READING, PA and MANHATTAN, NYC - Talk about contrasts! At the beginning of the past weekend my partner Christine Matus and I played in a Sectional bridge tournament in the cornfields in rural Pennsylvania, and at the end of the weekend we tried our luck in a club game in Manhattan among the … [Read more...]
Snookering the bridge pros with four little hearts
September 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
CONSHOHOCKEN, PA - A week after my partner Christine Matus got her Life Master ranking in bridge at a Regional tournament in Rhode Island, I got all the silver points I need to achieve the same distinction at this past weekend’s Sectional tournament in Conshohocken. I’m within about 40 … [Read more...]
A rough and tumble game of kitchen bridge
August 26, 2012 By 6 Comments
Who says “kitchen bridge” is boring, low-level and unlikely to provide any kind of learning? Duplicate tournament players may look down upon kitchen bridge for all those reasons and more, but a hand I played Saturday night in the lovely North Wilmington home of Chet and Barbara Thayer at their … [Read more...]
God bless America – and the odd Dutchman, too
July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
BETHESDA, MD - Before leaving on a brief vacation to Holland for a family reunion, my partner Christine Matus the math professor convinced me to have one more try at getting some of the gold MasterPoints we both need to get our Life Master designation. That meant going to the National Capital … [Read more...]
Lebensohl bridge convention
June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar's Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions The Lebensohl bidding convention is an offensive bidding convention and was designed as a way to deal with interference after a 1 No-Trump opening. There are different ways of playing the convention and it can get very confusing … [Read more...]
Snapdragon doubles bridge convention
June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar's Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions Nobody knows where the term comes from, but it’s a colorful name and you may want to adopt this offensive bidding convention just because it’s such a snazzy name. It is used to tell your partner that you have the only unbid suit, … [Read more...]
Support doubles bridge convention
June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar's Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions This is an offensive convention designed to tell your partner in a cheap way (without going too high) that you have some support in his or her trump suit, namely three of them. Here’s how it goes: Let’s say you’re the Dealer as … [Read more...]
Help Suit Game Try bridge convention
June 15, 2012 By 17 Comments
Return to the Bridge Burglar's Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions This is an offensive convention designed to find a fit for Game even though one of the two partners professes to have only minimal values. A “Help Suit Game Try” bid asks a partner for help with a weak suit to see if there is a … [Read more...]
Reverses bridge convention
June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar's Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions Reverses are an offensive bidding mechanism to indicate to your partner that you have more than a minimum opening, to be more aggressive to reach a possible Game or maybe even more. In Standard American, a “reverse” is defined as … [Read more...]
Unusual vs. unusual bridge convention
June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Return to the Bridge Burglar's Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions This is an offensive bidding convention designed to deal—and defeat -- with the often problematic interference bid of 2 No-Trump after an opening in a major suit. Such a 2 NT interference bid promises a distribution of at least … [Read more...]