Binkies by Foxymoron

The method of hand evaluation known as the Milton Work Count was deveioped for Auction Bridge, using the 4-3-2-1 system for ace, king, queen, jack. Sometimes ½ was used for a ten, and Milton Work wrote extensively on the subject in the early twentieth century. By the end of the century, Thomas Andrews had been exploring the inaccuracies of this system and published an article on his website entitled Binky Points. One of the prime advocates of this improved system of hand evaluation has been Brian "Binkie" Callaghan, the doyen of the Young Chelsea Bridge Club.

How did the sobriquet  "Binkie" come about? Well, not as some thought from Binkie Muddlefoot of Darkwing Duck fame. She is female, and doesn't look a bit like Brian Callaghan. 

Binkie Muddlefoot

Another possibility was Binky Barnes, a character in Arthur but that can be ruled out as it is spelt with a y at the end.

Binky Barnes

The truth is that it comes from the West End Theatre impresario who brought My Fair Lady and West Side Story to London.

Binkie Beaumont

So, how does the Binkie system work? Well, in Binkie's own words:  "It involves fractions, sixths, and includes the ten as follows: 4⅓, 2⅚, 1⅔, ⅚, ⅓. So aces are up ⅓, kings down ⅙, queens down ⅓, jacks down ⅙ and tens up ⅓. There are still 40 points in the deck to make it easy."

A hand this week at the Woodberry shows that a more accurate hand evaluation would have led to a good game being bid.

Let us look at the East hand first, after a pass by North. It has 14 "Miltons" but we can add ⅔ point for the two aces and ⅔ for the two tens, deduct ⅓ for the queen, and deduct ⅙ for the jack. That makes it 14⅚. A couple of other rules that are worth considering if you want refinement. Deduct ½ for 4-3-3-3 and add ½ for 5-3-3-2. Neither of those apply here. Having a doubleton queen or jack is a disadvantage, about ⅙ down. Finally three honours in the same suit is a bonus, about ⅙ up. The heart combination elevates the East hand to 15 points. After a few attempts you can get the Binkie count in about ten seconds.

I would have opened 1NT on the East hand, 15-17. West would have bid Stayman over that and bid game in no-trumps. The actual auction, 1C-1S-1NT showed 11-14 and now let us look at the number of binkies in the West hand. It has 11 HCP. We can add ⅓ for the ace, and deduct ⅓ for the two kings. So they cancel out. We add ⅓ for the ten and deduct ⅙ for the jack. So 11⅙. Only slightly better than the number of Miltons and at matchpoints one might well take the conservative view and pass. If partner has 11 or 12 points even 2NT might not make. But West was maximum for her pass, and East just about enough for a strong NT. The combination was a missed game.

How should the play go in 1NT (or 3NT) by East? Well on the diamond lead, declarer probably ducks in both hands and wins the second diamond in dummy and plays a heart to the ten. South will win and clear the diamonds. East will win and percentage in clubs is to run the queen but this is covered, and another heart finesse to the jack wins. Now declarer will lead a club to the nine but North wins and declarer is held to nine tricks. Many lines looking through the back of the cards lead to ten or eleven tricks, but not reaching game was a poor score.

Grand Canyon by Foxymoron

 A void in partner's suit makes it very hard to bid a grand slam, and, as a hand on Tuesday last showed, not that easy to bid a small slam.

Robots have no real problem with this hand, as they play what are called "Soloway Jump Shifts" after the US World Champion Paul Soloway who sadly died of a heart attack in 2007. Few know that his uncle was "Bugsy" Siegel, who saved his life in a swimming pool accident when Paul was three.

The BBO Robot plays Soloway Strong Jump Shifts by an unpassed hand in uncontested auctions. A jump shift shows one of the following types of hands:

1. Strong rebiddable suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls (A=2, K=1), no side 4-card suit
2. Solid suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls, may have a side 4-card suit
   
3. Rebiddable suit, 18+ HCP, 4+ controls, 5332 or 6322 shape.
4. Rebiddable suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls, 4-card support for opener's suit.

And in case you forget, the Robot tells you what its bid means. And what your bids mean to it. But I digress.

South should open 1D, with a six-card suit and 11 points. Most responded 1H as North and South would probably rebid 2D. Now, at my table, my partner bid 3H which is non-forcing unfortunately and I put down the dummy. I sensed from the manner and tempo that it was probably intended as forcing, but both of those factors are what is known as "unauthorised information". So I decided to take my medicine, like  the swindler in Aesop's fable who produced fake medicine, and passed.

As North I think I would bid 6H on the second round. It is too difficult to find exactly where partner's values are to bid grand. The two that bid 6NT really were matchpoint maniacs, although they had 12 top tricks. How should the play go in 6H? Well, there are a few lines. Say East leads a passive trump. Now you can go hell for leather for 13, by cashing the three top spades throwing a club. You then cross to the king of clubs, throw a club on the ace of diamonds, cross to the ace of clubs and ruff a club. Return to North with a diamond ruff and claim.

The term "hell for leather" was first used in print in 1889 by Rudyard Kipling, specifically referring to riding a horse at breakneck speed. The leather in this case either refers to the leather in the saddle or the leather in the crop.

That line suffers badly if a top black winner gets ruffed, so the line  I prefer is to cross to the king of spades, play the ace of diamonds and ruff a diamond, cash the ace of spades, ruff the queen of spades, ruff a diamond and run the trumps squeezing West in the minors.

Finally a safe line is to draw trumps cash the king of spades, ace of diamonds and ruff a diamond, then cash the other top spades and trumps. Someone with the QJ of clubs and sole guard of diamonds will be squeezed. 

So three lines. One gung-ho and one belt and braces (or belt and suspenders for our US readers). Goldilocks would regard the third line as "just right", beating those in 6NT.