grizz->Club: grizz is back now FleuretteD: hi :) grizz: sry about the disconnects, they are driving me crazy! wyoming33: :) OliverC: Sorry I ran over a little Pete. time crept up on me ->OliverC: np :) wyoming33: yes - can imagine OliverC: seeya grizz: if i drop off one more time today i will stay off and troubleshoot the problem grizz: and hope to see you all next week wyoming33: :( hope that doesnt happen grizz: anyway, let's get started 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. nucks: we all get them at one point 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. DougC43: i was away for a bit ... did you speak to the question about signalling? grizz: seems i missed a question or two when i crashed - repeat plz? DougC43: another question: will you be focussing on a particular system of def. signalling, or will you discuss several? and which do you personally prefer? grizz: i try to cover generally accepted methods here grizz: and try also to distinguish between WHAT to do and WHY, from HOW it's done grizz: the HOW is a mechanics problem, depending on whether you play standard or upside down grizz: or discard signals, like Odd-Even or Lavinthal cutie py: i grizz: those are HOW problems, and relatively easy compared with the WHAT and WHY issues grizz: you should know what signals to give and to expect in routine situations grizz: so that is what i concentrate on here DougC43: what is the focus of today's session? grizz: in line with my theory of learning to take all your rightful tricks, without giving any away grizz: playing solid bridge on the 95% of hands that are routine will get you places you want to go in the bridge world grizz: For several months I have started off this session with some remarks about the 5 Lines of Defense, just hitting the high spots. grizz: I covered those in depth in earlier sessions, but we have a lot of new members now who may not have attended those sessions. grizz: And review may be a good thing for those who did attend, because there is a lot of good information jam-packed into a small number of hands. grizz: So we will be revisiting those concepts this year, starting with today. grizz: cutey py, did i miss a question earlier? cutie py: its ok thank u :) ginger_321: hi ya:) grizz: i was typing answers when bbo crashed, and i don't know how much got through ->ginger_321: hey! 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: I will list them first and give examples later today, and we will spend a whole session on each type in following weeks. 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. grizz: Are there any questions before we tackle the first concept in greater depth? jaldi: n grizz: Let us now look at an example, before we talk about general conditions for a Forcing Defense to work. grizz: The auction was unremarkable, with South opening 1!S and North raising to 2!S. grizz: Looking at extra values South made a Help Suit Game try in !D, announcing extra values and asking whether North had more than a minimum and honors to plug holes in South's !D suit. grizz: With 9 hcp and the !DKQx North was happy to accept the game try. grizz: the HSGT is a form of Long Suit Game Try, as opposed to Short Suit Game Try (or mini-splinter) grizz: also called trial bid in other parts of the world Chat log of Bridge Base Online session for grizz starting at: Sat Jan 17 14:56:52 2009 ->grizz: Account Balance: BB $3.25 MB $10.77 emmee (Lobby): no grizz got knocked off wyoming33: going to try it again grizz: heavy sigh DougC43: the last thing we saw was: also called trial bid in other parts of the world grizz: one more time, but the last try for today RogerPfi: last msg we say was - also called trial bid in other parts of the world ->DougC43: ty grizz: This is a routine 4!S contract. If left unmolested, declarer has 5 tops !Ss, 1 top !H, and he can develop 3!D tricks after driving out the A. grizz: A second !H trick is also available, whether the finesse works or not, and there are plenty of entry cards to let declarer walk off with 10 tricks. grizz: But look what happens if West launches a Forcing Defense at Trick 1. grizz: it is clear now that both E and S are out of !cs grizz: so why lead another one, declarer will just ruff it, right? grizz: and W has no big !ss that might be promoted by an uppercut marcbos: yes but shorten his trumps suit and the ten grizz: aha! grizz: that is the essence of the Forcing Defense grizz: make declarer ruff in the long trump hand grizz: and shorten himself in trumps grizz: the small !d here says that E has no interest in !ds grizz: and S has no losers to pitch - the !h won't help and might hurt grizz: South proceeds to draw trumps, discovering the bad news about the 4-1 split. grizz: Since he has only 2 left he must use them all to draw West's little ones grizz: And he hopes that East has the !DA... grizz: But no, West gets in with the !DA and cashes 2!Cs to set the contract, and E-W chalk up a well-deserved top board. grizz: Notice that if South delays pulling trump to knock out the !DA it doesn't help. grizz: West just just returns another !c that South must ruff with a natural trump winner, and now West wins a !c and a long trump. grizz: So how did West know to employ the Forcing Defense on this hand? grizz: There are 4 conditions in which the Forcing Defense can work. They are: grizz: 1. Declarer has a 2-suiter. grizz: as he frequently does on HSGT hands grizz: 2. Any time you have 4 trumps, or think partner might. grizz: 3. Declarer is in a 4-3 or 5-2 trump fit. grizz: 4. Any time the long trump hand can be forced to ruff early in the play of the hand. grizz: So the tipoffs on this hand were: grizz: a. Ops have some semblance of a 2-suit fit. Opener's !H suit was supported, and dummy liked opener's !D Help Suit Game Try. grizz: !s suit, not !h grizz: b. West has 4 little trumps. grizz: c. West has a nice long !C suit. grizz: So conditions 1, 2 and 4 were satisfied, and the Forcing Defense was worth a shot. grizz: West got lucky that partner had the !CA and declarer had a doubleton, but West still gets a gold star for creating the circumstances that allow the Forcing Defense to work. grizz: Note also that if ANY of the 4 conditions exist the line is worth a shot. finesse (Lobby): Hi Pete! :) ->finesse: hiya! grizz: Here 3 of the 4 were present, so there was a reasonable likelihood of success. grizz: If Forcing Defense is available, it is the most devastating type of defense possible, though it may be counterintuitive. grizz: A defender may think “declarer is going to ruff anyway, so I should look for some other source of tricks.” grizz: Not so! We need a paradigm shift here. grizz: That defender should think “maybe I can FORCE declarer to ruff here, yee haw! Then maybe we can get in later, cash our side suit winners, and score a top board!” grizz: Are there any questions before we look at another example? grizz: I have a couple other comments. DougC43: would we be right in thinking that the longer decl's trump suit is, the less annoying it will be for him? Cassina246: Why did W lead the 6 rather than the J? grizz: Doug, absolutely right grizz: Forcing does not work if declarer has 6+ trumps in either hand DougC43: so a weak 2 raised to game would suggest a different approach i suppose grizz: yes grizz: Forcing won't work, and killing ruffs usually doesn't work either - grizz: when ops are long in trumps, trump leads should be avoided dee_dee_20: so best in a 5-3 or 4-4 fit? grizz: Cass, either 4th best or J from interior sequence is ok on this hand Cassina246: thx grizz: Forcing works best on a 5-3, where declarer can be forced in the long trump hand grizz: if ops are in a 4-4, they can take ruffs in either hand - so Forcing doesn't work there either dee_dee_20: good point thx grizz: Most folks looking at the W hand would think about trying to get a ruff in a red suit. grizz: But look what happens on a red suit lead. grizz: On a !h, E is hooked out of his K, S has the timing to pull trumps, knock out the !dA and run his winners grizz: A routine hand, making 4 along with a lot of other tables in the same result grizz: What about a !d lead? gamelynx: y mention the diamonds? grizz: Auction truncated here in the interest of time grizz: same result cutie py: ey mattttt grizz: defense gets only the 2!cs and !dA grizz: so the only lead that hurts is the !c grizz: which gives the defense the timing on the hand grizz: by the way, Forcing is actually a subset of Active Defense grizz: but a very specialized form of it, so i give it top billing :) grizz: Are there any questions before we look at another example? gamelynx: y, why mention the diamonds in the bidding? jaldi: Why bisd !d ...which gives clue to the opps grizz: oh, that was the Help Suit Game Try grizz: S has a good hand, but not a rock crusher - not big enough to bid game opposite a 6-7 point minimum HollyHart->Club: use two NT asking for first suit in whick pard has help? grizz: so S enlists the help of N to clarify both his range and side suit holdings grizz: with 5-7 or so N would correct to 3!s gamelynx: ok, tks got it grizz: with a good 8 to a bad 10 N would assess his !d holding grizz: with help in !d, N bids game grizz: here is the scheme on HSGT grizz: in a 1!s-2!s auction, or 1!h-2!h, opener may have extras but not enough to blast to game unilaterally grizz: and the responder hand has a wide range grizz: from a good 5 to 10 or so grizz: if opener has extras, the HSGT announces that fact, and interest in game, and asks 2 questions - grizz: 1. pard, are you at the top or bottom of your range for that bid? grizz: 2. if you are at the top, do you have help in this suit? grizz: so when making a HSGT opener must have more than a 12-14 minimum hand grizz: as here, where S has a nice 16 grizz: could be nicer of course, but this hand is good enough to ask grizz: the soft values in the minor suits are suspect grizz: in selecting the suit for the HSGT, you skip over any suits that are solid or empty or less than 3 cards long grizz: so you would not make a HSGT in a suit with AKQ, or KQJ grizz: but you might make a HSGT in a suit with AQx, or KJxx for example grizz: denying interest in any suits that you skip - HSGT is bid up the line grizz: and responder must decide whether his holding in that suit constitutes "help" grizz: the best kind of help is honors grizz: as in the N hand here, the KQx are great fillers duffer66: would a void be help? grizz: if S has the Axx(x) the suit plays for no losers grizz: ah, great question! grizz: generally not grizz: though of course there are exceptions duffer66: great lesson and much needed; thanks; but am off to a wedding ->duffer66: :) grizz: for instance grizz: consider a HSGT in a suit with KJx grizz: if responder has Ax, that suit plays for no losers grizz: if responder has Qxx, it plays for 1 loser dee_dee_20: if north points were in !c and sat with 872 in !d what then? grizz: if responder has a void, the only source of tricks there is a ruff, unless ops lead the A wyoming33: with only 3-card trump support - void not usually very helpful grizz: dee, i'll get to that in just a minute grizz: don't let me forget DougC43: but if there's a void in dummy, doesn't that convert dummy's trumps to tricks? grizz: the flip side of the coin is that if pard has wasted honors opposite the void, those are cards that are NOT helpful in other side suits grizz: again, sometimes it helps to ruff honors - but usually not Dianne0516: You are apt to lose trump control in that instance, right? grizz: those honors are more useful opposite other honors grizz: there is no danger of losing trump control if you can ruff in the hand with short trumps, which is usually dummy Dianne0516: No--I mean if dummy had a singleton Dianne0516: so of no use grizz: consider this - grizz: if you have xxx opposite a void in dummy, you are in Fat City grizz: you ruff each little one with a trump in the short trump hand grizz: and your honors in the other side suits take tricks wyoming33: that is when ops need to lead trump grizz: but if you have KJx opposite a void, how well do you like that? Dianne0516: downgrades your hand grizz: you don't feel too bad about ruffing a J, but ruffing a K just feels wrong grizz: and you can't lead to it grizz: y grizz: so that's why we talk about "wasted honors" opposite a void in pard's hand grizz: so be very careful about counting shortness in a HSGT suit as "help" - it's usually very UNhelpful! BILmanager (Lobby): => Club: !D!c!d Calling BILlies! BEGINNERS and INTERMEDIATES, T #1866 IND. BIL Jackpot Tournament, restricted to your level, starts in 20 minutes !h WIN BBO Masterpoints and start collecting BIL jackpot points grizz: so let me hit the high spots again here grizz: What makes the Forcing Defense so powerful? Here are the reasons. grizz: 1. Declarer's side suit winners are in peril because of the outstanding trumps. grizz: 2. Declarer loses control of the trump suit by both ruffing and pulling trumps. grizz: 3. So defenders' side suit winners prevail over declarer's side suit winners. grizz: 4. The Forcing Defense is ideal at matchpoints because it maximizes defensive trick-taking potential when the conditions are present. grizz: At IMP scoring the results are less dramatic, but still it is satisfying to watch declarer squirm as the hand blows up and he is helpless to stop it. grizz: So watch for these 4 conditions for Forcing Defense: grizz: 1. Declarer has a 2-suiter. grizz: 2. Any time you have 4 trumps, or think partner might. grizz: 3. Declarer is in a 4-3 or 5-2 trump fit. grizz: 4. Any time the long trump hand can be forced to ruff early in the play of the hand. grizz: If the Forcing Defense is to work, it must be started at Trick 1. grizz: And be aware too that the conditions where it MIGHT work may be satisfied if you are short in trumps, singleton or void, so partner might have 4 or 5. grizz: In that case a lead from your side's long suit is indicated, and you can often figure out what suit that is from the auction. grizz: BTW, the Forcing Defense has a couple other nicknames: grizz: "Pump the Chump" and "Dink the Declarer" are 2 of my favorites :) Dianne0516: lol grizz: Sometimes the defense’s long suit is called the “tap suit”, because you tap declarer in trumps by leading it. grizz: We will look at a couple more Forcing Defense hands next week. grizz: Are there any questions? grizz: That concludes today's lesson trudean 24: r the notes from today in library? was late getting here magicalmom: LOVED IT!!! :) Dianne0516: Thanks for coming Grizz ->trudean 24: they will be on my site later marilyn mm: Most Excellent Lesson, Thanks Very Much, Pete :) jaldi: thnx Grizz Wanda21: tks Grizz ->magicalmom: !H trudean 24: thks FleuretteD: thanks Pete :) grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week. wyoming33: thanks :) ladygolf: thanks Pete :) dotfl->Club: tks Grizz great lesson grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Fred and the wonderful people at BBO who make this all possible. DougC43: wd P magicalmom: u might see me before then. lol if you look hard in your kib. grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week ->magicalmom: :) grizz: Bye now