Quicktricks
As you all know, there are two parts to bridge…there is the bidding part, and there is the play of the cards. Now a lot of folks think that the bidding is the hard part of this game. THEY ARE WRONG. The bidding is the EASY PART OF THE GAME, if you have a reasonably good memory. And if you can focus, YOU CAN LEARN TO BID WITH EASE. What I cannot teach you...is some aspects of the card play. BUT I can teach THOSE ASPECTS THAT REQUIRE NO ART OR TALENT, SUCH AS LEADS, SIGNALS AND DECLARER PLANNING, ETC. Some aspects of card play NOBODY CAN TEACH YOU BUT MUST BE LEARNED THE HARD WAY THROUGH YEARS OF HARD WORK AND MAKING MISTAKES. This is especially true about some parts of the Defensive play.
BIDDING CONSISTS OF THREE DISTINCT LANGUAGES..
These three languages are unique with respect to each other. No word in one language MEANS THE SAME thing as the same word in another language.
THE THREE LANGUAGES ARE:
NOW believe it or not, the hardest bridge bidding by far is in the CONSTRUCTIVE LANGUAGE which is very limited, consisting of only 12 words: club, diamond, heart, spade, and notrump, with the attachment of one of the numbers from 1 to 7. Because this language is so small, we must be as precise as we can in using it. THIS IS WHERE MANY BRIDGE SYSTEMS FALL DOWN. The STANDARD AMERICAN SYSTEMS IN GENERAL ARE NOT VERY PRECISE, and this lack of precision puts us in very difficult situations, so we want TO REMOVE THESE AS MUCH AS WE CAN. To do that, we must learn TWO BIDDING PHILOSOPHIES, and we must learn to cope with FIVE KEY WORDS.
BIDDING PHILOSOPHIES:
1. PHILOSOPHY
#1: THE STRONGER YOUR HAND...THE
SLOOOOOOOWER YOU BID. Those of you who have
played a bit of 2/1 system fully understand this philosophy. It means we will
be making no strong jumps in our system. In fact, the epitome of a VERY STONG
BIDDING SEQUENCE IN YOUR NEW SYSTEM WILL BE: 1 DIAMOND BY PARTNER...TWO CLUBS
BY YOU. THEY DON'T COME ANY STRONGER THAN THAT.
FIVE KEY WORDS:
FOCUS:
You are NOT focused if you are:
FORGETTING HOW MANY TRUMP ARE OUT
FORGETTING THE CONTRACT
FORGETTING THAT PARTNER JUMPED
FORGETTING WHICH SUIT IS TRUMP
PLAYING THE WRONG SUIT
MISCOUNTING YOUR HAND
MISCOUNTING YOUR TRICKS
MISCOUNTING PERIOD
These are all focus mistakes.
YOU CAN NOT TALK ON THE TELEPHONE WHILE PLAYING
YOU CAN NOT GOSSIP WHILE PLAYING
YOU CAN NOT VISIT WITH THE MAILMAN WHILE PLAYING
Bridge is a hard fought game -- it takes lots of hard work applied for many hours at a time.
DISCIPLINE:
THERE ARE NOT ANY FAIRY GOD MOTHERS IN BRIDGE. WISHING WILL NOT MAKE IT COME TRUE. YOU CAN LOOK AT THAT DARN JACK ALL YOU WANT TO BUT IT ISN’T GOING TO CHANGE INTO A QUEEN. So…. WHEN THAT SUDDEN DESIRE COMES UPON YOU TO STRIKE OUT INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER HOPING THAT YOUR EFFORT WILL GET YOU BY...
CHECK IT!!!!
ADMIT YOU AIN'T GOT IT..
AND ....DO THE RIGHT THING
This new system of DISCIPLINED STANDARD AMERICAN cannot help you IF YOU AIN’T DISCIPLINED
We will learn patience in bidding, and patience in play, but the first thing you MUST LEARN PATIENCE WITH IS.…AFTER YOUR PARTNER....YOURSELF. If you want partner to learn and if you want yourself to learn, YOU MUST ACCEPT MISTAKES FROM BOTH. IT MAKES NO SENSE TO LEARN HOW TO BID AND PLAY IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF. I WILL BE SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ON BRIDGE ETHICS. THEY ARE DAMN IMPORTANT. ETHICS BEGIN WITH HAVING PATIENCE AND CARING ABOUT YOUR PARTNER.
Here I do not mean self-control. Self-control is equivalent to discipline. What I mean is that every BRIDGE BIDDING SEQUENCE INVOLVES THE USE OF CONTROL. THAT IS...ONE OF YOU, YOUR PARTNER OR YOURSELF WILL BE ...taking control of the bidding. Sometimes this control issue will jump back and forth. Now one of the keys to a good bidding system is this: one partner takes control, and the other partner PAINTS HIS PICTURE. WHEN YOUR PARTNER TAKES CONTROL, YOU WILL SIMPLY BE PAINTING THE BEST PICTURE OF YOUR HAND THAT YOU CAN and if the system works...the opponents will know all there is to know about one of your hands and VERY LITTLE ABOUT THE OTHER.
SINCE bidding is a PUBLIC THING, THERE ARE NO PRIVATE BIDS IN BRIDGE. A PRIVATE BID IS AN UNETHICAL BID. YOU MUST SHARE THE MEANING OF ALL YOUR BIDS WITH YOUR OPPONENTS ALL THE TIME OR AT LEAST OFFER TO DO SO. YOU do not tell them what is in your hand, BUT they HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO KNOW THE MEANING OF YOUR BIDS. Much of your new system will involve bids THAT MUST BE ALERTED AND ALL OF YOUR BIDS MUST BE EXPLAINED WHEN YOU ARE ASKED. SO IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO ALERT, OR IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN WHEN ASKED USING THE ALERT SYSTEM, YOU must learn how to do this.
Press the alert button on the lower left side of the pass button. The shading means that I have alerted my bid. I did that by first pushing the alert button next to the pass button, and then clicking on the bid. Online, we SELF-ALERT OUR BIDS, because unlike live bridge, OUR PARTNERS CAN NOT SEE THAT ALERT (SHADING) AND THEY ALSO CAN NOT SEE THE ENQUIRY AND EXPLANATIONS. ONLY THE OPPONENTS CAN SEE THE ALERTS AND EXPLANATIONS. THE CONVENTION CARD AND ALERTS ARE ...for THE OPPONENTS. THEY ARE NOT FOR PARTNER.
QUICKTRICKS
Have you all heard of a bridge player by the name of Charles Goren? Well Charlie was a pretty fair bridge player, but more important than his play, was SOMETHING HE DID TO REVOLUTIONIZE BRIDGE -- he invented the Goren Point system in the early fifties. He was the first person to assign numerical points to the honors. BEFORE CHARLIE, THERE WAS BRIDGE AND SOME DAMN GOOD BRIDGE PLAYERS, some much better than Charlie. These folks used a system of QUICKTRICKS AND \
WE WILL BE USING SOME OF THEIR CONCEPTS AND RULES to make our bidding MUCH BETTER.
NOTES:
RULES TO USE WITH QUICKTRICKS:
These rules must be followed in your bidding WHETHER YOU HAVE ZERO GOREN POINTS OR A ZILLION GOREN POINTS.
RULE #1: You must open any hand holding 3 or more quicktricks at the one level or with two clubs. If you have 3 quicktricks…this is AN OPENER. If you have 3 quicktricks you cannot pass, and you CANNOT PREEMPT.
RULE # 2: You may NOT OPEN ANY HAND AT THE ONE LEVEL IF YOU HOLD LESS THAN 1 1/2 Quicktricks.
RULE #3: YOU MAY OPEN ANY FIVE CARD MAJOR AT THE ONE LEVEL IF YOU HAVE 2 1/2 QUICKTRICKS. NOT THAT WORD "MAY” DOES NOT SAY “MUST” AND ALSO NOTE: that word major..DOES NOT SAY MINOR.
RULE #4: NEVER PREEMPT AT THE THREE LEVEL OR HIGHER
HOLDING TWO OR MORE DEFENSIVE TRICKS. Now to
understand this rule, we have to translate QUICKTRICKS INTO DEFENSIVE
TRICKS.
TRANSLATING QUICKTRICKS INTO DEFENSIVE TRICKS
WITH RESPECT TO THE trump suit of the opponents, defensive tricks WILL ALSO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT QUEENS, JACKS AND 10’s. THESE YOU WILL REMEMBER WERE NOT ACCOUNTED FOR IN QUICKTRICKS. UNLESS YOU HAD THE KING/QUEEN COMBO, OR THE ACE/QUEEN COMBO -- BUT in OPPONENT’S TRUMP SUIT, HERE ARE THE CHANGES…
BUT NOW…
You are counting defense in combinations in a suit YOU KNOW WILL BE TRUMP
SO NOW THE QUEENS AND JACKS AND 10 CANNOT BE RUFFED. WHEN WE LEARN HOW TO MAKE ...COOPERATIVE PENALTY DOUBLES, THIS IS A VERY important concept folks.