Today's hand is Deal 17 from Play Bridge With Larry Cohen - 1999 Life Master's Pairs - Day 3 - An Interactive Bridge Series. This is the third in a series of offerings on CD-Rom. They comprise what is arguably the best "intermediate" bridge tutorial ever developed. I will go through the bidding quoting Cohen from the CD. "We are South in 2nd seat with neither side vulnerable. East, the dealer, opens with a strong (15-17) notrump. If there is one thing I've learned in 20+ years of tournament bridge, it's to bid in these situations. You lose a little by "giving away your hand", if the opponents end up declaring. But you usually gain back by interfering with their auction. I've shown a bid of two clubs, using my favorite convention "DONT". This shows a two-suiter; clubs and another suit."
At this point in the tutorial you have the option of "clicking" on the word "DONT" and it will open up a complete explanation of this convention. This is available every time a bidding convention is used so even if you are not familiar with some of the conventions, they are explained in Cohen's very understandable style.
Cohen continues; "Our partner bids two diamonds, which we alert. If he was content with clubs, he'd have passed. This bid means that he wants to play in our "other suit". If our other suit was diamonds, we'd pass, but with this hand, we must bid two spades. Partner now raises to game! This is an unusual development. My normal philosophy is to interfere aggressively against a strong notrump, but not to try aggressively for games. To tell the truth, I'd have made this two club bid on less; and partner knows it. So our actual hand isn't too much of a disappointment."
When you go to the next screen, the software shows the opening lead (in this case the jack of hearts) and the dummy. Then, as you play the hand, Cohen tells you how he would think about the cards as they are played. Each card tells a story during the play if you know how to listen, and this is the lesson that he teaches so very well.
After the play is over, all four hands are displayed and Cohen reviews the result in comparison to what could have happened when the hand was played at other tables. On this hand, Cohen's recommended line of play produces an overtrick.
The actual match point result is then displayed so you get to look at the cumulative results from 39 other tables. A brief explanation of how the bidding and play affected the match point score completes the lesson on each hand.
The disk includes 52 hands and an absolute wealth of information in an easy to access format. Each CD-Rom (Day 1, 2, & 3) is available for $29.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling. You may send a check or money order to: Natco Press, 10481 Milburn Lane, Boca Raton, Florida, 33498.
For complete information on all of the products offered by
Larry Cohen, go to his website at www.larryco.com or contact
Cohen directly by email at: lc@larryco.com
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.