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TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY

FLANNERY: Instead of using the 2

as a weak two, the 2

opener describes the following hand: 5 or more Hearts; 4 Spades; and 11 - 15 points. This bid comes up one hand out of 638. So if you played 24 hands of bridge a week, the Flannery 2

bid will come up once every six months. You can however do other things while waiting. Golf? Canasta?

Do not hesitate to acquire Bridge
books for further study.

JETTISON PLAY: Throwing away or jettisoning high cards, especially Aces and Kings. It is fortunate that the opponents can not retrieve these cards and use them against you. Do not jettison your partner.

MORTON’S FORK: A fork in bridge? What about a spoon or a knife? And who is Morton? The fork here is sort on like a fork in the road. The Defender is forced to either win a trick immediately, which will create a future winner for Declarer, or lose a trick immediately. Some choice.

NO TRUMP DEFENSE: Capellitti, DONT, and Snatchem are defensive maneuvers used when the opponent opens the bidding in No Trump. Snatchem is the only one not yet recognized by the ACBL. It involves grabbing a card from the No Trump bidder’s hand and tearing it into small pieces. Some rabid defenders even ingest the card.

SQUEEZE PLAY: When the Declarer runs a long suit which causes great discomfit for the Defenders. After much needless squirming the Defender will have to either discard a winner or leave the room.

STRIP AND END PLAY: The End Play or Throw In is when the Declarer at a strategic moment makes a Defender win a trick. Stripping does not mean taking off your clothes in order to distract a Defender (this does sometimes work), but it is removing a Defender’s safe exit card. So when Defender does get the lead he is forced to give up a trick. Tricky, tricky.

SUIT PREFERENCE: By playing (or leading) a high card you are signaling your partner to lead the highest of the two other suits. The other suits being not trump and not the suit being lead.
By playing a low card you signal partner to lead the lowest of the two other suits. The other two defensive signals in bridge are Attitude and Count. Confusion between the use of these signals has been the cause of some very dramatic defensive errors.

TRANSFER TO THE MINORS: Why not? You already can transfer in the Majors so why not to the Minors? And why not to the B 68 bus? There are several ways of doing this. Make sure you and your partner agree on one.