“The NT bid used as an acceptance to an invitation by the captain, is a negative answer and does not necessarily reflects the possession of a balanced hand nor a stopper in all the unbid suits named by the team.”
Oct 092003
Bridge Is a Conversation
I was going to devote this page to a list of recommended bridge books, but in truth there is only one I can recommend: Bridge Is a Conversation by Gerard Cohen. Though self-published — no prophet is recognized in his own time — this bids fair to become a classic. Gerard’s writing, like his bidding, dummy play, post mortems and defense, is consistently entertaining and even instructive, in a weird way. All items guaranteed sic.
Oct 092003
“A game force bid is not necessary to reach game. It can be replaced by a cascade of 1 round forcing bid, at the expense of purity of the auction.”
Oct 092003
“Some players seem to think that making a negative double with a 5 card major is right. It is not, regardless of the cards held in that suit.”
Oct 092003
“Now that you have acquired the panoply of the perfect bridge player, let’s review it in a more global way, the strategies you may use to reach your contracts, or force the opponents to miss theirs.”
Oct 092003
“In some very sophisticated systems, point counts is all that matters at that point, because the distribution factor is dealt with a very precise and specific way after the opening statement is made, but for other systems, like SAYC or 2/1GF, there is some flexibility concerning the estimation of the points value of the hand when making the opening statement.”
Oct 082003
“A new breed of highly gifted players is actually able to play 3NT with 24 pts, 4 in a major with 25 points, 5 in a minor with 27 points, a small slam with 30 points and a grand slam with 34 points with a good chance of success.”
Oct 082003
“Gerard’s tip of the night: DECLARER PLAY: Each declarer play is like a battle. Prepare for battle. Count your winning tricks, your loosing tricks. Make a plan of attack to better your chances of winning the remaining ones.”
Oct 082003
“Gerard’s tip of the night. PLAY LIKE THE EXPERTS: When making an opening lead against a slam, lead your ace unless there is a compelling reason not to.”
Oct 082003
“Gerard’s tip of the night: ABOUT LEADS: Non-standard leads usually show non-standard hands. Use non-standard leads with extreme caution.”
Oct 082003
“Experts of the game know how to manage gracefully such the situation they create, most other players don’t.”