grizz: Hi everybody, thanks for attending another in 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 at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. 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 located at: http://www.grizzbridge.com/Lessons_and_Archives.php grizz: There are 40+ sessions logged there now, with lots of good information. 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: If I forget a question while answering another, please remind me. grizz: I encourage participation by all kibitzers grizz: So jump right in with a comment, question, or bid at any time, but please do so in open chat. grizz: There are only 5 basic types of defensive strategy at the beginning of a hand. grizz: These concepts are out of the book "How The Experts Win At Bridge" by Burt Hall and Lynn Rose-Hall, the Book of the Year in 1997. grizz: By way of review, and for those who are new here, 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 ruffs. grizz: 5. Create trump tricks. grizz: We have looked at Forcing, Active and Passive defense, Reduce ruffing power and Create Trump Tricks for several weeks, and now it is time for us to put that knowledge to work by ... grizz: choosing opening leads. grizz: Again, if you need review on the 5 Lines of Defense check out http://www.grizzbridge.com/Lessons_and_Archives.php and scroll down the page until you find those lessons under the ... grizz: BIL listings. grizz: Briefly, here are the lead guidelines for each of these different strategies. grizz: 1. Forcing defense - lead your side's strongest suit. grizz: 2. Active defense - also, lead your side's strongest suit. grizz: 3. Passive defense - top of a sequence, or a worthless suit. Sometimes trump leads are also passive. grizz: 4. Reduce ruffs - start a trump grizz: 5. Creating trump tricks - lead from your own or toward partner's shortness grizz: So choosing a lead depends on what your defensive game plan is, referring back to the 5 Lines of Defense. grizz: When you know WHAT you intend to accomplish, it is easier to decide HOW to get it done. grizz: In addition to the 5 Lines of Defense the special situations requiring special leads are as follows: grizz: 1. Gambling NT - lead an ace, look at dummy and try to locate declarer's weakness. grizz: 2. NT slams - if you and partner have not bid, lead top of a sequence or a worthless suit, avoid giving declarer a free finesse or other help. grizz: 3. Suit grand slams - a trump is almost mandatory, unless both ops have bid and raised a suit and you have the Ace. grizz: 4. Doubled part-score contracts - lead trump, try to kill ruffs in side suits. grizz: There are also some special rules for lead-directing doubles: grizz: 1. If neither defender has bid, ops bid a NT game or slam and partner doubles, lead dummy's first bid suit. grizz: 2. If only partner bid and later doubles, lead his suit. grizz: 3. If only you bid and later partner doubles, lead your own suit. grizz: 4. If both you and partner have bid and partner doubles, lead the suit of the stronger hand - that is where the entries are. grizz: 5. If ops have not bid any suits (e.g. 1NT-P-3NT-X) and partner doubles, lead your SHORTER major. grizz: This week we are going to look at example hands and auctions, consider defensive plans and choose leads. grizz: These example hands are not predealt, they are random. grizz: So I have not analyzed them, rather we are all looking at them for the first time. grizz: The bidding will be done by the bots, though I must sit in one of the seats during play to control the pace. grizz: I have no idea who the declarer will be or which seat will be on lead, so you may kib all 4 hands. grizz: We will put our heads together and come up with a defensive strategy based on the auction, the hand on lead, and the 5 Lines of Defense. sascha3: hiya:) ->sascha3: hey! grizz: well, this one is easy grizz: if pard bids and you are on lead, lead his suit! unless some other lead really stands out grizz: now it's my turn to come up with a game plan grizz: looks like pard has a doubleton !h, maybe a stiff grizz: if stiff, he needs a ruff right now grizz: and the low !h suggests !c as a suit with an entry grizz: we have no better return now than to force declarer to ruff one of his losers grizz: winners, excuse me grizz: we could not kill them both, but we killed an overtrick grizz: on this hand that's the best we can do grizz: any questions on this one? benitezj: should W have overcalled with only 4 spades pzee: what do you think of GIB's 1!s overcall with only 4? grizz: 4 card overcalls are sometimes a great tactical bid grizz: pard might raise with only 3 though, expecting you to have 5+ grizz: so the suit should be very good grizz: KQ82 is marginal for a 4 card overcall benitezj: ty pzee: thx grizz: generally it's a good idea to pass with length and strength in ops' suit, !hs here guyb2: why finesse on first trump lead? grizz: i can't explain the finesse, the bots are playing W, N and E today grizz: the 1st round finesse guards against Jxxx in North, but loses on a lot of other layouts grizz: back to overcalls though, for a minute guyb2: thks grizz: the reasons for overcalling are: grizz: 1. find a fit, get the contract, make it and book the score grizz: 2. suggest a profitable sacrifice grizz: 3. direct a lead grizz: 4. interfere with ops' constructive bidding grizz: so when you consider all those factors, you see that 4-card overcalls can cater to several of them at once grizz: consider also that S was a 3rd seat opener, and might have opened on a 4 card suit as well grizz: and W has 14 hcp, plenty enough to bid grizz: which also means that E may not have enough to reopen grizz: so all things considered, the !s overcall has more pluses than minuses going for it grizz: W is well-placed to bid NT too, if pard says anything about !c grizz: any other questions? ydannac: tx grizz: one other comment grizz: N has an easy lead here grizz: if S has AKxxx, it could go !h-!h-!h ruff Miksa: Anyway, if W passed, E should Dbl anf W woulf bid S, right? grizz: sure, E should reopen on this layout if W and N both pass grizz: good shape, and plenty of points for a reopening bid grizz: i would even reopen with a king less! grizz: and i have seen top players reopen with as little as 3, with good shape Miksa: ty, and sorry fo interrupting you about the lead grizz: np, these are good questions grizz: Mike Lawrence says that after 2 passes, your interest in balancing should be somewhere between "strongly inclined" and "obsessive"! grizz: any ideas for a game plan here? grizz: this is a hand that we should have a shot at setting, with good defense MarDef: lead our suit, Hearts? grizz: S has nothing to write home about, but pard has a good hand sitting behind the NT bidder grizz: but should we go Active in a case like this? grizz: or Passive? grizz: or Reduce Ruffs? gypsy1308: lead unbid suit? benitezj: let the declarer do the guessing grizz: right diane_302: trump lead? grizz: either a trump, or a passive !c9 TactAnita: !c grizz: let declarer do his own work grizz: looks like we only ever get the 3 tricks we got benitezj: had them set had you not ducked the Club and heart grizz: let's try it again grizz: slightly different line of play, but this one never gets set benitezj: lol, GIBs played it differently grizz: :) benitezj: LOTT is on their side :) grizz: if S plays the !c8, then E just hooks the T for the same result grizz: and we only ever get 1!h trick grizz: any other questions? PedroG: nty anegada: nty pzee: was north's x for pens? grizz: no, that was a Takeout X pzee: ty grizz: showing shortness in !d, 11+ hcp and at least 3 cards in each of the other suits grizz: there is a standout lead here, for a couple reasons - can anybody spot it? grizz: Creat Trump Tricks - lead from your own, or toward partner's shortness grizz: here S also has trump control with the AK, so only needs to find pard with one entry for the set grizz: and the luxury of trying both of the side suits! grizz: nope nothing in !h grizz: but E was nice enough to give me a ruff anyway! grizz: sweet! anegada: :) cdt->Club: wow u should play gibs for money :) grizz: lol the problem with playing them for money is that you have one as a partner too! grizz: if E does not return a !c at Trick 3, then we would try !d and hope for a !c ruff that way gypsy1308->Club: just a question about singleton leads ..... i often find it just sets up declarers suit grizz: good point TactAnita: especially an unprotected ace grizz: but do you see any other way for a 5th trick on this hand at the opening lead? TactAnita: not this one depends on hand gypsy1308: not really grizz: !SAK, !cA, entry in pard's hand (we hope) and !c ruff grizz: not a perfect plan, but much better than none at all ydannac: sounds good grizz: one other comment in that vein grizz: if we start a different side suit, then we burn our entries before we get our ruff grizz: so despite the fact that you risk setting up ops' side suit, if there is no better looking plan then go with it gypsy1308: i think i am the eternal optomist whenever i lead a singleton hoping p can get in and give me a ruff never seems to work :( grizz: ah grizz: but if you don't create the condition for that to happen, it never will! grizz: of course it won't always work mick357: when s lead ace and n played 2, couldnt that mean lead dia grizz: good question, let's discuss that too grizz: the most important question for opening leader to answer is whether to continue or switch grizz: so in most cases 3rd hand should give an Attitude signal grizz: the 2 here was Attitude, the bot assuming that i led from AK(x)(x) grizz: and East would be able to ruff the next one grizz: other things being equal, you can only give one signal at a time grizz: exceptions being odd/even or Lavinthal on the first discard grizz: and the only 3 kinds of signal are Attitude, Count or Suit Preference grizz: so the !C2 can't be both Attitude and SP at the same time grizz: so you need to know when to give certain signals, and when to expect them grizz: generally you give Attitude on partner's lead, to tell him whether to continue or not grizz: and Count on declarer's lead, to help pard count out shape around the table ydannac: so Gib gives SP grizz: the bots false card a lot on Defense grizz: but the 2 should be Attitude there Dianne0516: If west had singleton club, then give suit preference grizz: yes grizz: if Attitude is either obvious or irrelevant, then 3rd hand can give a SP signal kyno40: but on this hand you can assume that ace could be singelton seeing 10 !c by north ? grizz: another good question grizz: assume a couple things about a A lead in an unbid suit grizz: pard will not lead an unsupported ace grizz: so if pard leads the A, he has the K too grizz: or the stiff A TactAnita: thought to lead the king if h ave A, K grizz: that is the old-fashioned way to do it, and many players still do Dianne0516: How else would you tell ptnr? grizz: but then there can be confusion if you lead the K from either AK or KQ TactAnita: true but there are different opinions about this anegada: thought if u lead k then ace is dblton ? wyoming33: with just AK - lead the K then the A with AKx lead the A first grizz: let's say you lead the K, pard thinks you have the AK and gives you a "continue" signal grizz: you may then continue the Q right into declarer's AJ, giving away a trick grizz: most experts play A from AK to avoid that uncertainty grizz: but vs NT there is a variant - depending on what information you want grizz: with some pards i play A from AK vs NT when asking for Count, and K from AK asking for Attitude grizz: and some players reverse those two grizz: but vs suits most experts play A from AK, unless they play Rusinow leads and then they lead the second from touching honors all the time grizz: any other questions? leonora3: rusinow against trump contracts only? ydannac: tx grizz: if you play Rusinow at all, may just as well play against both leonora3: yes tx kyno40: so you think regardless of att with N hand you always have to discard C2 ? ->kyno40: only if negative signal was indicated grizz: sidebar bidding issue here benitezj: Gib should alert the 4 diamond bid :) grizz: click on it wyoming33: they alert all bids :) grizz: gib bids are always explained when you click them grizz: so 4!d is a fit-showing !c raise, and a good hand benitezj: ty, never played a GIB grizz: GIB plays 2/1 grizz: so what should S do here? grizz: S has 3 Cover Cards for N in !ds - the !HAK and !DQ grizz: so it probably makes 4!d NS trafalgar2: 5!d grizz: but S has some defensive values too grizz: and EW so far only have a !c fit grizz: so must go 5 for game grizz: and S sees a realistic possibility to take 1!d and 2!hs grizz: here is an opportunity for a SP signal grizz: with no more !ds in dummy, a !d continuation can't be right grizz: so Attitude is known grizz: and then we give Suit Preference grizz: if possible benitezj: and Gib missed the signal grizz: yup :( grizz: just like humans, sometimes lol grizz: but maybe pard has a stiff !s PedroG: GIB and signals are a mirage wyoming33: right leonora3: does GIB have hope? grizz->Club: y, GIB signals are very unreliable eubulides: in my experience, gibs don't signal grizz: in theory they do, but they false card a lot wyoming33: I agree - or at least havent figured it out - never pay any attention to mine anyway grizz: turns out that 5!d is a good sacrifice here, down only 2 grizz: but with that !HAK a sac is not likely to be a good proposition for S on most layouts cdt: Do they let u sacrifice? grizz: sometimes, but they do X too cdt: they don't seem to let u bid competively the slighest bid and they take off like they found gold grizz: btw, the reason i use gibs is that the hands are random and i cannot control the auction JohnnyHiLo: gibs also play better if you let them play slow grizz: so these are more like the live hands you get at the table, not rigged predealt hands designed to prove a point grizz: y, true - niccolla: i tried a robot race with them .........ruddy poker players they were grizz: but back off the time just a little and they take forever! grizz: and speaking of time, ours is up JohnnyHiLo: right. they are computing various layouts niccolla: agree grizz: Do we have any questions? sascha3: thanks Pete - great lesson as always:) wyoming33: thanks Pete Dianne0516: Thanks for coming, Grizz :) benitezj: tyvm Grizz ->sascha3: !H leonora3->Club: tx anegada: ty niccolla: no thx re lesson it was great Campus61: tks pete ladygolf: Thanks Pete :) camilleln: ty! Wanda310: thanks Pete PedroG: ty Pete, great lesson :) pzee: thanks pete cdt: Thanks Pete the highlight of my week :) qwyz->Club: tx Grizz lenia1: tx pete:) guyb2: tyvm ydannac: thanks Grizz!H!H grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will have more quiz hands on opening leads.That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will have more quiz hands on opening ... grizz: leads. lorm: ty sascha3: !H will of course be thinking bridge whole time i'm away lol:) JohnnyHiLo: top o the line grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. grizz: I teach private individual, pair, and small group lessons. If you would like to know more please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. ->sascha3: :)))) grizz: I am planning three different one-day courses on Defense, Declarer Play and Balancing, so it you are interested in any or all of these topics please drop me a line at ... grizz: Grizz@GrizzBridge.com 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. grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week grizz: Bye now sascha3: byeeeeeeeeeee Miksa: thanks for the lesson ->sascha3: enjoy your trip!!!!