Phillip Alder's syndicated column

Thursday, December 2, 1999

         S A Q 10 6 2
         H Q 10 3
         D K Q 8 3
         C 8
S J 4 3         S K 8 7 5
H K 9 7       H J 8 6 4
D 9 4           D 7 2
C J 5 4 3 2  C K Q 6
          S 9
          H A 5 2
          D A J 10 6 5
          C A 10 9 7

Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: South

South     West     North      East
1D         Pass     1S          Pass
2C         Pass     2H          Pass
2NT       Pass     3NT      All pass

Opening lead: C3

Terence Reese started the "over  the shoulder" technique in his book, "Play Bridge with Reese." Now
comes Larry Cohen's CD-ROM called "Play Bridge with Larry Cohen --  1999 Life Master Pairs Day One."
You play through 56 boards, with Cohen periodically asking what you  would bid or play. Also, you receive oodles of good advice about both  bridge in general and matchpoint duplicate strategy in particular.
This deal is important only in a pair event. Against three no-trump,  you decide to lead the club three: eight, queen, ace. South advances  the spade nine. Do you play low or high?
North's two hearts was fourth-suit game-forcing, asking opener for  more information. Then, over two no-trump, North should have bid three  diamonds. Note that six diamonds would probably succeed.
As the spade nine is likely to be a singleton, you should cover with  the jack. (If you duck, partner must do likewise, otherwise four spade  tricks automatically fall into declarer's lap.) After taking dummy's  spade queen with his king, partner cashes the club king. Which spot do  you drop?
This is complex. It looks obvious to play the two, showing your  five-card suit. But you know that another club from partner will give  declarer a second club trick (and 10 in all). You should drop the four  or five. Then, a clever partner will switch to a heart. This holds  South to nine tricks. Minus 600 was worth 149.5 matchpoints out of 194  (it was a big event). Minus 630 was worth only 90.5.

-----------------------------------------

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer

A difficult three no trump.

Bridge Column for December 19, 1999, By HARVEY BERNSTEIN

Both sides vulnerable. West deals.
        NORTH
        S: J 4 3 2
        H: 10 4 2
        D: Q 8 6
        C: A 10 3
WEST                  EAST
S: 7                      S: Q 10 9 6 5
H: 9 6                  H: A K 8 7 3
D: J 9 7 2            D: 4
C: 9 8 7 6 5 4     C: Q 2
        SOUTH
        S: A K 8
        H: Q J 5
        D: A K 10 5 3
        C: K J
The Bidding:
WEST     NORTH     EAST          SOUTH
Pass         Pass              1H              Double
Pass         1S                  Pass          2H
Pass         2S                  Pass          3D
Pass         3H                  Pass         3NT
Pass         Pass              Pass

This hand was dealt at a local duplicate game and has a
number of interesting points. The first is East's opening bid.
We are taught that it is best to open the higher of equal length
suits (5 cards or more). In this case, East was more concerned
about the opening lead should his partner have to make that
decision, as was the case. Think about it, this hand becomes
much easier to play if West leads a spade.
Second, while the North-South auction is not elegant, they
have arrived at the correct contract. South, by making a take-
out double, followed by a cue-bid, and then a new suit, has shown
a hand with at least twenty high card points. Each of these bids
is forcing, although I believe that North could pass three
diamonds with a zero count and a couple of diamonds.
The opening lead was the nine of hearts. The ten was played
from dummy and East ducked this trick. This is an excellent play
and the third good point. If West can somehow manage to gain the
lead, it is very likely that he will have a heart to lead to
East. Had East cashed out two hearts, declarer would be able to
make "safety plays" so that any tricks that would have to be lost
would be won by West, who could not lead hearts to defeat the
contract.
The play of the hand is the fourth point. After East ducks
the first trick, South pauses to evaluate his situation. If the
diamonds break 3-2, or if they break 4-1 and East is the hand
holding four diamonds, ten tricks will be easy. If diamonds
don't behave, declarer only has eight tricks and the ninth will
be a problem. On top of this, the entries to the dummy are very
limited. The lead to trick two is from the dummy. Declarer
could try to finesse the jack of clubs, but if this loses and it
turns out that the diamonds sat right, he will have been defeated
in an unbeatable contract.
It appears correct to play a diamond to the ace and back to
the queen. When this suit breaks badly, declarer still has an
outside chance to bring his contract home. If either black queen
sits doubleton, the ninth trick will come from that suit. A
spade to the ace and king fail to bring down the queen. But the
play of the king of clubs and the jack to the ace is rewarded
with the fall of the queen of clubs. The ten of clubs and the
king of diamonds are the contract fulfilling tricks.
This line of play is a simple matter of exhausting all of
the "safe" possibilities instead of taking a calculated risk. If
there was an additional safe entry to dummy, I would suggest that
the club finesse is the correct play after determining that the
diamond suit is not going to provide the required tricks.
Without that entry, declarer must look for other ways to make the
contract.
Larry Cohen of Boca Raton, FL, national champion player and
author, has introduced an exciting new method for the individual
player to work on his bridge game. It wasn't that many years ago
that you had to be able to struggle through some very complicated
bridge books in order to really improve your level of bidding and
play. Today, all you need is a personal computer and disc one of
the interactive bridge series "Play Bridge with Larry Cohen" .
With this program, you will be able to sit with Cohen and work
through 56 deals that actually were a part of the 1999 Life
Master Pairs from the summer nationals in San Antonio. You will
be able to observe the decision making process and the program
includes the actual match point results for each hand so that you
can see the effect of the analysis.
The screens are easy to follow and the instructions are easy
to understand. This is a very sophisticated tutorial that
touches on every aspect of the game. And the best part about it
is the price. The CD is $29.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling.
If you are serious about improving your game, this is the
way to go. You can use your credit card and order at the website: www.larryco.com

From the Jerusalem Post

Jerusalem Post Bridge Column for January 3, 2002

Over Cohen's shoulder
By MATTHEW GRANOVETTER

North dealer
Neither side vulnerable

        North
        S 4
        H A 9 6 3
        D A J 5 4
        C 10 9 7 3

West                          East
S K J 7 2                  S 10 6
H K 8 5 2                  H 7 4
D K 10 6                  D 9 8 3
C 8 2                          C K Q J 6 5 4

        South
        S A Q 9 8 5 3
        H Q J 10
        D Q 7 2
        C A

West     North     East      South
-             pass          3C     3S
pass         4S          (all pass)

Opening lead: C8

"Over my shoulder" is an expression for a style of bridge book that
allows the reader to follow a bridge hand slowly from the beginning
to the end. The writer of this style puts himself in the role of the
player; he explains his thoughts and asks the reader questions along
the way. This type of book was popularized by the late Terence Reese
of England and has found a new form today in CD-ROMs. If you would
like to see how it works on computer, go to [http://larryco.com/] on
the Internet, where Larry Cohen, of Florida, offers some free
demonstrations. He also sells excellent "over my shoulder" CD-ROMs by
mail order.

This week's hand is a sample. When you see it on the computer, you
first see only the South hand and you're told that partner passes and
East opens three clubs. You're asked to make a bid, and then told
that three spades is the best choice. Partner raises to four spades
and West leads the eight of clubs. Then you are shown the North hand,
which is dummy. The author tells you that North had a difficult
problem over three spades, whether to pass or bid three notrump, and
his decision to raise to four spades, as eccentric as it may appear,
gives you a chance to show your skills.

You're now asked to play the hand, and told that you should cover the
first card with dummy's 9. It doesn't matter too much with your
singleton ace, but you might as well induce East to waste an honor.
Then you are asked how to play the trump suit without touching
diamonds or hearts (because East might hold a singleton in one of
these suits). If you lead trumps from your hand, how would you go
about it?

Here in the newspaper you can see all 52 cards, but on the computer
screen you can't. The answer is to play the ace of spades followed by
the queen. East is unlikely to hold the king of spades, because of
his preempt, but he may hold a doubleton ten or jack. Your queen
smothers his ten as West wins the trick with the king. Now you will
lose only two trump tricks. With both finesses working in the red
suits, you won't lose any more tricks and you'll emerge with 11
tricks for a fine score of 450. Well done!

Matthew Granovetter can be reached at matt@bridgetoday.com


Reader's e-mail :

Larry:

After downloading and reviewing your demo I can see why the program is
widely acclaimed. In most bridge programs and books you are looking for the
solution to make or defeat the hand and are immediately on guard. Your
presentation of "ordinary" hands from an actual tournament along with your
thought process (and amusing commentary) is, to me, a far better approach. I
have ordered both CDs. Well Done!

Regards,
Jxxx Sxxxxx

hi larry
have had just a few minutes since we saw you, but i tried several hands and
thought that the analysis and graphics of the hands was terrific. i
particularly enjoy your sharing with regular players what you are thinking
about. you should have good success with the disk and we will hype to all of
our bridge-playing friends, even though most think that they are "experts" as
well.

Sxxxx  Hxxxxxx

Hi Larry,

The bad news is that it took me until today to try "1999 Life Master Pairs -
Day 1."

The good news is that the impetus was a bridge-playing friend of mine who
wanted to see how it works. It is GREAT. My friend is a MUCH better player
than I and still found the very first deal instructive. Your work (my opinion
now) was complete and humorous. VERY well done!

Pxxxx Mxxxxx

Larry

your demo is impressive. your texts are illuminating. please continue your
fine work.

sincerely,

Kxxxx Mxxxxx (a devoted bridge student)

Your software (Day 1) is wonderful!!

Bxx Sxxxxxx

Hi Larry.

I was just wondering if you have any more software in the pipeline.
I loved your San Antonio LM software and Kit's Cavendish. More please!!
The format is just great, as is your commentary/analysis.

Bill Cox w.h.cox@worldnet.att.net
Winter Garden, FL

---------

Hi Larry,

I just finished the second day of the 1999 LM Pairs and can't wait to start the third. I just wanted you to know I think the CDs are terrific and I really hope you'll do some more of these.

I also think you've done a great job of covering advanced concepts in a way that lets people skip it if they want to. I was happy to have that material, and didn't feel like you were leaving out the good stuff, but I could also see my grandmother understanding it. :) I loved the criss-cross squeeze on day one--I've got the basic squeezes down but that one's still hard and seeing one played out trick by trick is really helpful.

Happy New Year!
Karen Manfield -- Burlingame, CA.