Monday, April 4, 2011

Jennbridge: Benefit of Balancing

It was a good day at the club as Larry Hansen and I held all the cards, bid and made nearly all our games and a slam, and posted a 71.8% game. Here is a hand we defended.

♠ KQx
Qx
J9xxx
♣ 10xx

While I was looking at this uninspiring collection, RHO opened 1D, LHO bid 1H and RHO rebid 1NT.  The bidding went pass, pass to partner who balanced with 2C.  The bidding went pass, pass again and LHO thought for a while and bid 2NT.

Partner's bid got me off to the best lead of a club.  In with a diamond, I returned a club and declarer couldn't come to 8 tricks.  Down 1 was a tie for top.  Nearly half the field scored 120 which could happen, especially if I made the unfortunate lead of a diamond.  Larry held 8-10 points including QJxxx of clubs and the ace of spades.

Don't be afraid to balance.  It can pay off in more ways than one:  you can buy the contract and improve the score, or you can get partner off to the right lead if you defend.

See you at the table!

1 comment:

Nick said...

My partner, Meryl, and I used losing trick count in our game on Monday, and came in first! We had both read Jennifer's book on LTC and decided to try it right away. We found games we would not have found, and avoided ones that would not make. And did I mention we came in first? Thanks, Jennifer!
Mary Omodt, Santa Rosa