2008-03-11 03:57

Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Working from First Principles )

PITBULLS:

Kelsey, in his book “More Killing Defense “ , believes that most contracts that can be defeated , should be. The following are direct quotes from his book. ‘ Defense is primarily a test of logic. “Once the impossible has been eliminated “ as the great detective Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying. “what remains , however improbable must be the truth”.

This Bridge logic goes back to first principles – counting the declarers HCP’s , counting his tricks , counting his distribution( applying patterns ) & reviewing every possible inference from the bidding . Paying due regard to the line of play adopted by declarer & asking ourselves how he plans to make the contract so we can counter punch. Often thru these steps of Bridge logic , there will be only one answer.

A defender who has gone astray towards the end of the hand may complain that there was nothing to guide him. However , you can lay long odds that he missed an available inference. Almost invariably there were clues from the first principles , the bidding or the play which allowed you to eliminate all lines of defense but the winning one.’

Defending with someone who does not work in first principles of counting distributions , HCP’s & tricks means that I am outnumbered 3 to 1 in a good match. Partner is just guessing rather than using good Bridge logic stemming from these first principles. Defense is the most satisfying part of the game of Bridge for me. It takes effort to obtain the skill of automatically applying first principles , but after it is smooth sailing.

When you first play with another expert , it will only take a few hands to realize if this person is a true expert on defense or just a common guesser. It is very refreshing to have a partner who is tuned into the same wave length as you are. That is a deadly combination against any declarer. Expert defense is a very satisfying aspect of “Bridge is a partnership game”. Defense is very much partnership orientated. You deduce defensive plays from the “first principles” of applying patterns , counting HCP’s , reviewing the bidding & counting tricks. This is how you & your partner think defense. We give each other information with thoughtful signals & discards.

I highly recommend you read both of Kelseys books on Killing Defense. He trains you to think along the correct lines of Bridge logic stemming from working from first principles. All experts play that way as they have read both his books also. I did 40 years ago , other experts at some point in their Bridge career.