Editorial by Paul Bowyer
Welcome to V-Blue, the e-magazine for those who are fresh to the wonderful game of bridge.
In this twenty-second edition there are three superb series for you.
Two series (of six hands each) are on defence and we are starting at the beginning – with the opening lead. All these deals look at what you should lead against a suit contract. Leading against No-trumps may be straightforward (well, there are general rules to be followed here) but leading against a suit contract is much trickier. It involves skill, judgment and a whole lot of luck. Let’s see how you do.
Our third series, of eight deals, is our “General Series” where we mix up some hands and ideas from previous editions of VuBridge. Some of these deals are easy... and some of them less so.
You can further test yourself with our quiz – this time on the topic of responding to a take-out Double. This is not difficult but you have to be sure that you show partner both length (your best suit) and strength (how many points you have). Many players go wrong here, making the same bid on entirely different hands.
There are some important and interesting ideas in this edition. Tuck in and enjoy.
Series #2576 - Defense: Opening Leads vs Suit Contracts - Part I (ACOL)
This first set of six deals (of two series on this topic) is all about opening leads against suit contracts.
This topic is more difficult that leading against No-trump contracts. In general, against No-trumps, you shut your eyes and lead your longest suit (all right, we exaggerate but not by much).
Against suit contracts there is a difference, a big difference.
Firstly, you need to reflect that there is little point in leading a long suit. By the time it is set up, and the small cards are winners, declarer will simply ruff them, rendering your efforts pointless.
Secondly, you might want to make use of your trumps by ruffing things. So you might think of leading a shortage (a singleton or a doubleton).
Responding to a take-out Double Quiz
In these ten questions we are looking to see how we should respond when partner Doubles an opponent's opening bid.
As we all know, a Double of an opening bid (other than 1NT) is a take-out Double, requesting that you bid something.
However, there are two pieces of information that are required. One is your suit and the other is your strength. It is a bad mistake to make the same response on two fundamentally different types of hand.
Click here to run the Quiz.
Series #2577 - Defense: Opening Leads vs Suit Contracts - Part II (ACOL)
This second set of six deals continues the theme of opening leads against suit contracts.
The basic idea is to select one of the following strategies. Which you choose will depend on the bidding and your own holding. There is always an element of luck here as well as many choices may well prove to be wrong. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles...
Short suit leads: (aiming to get a ruff for the defenders).
Sequence leads: which are both constructive and passive, in that they give nothing away.
Passive leads: (trump leads and leads from bad suits). Think of these as Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.
Attacking leads: that is, leads from honors in the hope of developing tricks quickly.
Here are eight general practice hands on the themes that we have been looking at in Vu-Bridge. They are in no particular order, just enjoy them as they come.
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