"Gaze into My Eyes" by Marti Ronemus

Arguably one of the best TV show ever, "Frasier" generated stunning amounts of fan mail. Can you guess who got the most? Eddie, the Jack Russell. Moose (the dog who played Eddie) initially was surrendered to a shelter because of his relentless Bad Behavior. He barked incessantly, Dug holes everywhere, destroyed furniture and was even able to run far enough up a tree to escape his yard.

(A brief aside: Faithful Readers will remember when I nominated my little dog Sparky for president back in 2016. He is half-Jack Russell, and I gotta admit, I recognize this behavior!)

Rescued from who-knows-what, his new owner channeled that behavior into star-quality performances. What won Moose the role was his ability to stare at Kelsey Grammar on command, giving viewers one of TV's funniest gags.

And what about us bridge players? We should begin every game by gazing into the eyes of our Pard and thanking him for putting up with us, promising to work on our partnership.

Question 1

Your Hand
♠ A J 8 7
♥ 4 3
♦ 10 4 3
♣ 10 8 7 4

Q: 1 - South:

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♣	Pass
1♠	Pass	2 No-trump	Pass
?

A: Pass: Pard has guaranteed 18-19 points with a flat hand. We can squeeze out 6 points with the doubleton, but this hand has little to offer in terms of trick-taking. If you took it to 3 No-trump, don't penalize yourself too much.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 2

Your Hand
♠ 8 4
♥ A Q 9
♦ Q J 7
♣ K 10 9 8 4

Q: 2 -

South	West	North	East
-	1♠	1 No-trump	2♠
?

A: 3 No-trump: Pard is bound to have something in Spades and we've got a strong hand opposite a No-trump bid. We are NOT promising Spade stoppers. If we were the first to introduce Spades into the auction, it would be different.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 3

Your Hand
♠ A 5 3
♥ 10 9 7 6 5
♦ 4 3
♣ 9 5 4

Q: 3 - South?

South	West	North	East
-	-	1♥	3♦
?

A: 4♥: This is a competitive auction and we've got a dreadful hand... EXCEPT!! Pard has bid Hearts. We toss ambiguity out the window and raise to the level of trumps in our combined hands. It would be better if we had a singleton, but we just aren't going to be robbed.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 4

Your Hand
♠ 10 9 5
♥ Q 8 5
♦ A K 5 4
♣ A 9 6

Q: 4 - South?

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♥	1♠	2♥
Pass	Pass	4♦	Pass
?

A: 4♠: Pard's Spade bid promised five, and maybe we could have raised on our second bid. BUT!! Our hand is flat and without much merit beyond our opening bid. Once Pard shows his huge hand though with his 4♦ bid, we see game in our future. We've got a double fit and can't resist. Gaze into his eyes and smile.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Question 5

Your Hand
♠ 5 4
♥ A 10 9
♦ A Q J 10 9 8 7 6
♣

Q: 5 - South?

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♥	Dbl	Pass
?

A: 5♦: Let's bid what we think we can make. Pard's Negative Double promised Clubs and Spades. Surely he can pull one trick out for us, maybe two?

And now that we and Pard are on the same page, let's see how our hand goes.

Your result so far:

Open Question

Play this Hand

Now that you've bid five hands, let's see how your play goes.

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Overall Results

Your results: out of Average:

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
More informations on our website: www.VuBridge.com

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