Ann Kuperberg
We may greet autumn with fall colors elsewhere in the country, but we maintain warm weather here in Tucson. That means we still wear shorts and flip-flops where others are putting on sweaters.
Our duplicate bridge players go to the MountainView Tuesday game with sunshine on their faces. They know tables will be ready, candy nearby, and a friendly director to greet them. Check the website to be sure there’s a game at the Catalina Room at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays. If you need a partner or further information, contact JoAnn Aiken at [email protected] or phone 520-256-2702. Our website is www.bridgewebs.com/mountainview.
The Bridge Bulletin honored Eddie Kantar who passed away this past April. I quote some of his humor:
“If you have the slightest touch of masochism, you’ll love this game.”
“Bridge is essentially a social game but, unfortunately, it attracts a large number of antisocial people.”
“Years ago, there were only two acceptable reasons for not leading partner’s suit: 1) having no cards in the suit, 2) a death wish.”
In that same issue, Adam Parrish gave a simple tip: Run your winners and hope something good happens. He mentioned running trump cards, forcing opponents to discard.
Robert S. Todd gave advice on returning partner’s lead … or not.
“Against a notrump contract, partner usually leads 4th best from their longest and strongest suit.” He said, if partner has a 5-card suit, you can see if there are cards below the one he led.
“One reason you may choose to shift to another suit is when you can interpret partner’s lead as ‘top of nothing,’ often a high spot card. In that case, partner may have honors in another suit.”
Todd further said, “In either notrump or a suit contract, it is attractive to attack a weak suit in the dummy when you have holdings like: Q-J-10, A-J-10, or K-J-10.”
One more consideration, partner bids a suit but leads another. He could be leading a singleton or wants you to lead his suit through declarer.
You can see from all this advice, you must be alert at the bridge table.
Someone once said, “Don’t slouch,” because you might end up falling asleep!