US Team Captain Speech
Welcome everyone! Thanks for joining this meeting :-)
We are here to prepare for the FINAL BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL!
Oh, all right! Its only the US/UK World Cup.
Our topics are: Ethics and Honor, Offensive tips and Defensive tips and Strategy.
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Ethics and Honor:
This is our first Annual World Cup Championship which is the brainchild of MadeOBuck and
Friends.
They have worked very hard and made this event all too appealing :-)
We are all prepared to play our best games ever, and pound the opponents to a pulp,
taking no prisoners, leaving each in ruin and despair.... Well, you get the picture.
Whenever there is high competition, emotions run high too.
I have permission from WPLAYKatie to pass on these rules for maintaining a happy ship on
your voyage to glory:
1. Always respect the opponents' level of bridge. You may hope to be at that level
someday, or you may have been there and should well remember what it was like. There will
always be better and lesser players than ourselves.
2. Be quick to compliment and slow to criticize partners and opponents alike. A word of
caution: Its a poor idea to compliment partner's defense if the distribution is wild or
you hold most of the points. The opponent's might find it most frustrating to refrain from
telling you what your partnership missed, in rather terse terms. On the other hand, if the
opponents have made a gross error, complimenting partner's defense would be an
embarrassment to declarer. In both cases, its best to say nothing at all, or commiserate
on the unfortunate happenstance.
3. Avoid chitchat while bidding or playing. This is disruptive, time consuming,
distracting and just plain rude during tournament play. It is perfectly acceptable at
casual play. A brief greeting before the bidding starts and limited comments between hands
is also permissible. If there has been a difficult hand, requiring more thought than
average, etiquette requires that both pairs omit any comment and move on quickly to the
next hands.
4. Slow play for no particular reason, such as a hesitation in playing a singleton (as if
there were a choice to make) or delaying the play to declarers losing finesse (to heighten
the suspense), is annoying and unethical. When a declarer is absolutely certain to whom
the remaining tricks will go, please claim. There is no point to playing out 3 rounds of
trump, when everyone else is out, and then cashing the AKQ of a side suit, one trick at a
time. Claim please! It is unfair to all to unnecessarily hold up play and then be forced
to rush at the end of the match.
5. Finally, love your partner :-) This is the one who is on your side. Agree to play
conventions you both know, pay attention to your game, and accept the fact that everyone
makes mistakes.
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Offensive Tips:
Here are a few basic things we should all do every hand as declarer. It takes discipline,
but it saves tricks!
1. REVIEW THE BIDDING before you play to trick one. Take clues about who has points and
who holds what suits.
2. Add your points to partners points and determine the opponents' high card points.
3. Count your winners and losers. Plan your play: Where will your tricks come from. Do you
need to ruff a loser before pulling trump? Can you discard a loser before giving up
control? Do you have any transportation problems? Are there any known distribution
problems? Check your timing. Do you need to steal a singleton king before the opponents
have communicated their holdings?
4. Check out the opening lead. Does it reveal any features of the opponent's hand?
5. Count. You may count the cards still out in each suit, or count the tricks and their
contents, or count the cards played. Count the spots still out and count who probably has
them, based on the bidding and what you've seen so far.
You notice I didn't mention safety plays, end plays, squeezes, trump coups or other tricks
of the trade. If you can use them, fine. These 5 rules will get the best out of about 90%
of all hands you play, and without them, you can't execute the advanced techniques anyway.
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Defensive Tips:
1. REVIEW THE BIDDING before you make your opening lead. Take clues about who has points
and who holds what suits.
2. Count the tricks you expect to take in your hand. Determine how many more tricks your
side will need to set the contract. Determine how you can help partner to establish tricks
in his or her hand.
3. Assess where declarers tricks will come from. Does your side have tricks that declarer
will want to ruff? If so, lead trump to minimize ruffing opportunities for declarer. Does
declarer have a running suit on which he or she intends to discard losers? If so, cash
your winners while you can.
4. Count. You may count the cards still out in each suit, or count the tricks and their
contents, or count the cards played. Count the spots still out and count who probably has
them, based on the bidding and what you've seen so far. ~ Deja Vu ~ Yes, counting is
essential to good bridge.
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Strategy:
While we are bidding, our focus is mainly on what suits our
partnership holds and how high we should bid. At the same time, we should be focusing on
what the opponents are likely to be able to make and how many points they will earn for
making the contract. In other words: Whose hand is this anyway? If you can go down doubled
for a minus that is smaller than their contract will produce, save the points and take the
set. Watch that vulnerability!
Doubling: There is a lot to lose and a lot to gain. :-) Many hands go set!
Avoid doubling a part score that will result in game if made. (Of course, if the set is
certain, double away!) Therefore, doubling 1H, 1S, 1N, 2C, or 2D will not result in game
if it makes. These doubles can be left in by passing either a take-out double or reopening
double. Be careful that your side won't be missing a game or better. The penalty
conversion should occur when you hold the famous WorldPlay distribution-4 big cards to 6
cards in the opponents suits.
A game bid doubled and made doesn't produce a big penalty for the defenders unless there
are overtricks. Don't wimp out, when you are almost certain the game won't make.
If the opponents are clearly sacrificing, don't let them do it undoubled.
The double should be based on a bad trump split and not just high card points. I've seen
to many hands making while I held 20 HCP, but no trump.
BigDofLA has a nice strategy concerning where you should be at last hand. (When BigD
speaks, everybody listens!) He says you want to be at least a vulnerable game ahead at
that point. Therefore, don't bid the marginal slam when a vulnerable game is certain in
the first 3 hands. I believe he also implies that the marginal vulnerable game should be
bid, in an effort to be in position for the last hand.
UK Team Captain Speech
I am sure I speak for all of us when I say how grateful we are to Made
Dphill and many others whose efforts have made this event possible. Please join me in
showing them our appreciation.
I have timed this to last for about an hour but if any of you need to go early or if I am
just boring you to tears feel free to go any time. No offense will be taken.
Just one request - No Snoring please ! I hate it when people snore when I am talking.
I will not be talking about bridge technique today. In an audience of such varying
abilities it is hard to know what level at which to pitch such a talk. Instead I will be
talking about something I consider to be almost as important as bridge skills - Tactical
know-how in WPlay.
I have seen so many matches thrown away through sheer lack of tactical awareness. Examples
abound : Bidding slam when only game is needed to win ; Conceding a large penalty
competing against a part score which won't give opps win ; doubling opps in contract when
the way to win is just let them make it undoubled. etc etc etc.
And one final one to put a smile back on my long-suffering partner's face : the other day
I raised him to game when a part score would have been enough. And why was this act of
criminal insanity perpetrated ? I simply forgot it was the last hand !!
Now the following examples I give apply strictly to Knock Out matches. In an event where
total score is used to split ties one must temper them with a little discretion.
Nevertheless my philosophy is that one should always go for the win. Look after the wins
& the points will take care of themselves.
Let's start with an obvious example. You are 500 down going into the 4th hand. What do U
do ?
Locate your best fit & bid game yes ? To do anything less would be to accept defeat
lying down.
Sir Winston Churchill would turn in his grave !!
The corollary to that is if U are 500 up, U take no risks whatsoever. If U have the cards
just bid to lowest level contract. If opps can make game good luck to them but do not hand
it to them by conceding large penalty.
The next example is less obvious : You are 300 up into the THIRD hand & you are not
vul.
You locate a huge spade fit with lots of points to go with it. 11 tricks are certain &
you think there are very good prospects for 12. Do you bid the slam ?
The answer is NO ! Let's work it out. If you bid & make 4S you score 450 to go with
your 300 lead making it 750. Opps now need a slam on the last hand to beat you. If you bid
slam you score
980 + 300 giving you 1280 and opps still need slam to beat you. But what if you go off in
slam ?
Your lead is now reduced to 250 & game is now all opps need on last hand! So why take
a risk that carries no reward whatsoever ?
There are countless other situations which I have no time to go into but
in summary the thing to do is to work out the score, see what is required from you (or
opps) and act accordingly.
Right that covers how much to bid. Now we go on to when to bid.
U are 500 down & it goes pass pass pass to U. U are looking at a bal. 13 count.
Normally this would constitute a perfectly respectable opening bid. But ask yourself this-
what are the odds of this hand producing game opps a passed pard ? Very slim is the
answer. So U should pass and hope for a better hand on the redeal. Maybe the card fairy
will be kind to U. If it so happens that opps are dealt slam on the next hand too bad.
They have won anyway.
Corollary - U are 500 up and it goes pass pass pass to U. U hold a bald 10 count. Now if
opps are to be trusted they are telling U that they do not have game on this hand because
they are prepared to pass it out. Well don't give them another bite at the cherry. Force
them to play this hand by opening the bidding ! I know that trusting opps in Wplay can be
hazardous to your mental health but in this situation the odds favor trusting them. They
know that they need game & if there is a sniff of it they would not be passing.
In general the more U are up the more U should be reluctant to pass hands out. & vice
versa of course. And don't forget 3rd in hand is same as 4th in hand. If you are 3rd in
hand it is your last chance to force opps to play the hand. Apply same logic.
The next topic is the most controversial of all. Do not practice this at your local bridge
club or U will soon be branded a Loony !
What suit to bid ? Say opps need grand slam to win on last hand & you hold S KQJxx H x
D Axxx C xxx. What do U open ? Well ask yourself "What do I want led if opps bid
grand?" Diamond right ? So tell pard by opening 1D ! U don't want to risk a spade
lead in the unlikely event that they can make 13 tricks with a D loser on top. It happens
from time to time U know !
Now what U bid on the same hand may differ depending on what opps need to win. Say U hold
S QJ10xxx H AK D xxx C xx. If opps need small slam to win U should open 1H agreed ?
But if opps only need 3NT to win U should open 1S. If pard leads S against 3NT they will
need to run 9 tricks without knocking out your HAK. A heart lead could be a total disaster
against 3NT.
In summary then when up by a large amount U have no interest in declaring the hand (except
to prevent it being passed out ). All bids should be lead directional. Work out in your
head what opps need to win & ask "If they bid that contract what do I want led
?" If answer is your singleton Ace then bid it !! Now of course pard needs to
recognize the situation. Don't go supporting on 5 or 6 trumps just because pard opened the
suit. He/She may have singleton A !
Well that is all I have to say today. Just one last word - Rule Britannia ! Britannia
rules the baize !
Go kick them Yankee butts !!
