AUDREY GRANT'S BETTER BRIDGE MAGAZINE July / August 2017 | Page 3

The Magazine for Social and Duplicate Bridge Players | July / August 2017 IN THIS ISSUE 1 EDITORIAL 2 PLAY OF THE HAND 4 MASTER SOLVERS’ CLUB 5 LOOK—ALIKES 6 7 POINT OF VIEW 8 10 DEFENDERS’ CORNER 12 THE REAL DEAL 14 A NUMBER OF GUIDELINES 16 MODERN BIDDING 17 QUIZZICAL PURSUITS 18 THE PLAY'S THE THING 19 ASK JERRY 20 ANSWERS TO QUIZZICAL PURSUITS by Audrey Grant What Can We Infer from the Opening Lead? by David Lindop A feature from The Bridge World by Audrey Grant CALENDAR OF EVENTS Trumping by Pat & Paul Harrington COME TO THE PARTY The Life of the Double by Julian Laderman On the Road by Robert Todd When the Bidding Starts on the Four Level! by Larry Cohen The Guideline of 15 by David Lindop Rebids... After Responder's Negative Double by David Lindop by Jerry Helms EDITOR Audrey Grant | TECHNICAL EDITOR David Lindop | ART DIRECTION Mary Maier & Cole Walsh-Davis | CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Larry Cohen, Henry Francis, Fred Gitleman, Jerry Helms, Shawn Quinn, Andrew Robson, Pat & Paul Harrington, Julian Laderman, Robert Todd. AUDREY GRANT’S BETTER BRIDGE IS PUBLISHED SIX TIMES A YEAR BY BARON BARCLAY BRIDGE SUPPLY, 3600 CHAMBERLAIN LANE SUITE 206, LOUISVILLE,KY 40241 USA. NO PART OF THIS MAGAZINE MAY BE COPIED OR REPRINTED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT OF BARON BARCLAY. TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 1-800-274-2221 OR EMAIL: [email protected]. SUBSCRIPTION IS $29 USD PER YEAR OR $50 FOR TWO YEARS. COPYRIGHT © 07 2017. PRINTED IN THE USA. VOL 21 NO 6 ISSUE 133 The theme of the recent MISC Magazine was Excellence. It was full of quotes, stories, advice, and book reports. A lot of the information is food for thought for bridge players. Ian Cosh writes: The concept of excellence is inherently competitive; logically, in order for some to surpass, others must be outdone. Is it valuable to ask certain questions of ourselves: When and why did humanity, or at least our part of it, become obsessed with being excellent? Can we learn something from societies that place greater importance on collective achievements and on being just good enough? Theo Forbath writes: It takes vigilance and energy to overcome the presumption that in achieving excellence, one’s work is done. Idris Mootee contributes: Achieving excellence is about trying hard. Okay. But not too hard. Surround yourself with others. Whenever you’re dealing with complex problems and know you need to be in a new headspace in order to be productive, provide that for yourself. Finding the right people to exchange ideas with is the most effective way to do so. Allow dialogues to flow freely and easily --- like art-- -and new ideas will eventually emerge. Don’t force it. This seems like advice for post-game discussions. In a 1967 newspaper column, Oswald & James Jacoby gave excellent advice for the declarer. Use ARCH. The acronym stands for: Analyze the Opening lead; Review the Bidding; Count your winners; Ask yourself How you can make the contract.” In this issue, David Lindop looks at Analyze the Opening Lead and the advantages the declarer has when a defender makes the opening lead. David shows how with the defenders’ help, contracts can be a sure thing from the first card played. On the Road with bridge professional Robert Todd is a new article for Come to the Party. Robert shares a hand that he and his partner defended in a tournament. In Point of View 26, experts were given a hand and polled on whether they would make a call with the hand or pass. The director predicted the answers would be unanimous at one time as everyone would pass. Now it’s a bidder’s game. Pass still got some votes but not a majority. Would you and your partner share the same opinion holding the hand in Master’s Solvers’ Club. World-class players like Larry Cohen and Jerry Helms share, in a delightful way, current bridge information. Quizzical Pursuit gives you a chance to test your skill on opener’s rebid after partner makes a Negative Double. Enjoy your summer reading. Thank you for being part of Better Bridge. A udrey G rant and the better bridge team BETTERBRIDGE.COM 1