Chat log for Grizz on Defense in the BIL, Forcing Defense grizz->Club: !s!h Grizz on Defense will start in 15 minutes in the BIL. All members are invited to attend. Today's topic is The 5 Basic Defensive Strategies !d!c basically->Club: ok grizz->Club: !s!h Grizz on Defense will start in 5 minutes in the BIL. All members are invited to attend. Today's topic is The 5 Basic Defensive Strategies !d!c grizz: Hi everybody, thanks for attending another of a series of lessons on Defense. grizz: Chat logs and hand records are stored in your computer for later review. For information on how to retrieve them, go the BIL homepage or email me. grizz: I teach private individual, pair, and small group lessons. If you would like to know more please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. grizz: Archives of old sessions are available at GrizzBridge.com, on the Lessons and Archives page. grizz: There will be lots of questions. I want to address them all, but in a manner helpful to all, so please ask them in open chat. grizz: As always i encourage participation by all kibs grizz: So jump right in with a comment, question, or bid at any time, but please do it in open chat... grizz: ...since I can't always respond to private chat. grizz: We have worked on opening leads, 3rd hand play at Trick 1, and leads and signals at Tricks 2-13. grizz: Then last week we talked about Lavinthal and Odd/Even discards. grizz: This week we will begin to incorporate those concepts in a broader defensive strategy. grizz: All of you have been taught that when declaring a hand you should stop and plan the play before touching any cards at Trick 1. grizz: That is excellent advice, and I urge all of you to follow it. grizz: But have you considered that it also applies to the defenders? grizz: It does indeed! And even more so than for declarer! grizz: Because declarer can see his hand and dummy, all of his combined partnership assets. grizz: But defenders do not enjoy that advantage. Campus61: yes and my plan sometimes fails :( at defense ->Campus61: :) grizz: Opening leader in particular is at a tremendous disadvantage, having to play before seeing dummy. grizz: And then for the balance of the hand the defenders can see their hand and dummy, but must make inferences from the bidding, play and defensive signals. grizz: There are only 5 basic types of defensive strategy at the beginning of a hand. grizz: I will list them first and give examples later today, and we will spend a whole session on type in following weeks. grizz: By the way, these concepts are out of the book "How The Experts Win At Bridge" by Burt Hall and Lynn Rose-Hall. grizz: The 5 lines of defense are: grizz: 1. Force declarer to ruff, and lose control of his own trump suit. grizz: 2. Active defense. grizz: 4. Reduce ruffing power. grizz: 5. Create trump tricks. grizz: Commit those 5 phrases to memory, because you will use them for the rest of your bridge life. basically: what is #3 jaymac: missed #3 JohnnyHiLo: its only 4 gomites: i'm missing #3 hoppyjack: What happened to 3 grizz: lol that was a test, and you pass :) IraCT: Passive grizz: 3. Passive defense. Campus61: lol wyoming33: :) grizz: In addition, there are 5 tools that help you figure out what partner and declarer have in terms of strength and shape. they are: grizz: a. Inferences from bidding and play. grizz: b. Counting points. grizz: c. Counting distribution. grizz: d. Counting tricks. grizz: e. Defensive signals. grizz: I would argue that these two sets of concepts are rank-ordered by their importance too. grizz: Let me repeat those, before we dive into the messy details. grizz: The 5 lines of defense are: grizz: 1. Force declarer to ruff, and lose control of his own trump suit. grizz: 2. Active defense. grizz: 3. Passive defense. grizz: 4. Reduce ruffing power. grizz: 5. Create trump tricks. grizz: The 5 tools that help you figure out what partner and declarer have in terms of strength and shape are: grizz: a. Inferences from bidding and play. grizz: b. Counting points. grizz: c. Counting distribution. grizz: d. Counting tricks. grizz: e. Defensive signals. grizz: Are there any questions before we tackle the first concept in greater depth? MARLE: no tx grizz: Good. After all, bridge is such an easy game, isn't it? grizz: Let us now look at an example, before we talk about general conditions for a Forcing Defense to work. grizz: lol my first mistake already! Manso21: E COULD HAVE OPEN 2!h ? grizz: The auction was unremarkable, with South opening 1!H and North raising to 2!H. wyoming33: !S?? grizz: yes, East could have opened a weak 2, but chose not to allenC: outside values Manso21: ty sry about capps grizz: Looking at extra values South made a Help Suit Game try in !D, announcing extra values and asking whether North had more than a minimum and honors to plug holes in South's !D suit. Campus61: not kj10xxx IraCT: u mean spades grizz: oh, yes 2nd mistake! grizz: 1 more mistake, and class is dismissed grizz: lol wyoming33: dont get off that easy:( grizz: With 9 hcp and the !DKQx North was happy to accept the game try. grizz: This is a routine 4!S contract. If left unmolested, declarer has 5 tops !Ss, 1 top !H, and he can develop 3!D tricks after driving out the A. grizz: A second !H trick is also available, whether the finesse works or not, and there are plenty of entry cards to let declarer walk off with 10 tricks. grizz: But look what happens if West launches a Forcing Defense at Trick 1. grizz: West starts with a small !C - a deviation from our previously-described 4th-best lead, but important here because the 4th-best card is ambiguous - the 6. grizz: Partner might read this as a discouraging card, 2nd highest from 4 small, top of a doubleton, or middle from 3 small. grizz: In any of these cases partner should shift if he wins the trick, and West wants to make sure that East continues !Cs if possible. grizz: East wins the A and returns the 8, trapping declarer's Q. West knows that both East and South are out of !Cs, but he continues anyway with his Forcing Defense. grizz: South proceeds to draw trumps, discovering the bad news about the 4-1 split. grizz: Problems now for South Flaskemand: Man, you write and play fast. grizz: Since he has only 4 left he must use them all to draw West's little ones grizz: 2 now grizz: And he hopes that East has the !DA... grizz: But no, West gets in with the !DA and cashes 2!Cs to set the contract, and E-W chalk up a well-deserved top board. grizz: Notice that if South delays pulling trump to knock out the !DA it doesn't help. grizz: West just just returns another !c that South must ruff with a natural trump winner, and now West wins a !c and a long trump. grizz: So how did West know to employ the Forcing Defense on this hand? grizz: There are 4 conditions in which the Forcing Defense can work. They are: Walddk2 (Broadcast): Our live vugraph broadcast from Australia is about to start grizz: 1. Declarer has a 2-suiter. grizz: 2. Any time you have 4 trumps, or think partner might. grizz: 3. Declarer is in a 4-3 or 5-2 trump fit. grizz: 4. Any time the long trump hand can be forced to ruff early in the play of the hand. grizz: So the tipoffs on this hand were: grizz: a. Ops have some semblance of a 2-suit fit. Opener's !H suit was supported, and dummy liked opener's !D Help Suit Game Try. grizz: b. West has 4 little trumps. grizz: c. West has a nice long !C suit. grizz: So conditions 1, 2 and 4 were satisfied, and the Forcing Defense was worth a shot. grizz: West got lucky that partner had the !CA and declarer had a doubleton, but West still gets a big gold star for creating the circumstances that allow the Forcing Defense to work. grizz: Note also that if ANY of the 4 conditions exist the line is worth a shot. grizz: Here 3 of the 4 were present, so there was a reasonable likelihood of success. grizz: Are there any questions before we look at another example? IraCT: Did West infer his p didnt have the K!d? grizz: at Trick 1? IraCT: yes 2 d a ruff and wait for a club trick pzee: what about the importance of entries like the A !d? grizz: It would be highly unlikely, given that S bid a HSGT in !D, and N accepted grizz: excellent question gimit: Had E dec/ 2 hearts would the def be different? grizz: the !DA is an entry for W to continue !cs grizz: so W MUST NOT burn the entry early IraCT: N could accept with Max amnd no help? grizz: that is certainly possible, but 1. W needs the A to continue the !c onslaught later grizz: and 2. given that N-S both "bid" !ds, it is unlikely that partner has the K grizz: Possible, but unlikely grizz: the Forcing Defense gives a better likelihood of beating this contract grizz: and this is a game of probabilities, after all irshgypsy: pls explain how north "accepted" grizz: If N did not have extras, or did not like !ds, he could bid 3!s irshgypsy: ty grizz: or he could make a counter-game try in !H without going past 3!s grizz: the HSGT bid asks 2 questions: grizz: 1. Pard, do you have extras or a bare minimum response hand? grizz: 2. Do you have help for me in this suit? grizz: if the answer to both questions is "yes", then responder bids game grizz: if both answers are "no", then responder meekly rebids the trump suit at the lowest possible level basically: HSGT? grizz: if 1. is "yes" and 2 is "no", then responder can make a counter game try grizz: Help Suit Game Try grizz: HSGT basically: ty Flaskemand: what if thrumfs were 4-4 grizz: S is not strong enough to blast right to game opposite a bare minimum 5-6 point raise grizz: but with 16 and a nice trump suit, S makes a game try IraCT: reverse the A!C and K!D the bidding would be the same and W would give the hand away with opening lead grizz: true grizz: but then nothing beats it IraCT: A!D lead grizz: i see your point grizz: but if you get in the habit of leading unsupported Aces, you will have trouble keeping partners :) wyoming33: there are always ifs, ands, and buts irshgypsy: if s had had ace would he have asked for help in diamonds? grizz: right, there are always magic hands where the "wrong" strategy works grizz: ace of !d? irshgypsy: y Manso21: pls can we see a new example ? grizz: with 20 hcp S would blast right to game irshgypsy: sorry nm Manso21: S 1 NT ? Flaskemand: different deal and auction, but same contract with trumfs 4-4. should west use same tactic with same hand ? ->Flaskemand: i think this hand will answer that question grizz: N-S get to a routine 4!H contract, which makes easily unless West sets up the Forcing Defense. Flaskemand: thx grizz: This one is easy to spot because West has 4 trumps and a great !d suit. grizz: Of course East can't see the W hand! Manso21: why not open 1 NT by S ? grizz: fair enough Walddk2 (Broadcast): http://www.bbotv.com/vugraph/ for BBO-TV. Watch both vugraph rooms at the same time, even while playing or in the lobby. No download needed. Some need Flash Player 9, some don't. ... Walddk2 (Broadcast): Open one browser window per table grizz: this pair was playing 12-14 NT grizz: but we can change it Manso21: LOL grizz: happy now? grizz: lol Manso21: easier now for W to lead !D wyoming33: makes it easier for west basically: I wanted to hear reasoning for other bidding sequence....lol dae: is that unsupported ace? grizz: ok, with a 15-17 point hand if you play weak NT you must open that hand in a suit and then rebid 1NT basically: and opening lead coco24: did west pass and not bid 2 diamonds because his partner had passed grizz: this ace is supported by the KQJT ydannac: y pzee: if east were on lead (as in first bidding) what would the thinking be to find the right lead? grizz: i will go back to that one later, don't let me forget basically: ty pzee: yhx pzee: thx :) grizz: here is another possible auction: grizz: playing Lebensohl, direct cuebid is Stayman without a stopper in the overcalled suit gimit: Can it be transfer there? grizz: a very hand convention to know, with the proliferation of NT interference bids grizz: most pairs play system on over X, but Lebensohl over suit interference grizz: some pairs play system on over 2!c too, and X is Stayman grizz: but i digress grizz: W must make a key play here, ducking grizz: and another here Juiceplus: did you talk about Lebensohl? ->Juiceplus: just a sidebar comment Juiceplus: :) grizz: now W watches S squirm grizz: Now West has the only trump, and waits until he can ruff in and cash his last !D for the well-earned set and top board. Manso21: why play the Q!H ? could come back with !S to the J and play !D to cut with Q!H IraCT: why didnt S ruff his last daimond? grizz: if S does not ruff the previous one excalibar: why pull trump first grizz: so W gets either a !d or trump for 4th trick Manso21: dont see it can you pay it again ? excalibar: why not play a form of reverse dummy? grizz: if declarer plays off side suit winner, W will ruff in and play more !d Campus61: they already have the 4th trk? Manso21: no play !S to the J and last !D cut with trhe Q !H Manso21: dont play the Q!H grizz: good point, a crafty declarer has ways to cope with the Forcing Defense grizz: now what? Manso21: !D cut Juiceplus: well done have to go to the teater :( Manso21: !C grizz: now South is still toast grizz: ruff? then W gets the A and a !d grizz: no ruff? then W gets both trumps gimit: y, toast grizz: there is no way out for S on this hand grizz: Notice one other thing here. If West goes hunting for a ruff in one of the black suits at Trick 1, South gains timing on the hand and can waltz home with 10 tricks by knocking out ... grizz: the trump A and pulling the little ones, then cashing his side suit winners. grizz: So a corollary of this concept is that if you are long in trumps, DO NOT go looking for ruffs! grizz: Are there any questions on this hand? hoppyjack->Club: Can we see the original bid? basically->Club: how does E find the !D lead? wyoming33: right - thats why not play !D ace on last hand - hoping for !D ruff grizz: ah, the original bid pzee: east? pzee: east lead? grizz: one possibility is for West to make a lead-directing bid here jaymac: Now the played hand will not appear in ones log grizz: yes they will, i claimed them excalibar: what happens if you only play one round of trump and then keep leading d and trumping using cl and sp to get to the hand? Flaskemand: what if west had the 4 of h and east the ace of h ? jaymac: ty grizz: and they will all be on my website later grizz: now E must find the right lead grizz: same play, same result IraCT: West really can bid 4!D? on 5 card suit grizz: st||md|4SAJHKJ98D6542CAQJ,S92HA653DAKQT9C64,SKQ84HQT72D83CK95,ST7653H4DJ7CT8732|nt||sv|n|mb|-|mb|-|mb|p|mb|1D|mb|p|mb|1H|mb|p|mb|3H|mb|p|mb|4H|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|mb|-|mb|-|mb|-|pg||mb|p1Dp1Hp3Hp4Hppp| wyoming33: but without the !D bid - wouldnt east normally lead !S wyoming33: ??????????? Chat log of Bridge Base Online session for grizz starting at: Sat Jan 19 15:29:51 2008 ->grizz: Account balance: BB $22.00 MB $11.77 IraCT (Lobby): Thanks for the lesson ->IraCT: thx for watching, good comments grizz: sry, computer glitch grizz: if W chooses to pass, E could go wrong grizz: here W MIGHT be long in trumps grizz: so the Forcing Defense MIGHT work grizz: IF E finds the right lead grizz: but E is more likely to lead a black suit here than !D grizz: so the Forcing Defense probably will not work if W does not bid !ds grizz: What makes the Forcing Defense so powerful? Here are the reasons. grizz: 1. Declarer's side suit winners are in peril because of the outstanding trumps. grizz: 2. Declarer loses control of the trump suit by both ruffing and pulling trumps. grizz: 3. So defenders' side suit winners prevail over declarer's side suit winners. grizz: 4. The Forcing Defense is ideal at matchpoints because it maximizes defensive trick-taking potential when the conditions are present. grizz: At IMP scoring the results are less dramatic, but still it is satisfying to watch declarer squirm as the hand blows up and he is helpless to stop it. grizz: So watch for these 4 conditions for Forcing Defense: grizz: 1. Declarer has a 2-suiter. grizz: 2. Any time you have 4 trumps, or think partner might. grizz: 3. Declarer is in a 4-3 or 5-2 trump fit. grizz: 4. Any time the long trump hand can be forced to ruff early in the play of the hand. grizz: If the Forcing Defense is to work, it must be started at Trick 1. grizz: And be aware too that the conditions where it MIGHT work may be satisfied if you are short in trumps, singleton or void, so partner might have 4 or 5. grizz: In that case a lead from your side's long suit is indicated, and you can often figure out what suit that is from the auction. Flaskemand: if you switch the ace with 4 of hearts. still works ? grizz: BTW, the Forcing Defense has a couple other nicknames: grizz: "Pump the Chump" and "Dink the Declarer" are 2 of my favorites :) wyoming33: LOL grizz: doesn't work without trump control on this hand grizz: but would with another side suit winner grizz: Are there any other questions? pzee: onward :) grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will look at Active Defense. grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week. spum1: tnx pete. pzee: thx Pete. great lesson! ladygolf: ty Canuckstan: great lesson; thanks Pete! grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Fred and the wonderful people at BBO who make this all possible. wyoming33: thats a lot - :)))) LadyStar17: Thanks, Grizz great lesson!!! cdt: Thanks enjoyed :) coco24: thanks Pete frido777: thx a lot ->Canuckstan: :) onoway: thanks Pete grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week wyoming33: thanks a lot - grizz: Bye now IraCT: can declarer make this with any lead if W holds up his A grizz: wait ydannac: Thanks Pete, Maureen and Rosemary for this great lesson and help grizz: yes, he can pitch !d losers on !s grizz: bye now