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Easter Basket
April to me is all about the perfect Easter Basket. How does one achieve Basket perfection? What comprises the ideal basket-full of joy? Well, let’s start with the bright neon yellow Marshmallow Peeps. Personally I like them just one day past freshness so they have a little “bite” to them as you rip off their wee little heads. There are some pink marshmallow creatures also, but they are not central to authentic Basket perfection.
Next is the chocolate bunny. It should be a minimum of 5” tall, with clearly-defined ears, feet and tail. Which should be bitten off first? This is up to you. I like to start with the feet. After all, we started on the head with the peeps. We need some variety in our diet.
Two more things to achieve perfection… a wide selection of jelly beans, lots of color and flavors. We can tuck these in our pockets to be discovered weeks from now, still surprisingly tasty.
And last, some Cadbury Cream-Filled eggs. This is not a commercial for Cadbury and I am not paid by them (darn it), but we simply cannot have a perfect Easter Basket without at LEAST a half-dozen of these.
Other treats can be added of course, and maybe a small piece of jewelry snuggled in there, but without the list above, it is mediocre at best.
And of course, all this bounty MUST be nestled in a mass of that green plastic shredded grass. We need a generous pile, so we have to root through it to find ALL the jelly beans.
Now that you know about Basket perfection, let’s talk about defensive perfection. This month you will find the very best treats here for you.
We begin with DAVID BIRD (and he is no innocent little neon-yellow peepie, believe you me!). He reminds us of all the times we made our contract because of a defensive error and he is determined we won’t be “that” defender. Should we follow Granny’s advice and “cover an honor with an honor?” How can we make the declarer’s life miserable? Plan ahead! Be devisive! Watch for the Declarer to make a mistake, then bite off their head! Symbolically, of course.
Moving on to BEN NORTON (and don’t mistake him for a candy bunny!). Here is what you will find in his Easter Basket offering. Ducking (not to be mistaken for marshmallow). Reading The Lead, key to victory. How to Kill the Dummy. Technique for breaking communication between Declarer and Dummy. And how to refuse “bait.” (Not easy when all that candy is in front of us.)
PAUL BOWYER has a tantalizing assortment of jelly beans for us, all centered around picking the killer lead, and how to spot the auction clues that tell us when to lead trump. “The clues are strewn across the pathway,” he tells us. If you don’t know what to lead, it means you weren’t paying attention to the bidding. No candy for you!!
Next MATTHIAS HUBERSCHWILLER has two quizzes about leads. In the first quiz we are going to select our lead WITHOUT looking at a hand, but rather with only the bidding to go on. The second quiz, we get to look at our hand.
And finally, I’ve got two warm-up hands for you, all about what’s in the perfect Easter Basket. Enjoy! This is better than Halloween.
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