Bridge Big: My First Money

Hi all

Here is a deal from my first session on Bridge Big. As I wrote in my previous article Bridge Big is an online platform to play duplicate bridge for money. It’s low-threshold to start playing, but let me warn you, it’s not a casual game or for the faint of heart. The founders intend it to be a platform for serious & competitive bridge. Just like the game deserves. Go check it out.

Anyway, sitting South (White against Red) I pick up a wild hand:

South
A
JT9853
AJ8752

Oh boy! How am I going to sell this baby in an individual tournament setting? I decide to open 1 and this is what happens next:

West
North
East
South
 
 
 
1
Double
21
2
5
a.p.
 
 
 

1. Extraordinary

Partner raises? Partner raises? What? Come again? I end the auction with an uncivilized leap to 5.

LHO leads a trump and this is what I see:

North
J876
QT54
K762
9

I gasp as I see partner’s beautiful raise. I hold high respect for players and partners who support with support. I am slightly annoyed by the lead, though. If the opponents can play two rounds of trumps my contract depends on a 3-3 break in , or KQ tumbling. On a side note, the bidding is a little weird, NS hold a combined 16-count while East only bid 2. Who’s hogging all those digital face cards?

I duck in dummy and East wins his Queen. Just as I’m about to resign to my fate of down one East finds a shift to a . From there it’s easy, I ruff three in dummy and East gets to score trump Ace one day or another. Making.

This was the full deal:

West Dealer
NS Vul
North
J876
QT54
K762
9
West
Q954
AJ96
4
KQT4
East
KT32
K8732
AQ
63
South
A
JT9853
AJ8752

Kudos to West, a Dutch player by the way, for finding the killing trump lead. (When reviewing your results you can see the names of your partner and opponents.) Too bad his partner didn’t reward him for it. I imagine making a virtual high-five with my Bulgarian partner when the EUR 1.14 gets added to our individual accounts. Suddenly I wish I were playing for 5 EUR per IMP, perhaps when I find that money tree in my backyard.