ACES ON BRIDGE
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I happened to see your column recently, as a retiree living in Bentonville, Ark. I have a lot of time on my hands. Do you have any suggestions as to where I might go to learn bridge? I played for a little while in Vietnam, when it helped to keep our mind off other things. — Green Giant, Bentonville, Ark.
DEAR READER: I think the best (and cheapest, and most efficient) way to explore your options is to call (800) 264-2743. This is the telephone number for ACBL. You can reach a real person who will tell you about clubs in your area. But I also googled “Bentonville bridge clubs,” and I suspect you may find your answer if you do the same.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: In fourth chair, I held ; A-J-4,
k Q-10-6-3, l Q-J-3, ' Q-7-4 at pairs. My partner opened one club, and I responded an invitational two no-trump, figuring I had no ruffing values and hoping to conceal my hand from my opponents if we ended in no-trump. Should my partner, with 3-43-3 shape and 14 points, bid on? The opponents allowed me to take nine tricks, while the rest of the room made nine tricks in hearts (mostly in game).
— Lumberjack, Detroit, Mich.
DEAR READER: Your partner should surely have accepted the invitation with a good 14. I do not blame you for bidding two no-trump — it may be against the field, but it might still be right (as here), even facing four hearts. As you can see, matchpoints often involves non-bridge considerations.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I notice you play an extremely simple convention card in comparison to most of the world’s other experts. If we were to rewind your clock some 40 years, would you adopt a more sophisticated system? The reason I ask is that I have a hunch that most of today’s conventions work well only half the time. In the long term, there is no gain, no loss. In other words, we’re just as well off without them as with them.
— Mike Drop, Albuquerque, N.M. DEAR READER: Even top players who may basically feel the same way about the game itself often differ on specifics in incalculable ways. If given a chance, and I were 40 years younger, I would play a sophisticated relay system, but only with a player who was willing and able to work to learn the methods and iron out all the kinks.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I’d welcome your opinion on a recent deal. I held ; A-4, k Q-4,
l A-10-9-8-6-5-4-3, ' 2, with neither side vulnerable. I heard my right-hand opponent open one club in second seat. Would you pre-empt in diamonds, and if so, to what level?
— Aces and Spaces,
Levittown, Pa. DEAR READER: Non-vulnerable, a jump to four diamonds seems about right. Vulnerable, a call of three diamonds seems sufficient, but it is a blind guess! In situations like this, you do not know if you want the next hand to bid on or not, so it is hard to judge in which direction to try to push them.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I have just formed a new partnership with a player who is somewhat older than I, and to whom I feel I should pay respect. We have a few occasional disasters like everyone, I suppose. The problem is that when we have one or two bad or unlucky hands, my partner loses discipline. What would you tell him? I’m sure this happened to you once or twice, so what did you do in such a position?
— Learning Curve,
Mitchell, S.D. DEAR READER: I tell my partners: “I don’t mind a disaster, but I do mind the second disaster when you were still thinking about the first. You can’t change the past result, but you can influence the next one!”