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 almost 50 sessions logged there now, 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 Bridge 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: 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 grizz: 4. Reduce ruffs - lead 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: 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-3NT) and partner doubles, lead your SHORTER major. grizz: This week we are going to continue looking 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 kibitz 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. paruljain6: does anyone know y when i go to grizz's archives and open hands...i get text stuff...i was able to get the regular hands one time b4 grizz: please let me know if any links are broken grizz: ok, let's analyze the auction and come up with a plan grizz: pard has some values over there, 2NT should show 10 to a bad 12 dee_dee_20: Gib bid Jordan grizz: ah, so it did grizz: so let's wander down a sidetrack for a minute grizz: Jordan works fine over a major opener, but there is a problem with minors. anybody know what that might be? dee_dee_20: you might have 2 or 3 grizz: right, that's one problem grizz: but there are others wyoming33: need more cards in suit - Campus61: I thought it was only over a M dee_dee_20: you need 29 hcp for game wyoming33: need more points for game - think better to play inverted minors nick3: Jordan comes after a double ? grizz: right grizz: when you open a minor and pard can't bid or imply a major, the next place to look for game is in NT dee_dee_20: yes 3nt better game grizz: and NT is not likely to be a happy place when bid by the player short in the majors grizz: so unless the Jordan bidder has Kings to protect, the NT bid can be awful grizz: as it would be here, if NS were playing 3NT grizz: the flip side of that coin is that the opener is more likely to have kings to protect grizz: so most of the time if responder bids NT, the contract will be wrong-sided dee_dee_20: true grizz: the smart guys of bridge figured this out a long time ago, and devised a solution grizz: that would be "Flip-Flop" dee_dee_20: hmmm heard of that grizz: where the responses to Jordan are reversed for the minors grizz: rather like Inverted Minors grizz: so the minor opener can declare in NT grizz: so 1m-X-2NT is now a junk raise in the minor grizz: while 1m-X-3m is Limit Raise or better, with no major grizz: i have played Flop-Flop since Carter was president, so i didn't even think to click the bid for an explanation! grizz: so be it, we defend 3!s grizz: back to defense now grizz: whether 2NT is natural and invitational or Jordan, N is marked with some values grizz: so the prime imperative now is not to let our side suit tricks get ruffed out grizz: so Reduce Ruffs is the strategy, and a trump lead is indicated grizz: nice! grizz: so much for eliminating stray ruffs grizz: so, how did our strategy work? grizz: looks like we are entitled to 2!s, 2!d and a !h all day long grizz: unless we goof and crash our !s honors grizz: but did the strategy cost us any tricks? donnas: club lead and e can discard diamond on club grizz: true donnas: would only lose 1 diamond grizz: so not only did the strategy not cost us any tricks, it saved us one donnas: y - makes with any other lead grizz: with a hand like S and when a trump lead is indicated, there is a dilemma grizz: do you lead A and small to reduce trump length in dummy right away? grizz: or lead small, get in with a side suit winner and play A-small as we did here? grizz: partly that depends on whether you have an entry for another round, though that is not as important as you might think grizz: after all, declarer has to play trump, and will probably do it sooner rather than later analisals: lead small so you don't drop an honor if there is one i pard's suit? grizz: y, it's always hard to explain when you crash pard's singleton K! grizz: so the analysis was right on target, and plan worked grizz: any questions on this one? PedroG: nty grizz: the bot can't tell us his analysis, but the lead was right on target grizz: the lead is especially effective if defenders have trump control, so they can stop the run of trump, find an entry in pard's hand and get a ruff grizz: again, it turns out that the strategy didn't get us any extra tricks on this layout, but didn't give anything away either grizz: and that happens a lot grizz: but if most of the time you win but don't lose, that's a good recipe for winning bridge grizz: any questions on this one? grizz: arg grizz: i hate this decision grizz: a good 14 grizz: is it worth 3NT after partner preempts with 3C? mojila: y grizz: not if i had a singleton or void in !c wyoming33: sure - you got 3 !Cs grizz: but with Qxx, it's worth a shot donnas: worried about hearts analisals: might get 7 club tricks grizz: y, or !d could be a problem too wyoming33: right - depends on how much trouble to set up the !Cs grizz: yee haw! grizz: sry, thought this might be a lead problem grizz: if you are on lead and have an AK, there should be some very compelling reason to lead anything else grizz: does any other strategy work here? grizz: not really robzim->Club: doesn't look like it PedroG: don't see more than 4 for defense Dianne0516: I noticed you covered the 10 !h with the K, why? grizz: unlikely that pard has the stiff !HA Dianne0516: But why K and not J? grizz: but it could be really embarrassing if E has the A and i duck grizz: with KJx i would duck, there is no downside onoway: you may not GET the K otherwise? grizz: right robzim: is it because you have a doubleton and E may have the A and you'd never get a trick? wyoming33: that has happened to me :( got suckered grizz: me too :) grizz: and that is SOOOOO hard to explain away in the post mortem..... grizz: back to strategies grizz: Forcing is out, there is no reason to think that pard has 4 trumps onoway: also managed to sucker people when 3 out and the king got sat on by a singleton A so hard to know grizz: y, it's not a cut and dried situation donnas: if east had 6 hearts to A, might have bid 4 instead of 3 grizz: without shortness somewhere, it's hard to set up a ruff with this hand grizz: and Reducing Ruffs does not seem very appealing here grizz: the active !s lead worked just fine grizz: and when pard does not support the suit, you frequently get a ruff or 2, or give pard the opportunity for a Suit Pref signal on round 2 or 3 grizz: any questions on this one? robzim: nty:) grizz: interesting question here grizz: we really would like a !s lead, should we X for one? grizz: not unless we think that will set the contract grizz: the bot came up with the right lead here wyoming33: unbid suit grizz: going back to the 5 lines of defense, Passive is indicated grizz: and !h is the unbid suit too Dianne0516: Why dummy not bid 3 !h, wouldn't that show 5/4 in M? grizz: y, i certainly would bid it that way grizz: no, maybe not grizz: that would tend to show 10+ hcp whiz: just 7pts Dianne0516: With opener showing a good hand? Dianne0516: Opener jumped grizz: aha grizz: y, the 3!h would be a free bid here onoway: but W denied a 4 card major grizz: right grizz: W has a big hand, enough to reverse if he had 4!hs wyoming33: so guess east rebid best feature grizz: y, which would be 3!hs grizz: but back to the defense plan grizz: there are 7 conditions that indicate a Passive lead grizz: and the most frequent bad lead, especially vs. NT contracts, is an Active Lead when Passive is indicated grizz: perfect example here is the minor holdings in North grizz: if N waits for minor leads to come his way, that hand may take 4 tricks grizz: if N can avoid an endplay grizz: interesting hand here - the defense endplayed declarer! grizz: but the important thing to note here is not to go Active grizz: any questions on this one? Miksa: The lead of 10 from 10 9 6 is the passive one, not the 6? grizz: right grizz: forces an honor, maybe 2 or 3 wyoming33: lead of 6 wd tend to show 4+ cards in suit I think grizz: y, probably grizz: hmm grizz: W is broke, and N does not have enough to balance grizz: dummy is broke, may not have any entries grizz: so most of all here we need to avoid giving up a free finesse wyoming33: east could bid 2NT? grizz: y, if they play Puppet Stayman they can find the !h fit grizz: most experts would open that hand 2NT grizz: and most Ws would then bid 3NT, with 4 hcp and two Ts grizz: 3NT would not be fun to play on this layout though grizz: anyway, we are defending 1!h here grizz: so what should S lead? maysie: 9S grizz: a Passive lead is indicated here grizz: but what would that be? isabable: t TapTap: h wyoming33: right - !H only passive lead grizz: y qwyz: 7!D grizz: might give up a finesse, but trump is only passive lead available dee_dee_20: why 2nd hand high here? grizz: the !CK may be singleton, so there is no compelling reason to duck grizz: now what? S has a partial count on the hand, E started with 5!hs - as expected whiz: club TapTap: 10 sp wyoming33: gib played 6!C so must like suit - but will set up a !C for Dec grizz: at the table i would expect that E has the !CQ wyoming33: dec cannot get to dummy grizz: and rather than set up discards, a switch is indicated whiz: no grizz: no? a switch is not indicated? whiz->Club: no for d back spade grizz: ok grizz: well, no defense beats this one whiz: :) wyoming33: think did pretty good taking 5 - didnt run DD to see though grizz: y, E has half the deck to start with dee_dee_20: wd in fact 10!s lead promoted your 9!s grizz: and notice that any other lead gives up a trick grizz: except the !ST, but only x-ray vision would indicate that one grizz: so the analysis was right on, and the result was ok maysie: I must have X-ray then - bec attend Grizz's lessons :) grizz: as good as the defense could be against 1!h, at any rate grizz: Do we have any final questions? maysie: i chose 9S bec had an outside quick trick! wyoming33: no - thanks - see you later in IAC ydannac: great lesson Grizz!H!H thanks grizz: ok :) grizz: break time now PedroG: ty Pete Campus61: tks pete grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will have more quiz hands on opening leads. Miksa: Thanks a lot whiz: ty:)pete isabable: tys pete dotfl: tks Pete onoway: thanks Pete grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. robzim: thanks so much Pete!H trafalgar2: ty fiscryder: tyvm grizz: I teach private individual, pair, and small group lessons. If you would like to know more please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com. cdt: Thanks Pete great lesson as usual:) 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