Wednesday, July 24, 2002 2:41 AM

Lessons

PITBULLS:

 Learning from your mistakes will make you a better bridge player . If you suffer from the malady that you never make mistakes , then your Bridge will stagnant as well as you becoming an insufferable Bridge partner . Everybody makes mistakes at Bridge . This is an irrefutable law . If some of your mistakes are just "brain cramps" then nothing can be learned from them . If the mistakes violate a general principle then they should not be repeated and others can learn from analyzing them .

    I made two bidding blunders playing with Osama at the last regional that both violated a general bridge principle . I held

Axxx Q109 KQJ9x  x   and Osama vul opened 1♥ . I responded 2♦ and LHO bid 3♣ not vul and Osama bid 4♣ and RHO bid 5♣.

What do you bid ? Osama's 4♣ bid means he likes diamonds . This is IMPS so there is a general bridge principle that once you found a fit you do not try to find another fit . What should a 5♥ bid mean ? Should it say I have heart support or a heart control with diamonds as trump ? Well the general bridge principle is that it should be a heart control for a diamond slam . I bid 5♥ and Osama bid 6 clubs as a grand slam try . What could Osama be looking for ? I had the Ace of spades and good diamonds so that should be enough for 7♦ so I bid it .  Osama's hand

KQx  A87xxx A10xx void         He thought I had a heart control from my previous bid so he could afford a grand slam try . I make the hand if there is Kxx of hearts to my left  but the hearts were 2-2 so 12 IMPS thrown away . I discussed this hand with  Subash who was in agreement that I goofed but Jerry Marshall and that Heindrick guy both said that I was just supporting hearts with a 4 card diamond suit . Their opinion re-enforces that I goofed J.

    The next hand comes up all the time but this time it cost 10 IMPS and Osama & I the match in a Swiss at the last regional .

I held Ax Jxxx  KJx   KJ10x    and Osama bid 1♦ and I bid 1♥ . Osama bid 2♥ and I thought of bidding 3NT but the Ax of spades deterred me . The hearts were 4-1 and I went down and the opponents were in 3NT making at the other table so we lost  the match . 4 of a major is not always the best spot. It is 10 tricks as opposed to 9 in NT and you also fall victim to 4-1 trump breaks.

Osama says that he and Vinnie have an understanding that  3NT shows bad hearts and a choice of contracts. I do not go that far but it should show a flat hand and maybe 9 tricks is easier than 10 . Subash has a better idea . He plays 2NT in these sequences as forcing and systemic . Again I forgot all the responses but in this particular hand partner had 4♠ and he could bid the values . This would steer me to the right contract and save the match .

The 2NT bid with a major suit fit is a useless bid and making it systemic makes a lot of sense . Kokish game tries are excellent. Some play it as a relay to 3♣ and the responder gives the opener information. Garozzo plays it that the opener most give information immediately . 3NT shows a maximum and 3♥ shows a minimum . Other bids shows values in a 2nd suit and groping for 3NT . A 4♥ jump is good trump and a maximum .

Anyway , you can define anything you want to this 2NT bid . It should get you to 3NT if that is the best spot ...