Editorial by Paul Bowyer
Welcome to the twenty-fourth and final edition of V-Blue, Year Two, the e-magazine for those learning the wonderful game of bridge.
In this final edition allow me to say thank you to those who have contributed to the construction of all these hands. If you have been with us from the start of Year One you will have played 984 deals (yes – really!). They have been written by (in alphabetical order) Brits David Bird and Paul Bowyer, Australian Andy Hung and American Marti Ronemus. We have been aided and abetted by the British Peter Bushby who has cast a critical eye over the results and suggest amendments. If you have played all of these hands we sincerely hope that you will have learnt something, even if it will be difficult to pick up all the points that we have made. Still, you can go back and play the hands again... and again – that’s the beauty of the format.
What do we have for you in this last edition? Two six-deal series on Endplays, where the aim is to make the opposition do the dirty work for you. You have to put the opponents on lead at a crucial time in the hand and have them lead something to your benefit. Great fun and an essential tool in the expert’s armory.
When you have worked your way through these interesting deals you may like to try the “General Series” of eight assorted hands. There’s no particular theme and some of the deals have you defending rather than declaring.
You can further test yourself with our quiz. As it’s the last quiz of the year we have mixed everything up so that there is no theme. A pot-pourri of questions just so you can see what you have learnt this year. Enjoy yourselves.
Series #2636 - Strip and End-play - Part I (SA)
This series is looking at making the opponents do the work. There is another series that follows on from this one with an identical theme.
There are many suit combinations that we would prefer not to tackle – we would like the opponents to open up the suit by being the first to lead it. Such suits are known as frozen suits and we have used this term in VuBridge frequently.
There are also tenace combinations (such as an A Q holding) where we would prefer the opponents to lead the suit – especially if it is around into the tenace.
The aim of this series is to end-play your opponents. An end-play is to put an opponent on lead at a time of our choosing so that he makes a lead that is advantageous to our side. That lead may be into a tenace (such as into an A Q combination) or it may open up a frozen suit.
End of Year 2 General Quiz by Paul Bowyer
This is the final edition of V-Blue Year 2 and so this quiz is a pot-pourri.
There is no theme to the questions, it's just an opportunity for you to see what you have learnt this year.
Good luck!
Click here to run the Quiz.
Series #2637 - Strip and End-play - Part II (SA)
This series is trickier and you may have to shake your little grey cells...
These six deals expand on the principles expounded in the first series.
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