached me.

"NEVER RESCUE YOUR PARTNER," she admonished, wagging her finger at me.

"But I was void in her suit."  My feeble attempt at self-defense fell flat.

"It doesn't matter.  Someone would have bid, and even if we didn't, she would be better off in her suit at the one level.  Never rescue your partner!"

Fast forward two days later, to the Wednesday afternoon game that I played with Julie.  There came a time when she opened 1 club.  My RHO passed, and since I had only 2 little clubs to add to her possible 3 clubs, this was cause for great concern.  I had five hearts but only 2 HCPs (although one of the jacks was a heart).  Should I bid my hearts?

Echoes of "NEVER RESCUE YOUR PARTNER" rang through my head. However, I knew that Julie really does not like to be left in 1 club. Should I listen to the A player or please my partner?

I bid 1 heart.

My LHO passed and Julie pulled out the "stop" card before she jumped in spades.  I had two spades and couldn't leave her in a 4 - 2 fit. Disaster! Oh boy, I thought as I bid 2NT, here we go.  Julie bid 3NT.

The bridge goddesses were smiling down at me and somehow I made the contract (it was a top board).  However, I did not take this as a sign to play EMS--we talked to a couple of other A players who also told us to NEVER RESCUE YOUR PARTNER!

So Julie and I agreed that there will most likely be some 1 club contracts in our future.


  


  

Friday, June 22, 2012

Communication

When sitting north, as I was at yesterday's game, I feel somewhat like the hostess at a dinner party.  At times I go so far as to offer up a cheery "Welcome to Table 8!" in an effort to be hospitable and make the "guests" comfortable.  Yesterday, when another pair approached our table and my partner was gone for the moment, I made polite small talk as we waited.

"How's your game going?"  I knew this was a nice question, because these were A players and I was quite sure that their game was going just fine.

"Pretty good," was the unsurprising answer.  "How's your game going?"

"Not so good," I admitted.  "I'm playing with a new partner and we are not communicating well."

"I've been playing with (east) for 20 years, and we still miscommunicate!" We all chuckled.  At that point my partner returned to the table and unfortunately we went on to prove my point.

In addition to communicating through bids (I misread Melissa's bids and she misread mine) and through play (ditto), there are several other forms of communication happening at the bridge club.  Most are good, but with the potential to become annoying.

For example:  Small talk as you are waiting to start play can be friendly and welcoming.  However, this becomes not-so-good when it is loud (disturbing others), excessive (holding up play), or focused on a previous board (excluding the other pair).

Another example:  Talk after you play can be a check of what just happened ("where was that king?"), acknowledgement of opponents' expertise ("nice defense"), or a quick lesson ("should I have tried the finesse?").  While this talk can become a problem if it goes on for too long and holds up play, I think the bigger issue is that it sometimes becomes self-congratulatory and borders on boasting.

Interesting talk at neighboring tables is good for those players, but distracting to others if the players are just quiet enough so that you can't hear all of the details ("What happened???  Can you speak up?").  The directors are discreet and efficient at settling issues at tables, but this takes my attention away from the game when the alleged offender is a close friend or if there is a lot of agitation.  For me, some of the best talk comes after the game when we compare scores and talk about how others bid and played the difficult hands.

Yesterday's miscommunication with my partner was so befuddling that we had a hard time making sense of things such as where to go for a drink after the game.  It's tough when bridge affects your life like that!



Friday, June 8, 2012

Bridge and Golf

Anyone who has played both golf and bridge can tell you there are many similarities between the two "games".  The first thing is proper fundamentals.  Whenever I am playing bad golf I check my fundamentals:  proper grip, good alignment, and staying in tempo.  The same goes for when I am playing bridge:  proper bidding (no more over calling that moth-eaten five card suit) and good defense (DO NOT underlead an Ace in a suit contract and reasonable declarer play - Do you really need to take that finesse with a singleton?).
   
The next similarity is playing in the moment.  Forget about that bad board last round or who else is sitting in your direction; focus on things you have control over at that moment.  Don't waste the mental energy of wondering how you are doing, one never really knows until you see the final scores.
   
Avoid slow play:  There is no doubt some hands take longer to play than others but PLEASE lead before you write on your convention card, put down the dummy before you write on your convention card and if you are behind, save the conversation with your partner for later.
   
Hopefully these few recommendations will improve both your bridge and golf scores!