->BILManager: ty :) BILManager (Lobby): :) zewzew: hello :) ->zewzew: hi :) grizz: There have been a lot of dropouts on BBO lately, so if I disappear please come back in a minute or 2. grizz: Last week I gave after the third one, hope I don't have to do that today. ydannac: good to see you my dear GRizz!!H!H ->ydannac: !H 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. chaps2: is there any way to get a printout of the lesson to study grizz: yes, the chat logs and hand records are at the website 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.phpArchives of ... grizz: previous sessions are available at GrizzBridge.com, on the Lessons and Archives page located at: http://www.grizzbridge.com/Lessons_and_Archives.php grizz: More than 50 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 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, go get your own tricks. grizz: 3. Passive defense, let the lead come to you. 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 grizz: Scroll down the page until you find those lessons under the 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. Create trump tricks - lead away 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. LadyStar17: hi!H ->LadyStar17: hiya! grizz: When you know WHAT you intend to accomplish, it is easier to decide HOW to get it done. 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. grizz: I will try to remember to insert the board numbers in the Chat Log, so you can match up the log with the hands file in the future. grizz: If you wonder what a GIB bid means, click on it - the bots play 2/1. grizz: Snowbirdz: Terrible lead grizz: ok, let's see whether the bo made a good lead grizz: lol i agree! grizz: your first inclination when looking at 4 trumps should be to decide whether a Forcing defense can work grizz: if so, lead your side's best suit and try to shorten declarer in the long trump hand grizz: hope he loses control of the trump suit, so you can ruff in late and collect all your established winners grizz: the problem is, Forcing defense rarely works when declarer has 6 sascha3: :) ->sascha3: hiya! sascha3: hi :) grizz: and even more rarely when declarer has 7 grizz: as is quite likely in this auction grizz: how do we know that? grizz: N did not bid NT, or show any tolerance for !ss grizz: West is looking at the QJxx in his hand, so S does not have a solid 6-bagger grizz: ergo S must have 7+ grizz: and no way to pick up the QJ grizz: so W should look for side suit tricks, and maybe set up !h ruffs grizz: so Create Trump Tricks would be my choice of strategy on this one, lead a !h on the go grizz: any other thoughts on this one? wyoming33: n grizz: leading a !s honor here is just Dumb! wyoming33: maybe top sequence - even trump? grizz: and trying to cash side suit winners without at least trying to set up a !h ruff is a giveup play too grizz: nope, still wrong plaur: why do you gain by a !h ruff? zewzew: i think i wd lead 6!d grizz: underlead an ace when declarer has 7+? bad idea too dae: but the 9 S sets up, and declarer still loses 4 tricks? wyoming33: of course wrong trying to figure out why the Gib did - grizz: true on this layout grizz: but in general, a trump lead on this auction is just goofy alih23: so ure saying !H lead is best grizz: !h would be my choice, yes alih23: makes sense wyoming33: yes - grizz: after deciding that Creat Trump Tricks is the strategy on this one alih23: passive aggressive - sounds like me almost grizz: strategy first, then select a card grizz: lol grizz: a couple other thoughts about this auction grizz: neither op bid NT, or anything like it zewzew: i still don't understand why u chose !H grizz: so all side suits are dangerous grizz: !h lead in effort to set up !h ruffs grizz: !d lead is dangerous - grizz: leading an unsupported A rarely works boris3161: but aren't any ruffs likely to be with winners anyway? grizz: especially in this auction where an op could be stiff or void grizz: and underleading an ace on this auction is bad too, for the same reason grizz: the !c combination is not an attractive lead - you would rather have the lead come to you with these cards grizz: so i guess the the trump lead is only 3 worst :) grizz: it might happen that later in the play a minor suit will be right for a switch, but for the blind lead i would not touch either one dae: i think GIB had it figured out grizz: just for fun, let's see what happens both ways grizz: back up here sascha3: u have so much patience:) ->sascha3: :) grizz: not bad, down 2 grizz: grizz: let's try it again with the !h lead and see whether it makes any difference alexiss: down 1 if decl takes h with A and discards h on high club ? grizz: perhaps, let's play this one out alih23: yay grizz: down only 1 :) grizz: but alexiss was right about the line of play on the other board grizz: should have been down only 1 wyoming33: gib says down 1 on this board in 4!S grizz: but remember one important point here - grizz: at the table you can only see 1 hand, not all 4 grizz: so i am walking you through the thought process of how to choose a lead in real life zewzew: what do u think of gib's 1!c/2!C ArLady: i could play better in game if i saw all four hands maybe :) alih23: thanks for the lesson.....gtg late here now grizz: and stopping to think about not just the lead but the overarching strategy is an excellent habit to develop wyoming33: maybe shd play this at 3!S - wyoming33: any other bid by gib wd be reverse grizz: maybe, but even though there is a misfit here, S has a great !s suit, 12 hcp, a stiff and KJx in pard's suit grizz: so i would bid game all day long, just looking at the S cards grizz: pard does not rate to be void very often Dianne0516: I second that grizz: and if one op has just QJx, it makes grizz: S has the kind of hand that pays off over time being aggressive with ArLady: dont u decide your loosers in a game to determine if u bid game or not with five or six u bid game grizz: there is a system called Losing Trick Count - i teach it, and we have talked about it a lot here grizz: but LTC assumes 2 things - grizz: 1. 9 card trump fit, and grizz: 2. half the finesses work sascha3->Club: :) grizz: LTC works sorta kinda OK most of the time on an 8-card fit, but frequently is off by a trick grizz: and with no trump fit, LTC is very risky to emply grizz: employy grizz: employ grizz: sheesh! grizz: but here is the calculation for LTC grizz: assume that opener has 7 or fewer losers grizz: look at the top 3 cards in each suit and count one loser for each card not an A, K or Q grizz: so S's losers are: grizz: 1!s grizz: 2!h grizz: 1!d grizz: 2!c grizz: = 6 losers grizz: the formula is to add your losers to pard's losers, and subtract from 24 - that is the number of tricks you are predicted to take by LTC grizz: or subtract from 18, and that is the level you should bid - allowing for the 6 tricks in the book that you must take before counting towards making the contract wyoming33: 3:) grizz: N's losers are: grizz: 1!h grizz: 3!d grizz: 2!c grizz: = 6 boris3161: so we should make 6!c :) grizz: so LTC predicts that the hand makes 24-6-6=12 tricks, IFF there is a trump fit and half the finesses work wyoming33: south doesnt know that - could be 7 losers grizz: right, S is entitled to assume 7 grizz: of course the wild card here is the trump void grizz: and that throws LTC off by 3 tricks grizz: but back to defense, are there any other thoughts about this hand? ArLady: well does club game make? grizz: loses a !c, !d and !h, doesn't it? ArLady: maybe not Marie23: !d ace niccolla: ? how wd a jump to 3 spade work grizz: y, it's just a snakebit hand grizz: a kib asks, what about a jump to 3!s? Marie23: too timid :) grizz: 3!s would be strongly invitational, but not forcing analisals: I get those all the time!:( grizz: and S wants to play game here, not just invite grizz: could be wrong of course, but game is likely grizz: follow me through on another calculation grizz: S has 7!ss wyoming33: P supposed to have some !S:) grizz: so there are 6 left in the other 3 hands grizz: given equal splits, they would be 2-2-2 grizz: and 4!s would peel, with overtricks zewzew: when is a 3 level bid invitational? forcing??? grizz: 3-2-1, same likely result grizz: change of suit by responder is 100% forcing for 1 round grizz: but repeat of the suit, even with a jump, is not 100% forcing grizz: strongly invitational, but not forcing grizz: and the KJx in pard's suit are great cards grizz: but i digress grizz: any other thoughts about the defense? grizz: zewzew: thx grizz: well now grizz: at first glance, it seems that leading pard's !s is automatic grizz: or is it? zewzew: op also bid !S grizz: y, so E could be short sascha3: opps bid clubs also - so has to have at least 4 grizz: y grizz: so there is a clue on the bidding that a !c might work grizz: but a stronger clue that pard really wants a !s lead sascha3: either west or partner may have shortage grizz: pretend that you can't see dummy yet ArLady: most partners get upset with out a spade lead grizz: we know by clicking on the 2!s bid that N has a great !s suit, twice rebiddable ArLady: with out good reason sascha3: yes sascha3: he overbid grizz: and W would bid 1!s on any old snaggle-toothed 4 bagger grizz: maybe something like Qxxx grizz: and pard might have the AKJ over it grizz: or AQ over Kj grizz: etc, might be a super !s holding over there grizz: so i think that all things considered, if we can see only the S hand, the !s lead really IS automatic grizz: but now we have a decision to make grizz: if E has another !s or 2, a !s continuation is necessary alexiss: now S can count the clubs grizz: on the other hand, E DID bid !cs, S has 5 rags in the suit, and dummy has 3 grizz: so pard has at most 1 sascha3: yes grizz: and if pard is really long in !s, could be out already grizz: what????? sascha3: yes lol sascha3: gib knows that he makes the Q anyhow :) sascha3: or thought he did grizz: lol i thought the bots had sat in on enough of these lessons to play a little better :) wyoming33: cant get to wests hand to finesse sascha3: he can now with the king clubs grizz: ok, that's possible wyoming33: but will if lets this go grizz: but E needs only 1 entry, and the !cK is it sascha3: yes grizz: now N hopes to find another entry in the S hand for another !c ruff grizz: it's possible that E has the last !s grizz: no such luck grizz: makes an overtrick if N does not ruff the !c sascha3: yes grizz: and there is no magic defense that beats it sascha3: that was pretty funny:) grizz: but in a matchpoint game you will do average plus by holding it to 4 grizz: assuming that the field is strong enough to find the ironclad 4!h contract ->sascha3: :) grizz: one other thought about this hand zewzew: cud N's 2!s bid mean anything else than !S?? grizz: if pard had not bid !s, what would the strategy be? sascha3: club boris3161: passive grizz: no - if pard has the minors, then double shows a semibalanced hand, and 2NT shows unbalanced grizz: if pard does not bid !s, then here is the situation - dae: i was gone should a cuebid raise show 4 trumps? grizz: ops have bid strongly to game, bidding 2 suits strongly and showing a third grizz: so that would be a case for Active Defense - grizz: go grab your side suit tricks before they go away grizz: so a !d lead would be nearly mandatory sascha3: because only suit not bid? grizz: that and a couple other reasons - grizz: the !c lead would track to declarer's second suit, which is likely to have a tenace grizz: if pard has a !c honor, it doesn't have much behind it - so it's finessible grizz: unless dummy is stiff or void grizz: so the !c lead is bad sascha3: so the !D10 or !D9? grizz: if S decides to lead trumps, A-small is the way to go grizz: in an effort to reduce ruffs in dummy grizz: ah, good question on which one to lead grizz: depends on your defensive carding grizz: i recommend 2/4 leads wyoming33: not top of sequence grizz: so 4th from honor(s) grizz: or second highest from smalls grizz: but there is not wide agreement on that treatment dae: but top of sequence here is right?? grizz: not if you have agreed on 2/4 grizz: 9 would be correct then grizz: absent that agreement though, the T would be correct grizz: any other questions on this one? grizz: ok, that's all for today Wanda310: no Wanda310: tks Pete :) sascha3: ths Pete - was great:) wyoming33: thank you very much grizz: i am so happy that bbo has fixed the server problem! sascha3: thats good news!! wyoming33: us too zewzew: thank u v much Pete grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will have more quiz hands on opening leads. Dianne0516: Thanks so much for coming, Grizz 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. ladygolf: thanks Pete :) grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week. analisals: thanks Pete great lesson and fun too alexiss: ty Pete..very enlightning niccolla: thx pete grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Eileen, 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: bye