From the editors......

W e are pleased to announce the addi-

tion of a new member to the CMP
team, advertising manager Patti Lee.
CMP rates, it's a bargain.
This is an opportunity, too, to thank
and congratulate a very special contribu-
Patti is well known to most bridge play- tor, Fred Gitelman who was a member of
ers in Ontario as a cheerful and talented the team that just won the CNTC for the
player, director, and teacher; it is a plea- second year running. Fred has been a
sure to welcome her to our staff. They contributor from the inception of CMP,
say that the busiest people have the most never having missed an issue; his articles
time! If you wish to discuss advertising are always well-written, interesting, and
in the magazine - be sure to give Patti a informative. And despite the fact that he
call. makes his living from bridge, Fred gets
At this time, too, we want you, our paid the same as everyone else associated
readers, to think about advertising in with CMP -- he gets our thanks.
CMP. Why should you advertise? Well, Finally, we want to announce the
first there is the important reason that third book from Master Point Press,
through advertising you support the pro- which will be available this fall: David
duction of CMP. Almost our only revenue Silver's Tales out of School. Those of
comes from our advertisers and it is you who have enjoyed David's articles
through their support that we can bring through the years will be pleased with
this magazine to all of you. We know this collection of stories set at Mohican
that some of our advertisers participate at College. Some of the stories have been
least in part for this purpose, and we previously published but the book also
thank them. includes a number of new pieces spe-
But advertising in CMP is also a cially written for it. David tells us that he
good way to get your message across to already has to live with some celebrity
bridge players across Canada. This issue -- people play very carefully when he sits
we will print 3200 copies (it seems to down to kibitz, hoping not to provide him
grow each issue) and we know that this with material!
represents many more actual readers,
since each copy is often shared among CANADIAN MASTER POINT
several people. There is, of course, a
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when you advertise in this magazine you
are reaching a new audience, too. Simple layout services included
So, do you run a tournament, or
have products or services that would in- October issue deadline
terest our readership? We know that Sept. 10th, 1995
many of our advertisers have seen con-
crete results, and at the relatively low Call Patti Lee at (416) 555-3714
 c a n a d i a n

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July 1995 Vol. IV Number 3

An occurrence at the Spingold by David Silver 3

Active ethics -- his rules or hers? by Marilyn White 8
Gadgets, gizmos, and magic bullets by Roselyn Teukolsky 10
Sniffwood by Mark Dunsiger 12
Playing by the book by Dr. Andrew Diosy 13
Déjà vu again... and again... by Fred Gitelman 15
Sharples/Marx over 1NT (part 1) by Ken Braithwaite 18
Colbert's rules -- a corollary by Mike Cafferata 21
The Toy Shoppe -- Drury by John Gowdy 22
The Guru lucks out by Mike Dorn Wiss 23
In the zone by Ray Jotcham 25
A history of conventions (part 1) by Thomas M. Gordanier 27
Baby keycard by Paul Redvers 28
Conventional wisdom by Barbara Seagram 30
Book Reviews by Linda Lee 32

Canadian Master Point is published four times per year. It is available free of charge through a number of bridge clubs
and bridge supply houses across Canada or by subscription ($15/yr, US$15 for US subs). Copyright © 1995 Master Point
Press. All rights reserved; reprinting of contents without the express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.
Correspondence and articles should be sent to the above address with SAE if return or reply required.

ED. BOARD: Ray & Linda Lee, Maureen Culp, John Gowdy, Ron Bishop
 An occurrence at the
Spingold
D a v i d S i l v e r

Stephen Cardinal Vincent Silver

T he match was
slipping away
from us. Not an
2♣ 2♠ Dbl.1
unusual occur- Rdbl. 3♣ Dbl. 3NT
rence in my long Dbl. 4♣ Dbl. 6♣
bridge career, but Dbl. Pass Pass ?
because of the cir-
cumstances, the 1) 8+ points
pressure was unre-
lenting. I was playing with Wright Stephen and Vincent were interfering
Cardinal in the final of the Spingold; our with our auction by putting up a bar-
partners were Eric Murray and Bruce rage of interference, but to no avail. I was
Gowdy. We had enjoyed unprecedented just about to redouble when, uncharacter-
success in the preceding rounds but our istically, I asked for a review.
opposition in the final round was excep- “Certainly,” said Stephen, “I opened
tionally formidable. Three of North the bidding with one spade and your part-
America's top professionals, Stephen, ner overcalled two clubs. Then.....”
Vincent and Benny, playing with an un- I didn't listen to the rest. I wondered
usually capable client, were putting up a whether I would be permitted a cigarette
tough fight. The first half had been a and blindfold before I had to face Bruce
standoff, but in this set we had suffered and Eric. Wright looked across the table
several swings against us. Now there was at me, concerned. “Are you all right,
only one board left and I estimated that David?” he enquired, in a worried tone.
we were 20 IMP’s down. I felt dizzy and light-headed, but the
Wright was nervous. He examined game had to go on. I recovered my com-
his scorecard, glanced at our partners at posure, passed the double of 6 ♣ and
the other table, and looked around for the Vincent led the ❤Q.
closest exit. I, too, was apprehensive. Suddenly Stephen sat up, a look of
From Bruce's demeanor, it was obvious horror on his face. “Wait a minute,” he
that things had been going well at their said, “I've only got twelve cards!” Vincent
table; I did not anticipate a tranquil com- was discovered to have fourteen, and the
parison of scores. But, as Yogi Berra director was called. The directors con-
once observed under similar circum- sulted briefly and ruled that the board
stances, “It ain't over till it’s over”. would be thrown out.
I picked up the last hand. “So the match is over,” I remarked
♠Kxx ❤xxx ◆Kxx ♣Qxxx morosely to Cardinal.
“No, three more to go,” he replied,
I was considerably relieved to hear holding aloft the requisite number of
Wright open the bidding with 2♣! We boards.
commenced an involved and scientific Saved! And three chances remain-
auction: ing! A rush of adrenaline cleared my head

Canadian Master Point

and I replied “I'm terrific! I feel again a these boys have thousands of master
spark of that ancient flame. Let's stop points" I muttered to myself as I cashed
talking and start playing bridge.” the ❤A noting the fall of East's eight.
I picked up the next hand. The ❤K came next, East following with
♠97432 ❤J9 ◆AK9 ♣Q83 the ten as I discarded my losing diamond.
Dummy's ❤6 was now high and I called
The bidding proceeded: for it to be played. LHO discarded a dia-
Cardinal Silver mond and I threw away my ♣Q, ensuring
two dummy entries. Warming to the task,
2♣ 3♣1 I returned to my hand via the ◆A and
3♠2 4❤3 finessed dummy's ♣J, and when it held I
4NT4 5◆5 ruffed dummy's diamond as RHO threw
6❤ a club. A club to the ace and a club back
forced RHO to ruff in with his ♠A or ♠8
The opening lead was the ◆Q; Wright as I sat over him with my 9-7. Making
put the dummy down and I had to take four spades.
ten tricks against expert defenders. The full hand was:

Cardinal Cardinal
♠ Q10 ♠ Q10
❤ AK64 ❤ AK64
◆ 753 ◆ 753
♣ AJ42 ♣ AJ42
West East
Silver ♠ J5 ♠ AK86
♠ 97432 ❤ Q532 ❤ 1087
❤ J9 ◆ QJ108 ◆ 642
◆ AK9 ♣ K105 ♣ 976
♣ Q83 Silver
I could see several routes to ten tricks but
♠ 97432
since every one depended on either an ❤ J9
extraordinarily fortuitous lie of the cards ◆ AK9
and/or a misdefence, I abandoned each in ♣ Q83
turn. West wasn't going to hold a double-
ton ♣K today! “I should have cashed the ♠ A and re-
If trumps did not lie favourably I turned the ❤10,” said Vincent.
was doomed (literally and figuratively “It wouldn't have changed any-
speaking) so I presumed only two trump thing,” I said, consolingly. “I would sim-
losers. At last, the winning line appeared ply cash the two top hearts. If you ruff the
to me like the angel at the Battle of Mons. ❤6, I overruff and play spades, squeez-
I won the ◆Q and led my ❤J. LHO cov- ing Stephen in diamonds and clubs. If
ered with the queen and I let him hold the you don't ruff, the play is essentially the
trick as East followed with the ❤7! same. The hand can't be beaten as long
After a few moments LHO played a as I throw the ♣Q so Stephen can't jump
low spade to dummy's ten and East’s in with his king and block one of my
king. Back came a low spade and dum- dummy entries.”
my's queen won West's jack. "No wonder

June 1993
 I could feel the momentum of the I paused, considered my strategy, and
match swinging towards us, and eagerly, claimed twelve tricks.
I picked up the penultimate hand: “A straightforward progressive
♠KJ7 ❤A73 ◆104 ♣KQJ98 squeeze without the count,” I announced.
“Haven't seen one since Percy Sheardown
The bidding proceeded: played seven diamonds doubled in the
1958 Olympiad. Throw your cards in,
Stephen Cardinal Vincent Silver boys, there's no defence.”
Stephen looked puzzled. “Do you
1◆ 1NT Pass 3♣1 mind stating a line of play, please?” he
Pass 3◆ Pass 6♣2 asked.
“If you insist,” I replied, “but I
1) Natural slam try should have thought it was fairly obvi-
2) Has a better chance that 6NT, ous.
for obvious reasons “Your modern-style aggressive light
opening has marked you with all the re-
West led the ◆K and Wright laid down maining high cards -- a meagre eleven
an adequate, if somewhat disappointing points. Knowing that, I simply win the
dummy. ◆A and run five rounds of clubs, throw-
ing a spade from the dummy, and watch-
Cardinal ing your discards for queens and jacks.
♠ A42 “Let’s suppose you keep all your
❤ K104 major suit honours and throw the ◆ J:
I’ll lead out the ◆10, establishing my ◆9
◆ A97 as trick eleven, and endplaying you in the
♣ A1043 majors for trick twelve. Either you’ll
lead a spade into me, or you’ll lead a
Silver heart honour and set up a finessing posi-
tion in the dummy.
♠ KJ7
“If I don’t see you throw any hon-
❤ A73 ours, however, I know that your last
◆ 104 seven cards are ♠Q ❤QJ ◆QJ and two
♣ KQJ98 spot cards, so either spades or hearts are

Canadian Master Point

now unguarded. I lay down the ❤A, and The opening lead was ❤3 and I was not
if the ❤J falls, I can finesse the ❤10 -- displeased with the dummy.
just in case you are false-carding with
three of them. Now I cash the ❤K, and Cardinal
you’ll have to unguard the ♠Q or throw ♠ A54
the ◆J, allowing me to concede a dia- ❤ KJ
mond to establish trick twelve once
again. ◆ AJ104
“If you follow small on the ❤A, of ♣ AK92
course, I know the ♠Q must be falling, so
I cash three spades and once again you Silver
are forced to give up either the ◆J or the ♠ KJ87
heart suit.”
“I'm sorry to have questioned you, ❤ A96
Professor,” said Stephen respectfully. ◆ KQ5
“Oh, that’s all right,” I replied mag- ♣ 1087
nanimously. “Of course, when I was your
age, Sami Kehela would claim and every- I played the ❤J which was covered by
one would throw their cards in. Then the queen and won by my ace. A low
we'd stay up all night trying to work out spade to the ace revealed nothing, but
how he would have played the hand. when I returned the suit and finessed the
Tedious, but that’s what made me the jack, LHO played the nine. I then played
player I am today.” the ♣10 losing to the jack on my right.
I moved confidently to the last Back came the ❤7: I won my ace as West
hand: followed with the ❤2, and I claimed the
♠KJ87 ❤A96 ◆KQ5 ♣1087 balance of the tricks.
“Meaning no disrespect, professor,
The bidding proceeded briskly: I just don't see it," said Stephen, con-
Wright Silver fused.
"Well, my boy, keep playing and
1NT1 studying and someday you will. But we're
4NT2 6NT all tired, so I'll explain.

1) Weak (12 - 14) Cardinal

2) This is a maximum, as non- ♠ 5
vulnerable I could hold as little ❤ ---
as 12 HCP; besides I'm play
ing it. ◆ AJ104
♣ AK9

Silver
♠ K8
❤ 9
◆ KQ5
♣ 87

June 1993
“At this point, I shall cash four diamonds, “Are you all right, David?” he en-
throwing a club from my hand.. If spades quired, in a worried tone.
are 3-3, I have the rest; if not, East who “Yes, thank you, I just felt faint for
is known to have the ♠Q, must guard that a moment.”
suit, and can therefore hold on to only “In that case, would you mind put-
two clubs. West can temporarily guard ting the dummy down? We'd like to finish
clubs, but when I lead a spade to the king, the last hand so we can all go home.”
he is squeezed in hearts and clubs: a sim- I looked up at Wright, waiting impa-
ple non-simultaneous double squeeze. tiently. Vincent looked at me quizzically,
The exact position of the club suit is com- the ❤ Q on the table in front of him.
pletely irrelevant.” Standing out in the corridor I could see a
The pros left dejectedly, and we smiling Bruce and Eric waiting impa-
were soon joined by Bruce and Eric. They tiently to compare scores.
had not had a good round, but it didn't “What's the contract?”
matter: we had won handily, as a result “Six clubs doubled. Now, can we
of picking up 40 IMP’s on those last three see your hand?”
boards. Cardinal whooped and pumped Wright took his five club tricks and
my hand. Eric and Bruce looked sheepish that was that, seven down doubled, vul-
and congratulated me on my perfor- nerable. Our opponents left quickly and
mance. silently and we were joined by our part-
"Just playing my usual game" I said ners.
as I turned to accept the congratulations “Don't look so worried, guys, we’ll
of the kibitzers. The news spread like be fine as long as you didn’t go for any
wildfire. Strangers were shaking my numbers,” said Bruce jovially as he sat
hand and clasping my elbow. A nubile down.
sixty-year-old whispered something in There is no armour against fate. I
my ear and pressed her room key in my fumbled with my convention card and
palm. The din was deafening, the room quietly moved my chair back a few
suddenly extremely hot and crowded, and inches. Wright began calling out our
I felt faint and dizzy, grasping at Wright's scores, and I slowly rose to my feet and
arm to keep from falling. ran like hell.

Canadian Master Point

 Active ethics
-- his rules or hers?
M a r i l y n W h i t e

A rather nasty
episode oc-
curred at the recent
and others “bad”. We learn, too, from
teachers, religious leaders, grandparents,
in fact anyone bigger than us who is im-
Ottawa Regional. portant to us. We learn from television,
It was the first movies, books, and newspapers.
round of a Flighted Everything we learn, we internalize, and
Swiss, and North eventually these values become our own
was about to make standards.
a bid, using bidding boxes. She fingered Ethics is a philosophical term, which
a bid, studied her hand again, fingered involves codes of conduct. Law, busi-
another bid, went back to her hand, and ness, medicine (and bridge!) all have
so on. ethical standards to which we are ex-
The gentleman sitting East was get- pected to adhere, or face sanctions. These
ting increasingly uneasy, and finally in- standards take the form of rules, that can
formed the lady that such behaviour was be pointed to as explicit guides to behav-
against the rules. The woman, offended, iour.
persisted. The man continued to object. So far, so good.
Tempers flared, and soon players for The problem is, men and women
some distance around heard angry seem to have different attitudes towards
“Director!” calls, as the disturbance esca- rules and different conceptualizations of
lated at what (unfortunately) turned out morality. Therefore, questions of morals
to be my teammates’ table. and ethics are not as simple to resolve as
The director arrived promptly, and one might think.
had to deal with a man who was incensed, Most rules and laws are written by
and by now behaving very badly, and a men; violations are mostly interpreted by
woman who was indignant over both the men, and men have made the rules of
bad behaviour and what she perceived as most games. Women live in the same
“psychological bullying”. Each believed world, and play the same games, but there
themself “right”, and was morally out- is an attitudinal difference that people
raged. (including women) are not aware of. This
On the surface, the director had an difference has been brilliantly described
easy task, because there are rules dealing by a female theorist, Carol Gilligan.
with bad behaviour. On a deeper level, Gilligan maintains that females use
what the director was seeing (although he different reasoning than males when con-
probably didn’t realize it) was the clash fronted with moral issues. Where men
between two differing systems of moral are concerned with rights and rules,
conduct, and he was really being asked to women deal in the realm of relationships
adjudicate which was correct -- the man’s and responsibilities. Men use a logical
or the woman’s. approach based on concepts of law and
This is not an easy task. justice, whereas females practise an ethic
Morality is the conscious adoption of care.
of standards related to right and wrong. Women, she says, tend to pay atten-
Early in childhood, we learn that our par- tion to the connections between people.
ents consider some behaviours “good” They worry about the well-being of oth-
June 1993
ers. Morality for women involves an in this view, is judged by the laws, and
obligation to exercise care and avoid hurt: means acting in accordance with both
people who care for each other are the their letter and their spirit. My point is
most responsible, and people who hurt that such a view leaves women out of the
someone else are selfish and immoral. equation. Women accept the vital impor-
For a woman, therefore, a central moral tance of the laws, but are only perceived
dilemma is conflict between herself and to be acting “ethically” when they behave
others. like men!
But what has this to do with It would perhaps be interesting to
bridge? establish a new Active Ethics category,
Once one is aware of this underlying evidenced not simply by following the
gender difference, the reasons behind rules of the game, but by acts of kind-
some of the anomalies of the bridge ness, goodwill, and an absolute refusal to
world may become clearer. At the Ottawa violate trust or tread unnecessarily on the
Regional, the man’s innermost moral val- feelings of others. Active ethics would
ues were being threatened -- and the thus also reflect the female morality of
woman’s were too! She was breaking the inclusion which allows everyone to take
rules, and he was creating a conflict. And joy in the game.
both went away mad, because neither
understood the other’s issue. We are talking generalizations here,
However, if the theorists are correct, of course. (Readers who disagree with
and if men and women do in fact operate that statement are referred to Roselyn
according to different fundamental moral Teukolsky’s article in our April 1995
codes, then we have a problem. In the issue.) What do our readers think? Is
September 1992 Canadian Master Point, there some deep-seated world view that
the late Paul Heitner is quoted as saying is gender-dependent, that makes males
“A game is defined by its rules.... If you fiercely competitive, and leads females
break the rules on purpose, you are cheat- (in general) to be more concerned with
ing; if you break the rules by accident, conflict-avoidance? It’s an interesting
you pay the appropriate penalty. ... the theory, but at the moment, a theory is
rules dictate the penalties.” Active ethics, what it remains. Ed.

Canadian Master Point

 Gadgets, gizmos, and
magic bullets
R o s e l y n T e u k o l s k y

A n ex-partner
of mine once
told me that he
number. Usually, from the context of the
hand and the bidding, partner can work
out exactly how many cards the opening
wouldn't play with leader has in that suit. The partner of the
anyone who re- opening leader must indicate to his part-
fused to play odd- ner how many tricks their side can cash
even discards. “I in that suit. Partner's lowest card indi-
simply refuse to cates that they can take one or three
play inferior meth- tricks (this includes an ability to over-
ods,” he stated. Another ex-partner once ruff dummy). Partner's third lowest card
said that he felt "rejuvenated" since add- shows that they can only cash two tricks.
ing CRASH to his card. "This is it!" he If the queen of the suit is on the board,
told me. then partner gives straight count.
Which is your favorite gizmo? This is a very useful gadget, be-
During the past several years new gad- cause, very often, it takes the guesswork
gets have proliferated like zebra mussels out of that particular suit. When you
in the Great Lakes: Rosenkranz redou- know for sure how many tricks your side
bles, coded nines and tens, Kantar hon- can cash, you can maintain the tempo in
our splits, Foster Echo, Reverse Drury, a hand where timing is everything. When
CRASH, DONT, Suction, Roman your opponents are playing in high level
Keycard Kickback -- I could fill the contracts like five of a minor, it can be
page. In the eternal quest for the magic absolutely crucial to know how many of
bullet, those of us in midlife bridge cri- a given side suit you can cash.
sis have made it a crusade to add these We added this lovely toy to our bag
snappy little zingers to our arsenal. of tricks, and we're waiting to see if this
Thus it was that my favourite part- is what turns us into World Champions.
ner and I, armed with an unquenchable It is now several weeks after the
desire to elevate our game beyond the vacation. We are playing in a team game
mediocre, headed for a week's vacation against tough opponents and I pick up
at the beach. In the beachbag was “New ♠AJ943 ❤54 ◆97 ♣10542
Ideas In Defensive Play in Bridge” by
Helge Vinje. We found this book to be a At favourable vulnerability, in
treasure trove of new weaponry, and we fourth seat, I hear this auction:
spent a delightful week contemplating South West North East
the various little Molotov cocktails that
we could hurl at our soon-to-be-dead (Me)
opponents. 1❤ 3◆ 4❤ All Pass
One idea in particular intrigued us. My partner leads the →K, and a
From AK in a suit, the opening lead of fairly promising dummy (for our side)
the ace shows an even number of cards appears:
in the suit, the lead of the king an odd

June 1993
 North North
♠ K5 ♠ K5
❤ K97 ❤ K97
◆ Q86 ◆ Q86
♣ K9763 ♣ K9763
East West East
♠ AJ943 ♠ Q76 ♠ AJ943
❤ 54 ❤ 1032 ❤ 54
◆ 97 ◆ AKJ10432 ◆ 97
♣ 10542 ♣ --- ♣ 10542
South
On the lead of the ◆ K declarer
drops the five and I the nine (count). My ♠ 1082
partner switches to the ♠ Q on which ❤ AQJ86
South plays the king and I win my ace. I ◆ 5
cash the ♠J, and, with three tricks in the ♣ AQJ8
bag, feel quite uplifted. What would you
play next? From my partner's point of view,
Well? Did you try to cash another when he led the ◆K my drop of the ◆9
diamond? Declarer surely has the ♣AQ showed a doubleton (remember, when the
for his opening bid, and quite possibly queen is on the board, give count). This
the ♣J. If there is another diamond to told him that there were no more dia-
cash then you had better do it now or else monds to cash, and he switched to the
the diamond loser may go away on the ♠Q. Nifty little gadget, huh?
fifth club. On the other hand, if declarer I'm sure you're dying to know if we
is now void in diamonds, playing another won the event. Unfortunately there was a
diamond will allow him to ruff, draw little bit of overbidding here and a couple
trumps (which are breaking nicely, worse of wrong views there. But let me assure
luck) and claim the rest of the tricks. you that we're still collecting for our ar-
Now suppose you know for sure senal, and one of these days.....
that partner started with an odd number
of diamonds because he led the king
from AK. What would you play?
Remember partner's three diamond bid?
This should tell you that he started with
exactly seven diamonds, and that de-
clarer started life with a singleton.
Therefore you can forget about cashing
another diamond.
Getting back to me at the table. I
decide to trust my partner's carding and
our new gadget. I see that the only hope
of another trick is a long shot---that part-
ner started with a void and can ruff a
club! Accordingly, I return a club, and,
for once, my partner comes through for
me. Here are the hands:

Canadian Master Point

 Sniffwood
M a r k D u n s i g e r

Readers who don’t know Mark will More recent examples occurred at
quickly figure out why his nickname is a team game in the Invitational League
“the Gunslinger”. Ed. at the Regal. Partner and I bid to four
slams, not all odds-on favourites, but all

S cientific auctions bore me. They

tend to be long, slow, and exciting
only to the two clowns doing the bid-
making as the cards lay; only one was
bid at the other table, we picked up 40
IMPs, and as a result we won the match
ding. How boring to find out in the auc- by 36. The curiosity was that on none of
tion all about partner’s high cards and these hands did we employ an ace-ask-
distribution! You will never get to steal ing convention. We did try to be quasi-
a slam off two aces or a cashing ace- scientific on three of them, cue-bidding
king; you will have a paucity of excit- after we found a fit, but basically we
ing stories to tell during the post-game used our noses to find these slams:
gatherings. And, most significantly, sci- Sniffwood, if you will.
entific auctions take valuable time from The auction on the fourth slam was
the exciting part of the game -- the play a mite repulsive, but allow me to present
of the cards. To quote Israeli-born inter- my case.
nationalist Sam Lev, an obviously like- ♠AK10xx ❤xxx ◆AJxxx ♣---
minded player, who was chastised by
team-mates for bidding a grand slam in Partner opened 1◆ and I bid 1♠. Partner
hearts with a void opposite his partner’s rebid 2♣ and I ended the auction with a
“solid” heart suit missing the queen: “I call of 6◆. To be honest, I considered
am here not to win a bidding contest but bidding 2 ❤ , starting a scientific ap-
to win the board”. The heart queen was proach. But the slam does look a good
doubleton, of course, and he scored proposition if they don’t find a heart
2210. I concur; the Lord knows who lead, and possibly partner will have a
are the chosen people. heart control anyway. A heart was led
In this vein, I was playing re¬cently and continued but I felt vindicated when
with my favourite scientific partner, partner ruffed the second heart and made
John Sabino, the late night host at the the slam. Who needs science?
Regal Bridge Club, against the propri- Perhaps you might enjoy trying this
etor of the same institution. I held a approach and using your nose a little
shapely 17 or so and opened 1❤. My more and science a little less.
partner, John, bid 2NT and I leaped mer-
rily to 6❤. A trump was led and I was
able to pitch two losers on a long suit in
dummy and claim. The opening leader,
Irving Litvack, holding two cashing
aces, was beside himself. He asked me
whether I had in my arsenal some gadget
to check for aces; I said I did, but it
would take up valuable time to find out
and besides, why risk the disappoint-
ment of finding out that you do not have
the controls needed for slam?
June 1993
 Playing by the book
D r. AN d r e w D i o s y

F our college students, none of whom

had been playing bridge for very
long, decided to try their luck at a
bid it, sure that their aggressive young
opponents would also be there.
The opening lead was the ♣J, and
Regional Swiss. To their great surprise, North tabled a disappointing dummy.
they squeaked out some narrow victo- Reluctant to ruff the opening lead, South
ries, and the last round found them play- pondered the likelihood of West’s hav-
ing against the local champions for all ing underled the ♣A. A man famous for
the marbles. Although they did not his table presence, he stared suspiciously
know it, they were 16 IMP’s behind at West, but the student’s bored expres-
when the last hand came up. sion provided little assistance.
The ruff at trick one seemed forced,
North but then, what should South do next?
♠ K102 No problem if he could draw trumps,
❤ K954 since he had enough diamond winners to
make the contract. However, what if the
◆ KQ10975 ♠A were not singleton, and one of the
♣ --- defenders were good enough to hold up?
West East Not likely, thought declarer. He ruffed
♠ 653 ♠ A4 the ♣J, and led the ♠K to trick two.
East was about to play the ♠A, but
❤ Q83 ❤ J762 at the last moment he pulled it back. He
◆ 642 ◆ J3 suddenly remembered a book on ad-
♣ J1092 ♣ A7654 vanced play he had read recently, which
South had suggested that when declarer leads
a king from dummy, he wants the de-
♠ QJ987 fence to take their ace. The book had
❤ A10 been reviewed very favourably. Without
◆ A8 further thought, East played low.
♣ KQ83 That was a blow to South. If he
continued trumps, East would win and
At the first table, where the cham- cash the ♣A for down one, so the only
pions were North-South, the bidding hope was to play some diamonds. The
was: ◆A and ◆K were followed by the ◆Q,
North South but East didn’t want to waste his ♠A on
a ruff, so he discarded a club, and so did
1◆ 1♠ South.
2♠ 3NT Now South was at the end of his
4♠ 6♠ rope, as West could ruff the next dia-
Perhaps some explanation is re- mond if he continued to play the suit.
quired. After South’s somewhat careless There was no escaping a club loser in
matchpoint 3NT call had been removed addition to the ♠ A. They scored up
to 4♠, he belatedly realized that, oppo- down one, and waited to compare.
site a distributional hand, he might well At the other table, this was the auc-
be in the slam zone. With no unambigu- tion:
ous way to explore, he decided just to

Canadian Master Point

 North South monds, and continued with the ◆Q at
1◆ 1♠ trick 4.
What could East do? If he ruffed
2♠ 4NT low, South would simply over-ruff, and
5♣ 5♠ could draw trumps with impunity, since
6♠ the ♠ A would have to take the first
North wasn’t sure whether his club round of the suit. Equally obviously,
void should count as an ace over ruffing with the ♠A would not be help-
Blackwood, and, when his partner signed ful so East discarded a club as declarer
off smoothly in 5 ♠ , gave the matter did the same.
some thought. Finally, deciding that he Now, however, South abandoned
would never forgive himself if they lost the diamond suit. He led a heart to the
the event through cowardice (and not ace, and ruffed a club in dummy. Next
knowing his partner had already bid too came the ❤K, a heart ruff to hand, and
much), he bid the slam. another club ruff with dummy’s last
Here, too, the opening lead was the trump. Except for the ♠A, South’s hand
♣J, and again it was obvious to South was now high.
that he had to ruff. But from here on, “Nicely played,” said North.
the play went differently. South had “Oh, it was always cold,” said a
read the same book as his teammate, and modest South.
he remembered that, in a difficult suit The 17-IMP swing was just en-
contract, you were supposed to play on ough to win the match by a single IMP.
a side-suit before touching trumps. “Do you think we’re ready for the
South considered this hand difficult, so Nationals yet?” someone asked in the
at tricks 2 and 3 he cashed the high dia- car going home.

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June 1993
 Déjà vu again...
and again...
F r e d G i t e l m a n

T he 1995
Canadian
National Teams
♠A862
opposite
❤A973 ◆Q2 ♣753
Championships In addition, the defenders' hands
was held June were very similar in both deals and the
6-11 at the diamond suits were identical around the
Sheraton Parkway table. At first I thought this was just an
in Toronto. Twenty extreme statistical curiosity. However,
teams from across the country competed after the session there was the usual dis-
for the right to represent Canada in the cussion of hands and several players
1996 Athens Olympiad. started to notice other pairs of deals con-
As a member of the defending taining similar layouts (particularly in the
champions (Irving Litvack NPC, George diamond suit). By the start of the next
Mittelman, Fred Gitelman, Eric Kokish, session we had come up with five pairs
Joey Silver, Mark Molson, Boris Baran) of deals with striking similarities (though
I had high hopes. But things did not none were as obvious as the first exam-
start as expected: our team lost the first ple). There was clearly something wrong
four matches of the round-robin (this with the computer program that was cre-
was quite a contrast to last year when we ating these "randomly dealt" hands.
didn't lose for something like the first I brought the matter to the attention
eighteen matches!). Our losses were of the directors Henry Cukoff and Karen
relatively small, however, and after two Cooper and tournament chairman Steve
good wins we were right back in theth- Cooper. After carefully reviewing the
ick of things. hand records of the event, they discov-
On the third and last day of the ered that the problem was quite wide-
round-robin I picked up: spread. In fact, every deal that was played
♠KQJ ❤KJ2 ◆AJ6 ♣KJ98 in the round-robin had at least one coun-
terpart -- another deal with around forty
I wrote a note to kibitzer Ben of the cards (and usually all of the dia-
Zeidenberg, “I held this hand yesterday monds) being dealt to the same players!
but I had the ten of clubs instead of the You are probably wondering why it
nine”. He looked at me as if I was crazy. took three days for a group of a hundred
The dummy in 3NT: or so of Canada's best bridge players to
♠863 ❤A973 ◆Q2 ♣7532 notice this problem.
There are a few reasons:
was not only disappointing (the con- 1. The deals were not exactly the
tract made on a lucky lie of the cards) but same. In most cases enough differences
also very familiar. At the end of the ses- existed so that the likely bidding and final
sion, Ben looked up the hand records contract would be completely different.
from the day before and found that I had 2. The first deals to "re-appear" did
been right. A deal from the previous day not do so until the third day.
was: 3. Some players do not always sit
♠KQJ ❤KJ2 ◆AJ6 ♣KJ108 the same direction. It is much easier to

Canadian Master Point

notice this sort of thing if the same person team led at the half and lost by just 7
gets a similar hand twice. IMPs. Michael Roche and Jim Green (of
4. Most of the teams had more than the Thorpe team) deserve special credit
four players, so very few people played for their excellent play during this close
in every session. match. Other winners in the quarter-fi-
In any case, the discovery was dis- nals were Lesage (over Presse), Balcombe
turbing (to put it mildly), but the organiz- (over Altay), and Fraser (over
ers handled the problem quickly and Gartaganis).
professionally. The boards were shuffled Déjà vu extended beyond the com-
in the quarter-finals. New hand records puter hand problem at this tournament.
were ordered for the semi-finals and fi- Our semi-final match against the Fraser
nals (from a different source) and all of team (Doug Fraser, Nader Hanna, Peter
these boards were re-duplicated. This Schwartz, Martin Caley) was a replay of
situation and other recent embarrassments last year's final. That match had been a
lead me to believe that the ACBL must relatively low scoring affair with our
review its procedures for the production, team pulling away at the end to win by 50
approval, and distribution of computer- or so. The first two quarters of our semi-
dealt hands. It is a shame when the integ- final against Fraser this year were also
rity of an event as important as the CNTC close. Fraser led by 6 after 16 boards and
final is compromised by incompetent trailed by 3 after 32. The match was ef-
programming and administration. fectively decided in the third quarter as
In past CNTC finals, only four Litvack won most of the swings in a wild
teams emerged from the round-robin for set of boards, finally winning by 104
semi-finals and finals. This year eight IMPs.
teams qualified and a quarter-final round The Lesage-Balcombe semi-final
was added. I got the impression that ev- was close all the way, but Lesage
erybody liked this new format. The top (Richard Lesage, Denis Lesage, John
teams were under less pressure to per- Valliant, Dave Willis, Jurek Czyzowicz,
form well in the round-robin, while the Waldemar Frukacz) won and would face
lesser teams had a much better chance to Litvack in the 1995 CNTC final. Once
qualify for the playoffs. The top eight again there was a sense of déjà vu, as
were: these two teams had met in the semi-fi-
nals last year.
1. Litvack NPC (Montreal-Toronto) The first quarter of the final saw the
2. Lesage (Ottawa) Litvack team take a commanding 49-IMP
3. Balcombe (Toronto area) lead, but to the credit of the Lesage team,
4. Gartaganis (Calgary + Toronto junior they made it a contest until the last board.
Darren Wolpert filling in because of The second quarter resulted in a huge
an emergency) number of swings to both teams. These
5. Fraser (Montreal-Toronto) swings completely balanced out, how-
6. Presse (Halifax) ever, and the margin remained 49. The
7. Altay (Toronto) third quarter saw Lesage cut the lead to
8. Thorpe NPC (Toronto) 34 after a strong performance by the
Lesage brothers. Litvack added another
As the winner of the round-robin we were 14 IMPs in the fourth quarter to win the
given the right to choose our quarter-final match by 48 IMPs.
opponent from the 5th through 8th place From my point of view, the fourth
finishers. This was not an enviable choice quarter was a personal nightmare. Each
as these were all good teams. We eventu- hand seemed to contain the potential for
ally chose to play Thorpe and almost disaster and when the match was over, I
came to regret this decision. The Thorpe thought it was quite likely our team had
June 1993
blown our large lead. Molson and Baran Look what happens if I duck(!) the
were close to perfect at the other table, club trick. Declarer wins and must exit in
however, and the match was never really a minor. I cash my three minor suit win-
in doubt. Team Litvack won the CNTC ners and play a spade (a diamond also
for the second year in a row (to the best works). Declarer is now down to all
of my knowledge, this has happened only trumps and must ruff his own entry.
once before: Kehela-Murray, Kokish- Declarer has no way to avoid losing a
Nagy, and Mittelman-Graves won the trick to my ❤Q, thus going down one.
CNTC for two years running in the early Notice that declarer could have made the
1980's). hand against any defence by playing a
There were several interesting hands club honour from dummy on the critical
throughout the tournament. Here is one trick. Also notice that George's defence
of my favourites (from our quarter-final of a club return was needed to give de-
match vs. Thorpe): clarer a chance to go wrong.
I really like this hand because it
North shows how such an obvious-looking play
♠ Q8754 like winning the ♣K can be completely
❤ J3 wrong (the same can be said of declarer's
obvious-looking low club play, an error,
◆ 64 from dummy). I did not give one second's
♣ QJ53 thought to this trick. If I had, I am certain
West East I would have come up with the right an-
♠ A1063 ♠ J92 swer. I wonder how many plays like this
duck of the ♣ K are missed every day
❤ 9 ❤ Q86 because bridge players think some plays
◆ 108732 ◆ AQ95 are so obvious as not to warrant thinking
♣ 742 ♣ AK6 about?
South Despite the fiasco with the computer
hands, there were many positive things
♠ K about the 1995 CNTC final. Our team
❤ AK107542 will now have the chance to play in two
◆ KJ World Championships (1995 in Beijing
♣ 1098 and 1996 in Athens). I am hoping that
we are able to take advantage of these
1NT was 15-17. 2 ♣ showed any great opportunities and represent our
one-suited hand. 2 ◆ asked and 3 ❤ country with distinction in these events.
showed a good hand with hearts. George I also hope that the only element of déjà
led the ◆2 (third and fifth) to my queen vu in the 1996 CNTC final is the winning
and declarer's king. South cashed a top team.
heart and played the ♠K to George's ace.
George got out the ♣2 (still third and
fifth). Declarer played small from the
dummy. How do you defend? (Yes, I
know you can see all of the hands).
My problem came too late on this
hand. I won the ♣ K and then thought
about what to do. I quickly realized that
it was too late - there was nothing I could
do. No matter how I played, declarer
could get to dummy to pick up my ❤Q
and make the contract.

Canadian Master Point

Sharples-Marx over 1NT
(part 1)
K e n B r a i t h w a i t e
that start with 2♣. A form of Crawling
F our-suit transfers are becoming in-
creasingly popular over 1NT, but few
pairs have detailed agreements beyond
Stayman is used to escape 1NT on
shapely weak hands with a four-card
the first round. This article presents a major, as well as on those hands seeking
system based on the ideas of a group of a 4-4 major-suit game. The idea is this:
British experts, headed by the Sharples over a response to Stayman, minimum
brothers and Jack Marx. suit bids are weak, and looking for a fit.
The basis of the approach is to use When crawling the responder either has
natural bidding for all strong shapely both majors, or a major with one or two
hands, and to use Stayman and Baron for minor suits.
the rest. I shall outline both a basic If responder bids 2❤ over 2◆ he is
scheme and a more elaborate version (for asking for a major preference; with only
those with better memories). The system two hearts opener bids a three-card spade
varies in places from the standard ap- suit or 2NT, and with three hearts he
proach in North America, but it can usu- passes. After 1NT - 2 ♣ - 2 ◆ - 2 ♠ ,
ally be changed back without loss. opener must cater to responder being
First the outline: 4135, 4153, and 4144, so 2NT denies a
club preference and 3◆ shows at least a
2♣ Stayman, promises a major, five-card suit. If responder is 4126 or
but may be weak seeking a 4216, he must bid 3♣ not 2♠ over a 2◆
fit response, since he cannot afford to hear
2◆ Transfer, but may not have 3◆.
hearts; a subsequent 2S bid Over a 2◆ response responder can
cancels the transfer, asks pass with diamonds, so then a 3◆ bid is
opener to bid 2NT with a artificial (showing 5-5 in the majors) and
minimum is invitational. In North America this is
2❤ Jacoby transfer called Weissberger. No balanced slam
tries use Stayman, but strong 4441 hands
2♠ Gap transfer to clubs, accep-
do. Over a 2❤ or 2♠ response responder
tance is strong
can splinter, and over 2◆ he can use the
2NT Gap transfer to diamonds,
Sharples convention (explained below).
acceptance is strong
3-suit Natural, 6+ cards, single
Stayman 2♣ (promises 4-card major)
suiter, slam try
4♣, 4◆ South African Texas (trans-
fers to H, S), mild slam try a) 2◆ (no 4-card major)
4❤, 4♠ To play
4NT Quantitative, 4333 Responder's rebids

Crawling Stayman 2❤ Asks for major preference

2♠ Four spades and both minors
Since all strong two-suiters start with a -- take cautious preference;
transfer, there are only a few strong hands 3◆ now is a suit; 2NT is no
June 1993
 preference; 3♣ is a club If responder holds four spades he has no
preference need of 3◆ as an escape; it can therefore
2NT Natural, invitational (has a be a 4-6 invitational hand or used as
major) Sharples. However, a 2♠ rebid by re-
3♣ Weak (remember that it sponder can also be played as "semi-
shows a major) forcing" to allow game tries with spades
3◆ 5-5 majors, invitational: bid and either minor.
3 or 4 of your preferred
major Opener's rebids over this (optional) semi-
3❤ 5+ hearts, 4 spades, invit. forcing 2♠ are:
3♠ 5+ hearts, 4 spades, game-
forcing Pass Three or four spades, weak
4❤, 4♠ Slam try, weak suit 2NT Crawling, weak
4♣, 4◆ Sharples (see below) 3♣ Crawling, maximum
3◆ Four spades, two clubs,
maximum
b) 2❤ 4-card heart suit; may 3❤ Four spades, two diamonds,
also have four spades maximum
Responder's rebids 3♠ Four spades, accepting game
try but weaker than 3◆ or
3H
2♠ Crawling -- take cautious
preference; 3◆ now is a suit;
2NT is no preference; 3♣ is This also frees up 1NT - 2♣ - 2❤ - 3◆
a club preference for Sharples (strong 4144; exact pat-
2NT Natural, invitational (with tern).
four spades)
3♣ Weak (with four spades) Sharples

3◆ Four spades, six diamonds,
Strong 4441 hands either splinter or use
invitational
Sharples after starting with Stayman:
3♠, 4♣, Splinter
4◆
4❤ To play 1NT 2♣
4♠ Slam try with weak suit
4NT RKC Blackwood and now:

c) 2♠ Four spades, denies 2◆ 4♣ 1444, 4144, 4414

four hearts (3-suited including
clubs)
Responder's rebids 4◆ 4441 (3-suited
without clubs)
2NT Invitational; (with four 2♠ 3❤ 1444
hearts) 2❤ ? See the discussion
3♣ Weak (has hearts) above; 3◆ can
3◆ Weak (has hearts) show 4144
3❤ Sharples (see below)
4❤ Slam try, weak suit A slight improvement is, over 2❤ or 2♠,
4♣, 4◆ Splinter to play that three of the other major
4♠ For play shows a splinter in any suit. This frees
4NT RKC Blackwood 4♣ to show the other three suits and 4◆

Canadian Master Point

to be RKC Blackwood.

Fancier Sharples

1NT 2♣
2❤ ?

3♠ Any splinter; 3NT relays to

ask which suit
4♣ 4144
4◆ RKC Blackwood

and similarly after 1NT - 2♣ - 2♠.

Notice there is no way to invite to
slam giving a choice between six of the
major or 6NT, when holding a balanced
hand. This is because all balanced slam
tries use Baron.
(To be continued...)

June 1993
 Colbert's Rules - a corollary
M i k e C a ff e r a t a

I
n an earlier edi-
tion of Canadian
Master Point I
Hand 2
♠Kxxxx ❤xx ◆xx ♣xxxx
outlined Dave On this hand I was actually playing with
Colbert's five Dave Colbert so I could hardly fail to
Rules. My favou- take action.
rite of the rules is
“stretch to bid Both vulnerable
when partner opens 1♣ or 1◆ no matter
how weak your hand”. I have found Partner RHO You LHO
success lately in applying this rule even
when my RHO overcalls, as long as I 1♣ 1◆ 1♠ 2❤
have extra length. 3♣1 4❤ 5♣ 5◆
All Pass
Hand 1
1. We play 3♣ as only competitive in
♠J109xxx ❤xxx ◆xx ♣10x these auctions

The opponents believed our bidding and

Partner RHO You LHO missed a pretty good slam.
1♣ 1❤ 1♠ 3❤ Hand 3 (Mike falls from grace)
4NT Pass 5◆ Pass
5❤ Pass ?? ♠xxx ❤xxx ◆xxx ♣xxxx
Well, you have shown no keycards and Surely with this hand I can pass a 1♣
partner is still asking for the queen of opening bid as I don't have a major and
trumps. Do you have the guts to count 1♣ on even a 4-3 rates to be our best
jack-sixth as the same as the queen and spot? Wrong again! The opponents kept
bid the very good slam? bidding until they got to a bad but cold
vulnerable 4❤. Maybe a 1◆ response
Partner’s hand was: with a jump shift to 2♠ by partner would
♠AKxx ❤x ◆AJx ♣AKJ9x have stopped them. To make matters
worse I was again playing with Dave
Colbert.

Canadian Master Point

 J o h n G o w d y ' s T o y
S h o p p e
Drury
J o h n G o w d y
2♠
D ouglas A. Drury
ranks among
the all-time best
The worst; carry on at your
own risk, and only with an
excellent hand.
Canadian players, 2NT Artificial; asks responder to
but it is for the con- show a singleton.
vention named after 3♣ Natural, game-forcing.
him that he is best 3◆/3❤ 5-5, good hand; slam is a
remembered today. real possibility.
Legend has it that 3♠ Solid (missing at most, one
the Drury convention top honour) 6-card suit, no
grew out of his partnership with a young shortness -- 6322, offering
lawyer, Eric Murray, whose imaginative notrumps as a possible spot.
third-chair openings seemed too fre- 3NT 5332, 15-17 points;
quently to result in their going for 800 at responder may pass.
the three-level. The Drury convention One of the keys here is that a 2NT bid by
allowed them to end the auction at the either partner asks for shortness. This bid
two-level, and he found the consequent allows either partner to look for the per-
500 numbers much more palatable. At fect fit, and stay low if it is not there.
any rate, it is clear that Drury is a More advanced proponents of Drury
Canadian invention, and if for no other play that 2♣ shows three-card trump sup-
reason than that, we should all be playing port, while 2◆ promises four. Rebids by
it. opener and further responses are the
same, but opener has the option of shoot-
Drury, 90’s style ing game opposite a four-card raise with-
out telling the defence anything.
Over partner’s third or fourth chair major
suit opening, your 2♣ response is artifi- A few last thoughts
cial. It says “I fit your major (which is
not the way Drury originally played it) As the natural 2♣ response is now lost, I
and I have a good passed hand. What do play that 2NT by a passed hand over part-
you think?” If opener rebids his suit, he ner’s major shows 9-11 points with six
denies game interest. Any other bid is clubs: this hand would normally bid 2♣
either neutral or a move towards game or and then 3♣ if Drury had not removed
slam. that option.
If you play against Drury, you
Pass should treat the 2♣ bid as a spade raise,
and play a direct double of Drury as take-
1♠ 2♣ out of spades:
?
Pass Pass 1♠ Pass
2♣ Dbl.
2◆ Not a bad hand -- game or
slam is possible. This gets you in with a three-suiter; most
2❤ Natural, game-forcing. people play this double as showing clubs,
which is not nearly so effective.
June 1993
 The Guru lucks out
M i k e D o r n W i ss
♠ AKJ65 with an eye on the Wiss-Neagu non-
❤ A4 power grand slam track record, zero for
◆ AK1064 infinity) Michael decided to settle for
six, reasoning that if accurate card play
♣ K produced an overtrick, the score would

Y ou hold the
above hand
in a Jackpot
be good enough.
How right he was. Sort of. The ❤2
was led, and this dummy was tabled:
($700+) pairs game, with neither side
vulnerable, and after two passes you North
open 1 ♠ . With the opponents silent, ♠ Q92
partner bids 1NT (semi-forcing after a ❤ K98653
third-chair opener). You rebid 3 ◆ ,
game-forcing, and partner bids 3 ♠ , ◆ 3
which you play as a better hand than 4♠ ♣ A104
would imply.
Over Blackwood, partner shows Silver
you the missing bullet, the ♠Q, and the ♠ AKJ65
❤K. The only problem now is whether
his diamonds are better than Jxx. Maybe ❤ A4
you have a way of discerning this; then ◆ AK1064
again, maybe you don’t. And depending ♣ K
on whether you play 1430 or 0314 re-
sponses to Keycard, you may still have (We don’t think a non-forcing 1NT would
room to find out or you may already be be everyone’s choice over 1♠ on North’s
at 6❤. hand. Ed.)
If you could have bid Serious 3NT When Felipe gave me this hand, he
over partner's 3♠ bid, you might have asked me how I would play it on a club
been able to find out about the ♣A and lead. It seemed fairly simple: win the
the ❤ K early, and still have room to king, play the ◆A, ruff a diamond, ❤A,
explore the diamond situation. Like another diamond ruff, ♠Q, pitch a dia-
most of us, however, you are probably mond on the ♣A, ruff a club to hand,
now at the six-level having to guess pull trumps and claim.
whether partner has a suitable diamond OK, says Felipe, how about on a
holding. So -- do you go or do you not? heart lead? Same thing, I say, only now
Seven hundred bucks rests on your deci- the ♣K replaces the ❤A as an entry. As
sion. long as neither major breaks 5-0, I’m
This was the problem that faced the home.
Guru -- Michael Neagu, the young Right, says Felipe, but the Guru
Romanian star now living in Vancouver. sees little artistry in such pedestrian
He was playing with Felipe Hernandez, play. After playing low from dummy at
another fast-rising bridge luminary, and trick one and winning the East's ❤ J,
their strong-club auction clearly defined Michael was sure that hearts were 4-1.
everything by the four-level. Then the He played the ace and queen of
wheels came off after an ambiguous trumps, and the ♠10 fell on his right. A
4NT. Left with a guess (and probably heart to the king brought a minor suit

Canadian Master Point

pitch, and confirmed that East was 2-1 disciplined first seat “modern” preempt
in the majors. The Guru had now end- when they reached 6 ❤ , which could
played himself into squeezing his op- only make twelve tricks.
ponents. Did I say something about the Guru
A heart ruff high was followed by a being lucky? Well, he and Felipe stroked
trump to the nine. Another heart was a 135-1/2 on a 108 average, but the win-
ruffed with the last trump, the ♣K was ning score was 136! Had they bid the
overtaken with the ace, and the dummy’s grand, the extra one-half matchpoint
last two hearts were played off. Righty, would have gained them about $740!
with five diamonds and five clubs to the Well, for fifteen hundred bucks a
queen, jack, was history. Of course, matchpoint, yours truly will give up
Michael was lucky West didn’t hold one IMP’s forever!
of the club honours, but it’s best to be
good and lucky!
Plus 1010 was worth, surprisingly,
7 out of 8 matchpoints. It seems only
one pair had bid the grand, and had
scored all 8 matchpoints -- no doubt on
a similar line of play to mine. The entire
remainder of the field opened the North
hand with a weak 2❤! They received
their just desserts for a sloppy and un-

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June 1993
 In the zone...
R a y J o t c h a m

A fter not having played a card in ear-

nest for eleven years, I was most
surprised when last fall I received a call
dead! Watch what followed. Declarer
won the ♠Q in his hand, and led a low
heart, finessing when Irving played low.
from Irving Litvack to come out, remove He now played in turn the ❤K, the ❤J,
the accumulated rust, and participate in and the ♠K, all in turn ducked by Irving,
the 1995 CNTC with partners to be while I played low spades at every op-
named later. I accepted the invitation portunity. Now came the ◆K, on which
with alacrity and misgivings, and we he discarded a club from hand. Irving
soon formed a team with John Gowdy, won the ◆A, and exited a club to de-
Marty Kirr, and Roy Dalton. clarer’s hand. The ♠ 10 was won by
Arriving in the Zone Final, I knew Irving, who got out a club again, this
things were going to be interesting time to dummy. The ◆J went to Irving
when, on the first board of the event, now, who cashed his ❤ A, and put
Irving psyched. Although the opponents dummy in with a diamond, allowing me
got to the right spot for a push, the tone to take the setting trick with the ◆ 9.
had been set. This hand from the same Thanks, pard!
match was fun to defend: Our next match was fairly quiet,
but Round 3 provided some fireworks.
North Again on the first board, white against
♠ A85 red, I held
❤ A10653 ♠863 ❤--- ◆10743 ♣KJ6532
◆ AQ5 and heard Irving open 1 ❤. Since we
♣ 62 play a forcing club system I knew it was
West East likely to be the opponents’ hand, so I bid
♠ Q1092 ♠ KJ 2 ♣ to advertise my strength to the
world. The world ignored me, as usual,
❤ Q9842 ❤ KJ7 and the opponents casually bid to 6❤,
◆ --- ◆ KJ10742 making all thirteen tricks! Irving had
♣ AK85 ♣ Q9 psyched his best suit -- four to the nine;
South our partners had a much easier time, and
bid the grand.
♠ 7643 Two losses followed, as well as two
❤ --- small wins, so Round 7 was a match we
◆ 9863 had to win. Win it we did, principally
♣ J10743 on one hand. I picked up

North East South West ♠KQ986432 ❤KJ8 ◆82 ♣---

Irving Ray and opened 4♠ as dealer. Irving raised
1❤ 2◆ Pass 2NT to 6♠ holding
Pass 3NT All Pass ♠AJ ❤743 ◆AQJ964 ♣A4
On a heart lead, with spades 2-1 and
Irving led a low spade, declarer played diamonds 3-2, the hand was easy.
low from dummy -- and he was now

Canadian Master Point

 Our next match was also a must- He won the diamond lead in dummy,
win, and another slam made up most of and crossed back to his hand with an-
our margin of victory. I held other trump, both opponents following.
♠AK105 ❤A64 ◆QJ96 ♣Q10 A club towards dummy was won by the
king on his left. Now he won the spade
Irving opened 1◆, to which I responded switch with the ace, cashed the ♣Q and
1 ♠ . Irving rebid 2 ♣ , denying 3-card the ♠A, and ruffed a spade in hand as
spade support. I bid 2❤, fourth-suit and RHO showed out. The ♣J failed to fall
game-forcing, and Irving’s 2♠ showed under the ♣A, so a club was ruffed in
some kind of fit. I set the suit with 3◆, dummy and Irving proceeded to run off
Irving bid 3❤, and I was now in a quan- his remaining diamonds, squeezing LHO
dary. The only things I knew for sure between the ❤K and the high spades.
were that Irving had two spades, four- We played a tough final day against
plus diamonds, and four-plus clubs; I four of the top six teams in the stand-
had no idea how strong his hand was. I ings, but won a number of close ones to
tried him out by bidding 3♠, giving him finish the event in third place, and qual-
a last chance at 3NT, but when he bid ify for the national final. My impres-
4♣ I couldn’t restrain myself from bid- sions? It was fun to participate as a
ding the diamond slam. player again after directing this event
He groaned a little when I put the five of the last eight years. In fact, I may
dummy down, but set about his busi- even do it again!
ness.

North
♠ AK105
❤ A64
◆ QJ96
♣ Q10
West East
♠ QJ762 ♠ 83
❤ K975 ❤ J1083
◆ 82 ◆ 105
♣ K2 ♣ J8753
South
♠ 94
❤ Q2
◆ AK743
♣ A964

June 1993
 A history of conventions
(part 1)
T h o m a s M. G o r d a i n e r

T he game of
whist existed
for 175 or more
unknown. A 1908 book (“Bridge and
how to play it”) stated that the auction
principle had been known in the USA
years without seri- for fifteen years, and familiar to Eastern
ous competition Europe and Asia Minor for fifty. The
from similar card exposed dummy, options for determin-
games. For the ing trumps, bonuses for game and slam,
most part, a trump and the introduction of doubles and re-
suit was determined by the last card doubles were all innovations made about
dealt to the dealer, and it was up to him this period.
and his partner to make the best of it It was soon discovered that doubles
even though the defenders often held could have uses other than the obvious.
more high cards and longer trumps. The 1908 book described a “Heart
Since bidding was non-existent, the Convention”, whereby a double of a
first convention employed was a high- notrump contract asked for a heart lead.
low signal used while following to the Players soon realized that doubling a
suit partner led, asking for a trump low-level contract would seldom result
switch. This was known as a “peter” in a good score, so over an opponent's
(after the “Blue Peter” naval signal flag), opening bid a double was used conven-
and is still of course in use today, al- tionally to ask partner to bid his best suit
though for different purposes. British -- the “takeout” double as we still know
players still use the term “peter” for a it today.
defensive high-low, while North A 1918 British book, “Royal
Americans call it an “echo”. The inven- Auction Bridge”, lists a number of play
tion of this signal is attributed to Henry conventions in use at that time. These
Bentinck (1801-1870). included the lead of the king from ace-
Although not really conventions, a king (and the ace from ace-king double-
number of special plays were discovered ton). There were also a number of uses
during this early period of whist. One for the echo: typically to ask for a ruff,
was the Bath Coup, named after the or to ask for a switch if the first card
English resort town; Guillaume were unnecessarily high. An echo on
Deschapelles, a master of chess and bil- opening lead at notrumps showed four
liards as well as whist, discovered the or more of that suit, and when declarer
defensive coup that bears his name. ran trumps, an echo in a suit allowed
The next innovation was the codi- partner to discard all of that suit.
fication of opening leads, which soon A number of radicals were experi-
led to the adoption of “fourth best” from menting with their own bidding systems,
a long suit. Robert Fredrick Foster is too. Among them was Harold S.
reputed to have deduced the “Rule of Vanderbilt, the man who changed auc-
Eleven” in 1880-81, and an account of it tion to contract by inventing vulnerabil-
was first published in his “Whist ity, and who first used a 1♣ opening to
Manual” of 1890. show a hand with 16 or more points re-
It was during the 1890’s in England gardless of the club holding. He never
that the first elements of bidding were promoted the system, however, and the
introduced, although the exact origin is idea was soon forgotten.

Canadian Master Point

 Baby keycard
P a u l R e d v e r s

B aby Blackwood (3NT instead of

4NT) is an old convention that isn’t
used very often any more. However,
for example, do you have an agreement
about the key suit in sequence such as
1♠ 2◆
playing a forcing 1NT, you can always
reach 3NT with a balanced hand after a 3◆ 3❤
major suit opening bid (bid 1NT and 4♣ 4♠
then 3NT over opener’s rebid), so there 4NT
is little point in using a direct 3NT to There would be no such problem if the
show this type of hand. Some partner- auction had gone 1� - 3NT.
ships use 3NT as a part of their major Notice that the use of this conven-
suit raise structure; in my view, a better tion does not necessarily mean that the
use is as Keycard Blackwood (opener’s final contract will be in opener’s suit.
suit is the key suit). Responder will set the final contract,
When is this useful? More impor- which could easily be notrumps, or even
tantly, when is it not useful? First, you his own suit.
can’t use it with a void. I repeat, you Responses to 3NT will be familiar
can’t use it with a void. And you to anyone who has played standard
shouldn’t use it with a balanced opener, Keycard:
or with a rock-crusher opposite partner’s 4♣ 0 or 3 keycards
sound opening bid (doesn’t your partner
4◆ 1 keycard (if you need
always have sound opening bids?): there opener to have 4, you are
are better ways to bid these hands in probably too high already)
2/1.
4❤ 2 keycards, no trump queen
Ideally, you’ll have at most 15
points, with three-card trump support or 4♠ 2 keycards with the trump
your own solid suit, and it will be im- queen
portant to you to know about the king of With a void, opener bids the void suit at
partner’s suit. There are times when all the five level (or bids 5❤ with a spade
you want to know is how good a suit void if hearts is the key suit).
opener has, either for trump control or With no further slam interest, re-
as a source of tricks at notrumps. sponder can sign off at the four-level in
Keycard obviously allows you to elicit opener’s suit. Over the ambiguous 4♣,
this information, including enquiring responder cue-bids his cheapest ace
about the queen of partner’s suit. There below game if he has one, or signs off in
are many 11-15 point distributional opener’s suit if no lower cue-bid is avail-
hands that can make slam if opener has able to him. Opener can then, with three
the perfect cards, but where the five- keycards, cue-bid his cheapest ace even
level will be dangerous if he does not. if that goes past game (don’t bid 3NT if
Baby Blackwood lets you explore these three keycards aren’t enough for you!).
possibilities at the four-level. Other second bids by responder can
In more standard methods, there start a more complex, co-operative auc-
are also cases where a complex auction tion.
can lead to ambiguity as to the key suit;

June 1993
 For example: 1. 0 or 3 keycards
2. No red ace
4NT (over any response) 3. 3 keycards, ♠A, and continued slam
interest despite partner’s lack of red
To play: opener must pass. Responder suit controls.
had his own source of tricks, and never 4. ♣A and renewed interest.
intended to play in opener’s suit. 5. ❤A, no ◆A.
6. The missing keycard is the ◆A, so
4 or 5 of a new suit slam is good bet.
This is not the only method that can
Cue-bid of cheapest ace, showing slam reach 6♠ on these cards, of course, but
interest, and asking opener to cue-bid it has the virtue of being fairly simple,
his own cheapest ace. You can include and, in my view, of making use of a bid
the trump ace in this system: opener’s (3NT) that is not needed for anything
rebid of his own suit denies any by- else. It is especially valuable in that it
passed ace and also the trump ace, while allows you to make mild slam explora-
the cheapest notrump rebid shows the tions without having to go past game
trump ace. and endanger your plus.

6 or 7 of a new suit

This (directly over opener’s response to

3NT) is for play. Opener has some con-
version rights (to notrump with a solid
suit and undisclosed features, for ex-
ample) but he’d better be right!
West East
♠ AKJxxx ♠ Qxx
❤ Axxx ❤ x
◆ x ◆ Qxx
♣ xx ♣ AKQJxx

1♠ 3NT
4♣1 4♠2
4NT3 5♣4
5❤5 6♠6

Canadian Master Point

f o r f u t u r e e x p e r t s
Conventional wisdom
b a r b a r a s e a g r a m

M any milestones
mark the path
of bridge players
So how do you go about expanding
that arsenal? A good starting point is to
take a long hard look at what you know
emerging from the already. Are there particular types of
“nervous novice” hands or bidding situations that consis-
stage. One of the tently give you and your partner prob-
more interesting lems? Sometimes, this problem can be
turning points comes solved by gaining a better understanding
when the realization of your basic system; sometimes, the
dawns that “conven- problem is better solved by adding a con-
tions” are not just gatherings of large vention. Say, for example, that you are
numbers of like-minded people wearing missing a lot of slams that other pairs in
funny hats, but that in the world of bridge, your level of game are reaching. Is it
they have a meaning all their own! And because you don’t play Exclusion
while adopting the latest trendy conven- Blackwood, or is it that you don’t know
tion seems harmless and easy enough, a cue-bid from a cue ball? Get the an-
learning all the nuances and deciding swer to these questions first and you will
which conventions to play are among the find yourself adopting conventions be-
most perplexing issues with which a cause they add clarity and understanding
bridge player ever has to deal. To help to your game, not just because “every-
you develop some “conventional wis- one” is playing them.
dom”, this article will set out some ques- When you do add conventions, add
tions which, as you answer them, will one or two at a time, and give each of
help you and your partner decide which them a reasonable trial period.
conventions are right for your game. Remember, the right circumstances for a
Let’s start by defining what a con- given convention may not come up every
vention is (when you’re not attending session. And remember too that disasters
one!). Simply put, a convention is any are part of the learning curve. Don’t
bid that, by agreement and not by infer- throw out the convention with the con-
ence, gives or asks for information that vention card just because you landed in
has nothing to do with the denomination an inferior contract the first time you used
you are actually bidding. Stayman, that it. Who among us has not suffered the
old friend to players of all levels, is an agonies of being passed in a splinter bid,
excellent example of a convention: when for example? Remember, too, that add-
we bid 2♣, we do it for the purpose of ing a lot of new dimensions to your game
asking our notrump-bidding partner may do a very nice job of filling in spaces
whether they have a four-card major. The on your card, but may add to partnership
2♣ bid has nothing to do with the club confusion en route! Using only a small
suit at all! In fact, many of the familiar group of conventions that you both un-
weapons in our bridge arsenal are con- derstand thoroughly and have mas¬tered
ventions, among them the takeout double, will serve you better in the long run than
the Unusual Notrump, Blackwood, and overkill.
Gerber.
June 1993
 Last, but certainly not least, do your
homework before adding a convention to
your card. Among the worst crimes com-
mitted in the name of progress is agreeing
to play a convention after getting a one-
or two-sentence explanation. Almost as
bad is agreeing to play something without
really understanding it, because you think
you’ll look unsophisticated if you don’t!
Before you and your partner add a con-
vention, make sure you understand what
natural bids you are giving up. And do
some research. Read a book that explains
not only how your prospective new
weapon works, but gives examples of its
use. And don’t forget those invaluable
sources of information closer to home --
ask a player who is better than you, and
whose bridge you respect, what conven-
tions they commonly play. Ask your fa-
vourite director or bridge teacher for
advice. Read the articles in Canadian
Master Point or the ACBL Bulletin.
Follow this simple plan as you ex-
pand your knowledge, and you’ll be well
on the way to “conventional wisdom”!

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www.masterpointpress.com

Our main site, with information about our books and software,
reviews and more.

www.masteringbridge.com

Our site for bridge teachers and students – free downloadable support mate-
rial for our books, helpful articles, forums and more.

www.ebooksbridge.com

Purchase downloadable electronic versions of Master Point Press books.

www.bridgeblogging.com

Read and comment on regular articles from Master Point Press authors and
other bridge notables.

Canadian Master Point

 Book Reviews
Thinking About IMP's by John grand can sometimes be right even when
Boeder. Devyn Press. $18.95. 269 you can't count thirteen tricks. (Caveat
pages, paperback. lector. Ed.)
Reviewed by Linda Lee. What are some of your other favou-
rite IMP’s topics? They are bound to be

T his is a book designed for what has

recently been called the “advancing
player” -- someone who has learned the
here. If you have a question about IMP
strategy, it’s probably answered in this
book. There is an entire chapter on dou-
basics of the game and is starting to play bling, including a discussion on when it
more competitive bridge. More advanced is right to double a part-score, when
players who want to do a thorough re- should you double a game, when are
view of the basics would also benefit. doubles for penalties, etc. There is even
The true expert player, however, will find an entire chapter on opening leads against
less of interest in this book since very slams!
few "brand new concepts" are intro- As you read, you should remember
duced. what the author says in the introduction
What the book does well is to pro- -- nobody is going to agree with all the
vide a very well-organized and thorough ideas in this book. That’s part of the fun
review of the strategy, tactics, and special of IMP’s. John Boeder has done a good
considerations of playing IMP’s, with a job of listing the issues, and over time
special focus on bidding. In each section, you will want to make up your own mind
the author looks at the mathematics of the as to what is right.
situation and divides the problem into all
its components. He provides analysis, How to Play Card Combinations by
suggestions and examples of each, dis- Mike Lawrence. Devyn Press. $17.95.
cusses some of the things that you and 227 pages, paperback.
your partner should work out in advance Reviewed by Linda Lee.
to make life easier, and then finally pro-
vides counter-measures that the opposi-
tion can use.
Let’s take the chapter on slams as an
M ike Lawrence is an author who can
usually be relied on to give his
readers their money’s worth. This book
example. First Boeder considers the was originally published a few years ago,
thought-provoking question -- what but I recently had the good fortune to
should we be doing in a slam auction? receive a copy and thought that it was
He then looks at the nature of slams that worth reviewing for those who hadn't yet
are hard to reach (but you wish you had) had a chance to read it.
and those that are easy to reach (but you The book starts with a rule that both
wish you hadn't) and so on. One interest- declarers and defenders should take to
ing part of this chapter for me is grand heart -- it is better for you if opponents
slams -- a subject about which I have a break a suit than if you have to do so
strong opinion. He looks at the mathe- yourself. Lawrence then takes seven
matics and points out that a pair that bids different card combinations and through
a grand when opponents stop in game is a series of example hands thoroughly dis-
risking twenty-nine IMP’s to gain three; sects the different ways that each one can
however despite this “truly chilling math- come into play. This may involve its act-
ematics”, he also suggests that bidding a ing as a guard in a notrump contract, your

June 1993
using it to engineer an end-play in a suit The best thing about the book is its
contract, or your attacking the suit for the entertaining style: this is learning made
most tricks based on the play of the hand painless. You bid and play a series of
to that point. hands while Lawrence guides you
Consider the combination J103 op- through, explaining his reasoning as the
posite A42. In the first example, this is hand demonstrates the play point he is
the stopper in your weak suit in a 3NT; trying to make. This book is geared at
the opening lead is the king through dum- the intermediate player who is trying to
my’s A42. Your natural instinct would be improve his play, but would be useful and
to win the ace in dummy, but Lawrence enjoyable for more advanced players
now demonstrates the value of ducking to too.
guard against a 5-2 break in this suit. In
the second example, you must play the
suit yourself for two winners. He walks
through all the possible card layouts
which allow you to play the suit for two
winners and then in the hand shows you
how he selects the winning line. In the
particular example, he plays for Qx or Kx
over the A42. He therefore leads the two
to the jack, losing to an honour, and then
plays low to the ace dropping the other
honour.

Canadian Master Point