Jennbridge: Losing Trick Count Hands From Readers

I received some correspondence on losing trick count this week from readers. 

* A bridge teacher from Florida wrote:
Yesterday, my partner and I played bridge.  One hand I held had only 12 HCP but 6 losers so I went to game, making 5.  Another hand I held had 13 HCP but 7 losers so when my partner did a Bergen limit raise, I purposely didn't go to game and bid 3.  My partner liked her very nice 11 points and took me to game.  Down 1.  I was SOLD on LTC!

She ordered a teacher package and will be ordering copies of Losing Trick Count for her students.

* Next is a question from someone who attended a class I taught last week in Sonoma on Losing Trick Count.

I saw this hand in the Press Dem today and have a question about bidding and Losing Trick Count. This is a typical problem for me.
 
North (dealer)
Q983
AJ
QJ1094
53

South
AJ1074
7
A83
K1084

West: K6, KQ1094, K5, A762
 
Bidding: N    E    S   W
              P    P    1S  2H
             3S   P     4S

If I'm South, I think about losing trick count. South has 7 losers, North has 8 losers when saying 3S.  So I may not go to 4S. Where am I going wrong? It should be in 4S and made 4S. 

My response: There are many factors involved with this hand.

1.  If you use the LTC adjustments, the South hand can be upgraded to a 6 loser hand.

2.  The North hand is close to a 7- loser hand:  7 1/2losers,

3.  The distribution is such that game makes, but with different distribution, it would not.

In summary, consider all of the factors before making your decision.  When close, look at your aces and the AJ10 combination. The aces can be upgraded and so can the AJ10 combination.  These LTC adjustments are set forth in Losing Trick Count, Vol. II, on pages 17 and 27.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Falling Queens

I found myself in a slam with these cards yesterday (board 21):

♠AK10xx
♥Kxx
♦10xxxx
♣void

♠J
♥AJ1082  
♦A9x
♣AKJx

I had dealt and opened 1♥.  Partner, Larry H.,  bid 1NT and I showed my strength with a jump shift to 3♣.  Larry now bided time with a rebid of 3♥.  I bid 4♥ and he surprised me with a bid of 4♠.

While I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, partner was sending me the message that he liked his hand and he had a spade control, undoubtedly the ace.  I liked my hand rich with aces, so bid 4NT.  He bid 5♥, showing two controls without the trump queen and I bid 6♥.  The ♦K was led.

♠AK10xx
♥Kxx
♦10xxxx
♣void

♠J
♥AJ1082  
♦A9x
♣AKJx

It looked like there was a lot of work to do.  I probably had a diamond loser and I needed to pick up the hearts.  During the auction RHO had asked more than one question about Larry's 4♠ cuebid so I was concerned that spades were splitting badly.

With no clear way forward, I started on clubs.  I played the ace, king (pitching diamonds) and a small club to ruff on the board and was pleased to see the queen fall on my left on the third round.  Not yet willing to tackle the hearts, I tried spades to see what I could learn.  I played the ace, king of spades (pitching a diamond) and another spade to ruff and was delighted to see the queen of spades fall third on my right!

Now the hand was coming together.

♠10x
♥Kx
♦10x
♣void

♠
♥AJ108
♦x
♣J

If the hearts broke no worse than 3-2, I would make it by pitching my last diamond on the 10 of spades.  I therefore hopefully cashed the ace of hearts and when I played a heart to the king, the queen of hearts fell on my right!  I now could not only discard my last diamond on the 10 of spades but could return to my hand to draw the last trump and claim.

Plus 1460 was worth all the matchpoints.  Only one other pair bid the slam and they made only 6.

Sometimes the hand reveals its secrets as you play it out.  In this case the Bridge Gods were smiling on me as all of the missing enemy queens met their demise.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Ron Smith blog

Great news for bridge enthusiasts!  Ron Smith, the well known and entertaining San Francisco bridge professional and musician, has started writing a bridge blog.  He has decades of great stories so it should be quite fun.  I'm also pleased to report that he features this blog and the Losing Trick Count booklets as he is a big fan of losing trick count.  Here's the link to Ron's blog:

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6a1cd6ff9387d4623b3bfac81&id=a2e0b0e7a5&e=4678m9f0b42

A hand from the club yesterday.  Partner opens 1♣ and I hold:

♠AJ9
♥KJ109x
♦Kxx
♣Jx

I respond 1♥ and he reverses into 2♦.  I bid 2NT, forcing, showing values as well as a spade stopper, and he raises to 3NT.  A diamond is led.

♠xx
♥AQ
♦AQJx
♣Axxxx

♠AJ9
♥KJ109x
♦Kxx
♣Jx

Clearly I have 11 tricks, but as we are playing matchpoints, I look for that extra trick.  There are chances for an extra trick in spades so I win the diamond on the board and lead a spade to the 9.  The king wins!  This is good news because later I will lead a spade to the jack trying for my 12th trick.  A heart is returned and eventually I do score my 12th trick when jack of spades wins.

Plus 490 was an 87.5% board.  Always be on the lookout for that extra trick in pair games.  Leading twice toward the AJ9 is always worth a try.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: More Losing Trick Count hands

We had a nice turnout at the Santa Rosa sectional recently.  Good bridge and good food! Here are a couple of hands I liked--one from the pair game and one from the team game.

Bd. 4, March 23, Second session, partner Erwin Linzner.
Erwin opened 1♦ and I responded 1♠ with this hand:

♠KQ987
♥A1082  
♦9
♣KQ7

I was pleased and surprised when Erwin then jumped to 3♠.  With my big hand I immediately bid 4NT, RKC, and learned that Erwin held 3 aces.  I bid 6♠ and partner laid down a nice dummy:

♠A1053
♥7
♦AQ64
♣AJ84

♠KQ987
♥A1082  
♦9
♣KQ7

The K♥ was led and I saw that I could make 7 if I ruffed two hearts.  The 4th heart would go on a club.  Spades broke 2-2 and the play went as I envisioned.  

The hand seemed fairly routine so I was surprised to get 13 out of 17 matchpoints. Looking at the loser count, Erwin's hand has 6 1/2 losers, but deducting 1/2 loser for each ace brings the loser count down to 5.  This clearly makes it worth a jump raise.  My hand also has 5 losers, so it is not surprising that we made all the tricks. (Adding our losers together equals 10 and subtracting them from 24 equals 14, the number of tricks we can expect to make.  Gee--that would really be a top!)

2.  Playing in the Sunday team game with Larry Hansen, I held this hand in 4th seat and there were 3 passes to me. 

♠K97643
♥75
♦AK864
♣void

Only 10 high card points, but another powerful hand in terms of loser count:  5 losers.  I opened 1♠, LHO bid 2♣ and partner bid 2♠.  RHO bid 3♣ and I jumped to game.

Partner's hand was suitable and I ended up making 450 when the opponents failed to cash their 2 heart tricks.

♠QJ10
♥964
♦Q53
♣A632

♠K97643
♥75
♦AK864
♣void

When you're not sure what to bid, count your losers.  The proper use of losing trick count will make your decisions easier and guide you to the correct contract more often than not.

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Kibitz the 2013 Vanderbilt

From the March 19 Daily Bulletin at the Spring NABC in St. Louis:

The Vanderbilt Knockout Teams gets into full swing today after 14 squads did battle on Monday for10 slots to fill out the round of 64. The field will be cut in half each day through Sunday, when the two finalists will face off for the championship.

Bridge Base starts showing the Vanderbilt online today and will be great viewing through Sunday.  Good way to improve your game! Go to: www.bridgebase.com.

Check out the NABC Daily Bulletins for results and interesting stories and hands: 
http://www.acbl.org/nabc/index.php?a=2013&b=Spring&c=daily_bulletins

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: Losing Trick Count update 2013

Here's a recent comment on losing trick count from a friend and bridge teacher in Mississippi.

Last week I was playing w Allan Siebert & I underbid 4 hands. I use Bergen points, but had gotten lazy in applying LTC as well. Afterwards, when I applied LTC, it said to bid on all 4. So, I re-read your booklet & ordered 5 more for partners. I now put Jenn’s LTC on my convention cards to remember to use it. Thanks, Rick

Another bridge teacher, this one from Florida, getting ready to teach a seminar on LTC with my materials recently sent me this email:  I have just started to go through the LTC seminar materials. I am going to use this in my local club lessons. My question had to do with a response from an expert who does not consider LTC a proper hand evaluation method.  How does the expert population look at LTC? I need some reasons to convince my partner to use this evaluation method. Thanks for your help.

My response:  LTC is well accepted among expert tournament players.  Here are two comments from well known experts from the back of my booklet, Losing Trick Count, Vol. II:

It’s about time bridge players learn something besides point counting!

Ron Smith, San Francisco, bridge professional, ACBL Grand Life Master 

Average players can compete against experts if they understand and use losing trick count!

Gene Simpson, bridge professional, ACBL Grand Life Master

**********************************

Baron Barclay News

Jennbridge has had a lot of visitors due to Losing Trick Count and Losing Trick Count Vol. II being featured in the current edition of the Baron Barclay Bridge Supply catalog and in a recent Baron Barclay email to customers.  Hello to all and thanks for stopping by!  Feel free to email me your losing trick count bidding questions.

***********************
On a Personal Note: All of my partners, as well as the folks I mentor, are strong adherents of losing trick count.  Many of them also play it with Bergen raises as suggested in my booklet.  It is a pleasure to conduct intelligent, not to mention accurate, bidding sequences with them, and I'd like to thank them as well! ♥

See you at the table!

Jennbridge: LTC and Splinters - A Powerful Combination

By Bob Klein.
I cannot overemphasize the value of splinter bids in slam bidding, particularly when combined with judicious use of Losing Trick Count.  Here are two spectacular successes I had recently.

Hand A.

In a pair game at the recent regional in Sacramento playing with Dave Neuman, I held, in first seat, neither side vulnerable:

♠ void
♥ Jxxx
♦ Axxxxx
♣ Axx

I thought it was a bit of  stretch to open it, so I passed.  LHO passed and Dave, in third seat, opened 1 Heart.  RHO passed.  Now, this marginal opening bid had turned into a monster!  First-round control of all side suits, 4-card trump support, and only 6 losers using the adjusted losing trick count where you subtract a half-loser for each ace when there are no queens.  I decided that the hand was worth a game force, so I made a splinter bid of 3 Spades.  Dave now bid 4NT, RKC.  I had the perfect hand to show that the splinter was a void by bidding 5NT, which shows 2 keycards and a useful void.  This hit the jackpot as Dave jumped to 7 Hearts.

The two hands combined were:

♠  void
♥  Jxxx
♦  Axxxxx
♣ Axx

♠  Txxx
♥  AKQxxx
♦  KQ
♣  K

The grand slam came home easily.  Hearts were 3-0 but diamonds were 3-2.

Note how my splinter bid improved the value of Dave's hand.  Once he knew that I had 4 hearts and no more than 1 spade, he could envision ruffing three spades in dummy or discarding them if I had any aces. Moreover, he could envision me holding the 2 minor suit aces since I couldn't have much else to justify a game force opposite  third-seat opening bid.

Nobody else in the field bid the grand slam.  Only one other pair even got to six.

Hand B

In a recent team game at the club, I picked up this hand:

♠ QTxx
♥ x
♦ Axx
♣ Kxxxx

My partner, Joanne Pransky, dealt and opened 1 Spade.  I saw that while the hand had only 9 HCP, it had only 7 losers, decent 4-card support and prime controls in the side suits.  So I forced to game with a splinter bid of 4 Hearts.   Joanne bid 4NT, I bid 5 Diamonds to show one keycard (we play 0314), she bid 5 Hearts, asking if I had the queen of spades, I bid 6 Clubs, showing her the queen and the club king, and she bid 7 Spades.

The two hands were

♠ QTxx
♥ x
♦ Axx
♣ Kxxxx

♠ AKJxx
♥ Axxx
♦ x
♣ AQx


The grand slam came home easily.  My counterpart at the other table chose to treat it as a limit raise and  bid 3 Diamonds, showing a 4-card limit raise (Bergen), and they only got to six, so we won 13 IMPs for the only swing in a 6-board swiss match.

Good luck!