Parrish the Thought Newsletter
December 2024
Greetings from Las Vegas! It’s Day 3 of the Nationals. I’m playing with Greg, so I’m a happy camper. Looking forward to the rest of the week. I gave my lecture yesterday on Being a Good Partner — one everyone should hear!
I’ll be here through Sunday, then I’m taking a red-eye home, so I can see a special one-night-only 20th anniversary performance of South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater. Then it’s off to Punta Cana for a vacation with my sister. And then it’ll be Christmas! I’m going to Salt Lake City after Christmas to visit friends. And then to Hawaii for the regional in January. Lots of travel this winter!
It’s been a crazy November in New York. It finally rained last week, but we had a drought for a while. There were fires in the park near me. All the underbrush is gone, replaced by a layer of ash. I could smell the fire when I walked there.
I’ve seen a lot of great shows this month. The highlight was Ragtime at New York City Center. It was an amazing production of a very timely show. I hope it transfers to Broadway. I also heard Beethoven’s 7th symphony again at Carnegie Hall. One of my favorite pieces of music!
I have a cool new project that I’m starting up in January. I’m calling it “Leveling Up.” I want to see what a really dedicated bridge training regimen would look like, and how much better someone at my level can get through concerted effort. I will be chronicling my progress here on my Substack. I’ll be posting weekly logs of how things are coming along, notes and insights from books I’m reading, and new ideas I have about how best to design a bridge training program. I’ll also be posting videos of fun hands, both here and on Instagram and Facebook. (Maybe TikTok, too, if one of my Gen Z friends can explain it to me. And it still exists.) I’m going to be doing some serious partnership training with Greg, too. We’ll be streaming some of our practice sessions on Twitch.
I’m going to be updating my website and moving my subscriber newsletter over here to Substack as well. Paid subscribers will get my weekly newsletter and video, plus exclusive content from my Leveling Up program. I’ll have some new videos and courses up on my website soon. (Fingers crossed!) Use the button below if you’re interested in a paid subscription. Current subscribers, I’ll be reaching out to you about the transition to the new platform.
I really appreciate having you all as part of the community. I think this project is going to be really informative for players at all levels. It takes more than just playing and reading to get better at anything. I’ve never seen anyone do an intensive training program like this. I’m really excited to see how it goes.
I’ll be sending out the first posts on this project this month. This monthly newsletter is a separate section of my Substack, so you can choose not to subscribe to the emails in the Leveling Up project. But I think you’re really going to enjoy it and get a lot out of it.
I want to build up our community, so please tell your friends!
My Monday "Expert Thought Process" and Thursday "Thinking Through Declarer Play" classes are not meeting live this week while I’m at the Nationals. See you next week! You can get information about both classes here: https://learnbridgeonline.com/adam-parrish/
Upcoming topics in my Monday class are (schedule always subject to change if things take extra time):
December 2 Robot Tournament (Recorded)
December 9 Defense
December 16 Declarer Play
December 23 Advanced Slam Practice
December 30 Fun with Greg!
If you have topics you'd like to see me cover in the Monday class or hands that you think would be interesting, please send them along. You can send me an email (adam@adamparrishbridge.com).
I hope you're all well and playing lots of bridge! As always, feel free to email me with questions. Speaking of questions...
This is a common question about responding to a strong 2♣ opener
Hi, Adam,
♠ KQ863 ♥ 76 ♦ T4 ♣ 8742
Pard is the dealer and opens 2♣. Is this a 2♦ (positive) response (we play the 2♥ Bust), or a 2♠ (positive) response, or do you need a little more than this for the 2♠ response – like say, at least another queen somewhere?
Partner has a plan when they open 2♣, and I don't want to get in the way, so I avoid responding anything other than 2♦ unless I absolutely have to. When I have 5 spades, partner usually has either a) hearts, and I have just forced them a level higher to introduce their suit, or b) the balanced hand, and now I've wrong-sided things (I could have transferred). Which auction is easier? 2♣ - 2♦, 2♥ - 2♠ or 2♣ - 2♠, 3♥? We’ve basically wasted an entire level of bidding.
Either way, this hand is not strong enough to show the spades. When I was a beginner, the rule I learned was “At least 2 of the top 3 honors and 8 HCP.” So even to meet that standard you'd need at least a king more. But again, I basically never do it with spades, unless I have a very unbalanced hand (at least 5-5) that I think needs to start describing.
It's worth pointing out that things change a bit if my suit is hearts, since partner might be bidding spades, and now I actually save room by introducing my suit at the 2-level instead of the 3-level. 2♣-2♦, 2♠-3♥ vs. 2♣-2♥, 2♠. There's still the risk of wrong-siding if partner has the 2NT rebid (which is the most common hand type when opening 2♣). Since we both use 2♥ as an artificial bust, that's moot.
The other time that I would bid my suit is when the opponents enter the auction over 2♣ — say they doubled or bid 2♦. When they interfere over 2♣, Pass is Positive and Double/Redouble is Negative. But when you have a suit to show, you want to start describing before they start preempting.
Adam
This is a common misconception about the “Balancing 1NT”
Dear Adam,
When you are in the passout seat, what range would you use to open 1 notrump with a balanced hand?
The range for a 1NT opening doesn't change in the balancing seat – it’s still 15-17.
It's the range for a 1NT overcall that goes down to 11-15, e.g., 1♣ P P 1NT would be 11-15. 2NT would be 19-21 — no Unusual 2NT in the balancing seat. Double and then bidding NT shows the in-between range — about 16-18.
Adam
This is a common question about Support Doubles
Dear Adam,
If the bidding goes:
1♦ - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♥ ...
Is a double now by opener now still a Support Double to show 3-card support, and a direct raise to 2♠ shows 4-card support?
You know that responder has 5 spades, because with only 4 they'd have made a Negative Double, so it's "safe" to raise with only 3. But I have it in my head that I learned somewhere that when advancer bids, opener can still use double to distinguish between a 3- and 4-card fit. I think this could be useful, as that 9th trump is very valuable, and what else would you want the double for (unlikely to be penalty, and if 3 suits have been bid you don't need it for takeout...).
Am I nuts? If I am, then what would this double by opener mean?
You’re not nuts – it's still a Support Dbl. As you said, it’s very useful to differentiate 3- and 4-card raises, even when there's a known fit. And there’s not a lot of other uses for the double.
Adam
That's all for now. I encourage you to send me questions about my column or anything else at adam@adamparrishbridge.com. Maybe they'll end up in the next newsletter!
On the question regarding the two club opener, is responder's hand not a bust?