AUDREY GRANT'S BETTER BRIDGE MAGAZINE September / October 2019 | Page 3
The Magazine for Social and Duplicate Bridge Players | September-October 2019
in this issue
1
E ditorial
2
P lay of the H and
4
M aster S olvers ’ C lub
5
L ook -A likes
6 P oint of V iew
D efenders ’ C orner
8
10
12
14
16
18
19
20
by Audrey Grant
by David Lindop
A Feature from The Bridge World
by Audrey Grant
by Audrey Grant
C ome to the P arty
T he R eal D eal
by Larry Cohen
T he ABC s of D eclarer P lay
by David Lindop
M odern B idding
by Oren Kriegel
T he P lay ' s the T hing
Q uizzical P ursuits
Q uizzical P ursuits
& B idding Q uiz A nswers
EDITOR Audrey Grant | TECHNICAL EDITOR David Lindop | CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS Larry Cohen, Oren Kriegel, Shawn Quinn, Andrew Robson, Sylvia Shi,
and Robert Todd.
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Jude Goodwin illustrates in a cartoon, in Come To The Party,
a partnership talking after the play of a deal. One player, with
seemingly no emotional involvement remarks: “If you had made
any other lead, we could have defeated the contract." It reminded
me of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a highly esteemed thinker
who, several hundred years ago, wrote these words: “When we
treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat
him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make
him what he should be.”
Goodwin’s cartoon captures the face of the player who made the
inappropriate lead, and it’s clear whether this accusation is true
or not, he is made worse by his partner’s comments. How do
we get the best from our partnership, especially since it’s usually
acknowledged one player is better than another? If we react as if
partner is playing up to partner’s potential in all cases, there’s no
need to say “well played partner”, or the other side of the coin,
“you just made a horrible lead”.
In many sports, top athletes downplay the winning and losing
aspect of the game. No one is perfect, mistakes will be made,
of course. It’s not surprising that some of the best athletes have
encouraged the spectators to enjoy the moment as much as the
outcome.
It’s a challenge not to judge. Even the routine of putting down
the dummy – declarer might show disappointment or joy. Simply
the tradition of saying “thank you partner” without judgment is
enough.
Von Goethe’s advice works for bridge players. It’s practical and
it’s used by the best in the world. It’s often said you can judge the
skill level of the players by the remarks made at the table.
There are more ideas in this issue’s Come To The Party to help us
improve our bridge etiquette and make the game more enjoyable
for our partner, our opponents, and ourselves.
Also in this issue, David Lindop reminds us that sometimes
things may not be as simple as they look. His article in Play
of the Hand will surprise us that even when the contract looks
seemingly safe, we could be heading for misfortune.
The opening lead is a critical part of defense. Defenders get a
head start to take winners or develop the tricks they need.
However, it also gives valuable information to declarer. Defenders’
Corner and the third installment of the ABCs of Declarer Play
look at the opening lead from both the declarer and defenders’
perspectives. For the declarer, take advantage of the lead to
uncover a safe versus a dangerous opponent in planning the
play. For the defense, carefully consider partner’s signals to avoid
giving a trick to declarer. We might even use declarer’s techniques
in establishing our suit. Imitation really is the sincerest form of
flattery.
We’re all familiar with the direct overcall after our right-hand
opponent opens the auction. However, when both opponents
have bid, and partner has been silent, the rules for entering the
auction with an overcall in "fourth seat" are different. Oren
Kriegel explains them in Modern Bidding.
Enjoy the tips and stories in this issue. Thank you for being part
of Better Bridge.
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