tennis, life and a few things in between

Tonight is the heart night: I’ve so many good hands with hearts. No slams tho lol …

One hand I played diamonds and could have been a slam. Then I got lazy, instead playing ♦️9, I casually put out 6 which was closer to me. Yup, I lost the trick to ♦️7.

整晚都是 一手接一手的

This hand I’ve a singleton, was pretty happy but it was the trump suit . I led ♠️ A K, then ♣️3 the third round. My left followed with ♣️A … We won the hand, hands down.

这手有个单张 高兴 … 然后 就没有然后了 – 人家的王牌

俺出的 ♠️ A K, 第三轮是♣️3 , 左手跟了♣️A … we won the hand, hands down [呲牙]

I got Karen to play and we teamed up. She’s a good player but doesn’t offer any opinion unless was asked.

Luckily, my hands have been good, and we made most of our biddings. It was so good, that I misplayed 2nd to the last card and missed a slam. This was 4♥ hand, and after 11 tricks has been played, my partner and I both had a ♥. I should have used her ♥A to trump. But instead I played her last ♠ when ♦ was led. One of the opponent’s ♦ was a little higher. What was I thinking??? Too relaxed and careless.

An interesting hand. The opponent to my right was the dealer and opened the bid with 1♦. I’ve six ♦ AK etc., with 13 points. So, I doubled him. The hand ended up in NT.

Played my first grand slam, mostly on my partner’s strength – forgot to take a pic of her hand – unfortunately we didn’t bid for it [大哭]: result of my not wanting to learn the bidding conversions. 
For this hand, my partner opened with 1N; I responded 2H; she jumped to 4H.

~ played my 2nd grand slam 2N  

… my first slams, and the second  

I normally get decent / interesting hands at bridge, to compensate my lack of skill -:)

Bidding is the first part of the fun in bridge, and the various conventions add fun to the bidding.

Each convention has a set meaning, so you could communicate with your partner, to arrive at the correct and or the maximum level, to score a game (100 points).  … why don’t we just use plain language (??) instead?

…

• 2♣️ bid is artificial = 22 HCP or 9+ tricks
• 2♦️♠️♥️ bid is weak 2 bid: 5-10 HCP and 6-card suit

…

Other bids:

• 2 club bid
• cue bid rho bid your suit
• doubles: take out & penalty
• 4NT is asking for aces
• short club 13+ … anyone but this one
• weak two 5-10 pt, 6+ in ♠️/♥️/♦️
• strong 2♣️ club here
• strong 2
• strong 1NT 15-17 pts here

How would you bid with these three hands? I played and won my first slam lost the last trick to ♣️K. My partner’s hands have been great too.

… My first grand slam …

你会怎么叫这三手牌? 打赢了第一个小满贯 可惜最后一圈输给了♣️K

From left:

1. Hand 1: I stated with 1♣️
2. Hand 2: I stated with 1♥️ then 2♠️
3. Hand 3: I started with 1♥️, my partner bid 2♦️. My thinking heart/spade need 4 extra tracks to game (diamond needs 5), so I bid 4 hearts on the second round. (My partner has 7 diamonds.) Forget if we made game

Opinion 1: 1st hand correct bid; 2nd hand spades are better than hearts; 3rd hand with distribution you have 17 points, void =4points; you should have game or slam if your partner opened first or if you opened and your partner jump-shifted indicating 10 or more points.

Opinion 2: I agree with your bid on the first had. On the second, with two 5 card suits, it is best to bid the higher ranking first, unless there is a clear discrepancy in the strength of the two suits. In the third hand, I would not have gone to 4 hearts and just bid two hearts.

cheers my first slam, in Bridge.

The top is my partner’s who bid diamond, and bottom mine, responded with heart. Then he insisted diamond for which I passed. My mistake bec I should help him to bid higher.

The winning result achieved when I was the dummie -:) oh well.

俺第一个小满贯 – I was the dummy 也许是赢的关键 [捂脸]

上是搭档的 下是俺的

干杯

My first grand slam

I’m picking up this card game again, and have been playing the contract bridge 定约桥牌 once or twice a week.

The players here don’t do duplicate bridge because each time, whomever shows up, starts the game. Day and time are set but not players. Some times it’s only 1 table and other times, three+ tables. We rotate every four games so the 5th, 9th or 13th player get to play.

After awhile, I started the girls night.

Some basics

• The points: 40 hcp, long (4+) & short suit   
• The scoring
• The bid & response; slam bidding; NT bid 
• The conventions 

Fun way to Serious Bridge (1978) by Harry Lampert is a good book to brush up skills, or learning to play. It was published in 1978, 13 years ahead of the For Dummies book series.

• 6 4 3 1, jump
• 7 3 2 1
• Best suit vs responding to bid: 3 3 3 4
• Long suit wins NT
• cue bid rho bid your suit ↓
• someone bid your suit; 1st time bid 5 and making it
• 4NT: asking for As; how to respond; 2025
• Ace and space
• Good hearts ♥️
• weak 2♠️ 
• two singleton As and long in spade – not good for NT
• void and long in ♠️ and more
• Long suit in ♠️ – time to learn the conventions
• Too many all 9s
• NT and scoring
• Two doubles in a hand
• A diamond night ♦️ importance of 13 pts
• A night filled with ♥️
• A few good hands

The slams !!!

Girls’ night in

• a losing night
• two slams night
• Just another good hands night
• A 21 hcp
• A 22 hcp opening hand
• Bid 5 and making it

… some hands to remember

1. 2025 Jan 6
2. 2024
3. 2023 annual

没人打百分 (这该有多老呀)
只能打桥牌 … 更老

临时抱佛脚 – 这本 不错

… 每次开叫前 借用手指头数分
然后
就没有 然后了
热情不减

Some terms – contract bridge glossary

• game: ^{100 pts}
  • 3NT ^{40 for the 1st trick + 30 each for the 2nd/3rd}
  • 4 ♥️♠ majors ^{4 tricks × 30 points per trick}
  • 5 ♣ ♦️ minors ^{5 tricks × 20 points per trick}
• double: game can also be made via a doubled or redoubled contract: e.g., 2♠ doubled is worth 2 × (2 tricks × 30 points per trick) = 120 points.
• rubber: best of three games (a game =100 pts); a team which has already won a game toward the current rubber is said to be vulnerable
• above the line

We found a couple who plays bridge and merrily we played.

After a few hands, a wired thing happened: a card ♣️8 is missing. And high and low, we can’t find it. Oh well!!!

We two played a Gin, and then Gin rummy (wiki) during the down time. I like it.