Championship Bridge Ep.5

[@pluggy86]

What a ratings juggernaut that must have been! My parents' generation (I'm 61) widely played Bridge. I remember seeing Bridge games in the paper every day. Dad tried to teach me, but I never did take to the game. Converserly, I learned Hearts and Clubs almost immediately. Just strikes me funny who far and how fast Bridge has fallen out of the mainstream.

[@kurtfrancis4621]

Great stuff!

[@snowcat8971]

For the first contract, I would think it should go 2NT - 4C (Gerber) - 4D (0/4 Aces) - 5C (asking for Kings) - 5H (1 K) - 6NT (sign off because missing one K). Responder could also transfer and bid 4NT on his next bid, which would put the contract at either 6H or 6NT.

[@tuxtommy69]

If this was before the advent of Jacoby Transfers, it could simply go 2NT-3H (to discover if opener has at least 3 card support)-4H-6H or 4NT (Blackwood) if you choose to investigate. If opener rebids 3NT (implying a doubleton heart) then just go directly to 6NT. If this was matchpoint scoring, 2NT-6NT would probably be best!

[@coolpapabell22]

@@tuxtommy69 Also 3H after the denial of a 4-card major is an easy bid. The 3NT stopping bid is tragic!

[@NewGazan]

@@tuxtommy69, I agree about the absence of transfer bids, but with 12 hcpts, a 3H response to 22 hcpts is still undervalued. A strong, 5-card major deserved a jump, 4H. 6H contract would make 7, since K is finessable.

[@monelleny]

What is the date of this show, please, do you know?

[@ButOneThingIsNeedful]

Don't know the exact date, but I would say the year is 1959.

[@David.M.]

Thanks

[@pbabuik]

Just a little fact for those unfamiliar The contract is an agreement of how many trumps your team will make above six trumps if they fail they lose points

[@tomsalinsky1]

Tricks not trumps

[@pbabuik]

@@tomsalinsky1 my mistake

[@jonathanferguson9226]

Goren's analysis of the 2D contract is wrong. While the contract could have been beaten with a spade switch at trick 2, it was cold (double dummy, at least) at the point Goren says it could be beaten.

[@seanmcnally6280]

They’re cold on a non-spade switch because declarer can just “drop” West’s K doubleton. But I think it’s more interesting to consider that declarer could have managed hearts better, after the hA was taken, to get a heart entry to dummy and take the deep finesse themself.

[@pbabuik]

Omar Shreeve would've loved to be on this