Quiz Hands - The 5 Lines of Defense 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. frankie22: Grizz, who is your regular partner if i may ask spugnetta: yes you can:) analisals: yes we can grizz: i have several regular partners on BBO, halvo, caitlin, tenuki, and about 300 friends grizz: but no partner in real life bridge grizz: good question, though frankie22: thank you grizz: it's a good idea to have several partnerships going at the same time JanaDe: bbo is 'real life' too :) grizz: so if one moves away, the game keeps rolling 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 previous 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: The same advice also applies to the defenders 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: Commit those 5 phrases to memory, because you will use them for the rest of your bridge life. 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. DougC43: descending? grizz: yes ydannac: how do you remember all this? grizz: lol i cut and paste from the prior week :) grizz: We have looked at Forcing, Active and Passive defense, Reduce ruffing power and Create Trump Tricks for the last 5 weeks. Watson5: How long have you been playing bridge for? grizz: late 1950's grizz: with a couple long breaks llbvi: His first partner was a T Rex... :) grizz: Let us review the conditions for those strategies briefly, and then get into the quiz hands. analisals: I thot that was the year you were born? grizz: lol i started early, but not quite THAT early DougC43: they put a bid box in his crib Dianne0516: No--he was 3 and could count to 13 llbvi: that was before bid boxes ... 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: 4. Reducing Ruffs grizz: 1. Ops are playing in a partial or complete misfit. grizz: 2. The auction suggests shortness in dummy. grizz: 3. Defense is strong in all other suits. grizz: 5. Creating Trump Tricks: Watson5: I don't think I am ever going to get this grizz: it's not easy, but very important - keep trying grizz: 1. Ruffing declarer's tricks: Dianne0516: What does "misfit in key suits" mean? grizz: for instance, RHO has bid a suit in which you have KJ9x grizz: or LHO has bid a suit, his pard has not supported, and you are broke grizz: that marks your pard with some values, probably grizz: back to 5. Creating Trump Tricks: grizz: 1. Ruffing declarer's tricks: grizz: a. You are short in any unbid suit. grizz: b. You are long in ops' side suit, both bid and raised. grizz: Then partner must be short in that suit. grizz: c. You have a weak hand, and no better line of defense. grizz: 2. Promoting tricks: grizz: a. Trump promotion grizz: b. Trump uppercut grizz: Wow, that's a lot to remember! grizz: For those of you who are new, we spent a session on each of these topics, and archives are on my website. Watson5: I will definately go and have a look grizz: Are there any other questions? DougC43: at our age, all of those are important! ->DougC43: :):):) kyno40: yes and i think no at the same time because all the things what you mentioned are 100 % logic ? camilleln: can you explain in active defense, what you mean by declarer's side suit breaking favorably? grizz: ok, let's say the auction went 1!s-2!h-3!h-3!s-4!s grizz: you have 2!s and 2!h grizz: so you know that ops' side suit is breaking favorably grizz: which means that ops have good trumps, and a secondary source of tricks grizz: and discards are available on the second suit camilleln: oh, ok ty! grizz: so if you have any side suit tricks, they might go away if you don't grab them right away grizz: great question, and jump in at any time with other questions grizz: i don't get points here for finishing early, only if you guys get better! noniec: if I am on 1st lead to dummy and have nothing in t. should I lead that? grizz: depends - not if you have a better line of defense available noniec: but if not and I only have singleton in t suit? grizz: in some cases, trump leads are outstanding grizz: but in others, you surrender the timing advantage that defenders start with and help declarer set up his hand grizz: singleton Ten or singleton trump? noniec: trump grizz: one of my old teachers said there is a special place in hell for players who lead singleton trumps cdt: lol grizz: :) noniec: it's the hottest corner LOL grizz: occasionally, but verrrrrry rarely is a stiff trump lead a good idea noniec: ty sekmeth: is start in trump active or passive play? grizz: generally a trump lead is considered passive whit1: Are we going to see some hands soon? grizz: as soon as the questions are answered grizz: any others? grizz: Knowing what the rules are is one thing, but being able to apply them at the table is quite different. grizz: Here is where theory collides with reality, and the results are not always pretty! grizz: You may kib all 4 hands to get a bird's eye view, or just E and dummy to get a more realistic view of the problem. DougC43: in theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. grizz: rofl! great point, and superbly stated! DougC43: sadly, not original with me :( grizz: Sidebar: this is a defense problem, not a bidding problem. grizz: Yes, I would have opened the North hand 2NT but this player chose not to. noniec: and why would that be? grizz: i don't know, you must ask the authors :) noniec: ty grizz: ok, E is in now. what next? tmortada: !H ace meshmeshaa: d DougC43: or maybe !H6 to keep trump control? Tixos: D sekmeth: king Tixos: king d meshmeshaa: 3d grizz: did you see the !d9 from pard on the last trick? grizz: and the QJT in dummy? pard must have the A grizz: if S has 2!ds, then a !d lead now puts the contract down right away grizz: but there is another chance, even if S has a stiff grizz: He can be forced in !ds IF E goes about it the right way. meshmeshaa: A of h first grizz: follow me through with this grizz: the !d4 is NOT discouraging, it simply completes the echo started with the 9 grizz: showing that the 9 was indeed encouraging grizz: what is poor S to do now? the boss trump is still out grizz: and if he does not ruff this !d, the A will win grizz: now what can S do? Tixos: 10 H grizz: and E is now in the catbird seat grizz: if S ruffs, then E has the only remaining trump grizz: if not, then W wins the A!D grizz: there is no way for S to make the hand if E defends that way grizz: E must start with the K. grizz: Otherwise, if S has only 1!d the K gets ruffed out on the second round of !ds. sekmeth: comment 1. Force declarer to ruff, and lose control of his own trump suit. grizz: The key here is that E can force S to ruff !ds in the long trump hand, and lose control of trumps. grizz: This is a fine example of the Forcing Defense, but E must realize that and get on with it right away. grizz: if E leads back any other card but the !DK at Trick 4, the contract makes grizz: does everybody see what happens if E cashes the boss trump at Trick 4? declarer has plenty of side suit tricks to make 4 grizz: Any questions before we move on? DougC43: in the bidding, is it generally considered ok that south rebids his !H with 5? grizz: sure, the 1!h bid only promises 4 DougC43: yes ... i think it's fine but have heard otherwise (i think) analisals: please repeat how east knows that the Ace of D is with pard? grizz: at Trick 2 declarer led a low trump, W showed out and played the !d9 grizz: we are assuming standard signals here, so the 9 was encouraging kyno40: because of the jump h is really only the 1 what you could bid? grizz: N jump shifted to 3!c, so 3!h was a minimum responder rebid grizz: and the only way to show 5 with a minimum hand grizz: 3NT was a better contract, but then the strong hand is exposed grizz: and E-W would not get to show off their shiny new Forcing Defense! grizz: Any questions before we move on? cdt: How often do these opportunities come up? grizz: more often than you can imagine trudean 24: was that especially good when east is holding 4 trump as opposed to 3? grizz: yes, forcing only works if one defender is long in trumps - 4+ Dianne0516: can south bid 3 !s after the 3 !c bid? grizz: yes, but that would spoil our defense problem :) Dianne0516: lol wyoming33: lets not get taken up with the bidding - these hands taken out of the book sekmeth: is forcing def also available in no trump contracts ? grizz: no grizz: not vs. NT grizz: NT defense is all about long suits and entries grizz: and we did that all last year grizz: there are about 25 sessions on NT defense in the archives grizz: so i wanted to break some new ground this year, defense-wise grizz: Pretend you are West, and choose a line of defense. noniec: singleton s lead here? pzee: !d4 trudean 24: 6 diamonds sekmeth: trump my chose grizz: it's always best to consider the best line of defense before choosing a particular card pzee: forcing defense with 4!h grizz: ok, we have had a couple good guesses noniec: u don't own the 4H grizz: declarer has bid 2 suits strongly Flekkiman: but if you can get S to ruff - you can get trump control grizz: exactly cdt: are we looking at one hand or all hands here? grizz: the Forcing Defense is correct here dotfl: 1 hand grizz: as it frequently is when ops have bid 2 suits strongly grizz: but leading a trump will not set it up noniec: I think you lead the other major if possible grizz: big !s signal here, that is important grizz: looks like S is in control, doesn't it? noniec: u r right there grizz: now, not so much! grizz: the !d continuation cost declarer his last trump grizz: and defenders still have the !sa for an entry grizz: notice that the stiff !s lead will not defeat this contract grizz: because S now has the timing on the hand grizz: defenders MUST start with !ds to beat this one mick357: how do you know that grizz: notice also that the forcing defense works even if defenders have weak trumps DougC43: underleading the K :) analisals: if west lead diamonds after trumping the first spade isn't that the same thing then? noniec: so one should strongly consider leading His strongest unbid suit grizz: yes, Forcing Defense is about leading the defenders' long suit kyno40: yes but how many people would led a d ? grizz: verrrrrrrrry few Dianne0516: Is this because west has 4 trump? grizz: yes! grizz: and this defense is counterintuitive tmortada: but declarer can still make the contract if he draws only 1 round on trump grizz: when sitting with a fistful of trumps, your first inclination is to go hunting for a ruff, right? grizz: no, defenders will then continue !ds with the same result grizz: now S cashes the rest grizz: making 5 noniec: and wins more trudean 24: east should lead back spade? grizz: this is very important noniec: better results unless E leads back the S lead grizz: then it makes 4 trudean 24: then makes 5 as well wyoming33: makes 4 noniec: now play the d grizz: and S cashes the rest AofHearts: would you lead the !d suit if you only had 4 of them? grizz: sure AofHearts: ty noniec: I see grizz: so this is a very important point grizz: with the W hand, 4 small trumps and a stiff !s, the stiff is the wrong lead grizz: the conditions here are for a Forcing Defense, so try to find your side's long suit grizz: rather than hunt for a ruff bfortune: What would happen if S had 6 trumps and E had another entry -then forcing def doesn't work but spade lead would ? grizz: then the contract makes, and there is no defense grizz: notice that the defenders must have entries to make this work kyno40: as the bidding was i would say to myself opener has 5-6 !h p must have 3tr so i know about 12 or 13 tr. i would lead a small tr and hope that p. has i tr with a face am i wrong ... kyno40: thinking that way ? grizz: in this case, you just help declarer with a trump lead grizz: so playing the Forcing Defense, either you win, or... grizz: ...you don't lose grizz: he will keep the !Da to stop the suit, and set up his side winners kyno40: i know but in general pl. grizz: in general, with a hand like W, Forcing Defense will work more often than any other kind grizz: and will rarely blow a trick kyno40: ty grizz: if the conditions are right for Forcing Defense, it is the most powerful one available DougC43: i imagine you wouldn't lead the !D without either the K or A ... ? grizz: and many opportunities for it go unrecognized whit1: ty,very interesting grizz: good question grizz: it's almost always wrong to underlead an ace in an unbid suit grizz: so if the !d suit in W were QTxxx, a small lead would still be indicated grizz: and hope for pard to have some help in the suit AofHearts: but you must have a !d honour right? DougC43: for it to work, do you need some strength in that suit in both defenders' hands? grizz: there are no guarantees that Forcing Defense will work on any given hand, of course grizz: but here are 2 examples where it does analisals: but if you have AJxxx you don't lead the suit or lead the ACe or what? grizz: and where most defenders would not even think of it kyno40: yes i comes up grizz: Here are the General Conditions again: 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: but again, knowing the rules is quite different from recognizing the opportunity at the table grizz: and that is why we will be doing quiz hands for the next few sessions ydannac: Thanks Grizz!H!H grizz: Are there any other questions? pzee: thx pete bjh346: ty !h wakullaman: you ARE the best! emmee: i'm so sorry for being dense - how'd the correct play begin? ladygolf: what is answer to analisals ? grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will continue quiz hands on these different lines of defense at the table. terrierx2: Thank you kyno40: thank you Grizz stella56: ty dmfav: thank you grizz: sry, did i miss a question? DougC43: i guess the key word in condition 'd' is "long" analisals: I asked if west held the Ace of diamonds he should lead it? grizz: question above: but if you have AJxxx you don't lead the suit or lead the Ace or what? JohnnyHiLo: multiple lines at once or one at a time? analisals: wordedit badly just want to know if west should lead the diamonds Ace ? grizz: if W were to have x-xxxx-AJxxx-Axx, then a low !d would still be best analisals: ty grizz: since leading an unsupported ace wins only air ladygolf: ty, thanks for lesson JohnnyHiLo: becuase u know you are going to get ruffed anyway AofHearts: tx Pete great lesson noniec: thx grizz. Methy: ty for lesson, Pete :) whiz): :) thanks see you later hope: sorry I came late - is not a single the right lead? DougC43: yes, thx analisals: ty pete for your patience grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will continue quiz hands on these different lines of defense at the table. cdt: thx :) pennicilin: yes, very interesting lesson grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. coco24: thank you:) grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week. grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Fred and the wonderful people at BBO who make this all possible. wyoming33: thx kyno40: bye ty grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week JohnnyHiLo: thanks again for much needed lessons Methy: bye all grizz: Bye now