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Modern Bridge Conventions
I have often heard Gee accused of underbidding, often of overbidding. This misses the point. Gee is, on average, an accurate bidder. The scatterplot, however, is rather widely dispersed. Today, as East, he holds a two-loser moose and doubles North's grungy third-hand 3C preempt. South raises to 4C, although it looks like E/W are cold for slam and an obstreperous raise to 5C seems warranted. A 5C bid would tempt me to double with West's hand, making it far more difficult to find the heart grand. (5CX is down 5 automatically and down 6 with perfect defense.) But over 4C West naturally bids the heart game and North passes, leaving matters up to our hero. Fortunately a modern convention has been devised to help him find the right contract here. It's called Blackwood. If West shows one ace you bid six; if she shows two you bid the grand. It is also barely possible that West holds something like Qxx J109xxxx x Qx, in which case you sign off in 5H. I forgot to mention that you can pass too. Which is what he does. For the less mathematical of my readers, who may not know about scatterplot dispersions, perhaps a homelier analogy will serve. If you have one arm in freezing and the other in scalding water, you're comfortable. On average.
One must again give Gee credit for expert imagination.
Should the CA be missing, it is most likely in the hand of the preemptor, and
therefore onside, but if it is the DA that is missing, it is as likely to be
in the opposite hand as well as in his partner's, and it is very likely that
the preemptor has a singleton diamond -- as in the actual case -- and would
lead it, receiving a ruff on the way back. Gee also knows that even were the
contract 'right-sided,' with Gee's hand on play and the opening leader therefore
holding the DA, that the same fate would occur. Why, Gee himself would automatically
lead the DA against a small slam, and would certainly continue the suit regardless
of the size of partner's spot card. Therefore, even the Binsky (5) Level is unsafe
when both minor aces are missing, and Gee's final pass absolutely guarantees a
plus score.
© 2002-2003 by Aaron Haspel. All rights reserved. |
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