Pass

Last Updated – 21^st July 2010

Date Updated	Feature
18^th September 2002	Terry and Laurence teach Tim and Peter a lesson in passing.
18^th September 2002	Tim and Peter fail to learn their lesson.
5^th March 2003	Not passing pays this time.
18^th October 2004	The Forcing Pass after a Simple Overcall
13^th May 2006	Site Map

One of the most important skills at bridge is knowing when not to bid. Fittingly, two of the best passers at Glenfield won the 2002 Buildrite Cup on 18^th September. Here they are in inaction against the previous holders.
	North ª T64 © T863 ¨ A865 § J8	Dealer East Game All	South opened one no trump and both west and east, cognisant of the vulnerability, resisted the temptation to bid. Laurence Popple, as west, then defended well by starting with the seven of spades. Declarer ducked the queen but won the spade continuation and decided, optimistically, to play for the jack of hearts doubleton. The king of hearts was played but Terry Downs took the ace of hearts and found the devastating club switch. When the dust settled south had just four tricks and Terry and Laurence had the fine pairs score of +300. Yes, they could have made four spades, but it is a lucky make, needing spades 3-3, and the club finesse to work. It is not the sort of contract you would want to bid at pairs and, I am proud to record, no east west pairs did bid it. Thus the match points went to those who passed on the west hand, a bid that was found by Barbara Corlett & John Day, Max Green & Christine Adams and Mike & Helen Purser, although one of these pairs spoilt their score by allowing their opponents to make six tricks. Top score went to Max Green and Christine Adams who held south to just three tricks. The other pairs competed. One west elected to play in two diamonds. I am unaware of the conventions that allow such contracts to be reached. Please don’t tell me. The rest played in two spades, mostly making ten tricks although, as always, one pair managed eleven tricks while one took just nine.
West ª KJ973 © 7 ¨ QT § AQ975		East ª Q5 © AJ94 ¨ K942 § T42
	South ª A82 © KQ52 ¨ J73 § K63

If Tim Glover and Peter Neville had learnt a lesson from the previous board they singularly failed to apply it here; still in the 2002 Buildrite Cup.
	North ª QJT984 © A5 ¨ QJ98 § 2	Dealer East EW Vulnerable	After two passes west opened one heart. North overcalled one spade (and I have no quarrel with that). East wisely passed and south, with a sinking feeling, tried one no trump (pass is probably better). West bid two diamonds. North wanted to prevent east giving preference to hearts and mildly pre-empted with two spades. East had no desire to give preference to either hearts or diamonds and gratefully passed. South now made the bid that east might have done if given the opportunity and converted to three clubs (pass is probably better). This was not a success, even after east forgot to double and west led a diamond, and eventually finished two down. East west are likely to concede a similar amount, vulnerable, in any suit they care to play in. North should probably recognise the misfit. South has plenty of opportunity to raise spades and partnership style is to do so freely. With 8-10 points and spade support south would bid two hearts (an unassuming cue bid) instead of one no trump. There is no real hurry to bid two spades in front of partner; if east had genuine heart support, it would have been shown on the first round. You might call north’s hand a New Yorker. So good they bid it twice. Perhaps I am being a little unkind, only one north-south pair (Irene Robinson & Renee Berrington) could resist the temptation to play the hand. They doubled two diamonds and collected a five hundred penalty. Otherwise, all four suits were declared by north south; four votes were cast for spades, three for clubs and one each for hearts and diamonds. The number of tricks made varied between six and eight; it was always at least one less than the number of tricks declared and, in practise, two down undoubled was an above average score. Perhaps Terry Downs and Laurence Popple should have the last bid on this hand. It was a double applied to south’s contract of four hearts which duly went two down to give the winners a joint top.
West ª AK7 © K8764 ¨ KT543 § -		East ª 6532 © J ¨ 62 § AQ9643
	South ª – © QT932 ¨ A7 § KJT875

Opening light, especially third in hand, can occasionally pay.
ª KT65 © AK85 ¨ J84 § 74	Those whose systems allowed them to open this third in hand or who opened it anyway gained the imps in the match between Glenfield A and County C on 5^th March 2003. Of course, if you regularly open this sort of hand, it becomes part of your system and should be on your convention card.

Tim and Peter play that a pass after opponent’s simple overcall is forcing.
	North ª 9 © AKT753 ¨ A42 § K92	Board 25 Dealer East EW Vul	If the overcaller’s partner passes too, the opener is obliged to reopen with a double. This allows a wider range of hands to be shown. Pass followed by double is for penalties. An immediate double is for takeout. Immediate undisturbed bids (e.g. 1C-1D-1H) are forcing, pass followed by an undisturbed bid is non-forcing. Immediate disturbed bids (e.g 1C-1S-2H) are non-forcing, pass followed by a disturbed bid is forcing. Immediate no trump bids are natural with a stop. Pass followed by one no trump indicates desperation. Of course, the opportunity is taken to raise partner’s suit as quickly and as high as possible when there is a fit. The method worked on this deal from the Two Stars Qualifying Round on October 15^th 2004. Peter opened one heart in fourth position, East overcalled and I passed for penalties. West would have done best to pass this, let Peter double and then redouble for take out. Instead they elected to call two no trumps. This came round to me and I doubled. Peter led the seven of hearts. Dummy’s nine won and the two of spades was led. I ducked and West won the jack and continued with a spade to the ace and a third round of spades from dummy. I took the king and led the five of diamonds. We took four diamond tricks and I exited with a club to Peter’s nine and dummy’s queen. Declarer could cash the ace of clubs but Peter then took the last three tricks with the king of clubs and the ace and king of hearts for three down.
West ª QJ75 © QJ8642 ¨ J76 § -		East ª A42 © 9 ¨ T93 § AQ6543
	South ª KT863 © ¨ KQ85 § JT87

Tim’s Statistics Imps	Partner	Passed Out	IMPs	Imps/Bd	Forcing Pass	Imps	Imps/Bd
Joseph’s Bowl Quarter Final	Peter Neville	1	3	3	1	-3	-3
Glenfield A 2 Castle Donington 10	Peter Neville	1	0	0
Porter – Leicestershire 20 Staffs & Shrops 0	Peter Neville				2	11	5.50
Derbyshire Green Point Swiss Teams	Harry Gordon	1	0	0
Markham – Leicestershire 20 – Gloucestershire 0	Peter Neville	1 (3)	-3 (0)	(0)
Total for 2006		4	0	0	3	8	2.67
Glenfield A 4 County A 8	Peter Neville	1 (4)	0 (0)	0 (0)
Porter – Oxfordshire 4 Leicestershire 16	Peter Neville	1 (5)	-2 (-2)	-2 (-0.40)
Hinckley A 7 Glenfield A 5	Peter Neville	2 (7)	-1 (-3)	-0.50 (-0.43)
Dawes – Leicestershire 14 Derbyshire 6	Peter Neville	1 (8)	0 (-3)	0 (-0.38)
Glenfield A 9 Loughborough A 3	Peter Neville				1	-3	-3.00
Stanley Trophy 2006/7 - Heat 6	Peter Neville	1 (9)	0 (-3)	0 (-0.33)
Loughborough A 7 Glenfield A 5	Peter Neville	1 (10)	0 (-3)	0 (-0.30)
Porter – Leicestershire 10 Worcestershire 10	Peter Neville	1 (11)	1 (-2)	1 (-0.18)
Porter – Leicestershire 5 Oxfordshire 15	Peter Neville				1	11	11.00
Total for 2007		9	-2	-0.22	2	8	4.00
Gold Cup Round II	Peter Neville	1 (12)	0 (-2)	0 (-0.17)
Glenfield A 6 Phoenix 6	Peter Neville	1 (13)	2 (0)	2 (0.00)
Porter – Staffs & Shropshire 13 Leicestershire 7	Robert Northage	1	0	0
Loughborough University A 5 Glenfield A 7	Peter Neville	1 (14)	-2 (-2)	-2 (-0.14)
Loughborough B 0 Glenfield A 12	Peter Neville	1 (15)	0 (-2)	0 (-0.13)
Porter – Oxfordshire 15 Leicestershire 5	Peter Neville	2 (17)	13 (11)	6.5 (0.65)
Total for 2008		7	13	1.86
County B 6 Glenfield A 6	Peter Neville	1 (18)	-3 (8)	-3.00 (0.44)
Glenfield A 6 Loughborough B 6	Peter Neville	1 (19)	0 (8)	0.00 (0.42)
Glenfield A 8 Loughborough University 4	Peter Neville	1 (20)	1 (9)	1.00 (0.45)
Hinckley B 2 Glenfield A 10	Peter Neville	1 (21)	4 (13)	4.00 (0.62)
Josephs Bowl - Final	Peter Neville	1 (22)	-4 (9)	-4.00 (0.41)
Total for 2009		5	-2	-0.40
Total		27	7	0.26	5	16	3.20

Tim’s Statistics mps	Partner	Passed Out	MPs	%	Forcing Pass	Imps	Imps/Bd
Buckby Cup	Peter Neville	1	18	81.82
Jones Handicap Pairs	Peter Neville	1	2	25.00
Total for 2007		2	20	66.67
Buckby Cup	Peter Neville	1	5.8	36.25
Gimson Semi Final	Peter Neville	1	15	62.5
Total for 2008		2	20.8	52
National Pairs - County Heat	Peter Neville	2	4	50
National Pairs Final	Peter Neville	1	43	89.58
Total for 2009		3	47	63.19
Total		7	87.8	60.99

Site Map Last Updated 4^th Feb 2010
1. Home Page	Club News	Glenfield A Fixtures	Glenfield B Fixtures	Forthcoming Events	Links	Master Points
2. Newsletters, Photos and Correspondence	Bulletin Board	April 2003	Xmas Tree Competition	Xmas Party	AGM
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5. Statistics	Statistics Archive
6. Technical Library
6.1 Bidding	Strategy	Acol	Psychic Bidding	Precision	Blue Club
6.1.1 Hand Evaluation	Defensive Tricks	Losing Trick Count	Playing Tricks	Point Count	Total Number of Tricks	Passing
6.1.2 Opening Bids	One Club	One Diamond	One Heart	One Spade	One No Trump	Pre-empts
	Two Clubs	Two Diamonds	Two Hearts	Two Spades	Two No Trumps
6.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid	Simple change of suit	Opener’s Rebid	Responder’s Rebid	Preference	Opener’s Second Rebid	Jump in a new suit	Responding in no trumps
	Limit Raise	Inverted Minors
6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT	Transfers
6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT	Transfers	Baron
6.1.4 Conventions	Stayman	Fourth Suit Forcing	Reverse	Crowhurst
6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids	Lucas Twos	Multi Two Diamonds	Weak Twos
6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions	Jump Overcall	Lebensohl	Unassuming Cue Bid	Unusual No Trump	Continuing after opponent’s take out double	Take out Double	Cue Bid
	Fishbein	Defence to 1NT	Halmic	1NT Overcall	Redouble	Simple Overcall
6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions	Blackwood	Gerber	Roman Key Card Blackwood	Splinter	Jump to 5 of a suit	Grand Slam Force	Acol Four No Trump Opening
	Asking Bids	DOPI and ROPI
6.1.5 Doubles	Optional	Penalty	Lead Directional
6.1.6 The Protective Position
6.2 Declarer Play
6.2.1 General Technique	End Play	Squeeze	Finesse	Lose tricks early	Pin	Avoidance	Restricted Choice
6.2.2 Trump Management	Ruffing	Ruffing Losers before drawing trumps	Trump Coup	Ruffing Finesse	Loser on Loser	Coping with bad splits	Cross Ruff
	Dummy Reversal
6.3 Defence	Second Player	Signals	Third Player	Play the cards you are known to have
6.3.1 Defensive Tactics	Forcing Defence	Passive Defence	Merrimac Coup
6.3.2 Opening Leads	Fourth Highest	Third and Fifth	MUD	Top of Nothing
6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand	Finesse Against Dummy	Finesse Against Partner
6.3.4 Entry Management	Unblocking
6.4 Probability
6.5 Glossary of Terms
7 Through the Pack