TRUMP SUIT HEADACHES

TRUMP SUIT HEADACHES PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD (Dr. J)
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665510722
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Get Book Here

Book Description
The trump suit adds a dimension that makes bridge so different from other card games. In a suit contract, play is complicated by declarer’s need to keep control. If control is lost, it may be almost impossible to make proper use of one’s strength in the side suits. Before playing to trick one, one should ask what might go wrong? If playing a suit contract, is there a reason not to draw trumps? Or maybe just some of the trumps? Safety plays apply to all suits. Focus is on the trump suit, but the same general principles can be applied elsewhere. The skillful player displays pessimism: Suits will break badly, all fi nesses will lose, that’s the starting point, and things will probably get worse. We will look at a series of hands both from the declarer’s perspective and the defenders’, with focus on the trumps, and see how some of these problems might be managed. With bad trump splits, or playing 4/3 or 5/2 fi ts, it’s easy to lose control. Timing is crucial. On defense, we will look at trump promotion, shortening declarer’s trump holding, the importance of the ace of trumps on defense, when to ruff, when not to ruff, falsecarding, and other weapons available.

TRUMP SUIT HEADACHES

TRUMP SUIT HEADACHES PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD (Dr. J)
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665510722
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Get Book Here

Book Description
The trump suit adds a dimension that makes bridge so different from other card games. In a suit contract, play is complicated by declarer’s need to keep control. If control is lost, it may be almost impossible to make proper use of one’s strength in the side suits. Before playing to trick one, one should ask what might go wrong? If playing a suit contract, is there a reason not to draw trumps? Or maybe just some of the trumps? Safety plays apply to all suits. Focus is on the trump suit, but the same general principles can be applied elsewhere. The skillful player displays pessimism: Suits will break badly, all fi nesses will lose, that’s the starting point, and things will probably get worse. We will look at a series of hands both from the declarer’s perspective and the defenders’, with focus on the trumps, and see how some of these problems might be managed. With bad trump splits, or playing 4/3 or 5/2 fi ts, it’s easy to lose control. Timing is crucial. On defense, we will look at trump promotion, shortening declarer’s trump holding, the importance of the ace of trumps on defense, when to ruff, when not to ruff, falsecarding, and other weapons available.

The Search for a Second Suit

The Search for a Second Suit PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665546239
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Get Book Here

Book Description
Becoming a good declarer starts with some basic principles. All the books tell you the same thing; before playing to Trick 1, think and form a plan. But what should you think about? Players often look at a deal and see a new mystery, a complex problem. They become overwhelmed. Of all the ways of winning tricks, cashing high cards and taking finesses are easiest. But establishing a long suit requires effort and care. To set up intermediate cards, lose tricks you cannot avoid losing. The most common type of deal is a second suit. This book will focus entirely on variations of second suit type deals. It is divided into chapters, including one on defense, but there is some overlap. I show all four hands for convenience, but try covering the hands except dummy's and your own until you have played the deal through mentally.

Solving the Mystery of the Redouble

Solving the Mystery of the Redouble PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD (Dr J)
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Get Book Here

Book Description
More often than any other calls in bridge, redoubles produce confusion. When they do, the resulting disasters are more catastrophic than any others. Many doubles originally treated as penalty have been supplanted by conventional doubles. So also many "business" redoubles, originally used to quadruple the stakes, have been diverted to other uses. In this book we shall show you how to tell the different kinds of redoubles apart, and what agreements to make with partners to avoid confusion and its tragic consequences. An understanding of the use of these redoubles should be an essential part of your bidding system to improve your contracts and your results.

Suit Preference

Suit Preference PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665561734
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Get Book Here

Book Description
SUIT PREFERENCE SIGNALS If there was ever an area in bridge that resembles walking thru a mine field this is it. No topic causes more confusion and arguments than suit preference signals. “Partner, I played a deuce. Why didn’t you switch to a club?” is heard everywhere all the time. Most signals in bridge are attitude and some are count. At the end of the line are suit preference signals. And yet, they can be found in the most unusual and useful opportunities, often overlooked. The authors here thru the use of many deals explain the do’s and don’ts of suit preference signals. The history of suit preference and it’s present methods are clearly explained. After reading this book with your partner, your defensive signaling will improve so you will be able to traverse the minefields unafraid, and put fear into your opponent’s, defeating contracts that others are making.

Trump Promotion

Trump Promotion PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665559519
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Get Book Here

Book Description
How do defender’s win trump tricks? Other than having high honors, natural winners, it’s by getting an early ruff of a short suit. Far more fulfilling and intriguing possibilities arise in poking away at declarer’s trump suit and plucking out an unexpected trick. Trump promotion has been described as the magic of creating trump tricks that didn’t exist at the beginning of the deal. The basis for this is simple. By putting declarer in a position where to win the trick he must ruff high, he promotes one of defender’s cards to a winner. At times this can be surprising and clever. Often when it seems you have no possibility of further defensive tricks, along comes a trump trick seemingly out of thin air. A trump promotion, often referred to as an uppercut, creates a trump trick in a defender’s hand where one doesn’t exist. A couple of actions to note involve giving a ruff/sluff where declarer has no losers to discard. But partner is also void and ruffs high enough to force the next hand, either dummy or declarer, to ruff with a relatively high trump. In this book, Jim takes you thru the various techniques of how defenders achieve trump promotion. There are many example deals followed by quiz deals to help you when you face these problems at the bridge tables.

TO RUFF OR NOT TO RUFF

TO RUFF OR NOT TO RUFF PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD (Dr J)
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Get Book Here

Book Description
To ruff or not to ruff. The question seems so easy. To draw trumps promptly or is there something else to do first? Declarer has so many options. Ruff in dummy, a ruffing finesse, a crossruff, a dummy reversal, even a trump coup or scoring a trump ‘en passant’. And preventing the opponents from obtaining ruffs. What about the defenders? Should they be the ones to draw trumps? Can they spin straw into gold and manufacture some trump tricks? Sometimes it’s wrong to ruff. There’s a whole lot going on, many strange wonders that befall thee in the trump suit. You will see all of these in the instructive deals presented in quiz format, first thru the eyes of the declarer, then the defenders.

When Michaels Met the Unusual

When Michaels Met the Unusual PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665550538
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 101

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the earlier days of bridge, a direct cue bid of the opponent’s opening bid was traditionally played as a ‘strong cue bid’, a hand too strong for an ordinary take-out double, and forcing to game. A typical hand was any 4-4-4-1 hand with 18 – 19+ HCP. These occurred so seldom and players found they could be handled by starting with a take-out double anyhow that the direct cue bid was finally put to better use. The most popular use is to show some form of a two-suited hand. The Michaels cue bid is one of the most popular conventions among players in the United States. You pick up your hand in second seat and you have a nice hand. You have eleven HCP but nice distribution, 1=5=2=6. And of course, you are going to open your long suit first. But hey, wait a minute. Your RHO is pulling something out of his bidding box. That’s not fair. This isn’t going to be so easy. But we have lots of tools to describe 2-suited hands. The two most popular are the Michaels Cue Bid, and the Unusual Notrump. The parameters for both conventions are the same. One should have at least 5-5 distribution to start. Some partnerships restrict their use of both for hands that are either ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ but not in the ‘middle’ range. This idea however has been losing favor with most expert partnerships who rightly feel shape trumps strength. The more modern feeling is that the distributional nature of their hand outweighs any disadvantage. They prefer entering the auction as soon as possible regardless of strength. That can be worried about later. We will discuss this more in later chapters

SIMPLE SQUEEZES

SIMPLE SQUEEZES PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD (Dr J)
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Get Book Here

Book Description
Squeezes. Just the word strikes fear into the heart of many bridge players. But simple squeezes are actually quite simple. The single or simple squeeze accounts for 90% of squeezes and 90% of this book deals with simple squeezes. If you wish to become more than just a mediocre bridge player mastering the techniques of basic simple squeeze play is a must. In any session of bridge of twenty or so deals, the opportunity of some form of squeeze invariably arises on three to four deals even if unrecognized. Don’t worry about the other types. They are usually only discovered in post-mortem analysis. The purpose of this book is to guide you thru what you can easily master. You will find that the feeling of executing your first squeeze is a “once in a lifetime thrill” at the table.

IMPROVING YOUR TIMING

IMPROVING YOUR TIMING PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD (Dr J)
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Get Book Here

Book Description
Timing is everything. Playing a bridge hand, either as declarer or defender is often difficult enough. But in addition, knowing when to do whatever it is you are supposed to do adds another perspective to the game. Card play includes recognition of deal types that can guide you to the best plan. This book examines which of the tasks you hope to accomplish must be done when. Whether you declare or defend, you must make some useful plays promptly, but others can or must wait. After studying and absorbing the lessons in the deals in this book, you will find your timing to have improved whether playing a simple part score or defending against a complicated slam.

Shortness

Shortness PDF Author: James Marsh Sternberg MD
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665553464
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is about only one thing. Shortness, singletons or voids. It’s impossible to overestimate the value distribution plays in bidding accuracy. High cards are nice; anybody can bid games and slams when the high cards are falling out of their hands onto the table. But usually those results don’t get you very far. It’s usually an average or maybe just above. You don’t win bridge tournaments that way. The pairs who bid games and slams on less and who accurately stay out of bad games and slams, those are the winners. When the ‘room’ is in 3NT scoring +460 or +490 and you are in six diamonds scoring +920, then come and tell me about it. I’ve tried to cover the different ways a player can ask or tell about shortness. The book is divided into chapters on offense and defense. There are different ways to do things in bridge. I’ve presented a system I’ve learned from some of the best. You may prefer something else. Whatever works, great. I want to give you some things to think about and suggest solutions. There are lots of ways to do things in bridge. This is one way. I hope you fi nd it helpful at the table. James Marsh Sternberg, MD Palm Beach Gardens, FL