See Friday's post for a quick brush-up on the Losing Trick Count.
The LTC is certainly not infallible, especially in its simplest form that I’ve given you here. It tends to work quite a bit better when you introduce the concept of “cover cards”, which I’ll illustrate quickly with hand (C) from earlier:
(C) ♠AQ7632 ♥AT762 ♦5 ♣6
Let’s say responder has one of these two hands:
(C1) ♠K98 ♥KQ5 ♦98432 ♣A2
(C2) ♠984 ♥Q53 ♦KQJ42 ♣KJ
Opposite hand (C1), 6S looks great—on normal splits, we’ll lose only the ace of diamonds.
Opposite (C2), we’ll probably lose a spade, a heart, a diamond, and a club and go down in game!
What’s the difference here? Both hands have the same shape, the same HCP, and the same number of losers! What’s going on?
Well, hand (C1) has four cover cards, and (C2) has only one! Cover cards are defined as cards we know will cover (take care of) one of partner’s losers. Hand (C1)’s cover cards are the king of spades, the king of hearts, the queen of hearts, and the ace of clubs. Hand (C2)’s only cover card is the queen of hearts. So, opposite a major two-suiter, we’d much, much rather hold (C1) than (C2).
How do we know what’s a cover card? Listen to the auction! The auction on Hand (C) would start (opposite either hand) with
1S – 2D – 2H – ?
Hand (C1) is an amazing hand opposite the major two-suiter. Responder should jump to 3S, forcing to game and starting a cuebidding sequence:
1S – 2D – 2H – 3S – 4C – 4H – 4NT – 5D [Blackwood] or 5H [Keycard] – 6S
Hand (C2) is an awful hand opposite the major two-suiter. Responder should attempt to sign off as soon as possible!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Losing Trick Count
The Losing Trick Count (LTC) is an old, old method of evaluating your hand. It was first published in 1935 under the miserably long title of “The Losing Trick Count, as used by the leading contract bridge tournament players, with examples of expert bidding and expert play.” This book didn’t make much of a splash, but Ron Klinger’s fabulous 2001 book Modern Losing Trick Count took the bridge world by storm. Here’s the basic idea behind the LTC:
When you have a good fit (8+ cards in one suit between the two hands) with your partner, you can evaluate your “losers” to see how powerful the fit is.
Count one loser for every missing ace, king, or queen in your hand. Only count one loser for a singleton, and two for a doubleton. Never count the fourth (or higher) card in a suit as a loser. Here are a few example hands:
(A) ♠AQT94 ♥A853 ♦Q2 ♣75
This hand has seven losers: one in the spade suit (missing K), two in the heart suit (missing KQ), two in the diamond suit (missing AK), and two in the club suit (missing AK). 1+2+2+2 = 7. Your average minimum opening hand (and minimum game-forcing hand over partner’s opener) will have seven losers.
(B) ♠KQ652 ♥AK32 ♦52 ♣83
This hand has the same shape and same HCPs, but only six losers: one in spades (missing A), one in hearts (missing Q), and two in each minor suit (AK in each). 1+1+2+2 = 6. The LTC says that hand B is one trick stronger than hand A.
(C) ♠AQ7632 ♥AT762 ♦5 ♣6
This is a great hand with only five losers: one in spades (missing K), two in hearts (missing KQ) and one in each minor (A in each). This has fewer HCP than hands A and B, of course, but much more playing strength.
(D) ♠Q632 ♥KJ62 ♦76 ♣A52
How many losers does this hand contain?
REMEMBER: Only use the LTC when there’s a known trump fit!
A good rule of thumb: Take your number of losers, add the number of partner’s losers (let’s say I have 7 losers, and partner’s opened the bidding and shown a minimum: assume 7 losers, therefore 14 total) and subtract that number from 18. This figure tells you the contract you’ll make most of the time. In this example, you have 14 – subtract from 18. That leaves you with 4—you’ll be able to make four of your suit on most layouts of the cards. Bid game!
When you’ve opened the bidding with a 5-loser hand and partner’s given a single raise (9 losers), you have 14 total again. Bid game!
When you’ve opened the bidding with a 6-loser hand and partner’s forced to game (7 or fewer losers), you have at most 13 total losers, quite possibly less. Time to make a slam try!
Tune in Monday for a more advanced use of the LTC.
When you have a good fit (8+ cards in one suit between the two hands) with your partner, you can evaluate your “losers” to see how powerful the fit is.
Count one loser for every missing ace, king, or queen in your hand. Only count one loser for a singleton, and two for a doubleton. Never count the fourth (or higher) card in a suit as a loser. Here are a few example hands:
(A) ♠AQT94 ♥A853 ♦Q2 ♣75
This hand has seven losers: one in the spade suit (missing K), two in the heart suit (missing KQ), two in the diamond suit (missing AK), and two in the club suit (missing AK). 1+2+2+2 = 7. Your average minimum opening hand (and minimum game-forcing hand over partner’s opener) will have seven losers.
(B) ♠KQ652 ♥AK32 ♦52 ♣83
This hand has the same shape and same HCPs, but only six losers: one in spades (missing A), one in hearts (missing Q), and two in each minor suit (AK in each). 1+1+2+2 = 6. The LTC says that hand B is one trick stronger than hand A.
(C) ♠AQ7632 ♥AT762 ♦5 ♣6
This is a great hand with only five losers: one in spades (missing K), two in hearts (missing KQ) and one in each minor (A in each). This has fewer HCP than hands A and B, of course, but much more playing strength.
(D) ♠Q632 ♥KJ62 ♦76 ♣A52
How many losers does this hand contain?
REMEMBER: Only use the LTC when there’s a known trump fit!
A good rule of thumb: Take your number of losers, add the number of partner’s losers (let’s say I have 7 losers, and partner’s opened the bidding and shown a minimum: assume 7 losers, therefore 14 total) and subtract that number from 18. This figure tells you the contract you’ll make most of the time. In this example, you have 14 – subtract from 18. That leaves you with 4—you’ll be able to make four of your suit on most layouts of the cards. Bid game!
When you’ve opened the bidding with a 5-loser hand and partner’s given a single raise (9 losers), you have 14 total again. Bid game!
When you’ve opened the bidding with a 6-loser hand and partner’s forced to game (7 or fewer losers), you have at most 13 total losers, quite possibly less. Time to make a slam try!
Tune in Monday for a more advanced use of the LTC.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Interesting Play Problem
This hand comes to us courtesy of my friend Greg. You hold:
Jxx AKJxxxx J xx
You open 3H and play it there. The opening lead is the spade 9, and dummy hits with:
Kxx x Kxxxxx Axx
You duck in dummy and RHO plays low. What's going on here? What does LHO have? Plan your play.
Greg made some intelligent deductions on this hand and was able to score a very good board here. I'll let him tell the rest of the story in the comments.
Thanks, Greg.
Jxx AKJxxxx J xx
You open 3H and play it there. The opening lead is the spade 9, and dummy hits with:
Kxx x Kxxxxx Axx
You duck in dummy and RHO plays low. What's going on here? What does LHO have? Plan your play.
Greg made some intelligent deductions on this hand and was able to score a very good board here. I'll let him tell the rest of the story in the comments.
Thanks, Greg.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Most Spectacularly Awful Defense Ever
Last week in Vegas, my partner Greg and I were playing in the finals of a Bracket III KO against a very solid team: friends Mike and Eric were at the other table against our teammates Ellianna and Adam, and Greg and I were facing Victor and Steve at our table. On one board, we had the following auction:
(1S) P (1N) 2N! (3N)
or something like this. Neither Greg or I can remember it perfectly, actually. Greg is the one who stuck in the 2N bid, which shows the minors (at least, that's our agreement). He then led the diamond jack.
Dummy hits with something resembling this:
AJxxx QJ Kxx Axx
My hand was:
Qxxxx Kxxx xx Qx
Declarer thought long and hard, won the opening lead, then finessed into my spade queen. I switched to the club queen, which went low - KING - Ace. Victor faced his hand and said through a burst of laughter, "Making 5?" What just happened here?
Well, partner was off in la-la land, thinking he was showing HEARTS and a minor with 2N (not so much). So I led the club queen to unblock and set up his long clubs. But he unblocked the K from Kx to unblock what he thought were MY long clubs. Really, Victor had JTxxx of clubs in HIS hand. Oops.
Greg commented after the hand that if he had led a heart, that might've been a little better. His hand was:
x Axxxx JTxxx Kx
The only problem is that I'm quite likely to duck a heart, thinking the only way I'll score my K is to wait out the two inevitable finesses. Partner doesn't have hearts, right? D'oh!
If I'm in on the joke, we'll take five hearts off the top, and a few more tricks after that. This was one of the few boards all week where our stellar teammates were unable to cover our butts. But since we did go on to win the match, it goes down in history as a good story rather than the reason for the demise of our partnership... :)
In all seriousness, I don't think I've ever had a more fun group of teammates, and I certainly made my fair share of boneheaded plays (though none quite so entertaining as this one -- thanks, Greg, for permission to immortalize it). Even if we had lost the match, this is not something I would've been mad about. It's the ability to recover from such disasters that make a winning squad, after all.
We'll be looking to repeat our success in the North American Swiss Teams in DC later this month. Hopefully we'll have worked out our agreements by then :)
(1S) P (1N) 2N! (3N)
or something like this. Neither Greg or I can remember it perfectly, actually. Greg is the one who stuck in the 2N bid, which shows the minors (at least, that's our agreement). He then led the diamond jack.
Dummy hits with something resembling this:
AJxxx QJ Kxx Axx
My hand was:
Qxxxx Kxxx xx Qx
Declarer thought long and hard, won the opening lead, then finessed into my spade queen. I switched to the club queen, which went low - KING - Ace. Victor faced his hand and said through a burst of laughter, "Making 5?" What just happened here?
Well, partner was off in la-la land, thinking he was showing HEARTS and a minor with 2N (not so much). So I led the club queen to unblock and set up his long clubs. But he unblocked the K from Kx to unblock what he thought were MY long clubs. Really, Victor had JTxxx of clubs in HIS hand. Oops.
Greg commented after the hand that if he had led a heart, that might've been a little better. His hand was:
x Axxxx JTxxx Kx
The only problem is that I'm quite likely to duck a heart, thinking the only way I'll score my K is to wait out the two inevitable finesses. Partner doesn't have hearts, right? D'oh!
If I'm in on the joke, we'll take five hearts off the top, and a few more tricks after that. This was one of the few boards all week where our stellar teammates were unable to cover our butts. But since we did go on to win the match, it goes down in history as a good story rather than the reason for the demise of our partnership... :)
In all seriousness, I don't think I've ever had a more fun group of teammates, and I certainly made my fair share of boneheaded plays (though none quite so entertaining as this one -- thanks, Greg, for permission to immortalize it). Even if we had lost the match, this is not something I would've been mad about. It's the ability to recover from such disasters that make a winning squad, after all.
We'll be looking to repeat our success in the North American Swiss Teams in DC later this month. Hopefully we'll have worked out our agreements by then :)
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