getting some face time

Sitting here this morning, the squirrels have eaten most of the carved pumpkins on the front steps and the synthetic cobwebs flutter like pennants atop the ballpark. One more quiet hour before I wake Glenda and the Wicked Witch of the West (also appearing later in the day, Dorothy) and all Halloween Hell breaks out around here.

Somewhere around Louisville, on my way from Nashville to Chicago after the Summer NABC, I took some time off from thinking about bridge. In September I went to NY for some getting acquainted and then we raced off to Shanghai where thinking about bridge was all anybody did. Before I’d fully righted my sleep schedule it was off to Lake Geneva with Shannon where we had a fairly successful (Thanks, Jon.) and highly productive week. In the month before every tournament I rediscover how much better things go when my partnerships are practiced. The face time is what’s important; I find it easier to visualize hands when I have a few sessions under my belt. It’s easier to focus and take the online practices seriously when they closely follow bridge in real life.

An interesting question arose yesterday. Holding

:S: KJ9xxx
:H: K
:D: xx
:C: KQxx

You open 1 :S: and partner bids 1NT. Playing Gazilli, 2 :C: now would show a minimum opener with 5+ :S: and 4+ :C: (or any hand with 5+ :S: and 16+ high card points) and 2 :S: shows a minimum opener, 11-15. First, do you bid the gadget or rebid your weak six-card suit? If you think it’s right to rebid your suit with this hand, can you construct a 6-4 minimum with :S: and :C: that you would use Gazilli to show?

Before you ask, Bob, I don’t know partner’s hand. I counted the cards this time, no director calls, please.

Published by stacy on October 31st, 2007 tagged Bridge


2 Responses to “getting some face time”

  1. Bob Katz Says:
    October 31st, 2007 at 8:49 am

    I think there are some 11-15 point 6-4 hands that you would not consider minimums and thus would use the gadget - for example:
    AKJxxx
    x
    xx
    AKxx

    is far far far from a minimum as would something a bit less than that.
    However, the hand you presented is indeed a minimum and thus a 2S bid.

  2. Jonathan Ferguson Says:
    October 31st, 2007 at 9:49 am

    Maybe I misinterpreted the question. I think Stacy’s asking whether you’d rebid 2 Clubs with something like:

    xxxxxx / x / Kx / AKQx

    if yes, how about

    K65432 / x / xx / AKQx

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