The Seven Deadly Sins

By Joe Blatnick

As new players continue the learning process, they try to follow all those clichs and myths with which they are inundated. As they progress through the learning stages, they begin to appreciate why these guidelines have exceptions, and get better at recognizing them. But once they reach a certain level of competence, there is a fork in the road. Those who dont wish to learn any more or those who feel that more learning is either beyond them or a waste of time take one branch of that road. The others become so enamoured or addicted, if you will, that they cant get enough of the game, take the other road. They want to play as often as humanly possible. They want to learn every convention which has ever surfaced (good or bad) and they read every bridge book that has been written. They endeavour to play with those from whom they can learn and never hesitate to engage their local experts in conversation about this wonderful game. However, even after reaching a level which is not far above the beginner stage, they feel that they are ready for advanced classes. There are others who can play a respectable game and are still a long way from expert level who feel that they too, belong only in advanced classes. Yet there is a common denominator for all these players regardless of the group to which they belong. And that is the basics. Very few bridge players truly know the basics. In an upcoming book, I mention a hundred mistakes which are made by many players who are seldom aware of 5% of them.

All this preamble brings us to the point of this book. And that is that all those experienced players who play regularly but seldom win are guilty of committing the seven deadly sins of bridge. If those aspiring to become experts really want to reach the pinnacle, they must learn the basics and stop committing the 7 deadly sins.

As we are all aware, this game breaks down into bidding, declarer play and defence. Each of these sections, if a more complete examination were made, would reveal many troublesome situations. However, this book will deal primarily with errors of omission and not commission. And since the title suggests only seven, the authors omissions might be considered as errors. The seven deadly sins of bridge will highlight what would appear to be the most lacking aspects of the average players game, oops 8.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468522976

Joe Blatnick

As mentioned in an earlier book, Joe’s total immersion in the game came late in life. Nevertheless, his contributions to the game have still been numerous. Who knows where an earlier start might have led.

Book preview

The 7 Deadly Sins of Bridge

Oops! Make that 8

Joe Blatnick

Image369.PNG

AuthorHouse™

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Bloomington, IN47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2012 Joe Blatnick. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 2/28/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-2298-3(sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-2297-6(e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011962337

Cover and Interior Design and Layout by Katherine Widziak, www.widziak.com

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe was introduced to this marvellous game while attending the Toronto Teachers’ College in the fifties. During the next two decades he played some rubber bridge but found duplicate more challenging in the sixties and became a club director. Having run a successful club north of Toronto for a few years, he was invited to train as a tournament director in 1973. However, after officiating at a Regional, he decided that it held little interest for him. During the next twenty years he and his wife Tanya, literally disappeared from the bridge scene and only resurfaced in 2002. At that point, Joe really became a student of the game, teaching many classes up to the present with Tanya’s unwavering support, running a very successful club and writing a great deal about this game we all love. This is Joe’s second full length bridge book the first, Why You Seldom Win at Bridge was very well received, with glowing reports from readers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to my bridge playing friends and bridge students whose

many welcome inquiries were the impetus for this book,

the second and 3 more to follow.

And a heart-felt thank you to those who read the manuscript

and had many worthwhile suggestions.

But a very special thank you to my wife, my lover and best friend Tanya,

without whose tolerance and patience, this book would never

have gone beyond the first idea.

This last acknowledgement is a repetition from the first book. However,

if anything at all deserves to be repeated, it’s this statement.

Joe

SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF BRIDGE

As new players continue the learning process, they try to follow all those clichés and myths with which they are inundated. As they progress through the learning stages, they begin to appreciate why these guidelines have exceptions, and get better at recognizing them. But once they reach a certain level of competence, there is a fork in the road. Those who don’t wish to learn any more or those who feel that more learning is either beyond them or a waste of time take one branch of that road. The others become so enamoured or addicted, if you will, that they can’t get enough of the game, take the other road. They want to play as often as humanly possible. They want to learn every convention which has ever surfaced (good or bad) and they read every bridge book that has been written. They endeavour to play with those from whom they can learn and never hesitate to engage their local experts in conversation about this wonderful game. However, even after reaching a level which is not far above the beginner stage, they feel that they are ready for advanced classes. There are others who can play a respectable game and are still a long way from expert level who feel that they too, belong only in advanced classes. Yet there is a common denominator for all these players regardless of the group to which they belong. And that is the basics. Very few bridge players truly know the basics. In an upcoming book, I mention a hundred mistakes which are made by many players who are seldom aware of 5% of them.

All this preamble brings us to the point of this book. And that is that all those experienced players who play regularly but seldom win are guilty of committing the seven deadly sins of bridge. If those aspiring to become experts really want to reach the pinnacle, they must learn the basics and stop committing the 7 deadly sins.

As we are all aware, this game breaks down into bidding, declarer play and defence. Each of these sections, if a more complete examination were made, would reveal many troublesome situations. However, this book will deal primarily with errors of omission and not commission. And since the title suggests only seven, the author’s omissions might be considered as errors. The seven deadly sins of bridge will highlight what would appear to be the most lacking aspects of the average player’s game, oops 8.

Contents

Deadly Sin #1

Deadly Sin #2

Deadly Sin #3

Deadly Sin #4

Deadly Sin #5

Deadly Sin #6

Deadly Sin #7

Deadly Sin #4 (Con’t)

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DEADLY SIN #1

BALANCING

Before delving into this topic, let’s all understand the meaning of the term. According to Webster, balancing, a term for which there are many meanings, can mean weigh, to compare arguments, to match, to offset, to keep in equilibrium, to compare and so on. According to the Bridge Encyclopedia, balancing, protecting and re-opening are synonymous. It simply means to take action of some kind when L.H.O. bids and this is followed by two passes. Sitting in the pass-out seat, it is seldom profitable to pass and let the opposition play a low level contract. It is safe to assume that partner has some undisclosed values since the opener’s partner could offer no support or encouragement. Action can be taken in this fourth seat with as little as 8 pts. However to understand even more completely the meaning of a balancing bid, remember that you are in the balancing seat only when your L.H.O. opens and this is followed by two passes. If it is your R.H.O. who opens, you are in the direct seat. The action which you might take in direct seat can be quite different from what you might do in the balancing seat. The logic of this should be quite obvious. When you are in the balancing seat, your partner and opener’s partner have already passed. Which one of them do you think has the best hand? But when you are in the direct seat you can’t be sure that partner has any values. So, when you are balancing, you are acting with the knowledge that partner has some worthwhile cards and your hand can therefore be weaker. But in direct seat your hand must be stronger.

A good ‘rule of thumb’, when balancing, is to pretend that you have 3 more points than you actually do. Partner should therefore take this into account when making a response. Your goal in balancing, in addition to not letting them make a cheap part score, should be to make a part score for your side or perhaps push the opponents into deeper water.

In expanding on this topic, complete hands make understanding and accepting this concept much easier. However, before viewing the hands which illustrate overcalls, take-out doubles, jump overcalls, N.T. overcalls and the requirements for such bids, here’s a short quiz with