Shooting (bridge)

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Shooting is an approach in bridge to the bidding or play of a hand which aims for a favorable result by making a choice that is slightly against the odds. A player might decide to shoot toward the end of a pairs game, when he judges that he needs tops to win, not just average-plus results.

Contract bridge card game

Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing bridge at the regional level.

Bidding is an offer to set a price by an individual or business for a product or service or a demand that something be done. Bidding is used to determine the cost or value of something.

Odds are a numerical expression, usually expressed as a pair of numbers, used in both gambling and statistics. In statistics, the odds for or odds of some event reflect the likelihood that the event will take place, while odds against reflect the likelihood that it will not. In gambling, the odds are the ratio of payoff to stake, and do not necessarily reflect exactly the probabilities. Odds are expressed in several ways, and sometimes the term is used incorrectly to mean simply the probability of an event. Conventionally, gambling odds are expressed in the form "X to Y", where X and Y are numbers, and it is implied that the odds are odds against the event on which the gambler is considering wagering. In both gambling and statistics, the 'odds' are a numerical expression of the likelihood of some possible event.

Shooting is generally considered an ethical maneuver when it is used sparingly in an attempt to improve one's score. It is regarded as contrary to the proprieties if a player, perhaps angry with his partner, starts bidding and playing every hand in ways that disregard winning technique.

In contrast, a player who is shooting makes a bid or play that is only slightly inferior, in the hope that the cards lie in such a way that the normal, percentage action will lose. In the long run, even slightly inferior actions lose to the better bid or play, so it is not sensible to shoot unless the only hope left is an unusual situation, such as a 4-1 instead of a 3-2 trump break, or a normal 3NT contract that goes down on normal play.

A trump is a playing card which is elevated above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically, an entire suit is nominated as a trump suit; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the term trump card can refer to any sort of action, authority, or policy which automatically prevails over all others.

Although it is possible to shoot in either the bidding or the play, authorities disagree on whether it is wise to do so in the bidding. For example, Marshall Miles has written that "There is no way to estimate the effects of weird bidding on a particular hand, and it is almost impossible to start shooting in the bidding without having partnership confidence suffer." [1]

Marshall Lauren Miles was an American bridge player, teacher and writer.

On the other hand, if shooting, Hugh Kelsey recommends [2] a pass with ♠ 6 ♥ A J 7 2♦ K J 8 4 3 ♣ K 4 2 over RHO's opening bid of 1♠. Kelsey notes that everyone else will double, because in the long run it is the best call. But if LHO has a good redouble, or if the takeout double leads to an unmakeable game, or if declarer misguesses because you pass, then you might get a very good result (more often, you'll get a bottom). Notice that Kelsey's suggestion conforms to the basic notion of taking an action that is slightly against the odds. To pass with a much stronger hand would be far too extreme an action.

Hugh Walter Kelsey was a Scottish bridge player and writer, best known for advanced books on the play of the cards.

Examples

Miles gives these hands as examples of shooting in the play: [3]

♠5 3
♥8 4 2
♦6 5
♣A 8 7 5 3 2

N



S

♠A Q 6
♥A K 6 5
♦A Q 9
♣K 9 4

West leads the ♠4 against a typical 3NT contract. South wins East's ♠K and plays the ♣K, East and West following with the ♣6 and ♣10. The correct play now at rubber bridge or IMPs is to duck a round of clubs. By ducking, declarer maintains an entry to dummy if he gets a 3-1 split. Doing so guarantees the contract. At pairs, if South is shooting, he might lead the ♣9 to the ♣A, hoping for a 2-2 split (only somewhat against the odds). If he gets that split, South wins at least 11 tricks. This will be a likely top, because declarers who are not so desperate, and who duck a club in deference to the odds, will win a trick fewer. Of course if South doesn't get a 2-2 split, he'll probably go down one or two, for a bottom.

♠K 10
♥6
♦Q J 5 4
♣A 10 7 5 3 2

N



S

♠A J 9 7 5 3
♥A 5 4 2
♦—
♣K Q 8

This 4♠ contract is complex. At rubber bridge or IMPs, South should play to ruff two hearts in dummy, to guard against either opponent's holding of queen-fourth of spades. That play would hold South to ten tricks (losing two spades and a heart when either opponent holds ♠Q 8 x x) but gives South the best chance of ten tricks against either a 3-2 or 4-1 trump split.

But at pairs, South should not give up on overtricks to guard against the 8.4% possibility of ♠Q 8 x x. After winning the opening lead of the ♥K, strong declarers will finesse the ♠10 at trick two. If the finesse loses, the ♠K will stop the hearts. If South gets the more likely 3-2 spade split, he'll win 12 or 13 tricks, depending on the success of the finesse at trick 2. (Miles does not discuss the 9.6% possibility of a 4-0 club split.)

If South wants to shoot, Miles notes that declarer could adopt the rubber bridge approach of ruffing two hearts, in effect playing for the spades to split badly. But a better shot is to lead to the ♠K and then finesse the ♠J. This play will get South a top when East holds one, two or three spades to the ♠Q, but if it is West who holds ♠Q x or ♠Q x x, South will get a bottom.

Related Research Articles

In contract bridge and similar games, a finesse is a card play technique which will enable a player to win an additional trick or tricks should there be a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponents.

The simple squeeze is the most basic form of a squeeze in contract bridge. When declarer plays a winner in one suit, an opponent is forced to discard a stopper in one of declarer's two threat suits.

Safety play in contract bridge is a generic name for plays in which declarer maximizes the chances for fulfilling the contract by ignoring a chance for a higher score. Declarer uses safety plays to cope with potentially unfavorable layouts of the opponent's cards. In so doing, declarer attempts to ensure the contract even in worst-case scenarios, by giving up the possibility of overtricks.

Spades card game

Spades is a trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s. It can be played as either a partnership or solo/"cutthroat" game. The object is to take at least the number of tricks that were bid before play of the hand began. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge, Hearts, and Oh Hell. Its major difference as compared to other Whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the Spade suit always trumps, hence the name.

In the card game of contract bridge, to hold up means to play low to a trick led by the opponents, losing it intentionally in order to sever their communication. The primary purpose is to give as many tricks to opponents as needed to exhaust all the cards in the suit from one of their hands. If that hand regains the lead, it will not be able to put the partner on lead to cash its tricks. Hold up is one of basic techniques in play.

An endplay, in bridge and similar games, is a tactical play where a defender is put on lead at a strategic moment, and then has to make a play that loses one or more tricks. Most commonly the losing play either constitutes a free finesse, or else it gives declarer a ruff and discard. In a case where declarer has no entries to dummy, the defender may also be endplayed into leading a suit which can be won in that hand.

A strip squeeze is a declarer technique at contract bridge combining elements of squeeze and endplay.

In contract bridge, the principle of restricted choice states that play of a particular card decreases the probability its player holds any equivalent card. For example, South leads a low spade, West plays a low one, North plays the queen, East wins with the king. The ace and king are equivalent cards; East's play of the king decreases the probability East holds the ace – and increases the probability West holds the ace. The principle helps other players infer the locations of unobserved equivalent cards such as that spade ace after observing the king. The increase or decrease in probability is an example of Bayesian updating as evidence accumulates and particular applications of restricted choice are similar to the Monty Hall problem.

Morton's Fork is a coup in contract bridge that forces an opponent to choose between:

  1. letting declarer establish extra tricks in the suit led; or
  2. losing the opportunity to win any trick in the suit led.

The trump coup is a contract bridge coup used when the hand on lead has no trumps remaining, while the next hand in rotation has only trumps, including a high one that would have been onside for a direct finesse if a trump could have been led. The play involves forcing that hand to ruff, only to be overruffed. A similar motive is met in coup en passant, where indirect finesse is used instead of direct.

These terms are used in contract bridge, using duplicate or rubber scoring. Some of them are also used in whist, bid whist, the obsolete game auction bridge, and other trick-taking games. This glossary supplements the Glossary of card game terms.

Bath coup is a coup in the game of contract bridge, where the declarer, holding AJx in a suit ducks the left-hand opponent's lead of a king. The coup is presumed to be named after the city of Bath in England and dates from the game of whist, the predecessor of bridge.

In contract bridge, avoidance play is a play technique whereby declarer prevents a particular defender from winning the trick, so as to eschew a dangerous lead from that hand. The dangerous hand is usually the one who is able to finesse through declarer's honors, to give a ruff to the partner or to cash one or more established winners. Avoidance play can be regarded as one type of safety play.

In the card game contract bridge, a suit combination is a specific set of cards of a particular suit visible in declarer's and dummy's hands at the onset of the play of the cards. While the ranks of the remaining cards held in the two unseen hands of the opponents can be deduced precisely, their location is unknown. Suit combinations allow for all possible lies of the cards of the subject suit in the two closed hands.

A bridge maxim is a rule of thumb cited by players in contract bridge acting as a memory aid to best practice gained from experience.

Percentage play in contract bridge is a play influenced by mathematical factors when more than one reasonable line of play is available. It is a generic name for plays in which declarer maximizes the chances for obtaining a certain number of tricks or the maximum number of tricks when considering the suit in isolation. Sometimes the percentage play is not the correct play considering the hand as a whole as an avoidance play or safety play may be more appropriate.

An entry squeeze exerts pressure by threatening the length of a defender's holding in a side suit. In many familiar squeezed positions, such as a simple or double squeeze, the rank of a defender's holding prevents declarer from cashing a threat until the squeeze has matured. This situation is also present in entry squeezes, but in addition a defensive holding interferes with declarer's entries, preventing declarer from effectively going back and forth between his hand and dummy.

A knockout squeeze is a squeeze in three suits, one of which is the trump suit. The defender's trump holding is needed to prevent declarer from making a successful play involving trumps, including one as prosaic as ruffing a loser. Because the knockout squeeze does not threaten to promote declarer's trumps to winners it is termed a non-material squeeze. Other non-material squeezes include entry squeezes, single-suit squeezes and winkles.

In the card game bridge, the law or principle of vacant places is a simple method for estimating the probable location of any particular card in the four hands. It can be used both to aid in a decision at the table and to derive the entire suit division probability table.

References

  1. ↑ Miles, Marshall. How to Win at Duplicate Bridge. Exposition Press, 1957. Chapter 9.
  2. ↑ Kelsey, H. W. Match-Point Bridge. Faber and Faber, 1970. ISBN   0-571-09436-8. Chapter 16.
  3. ↑ Frey, Richard L., Editor-in-Chief; Truscott, Alan F., Executive Editor; Kearse, Amalya L., Editor, Third Edition (1976). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (3rd ed.). New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN   0-517-52724-3. LCCN   76017053.
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