The Magazine for Social and Duplicate Bridge Players | July-August 2023
in this issue
1 Editorial by Audrey Grant
2 Play of the Hand by David Lindop
4 Master Solvers ’ Club A Feature from The Bridge World
5 Look-Alikes
6 Point of View
8 Defenders ’ Corner by Audrey Grant
10 Come to the Party by Rhoda Walsh
12 The Real Deal by Larry Cohen
14 Bridge Maxims : Truth or Fantasy ? by David Lindop
16 Modern Bidding
18 The Play ' s the Thing
19 Quizzical Pursuits
& Bidding Quiz
20 Quizzical Pursuits
& Bidding Quiz Answers
EDITOR Audrey Grant | TECHNICAL EDITOR David Lindop CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Larry Cohen , Shawn Quinn , Andrew Robson , Robert Todd , and Rhoda Walsh . 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 : SUPPORT @ BARONBARCLAY . COM . SUBSCRIPTION IS $ 35 USD PER YEAR OR $ 60 FOR TWO YEARS . COPYRIGHT © 07 2023 . PRINTED IN THE USA . ISSUE 168 .
Love for Sale was the second collaborative album by American singers Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga . It was released on September 30 , 2021 . Bennett broke the Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material at the age of just over 95 years . Bennett was known for being positive , enthusiastic – and insatiably curious . He always wanted to learn new ways of doing things , and was active and involved with artists of different ages .
Recently , Ian Leslie wrote a book simply titled Curious . He suggests ways to stay curious and points out that curiosity isn ’ t a quality you can rely on to last a lifetime , but a mental muscle that atrophies without regular exercise .
Leslie quotes composer John Cage : " If something is boring after two minutes , try it for four . If still boring , then eight . Then sixteen . Then thirty-two . Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all ." An attitude that certainly applies to many bridge deals .
In Play of the Hand , David Lindop encourages us to be curious as declarer about what the defenders are doing . It starts with the opening lead . Since the defenders tend to follow a number of opening lead guidelines , there ' s information from the lead that can often help declarer determine the winning play … and avoid the losing play .
Let ' s turn the table around and suppose we are the defender . When partner is on opening lead , not only is declarer watching the clues from partner ' s lead , but we should too . In Defenders ' Corner , we ' re reminded to use the opening lead and the auction to make a Defenders ' Plan before playing to the first trick . However , we need to be willing to revise our plan as we gather more information during the play . The best defense will depend on our ability to stay flexible and curious throughout the deal .
In Maxims , David considers when it is right for a defender to lead a trump when there is no clear-cut alternative . Some players might think " when in doubt , lead a trump ." Instead , we should use the advice : lead trumps only when not in doubt . Listen to the auction , says David , to decide when leading trumps is the best choice versus when we need to attack and take our winners .
Rhoda Walsh shares a valuable tip for declarers that most players don ' t take advantage of . When holding touching high cards , declarer plays the higher of equals . Does it matter and why ? The answer may surprise you .
Thank you for being part of Better Bridge . All the best , Audrey Grant and the Better Bridge Team ( 647 ) 542-6471
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