Reducing Ruffs 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: 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. 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: 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: 3. Passive defense. grizz: 4. Reduce ruffing power. grizz: 5. Create trump tricks. 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: We have looked at Forcing, Active and Passive defense for the last 3 weeks. grizz: Let us review the conditions for those strategies briefly, and then get into Reducing Ruffs. grizz: 1. Force declarer to ruff, and lose control of his own trump suit. grizz: There are 4 conditions in which the Forcing Defense can work. They are: grizz: a. Declarer has a 2-suiter. grizz: b. Any time you have 4 trumps, or think partner might. grizz: c. Declarer is in a 4-3 or 5-2 trump fit. grizz: d. Any time the long trump hand can be forced to ruff early in the play of the hand. grizz: 2. Active defense. grizz: Here are the general conditions that point the way to Active Defense: grizz: a. Any time tricks can go away, such as on a long side suit in either op hand. grizz: b. Declarer's side suit is breaking favorably. grizz: c. Ops have bid strongly, showing slam interest. grizz: d. One op has a long running suit, such as a Gambling 3NT bid showing a running 7+ card suit. grizz: 3. Passive defense. grizz: a. Ops have not bid a strong side suit. grizz: b. Declarer is strong, and dummy is weak. grizz: c. There is a misfit in key suits. grizz: d. Opening leader has no suit to lead against NT. grizz: e. You are defending 6NT or any grand slam. grizz: f. Ops have stumbled into a game. grizz: Are there any questions before we charge ahead into Reducing Ruffs? grizz: Let us now look at an example, before we talk about general conditions for a Reducing Ruffs to work. mfrr5: is ruffing "to trump"? grizz: yes grizz: so we are talking about suit contracts now, not NT grizz: Declarer starts with 3!d tricks, a !s and !h. The best chances for extras are cross ruffing losers. grizz: But look at what happens if a savvy West starts out trumps. Canuckstan: wouldn't west normally start trumps ace and another if wishing to cut down ruffs? grizz: that also works grizz: but with Axx, sometimes it works better to start small Flaskemand: what indicates starting with trump on this hand ? grizz: good question, and we will get to general conditions in just a minute grizz: This defense also works if West starts out !DA-x, and continues trump when he gets in later. grizz: With no source of side suit tricks, South is a disappointed bystander. grizz: Conditions are favorable for cutting down ruffs in these cases: grizz: 1. Ops are playing in a misfit. grizz: 2. The auction suggests shortness in dummy. grizz: 3. Defense is strong in all other suits. grizz: Let's see another couple hands, and then go back to the general conditions. grizz: sidebar grizz: how does W know this is a penalty X? grizz: shortage in !s is one indicator IraCT: He already supported E grizz: 3-card raise, and no rebid by East suggests an 8-card fit kentavros: because after fit is found doubles are 4 penalty grizz: very good JohnnyHiLo: both have bid grizz: and the Law of Total Tricks says the 3 level is not safe for E-W grizz: N-S are pushing them around with the boss suit (!S) grizz: so despite the fact that low level doubles are risky, especially at imps, W trusts partner and passes the double grizz: If he spots the conditions for a trump lead here, his side will kill ruffs in the red suits, for a 2-trick set and a really good score. grizz: ack! trafalgar2: will N ever trust his p's vul overcalls again. grizz: y, that was an awful overcall grizz: but we have all seen worse Canuckstan->Club: seen and perpetrated! grizz: :) grizz: imp players get away with all kinds of felonies at the 1 and 2 level grizz: but sometimes they pay the price basically->Club: what is the Law of Total Tricks? grizz: a theory of bidding set forth by Larry Cohen in "To Bid Or Not To Bid", and used by many players now as a guideline in part score auctions grizz: google it, or go to Wikipedia or BridgeGuys.com after this for more information basically: thanks JohnnyHiLo: not an uncontroversial thesis though grizz: also correct grizz: Mike Lawrence says the LOTT is wrong 60% of the time Canuckstan: Also read Mike Lawrence's I Fought the Law grizz: heavy sigh mick357: yuck JohnnyHiLo: ouch grizz: how many of you have been in an auction like this with the E hand and don't know which way to jump? grizz: slam might be on grizz: or not grizz: 3NT is surely on, but we are way past that now grizz: with no long suit, X is the most flexible bid available grizz: if W guesses right, it makes 5 or 6!s grizz: he knows that ops are stealing grizz: but pass might be the last chance for a plus score here mick357: can he bid 6c? grizz: y, if West is a riverboat gambler then 6!c might come up roses grizz: then again... grizz: so what should West lead? trafalgar2: trump grizz: S has to ruff some !ds in dummy grizz: it is important for E to overtake to lead the last !c keobuzz: could W have made it easier for E by bidding 4!C? grizz: possibly grizz: but E would still have the same problem after that nasty 5!c from N grizz: actually W made a mistake earlier trafalgar2: y kstahan: haven't E-W lost a trick by overtaking !D? wyoming33: could set 1 more grizz: there wyoming33: better grizz: now it goes down 4 grizz: for 800 grizz: more than the value of a vul game E-W grizz: less than the value of a slam grizz: but without the trump lead, it goes down only 3 grizz: 500, less than the value of a vul game grizz: Sometimes the way is not clear at Trick 1, but there is still time to get back on track early enough to do some damage. Canuckstan: so here the indicators were? tajmajii01: MUST have 5 and 5 grizz: Ops were sacrificing grizz: and sacs are almost always bid on shape grizz: we will go back to the general conditions, after one more hand grizz: 2!c is natural here, not any form of Drury grizz: 3!s is questionable, but not completely insane grizz: with an extra !s and 6 losers grizz: and N reasonably takes the push with nice !ss and a source of tricks in !cs grizz: West does not have a clear line of defense grizz: so starts with a reasonable !DK grizz: East sees that the !cs are not a problem, but !d ruffs are. grizz: So he overtakes the K and leads trumps to cut down the !d ruffs. grizz: and this is an important concept in defense also grizz: if either player has enough information to guide the defense, then by all means, use it grizz: W is entitled to think that the !c suit in dummy is the real threat grizz: but East can see that it is not grizz: but !d ruffs are grizz: now S must lose a !S and a !d grizz: still making, but no overtricks grizz: and if he tries the !c hook, it goes off 1 trafalgar2: !h, !sA, !h, !c to A !h and throw !d +1 grizz: so at either imps or matchpoints, the defense is on the right track here grizz: Let's go back now to the general conditions for Reducing Ruffs. grizz: 1. Ops are playing in a misfit. Flaskemand: On this hand wouldn´t west have played trumph at trick two, if not overtaken by east ? grizz: maybe, maybe not wyoming33: prob not lead from Q grizz: W might decide that the !c suit is the imminent threat, and try to cash winners early in Active Defense Flaskemand: ok grizz: Indicators for this might be: grizz: Ops take a simple suit preference, grizz: such as 1!c-1!s-1NT-2!c grizz: Defense has a trump stack, or grizz: The hand is a misfit all around. grizz: Sidebar: if a hand is a misfit all the way around, lean toward defending it rather than declaring. grizz: It is better for them to play in their misfit, than for us to play in ours. grizz: 2. The auction suggests shortness in dummy. grizz: e.g., Dummy pulled from NT, because of a flaw, or grizz: Dummy bid 2 suits and raised a 3rd. grizz: 3. Defense is strong in all other suits. grizz: You control ops' side suit, or grizz: Defense controls all side suits, or grizz: Ops are sacrificing. grizz: Are there any other questions? grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will look at Creating Trump Tricks. tajmajii01: tuvm terrierx2: thank you pzee: thx pete! dmfav: Thank you! JohnnyHiLo: thanks great lesson once again cdt: Thank you very good lesson :) wyoming33: thank you grizz: And the week after we will look at applying all these conditions. Dianne0516: Thanks Pete :) dotfl: thanks Pete LindaC107: Very clear lesson, thanks Pete :) grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. HAFUN: thanks ladygolf: ty Pete grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week. BILAssist: Thanks, Pete....super lesson mfrr5: thank U idee fixe: tyvm kyno40: ty great grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Fred and the wonderful people at BBO who make this all possible. BILAssist: Definitely see you next week!H LindaC107: would you please fix it so hand 4 registers, please Pete, thanks :) grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week idee fixe: :) ydannac: tx grizz: Bye now