Bid Whist Throwdown 2 Commentary

Rules Primer

In Bid Whist, a 54 card deck is used, with the Big Joker and Little Joker added to a 52 card deck. Each player is dealt 12 cards, with 6 going to a kitty. Each person makes only one bid, ending with the dealer. Bids range from 4 to 7 on TV One (some rulebooks allow 3), signifying the number of books over six the partnership will win. Each trick is a book, and the six cards that the bidder discards form book 13. So a 5 bid means 11 books, or ten tricks.

There are three types of bids: Uptown, Downtown, and No trump. In Uptown, the trump suit runs Big Joker (bj), Little Joker (lj), Ace, King, ..., 2. Other suits are A, K, ..., 2. In Downtown, also called Low or Special, trump runs bj, lj, Ace, 2, 3, ..., King, and other suits run Ace to King. No Trump can be Uptown or Downtown, and jokers can never win a trick. The winning bidder announces the suit before looking at the kitty, and in no trump announces Uptown or Downtown before looking.

At each number, Uptown is the lowest level, then Downtown, then No Trump. So a 4 No Trump supercedes a 4 Special, and both are beaten by a 5. Scoring is a little different from the standard rules, or those for bridge:

• Making a trump contract: One point for each book over 6 won by the partnership. Overtricks count also, like Auction Bridge but not Contract Bridge.
• Making a trump contract: Two points for each book over 6.
• Setting the opponent: Two points, awarded to the setting team. This is unusual, in that most rulebooks subtract the amount of the bid from that team's score, but positive scoring is appropriate for this tourney. Scoring only 2 points, not the amount of the bid, will encourage more aggressive bidding.
• Odds: If a team sets the opponent, and scores more than six books, one bonus point per extra book.

The winning bidder makes the first lead. The dummy is not exposed. In today's tournament, the Rise and Fly tournament is eight rounds. The winning team of each hand stays on, while the losing team gets replaced. Therefore, there is additional value in winning beyond the points. There are three teams today: Sean and Vince, Garrett and Ella, and Dick and Tonya.

For each hand, I'll form a table with the players and their hands in bidding order, then the kitty. Aces appear as a, kings k, queens q, jacks j, tens t, and two through nine as the number. The bids appear next, with comments. Then comes the build and play. As you review the hands, it's important to remember that the top six cards are always the two jokers and the four aces. Those cash cards, plus length, form the basis of good bids.

Hand 1

Bid

Sean, 4 No: This is a pressure bid. It's not makeable, but he assumes someone will want to try a 5; at worst he cuts off an easy 4 for the other team. A bad bid, but not horrible.

Garrett, 5: And here's the someone making a worse bid. He only has four clear winners in hearts (LJ, A, Q, club K), so to need six more is a lot to ask from Ella plus the kitty.

Vince, 5 Special: Well, we now have three bids that keep getting worse. If this is a sacrifice, it's still a poor sacrifice - you might as well bid 7 Special, close the door, and give up the points. If it's a real bid, he should get some emergency coaching.

Ella, Pass: Right now, the three aces give her a set at close to 100 percent. The question is, take the basically guaranteed 2 points, or gamble with 5 No Special? She has at least 6 winners, probably 7, so the Kitty plus Garrett (probably with the remaining ace) would need 3. 5 No Special is worth 10 points. I think it's worth trying, and seeing all the cards, Ella makes Six No Special. Take kitty, go to C a D a249j H - S a23679. Run Spades (kitty+six = seven). A-2 diamonds (nine). Play Diamond 9, which loses to Vince. If club, win and run good diamonds. If heart, partner wins, returns club, and Ella then cashes the last good diamond. But taking the safe play early in the match is fine, and the only decent bid on this table.

What Vince does with the kitty is irrelevant, because he's dead.

Play (Vince-Sean 5 Special Spades)

Ella and William make 7: the four aces, plus 237 of spades, for odds and a bonus point. Nothing exciting or unusual here.

Hand 2

Bid

Garrett, 4: Standard aggressive bid, with three tricks and a voidable suit. This is pretty good.

Dick, 5: With two sure tricks, length, and a void, this hand could become two-suited. There are only five or six winners, which is low for me for a 5, but it's not horrible.

Ella, pass: The only decent play, though that doesn't stop other people.

Tonya, pass: With nowhere near enough to go downtown, she lets her partner roll.

The two clubs in the kitty help, making Anthony two-suited plus an ace: BJ, c aqj9542, d qj9, s a. He's got three potential losers, two clubs and one diamond. But losing more than one club is unlikely, so he's in decent shape.

Play (Dick-Tonya 5 clubs)

Dick draws trump, BJ - 7 - 3 - 8. He plays the Ace of Clubs next, which is wrong. He could have looked for ways to set a finesse, or played a slightly smaller trump and hoped. Anyway, Garrett wins, A - T - 6 - LJ. The King of clubs walks for Garrett, then he punts with the Heart 4. Dick does not cut, dropping the Diamond 9, but Tonya wins the trick with the Heart 9. Tonya returns the Heart Ace, which lets Dick drop his second diamond loser. But he still has a diamond he can't discard, and Ella knows enough to keep the diamond ace. One-trick set.

There is a makeable 5 bid - 5 Special. Go two suited: BJ, C a2459jq, S a278. Draw with BJ, then Ace. The LJ is a loser, but then there's just one remaining trump that can be drawn. Garrett's return is cut or won (if a spade), then the last trump is drawn. Next, a losing spade is led. Tonya will win it and cash the ace of hearts to remove the last potential loser, making 6. But even if someone else had the 3, as set up the long spade will be good. Nevertheless, there's almost no way to find this bid. I don't criticize Dick and Tonya heavily for their bid, or play.

Hand 3

Bid

Garrett, 4: Standard pressure bid. He can't make it but doesn't expect to.

Vince, pass: His last hand was a lot worse, but with none of the six cashable cards, this bid is likely correct.

Ella, pass: A long wait, but the pass is likely correct.

Sean, 5: Unlike Ella, this is not a 100% set; he's got only three winners. It's not a given. Although he has no strong suit, playing the bid is worth more points. It's not what I'd do, since he has no real suit, but it's not terrible.

The call is now important. I'd call hearts, myself, for length, because the ace of spades is good off suit. But Sean calls spades, which luckily helps him. He also gets an ace from the kitty, but no spades. Given that call, I would choose bj lj c aq8 d - h qj964 s at, but he chooses bj lj c aq8 d 97 h qj9 s at. That 9 of diamonds can't win a trick, but the second club trick is protected, and the fifth heart might go long with partner help.

Play (Sean-Vince 5 spades)

Sean wins the three trumps. Ella makes the standard increasing discards. Here's where the lack of signaling in bid whist hurts. If Vince and Sean had a signal, the card sequence could indicate that he has the last three trumps, via a high-low or reversed play sequence. But he doesn't know. Sean moves to Club 8, followed by 2 - K - J. That was good.
At this point it's winnable with signaling. Return a club which wins with the Q. Run the Ace, with Vince signaling high that he has some left. Sean then sends back the spade Ten, which is overtaken by the Queen. Vince can run the two remaining clubs, then the spades, losing only a diamond. Instead, Vince plays the Spade K, which destroys the possible entry. The trumps are run, then clubs are tossed back. The Ace-Queen of clubs gets to 9 tricks, 10 books. The remaining clubs in Vince's hand are good, but Sean can't get there, and Ella and Garrett win three red tricks. The end.

Proper play with signaling makes 6 for Sean and Vince. If Sean had gone hearts, as I would have, he would be at bj lj c aq8 d - h qj9642 s a. There are ways to make 5, losing just two trump tricks, since the 8 of clubs is covered by the king in Vince's hand.

Hand 4

Bid

Dick, pass: He has no other reasonable option.

Ella, 4: She chats to indicate this is a mess, which is true, and is basically there to cut off Tonya. It's extremely marginal.

Tonya, 4 no (special): With multiple aces and deuces, a bid is obvious, but should it be special or notrump? She has no length in any suit, which leans toward notrump. Plus, notrump lets her run any length from the kitty without guessing a trump suit. She can try clubs or diamonds. Finally, a made notrump bid is worth double points, giving them the lead. On the other hand, going notrump gives up a winner, reducing her hand from 6 to 5 tricks. If it wasn't for double points, special is the right call. Seeing the kitty, Tonya makes 4 special if she calls diamonds, her better call, but not clubs. Of course, the kitty isn't face up when she decides. With the extra points, I can understand notrump, though it's not what I would do.

Garrett, pass: There's no 5 bid anywhere near his hand.

Tonya makes the likely build for no trump downtown, c a27j d a269tq h 27 s -. Playing open dummy as in bridge, this is laydown, with 6 obvious diamonds, 3 clubs, and the spade ace, plus the long club. Properly played, they even get 6, not 4.

Play (Tonya-Dick 4 no trump special)

Tonya starts with the Diamond ace and deuce. "Tonya is an aggressive player". She follows with the club ace, then deuce. The Club 7 gets tossed down, Dick wins. The 4 of diamonds wins, but there are no entries left to the long diamonds and club in Tonya's hand. This is the problem with just taking winners; a team needs entries. With three losers available, they needed to be patient and look for their entries, particularly Tonya. A good play by Dick: Spade K, 3, diamond, T. A commentator says "It's critical not to let the other team get the lead." Well, NO. Not if you have suits stopped. With stoppers, one should try to finesse or dump losers. Dick and Tonya did, and should have let go earlier. Ella goes Spade 6 - Heart 7 (!) - 2 - A. Tonya just lost the game, because now hearts isn't stopped. Dick, lost, goes Heart 9 - K - 2 - A. The 3 of hearts wins for Garrett. If he was counting, he'd know the 4 of spades wins, but he doesn't, so the 6 of hearts loses to the 4. Don't matter, though, since Dick's got the 9 of spades left, and the 4 is still good.

Ella and Garrett dance. I guess they're happy, since they set, even though Garrett made a mistake. Fortunately it didn't hurt. One of the hard things for me to learn about bridge is that it's mostly a game about the play, not the bid. At least for me, it's easy to bid decently, but much harder to make the finesses with trick timing. I had a conversation with a bridge player about bid whist; he thought it less appealing, because it was less scientific with the single bid, kitty, and closed hands. He's right; it is less scientific and more random, particularly not seeing dummy. Still, one can send simple signals, and think about trick plans, which these players are not. I wonder if top tier players do?

We're halfway through Rise and Fly. Ella and Garrett have 9 points, the other two teams zero. It's interested to see that in all four cases, there has been a makeable bid. Even more, it's been at least 5. None have been made; one time Ella took the guaranteed points, and once it was extremely difficult to find, but two times it's been missed by poor play. Also, the commentators have been extremely poor. They've been very aggressive in their suggested bids, and their play suggestions have been incorrect at times, like that above. I should note that in Round 3 of Bid Whist, which aired recently, the commentary had improved greatly, which was nice to hear.

Hand 5

Bid

Ella, 5 downtown: Making a bid is obvious, as is direction. She's got six tricks in hand. Counting the kitty for one means she'd need three between Garrett and development. I think the standard expectation is for two, so she's gambling for one extra trick. Given that she's bidding first, and a 4 downtown will likely get overcalled, I'm OK with this.

Sean, pass: He's not insane.

Garrett, pass: Not insane either, he sees he's got two and maybe three tricks for Ella, and overcalling isn't better.

Vince, pass: "I'm passing because she went high." No, because you have no bid.

Ella does a cute little bit with the strategy cam. She mistakenly does not protect the deuce of hearts, choosing instead to try another spade. She keeps lj c a26tj d - h 2 s a348t. She's got three clear losers now, with two more possibles, and reducing the clear losers to two would have been worth it even without seeing the play.

Play (Ella-Garrett 5 special clubs)

Little Joker fishes and gets K, 8, 3, letting it slide. Undeterred Ella goes A, Q, 7, Big Joker. Vince leads his ace, but Ella cuts it with the club jack. Ella then pulls trump again with the 2, 9, 5, heart king, leaving one outstanding. Ella wants to know and tries the 6, getting her loser to Sean out of the way. Sean leads a heart, the 4, which Garrett surprisingly covers with just the 3. This is a smart play. If Vince has the deuce it's over. But, to be honest the odds of a singleton deuce are small. A Vince doubleton deuce loses anyway, just slower. This signal shows that he has the ace, plus protects against a Sean deuce. Of course, Ella has the deuce, a singleton. She knows Garrett has a winner, two in fact, but she has no entry. If she had kept the entry, she could win book #5, walk the spade ace, then return the heart 6, which gets overtaken by the 5. The ace walks, and counting cards reveals the last two hearts are good. That, plus the diamonds, means she wins.

Instead, she puts up the spade ace. Sean makes a play of catastrophic stupidity, dropping his deuce instead of the six. The Q and 9 follow. Sean wants to work blue but releases he's on digital cable. The spade 3 and 4 follow. Furthermore, Vince had discarded spades earlier, and all he's got are diamonds for the spade 8. Hello, club ten. Hello, final spade. Hello, made bid. I don't know Sean and Vince. Maybe they're great guys that take care of their families, work in soup kitchens, and give inspirational talks. But as bid whist players, they're not doing well.

Hand 6

Bid

Tonya, pass: With just four tricks, even though all are quick tricks, this is a pass. Two aces lead to good set possibilities.

Garrett, 5: He's got about seven tricks that he can see, in either hearts or no trump. He might have thought about no trump, which turns out to make 4, but that's a tougher game. A regular 4 likely gets overcalled, so can choose 4 no or 5. It is reasonable to expect one from the kitty and two from partner, so 5 is not so bad. He would make it, with three trump tricks from the kitty but none from Ella. The LJ loses to the BJ, and the diamond king is a loser, but there are 8 trump and 2 spade tricks.

Dick, 5 low (Spades): I want what he's smoking. The only possible defense is playing time and score. They know they have 3 hands to make 15 points. Getting 2 points on a set puts them on the table against the worst team, but still needing 13 points in two hands. They have to gamble at least once, but that hand is not the right gamble.

Ella, pass: Ella is no dummy, and at this point appears best of the six players.

Dick goes two suited, which makes some sense. Diamonds are 578tjq. Spades are BJ LJ 2679. Again, I'd like him to keep a protected spade winner. There are too many diamond losers, though, and things look bleak.

Play (Dick-Tonya 5 Special Spades)

Using brief format, we begin: BJ, Q, T, K. LJ, J, 8, A. 2, 4 (nice trick by Ella), 3, diamond K by Garrett. Garrett misplays here - it should be the Spade King or Heart Queen, as the diamond K might protect the 4. Dick punts with Diamond Jack, followed by 3, A, 6. Tonya goes club A, heart Q, diamond Q, club ten. An observant reader will notice that Garrett actually had a club. He is observant. "That was ace of clubs." "Yeah." "I f***ed up." "Oh, you reneged?" "I f***ed up." TV One plays a strict rule. The online sources I saw generally just transferred three tricks. Here, it's game over. Without the renege, Dick and Tonya actually make 5, losing just one spade and one diamond, because Garrett threw away the protection for the four. Not a good hand for him.

Garrett and Ella leave the table for the first time. One of the really cool parts about Bid Whist Throwdown is the Kitchen. Each of the competitors takes the time to chat, and describe their charity. But they also talk about what kind of food they like, and what they brought. Yes, each person brought a dish to the potluck, and talks about the food. It's quite surreal. This doesn't happen in bridge.

Hand 7

Bid

Vince, 4 low: At this point, I'm not sure he understands the rules of the game. There's no other way I can explain this.

Dick, pass: Without either joker, it's not enough.

Sean, 5 low: Finishing first is the only thing that matters. The problem here is that they need 15 points from two hands. Even if this bid makes, they'll need a no trump bid on the last hand. If he's truly thinking about score, and locking Tonya out, this bid is marginally acceptable, though 4 no trump special might be better. I don't think he was thinking about that, though.

Tonya, pass: She can't go 5 no with two open suits. She can't go 6 with a known loser. So she has to pass.

The kitty is sported and Tonya's likely kicking herself. Dick and Tonya had a no trump Boston, actually - 2 clubs, 5 diamonds, 2 hearts, 3 spades. You need to see all the cards for that, though. It's unfortunate, because in this hand "good" unaggressive play does not get rewarded. Sean goes two suited, with bj c 34678j h a356k. But he needs help.

Play (Sean-Vince 5 special Clubs)

BJ fishes, but gets K, Q, 5. Tonya flashes the LJ, which is logical, and Sean dumps the club jack. LJ, 2, spade Q. Sean tries to take the book, and almost succeeds. The club A follows, after a bit, then heart J, diamond K, club 8. The spade J is punted, 3, A, and Tonya starts woofing but gets cut with the 7. Any club works. The club 3 then gets club T, heart Q, diamond Q. The club 4 draws the 9, heart 7, spade 9. The club 6 runs out diamond J, spade 7, heart T. Out of clubs now, Sean has to play a heart. He should play the ace and hope the 2 drops, but he doesn't. K, diamond 9, heart 4, and Dick sets him with the deuce. Actually, he should have counted trumps and not led the club 6, instead saving it for a possible trump if his partner wins a heart and has to return something else. It doesn't work here, but becoming a good player is a process of making the optimal play all the time, so you do it when it does affect the hand.

At this point, Tonya and Dick have 7 points, 7 behind Ella and Garrett. Vince and Sean are locked in third place, scoreless, and the sudden death match. Leaving aside a set plus five odds, Dick and Tonya must make a no trump bid to vault to first place. Any other outcome means Ella and Garrett go through. This should strongly affect the bidding on Hand 8.

Hand 8

Bid

Dick, pass: A good bid. A good play would be to bid 4 for a good uptown hand, and 4 special for a downtown hand, and pass an even hand like this. Tonya must make the no trump bid, so give her information.

Ella, 4: If it's a signal, using signal rules, it's fine. Otherwise, the only worthwhile bids are pass, 7, 7 special, or 7 no trump. 7 No Trump slams the door immediately; the 7 and 7 special bids are safer because of a trump, but leave things open a crack. Yes, it's not fair play. But it's not against the rules, and it wins the tournament.

Tonya, 4 no (special): She screamed at Dick, "We had a whole strategy set up!" so what I thought was happening really doesn't. Garrett commented that they might be being set up, but he's got last bid to see what to do. Given that Garrett is confused, this is a perfect bid. It does the job at minimum cost.

Garrett, pass: "Alright, go ahead, let's see if you can do this." That's very gentlemanly. It's also very stupid, if Garrett's trying to finish first and avoid the play-in. After misplaying Hand 6, I'm going to be charitable and say he's on tilt. Perhaps.

Tonya goes three-suited: c A348K d 238 h - s 3567. With five losers in her suits, plus no hearts, she needs a lot of help, and her partner's pass doesn't promise much. On the other hand, she's trying to win the game, which makes this an excellent play.

Play (Tonya - Dick 4 no special)

A misplay to start, with the club 8. Covered by the 5, then the jack, Ella keeps the deuce in hand. The commentators call it a good move, because the defense doesn't know what's up. It's really not; making a bad move just to make one doesn't help anything. Garrett runs the Spade ace to the T, K, 7. The deuce of hearts, for some reason, is then led. It works here, to the Q, K, and Spade 6. This should signal something, and Garrett realizes this, so he leads the heart 3, to the 4, 9, and Spade 5. And that is set book. The rest of the tricks don't matter, though I don't think Ella and Garrett make odds. In the postmortem, Tonya announces their strategy, which is excellent. In cards, sometimes the right play fails, but it still needs to be made.

Ella and Garrett win the round robin with 16 points. Tonya and Dick have 7, while Sean and Vince scored none. In my opinion, the two men are clearly the weakest team. Ella and Garrett played a little better than the other mixed pair, but Garrett slipped in later rounds, and maybe Tonya's excellent play will carry the day. First, though, Tonya and Dick have to win the sudden death match.

Sudden Death

Bid

Sean, 5 no (downtown): I'd like to understand this bid, but I can't. A 4 or a 4 no are challenging but might be defensible, since he's hoping for help and has four no trump tricks. But to only lose two tricks, when he hasn't heard from partner and he has two suits unstopped, is horrible.

Tonya, pass: Sanely.

Vince, pass: Although he might want to throttle Sean right now.

Dick, pass: Sanely as well.

After the call of downtown, the wrong call, is made, Tonya says "I admire your moxie." She's likely thinking, "We're through!" Honestly, I can't find a single bid that makes anywhere, so this was a contest to see who would bid least stupidly. Sean lost. He may be a soldier, and builds a good set with c 3 d 2 h a36jq s a456k. But right now he's at the Alamo, and not on the outside.

Play (Sean - Vince 5 no trump special)

Heart Ace, 9, K, 5. Heart Q goes to 2, T, 4. Sean: "Oh hell what am I thinking?" It's a little late for that. He has to hope he can find help quickly in both long suits, so that wasn't a bad play. Tonya leads the diamond Ace, followed by K, J, 2. Tonya finishes it mercifully with the diamond 3. It's over. The hosts mercifully step in.

Championship Game 1

Bid

Tonya, 4 special: This is overly aggressive, but bidding first one often signals, and it's not too bad.

Garrett, 5: A very reasonable bid, because with only two suits stopped 4 notrump is sort of dangerous. Not having either joker would make me nervous, though, and I'd rather play without them and hope my suit runs.

Dick, 5 special (Diamonds): A mistake, taking Tonya's bid as stronger than it is. He has trouble either way. "You know you can't make it, you just don't want to let me in."

Ella, pass: "I'm going to let you have your 5 downtown." This is unfortunate, because Ella and Garrett have a fairly easy Boston in no-trump. With the kitty, they have the top 3 clubs, one diamond, 6 hearts, and 3 spades. If Garrett would have bid 4 no trump, Ella may have been able to come with 5 no trump and win it. Here, Ella passes because she feels she'll set them. When just games matter, this is still a good choice, but I'd rather see a Boston.

The kitty helps enough for Dick to go two suited: lj c - d 37jqk h - s 347jqk. It's not bad, though he'll have to play well and hope.

Play (Dick - Tonya 5 special diamonds)

The little joker comes first, which is a dangerous play. It works, as he gets diamond 8 - 9 - T. He punts with the Jack, Ella does well to cover with just the 5, and Tonya plays safe and takes the trick. In bridge, Dick probably plays the finesse here, and makes it. Here, he can't. That's one of the things that makes bid whist more difficult, the lack of information. It's a different game, more about communication and probability, less about the individual puzzle.
Tonya returns the deuce, which gets eaten by the Ace. Dick now has the only three trumps left, and hopefully he knows just to cut with them. Ella plays the club deuce, interestingly, to the Jack, 6, and trump. The spade 3 then comes through. Ella properly picks it up with the Ace, returning a club that gets cut again. Dick leads the Spade 9, to the K, 2, and a heart. Tonya brilliantly returns the 6, to a heart, 4, and 8. The rest of the tricks run, and Tonya and Dick are up 1-0. The bidding team played well here. It's also interesting that in some of these hands, there wasn't any bid that could be made. Here, both sides could make a 5 bid.

Championship Game 2

Bid

Garrett, pass: Down 1-0, this is a solid conservative bid.

Dick, 5: This is not. He is unlikely to be able to two-suit, and has only two guaranteed winners. He should much rather hope Ella bids anything suited, and set her, or help Tonya.

Ella, 5 no: She's hurting, because she just saw an equivalent hand not take a set. This is gutsy, with just four sure tricks and probably six total. It's not horrid, but those three hearts scare me.

Tonya, 6: Does she realize she can just try to set someone to win the match? From her response, I don't think so.

Ella would have had at least 6 no, by running the 9 spades and two aces. They again have Boston if she knows enough to keep a heart. Instead, Tonya shutters at the kitty, and can't even clear a suit: c kt d qj8653 h kt9 s 2. She has no aces, none of the top four trump, and things look bleak.

Play (Tonya - Dick 6 diamonds)

Ella takes the spade 2 punt with a spade Ace. Tonya cuts the spade return, then draws trump for three rounds. She then walks a bit. Dick eventually wins a trick with the ten, and leads the queen of hearts, to the 4, ten, and ... Jack? Garrett hangs his head in shame, as he should. Dick then tries the Club Queen, and blessedly Ella is not stupid enough to forget her ace. Set book.

Now, there's just one game left, which makes the results very dependent on the deal. Tonya and Dick have played a little better, overall, but we shall see.

Championship Game 3

Bid

Dick, pass: Good.

Ella, 4: Probably 4 no trump was better here; without either joker, and an outside stopper, running the suit is more likely. In Bid Whist, the bidder makes the opening lead. With the Ace in the Kitty, she makes 4 no trump through the diamonds and hearts.

Tonya, 5: This is a tough call. If Tonya knew 4 would be the final bid, she could stop and go for the set. But Garrett's behind her, and 4 no trump could be devastating. Given her aggressiveness, and six known tricks in clubs, likely seven, this is very winnable.

Garrett, pass: He's got no other play, as 5 downtown or no trump are just suicidal. Unlike his play, his bidding has not been poor.

The commentator says the kitty has little to offer, which is incorrect. The diamond ace is good, and the club 6 will likely cut or run. Tonya's got an excellent hand: bj lj c akq63 d a h a986 s -. I see nine tricks for her, ten books, so she needs one from her partner.

Play (Tonya - Dick 5 clubs)

Tonya starts with the ace of diamonds, which is a mistake. Yes, it makes her two-suited, but in the unlikely but possible event an opponent is void in diamonds, she loses a winner. Drawing trumps is the optimal strategy here. Nothing bad happens, but one should still endeavor for correct play. Tonya then takes three rounds to draw trump. Good signaling would have helped here, making her sure, but she is not. She runs to the Ace of hearts, which runs. Her next comment, "If I play one thing wrong, it's over", indicates she doesn't know. If she knew Dick had the remaining trump, the proper play is to lead another heart, hoping to use it later. The club 6 is a transfer if she knows, true. But she didn't know. Dick tries the spade Q, which gets Aced, then cut. Tonya thinks she can't win, but she can. Yes, Garrett wins the heart 8 with the King, and returns the Queen, which also wins. But that's just two. I don't know if Garrett has counted, but his remaining heart is not good. So he goes with the seemingly good Spade King. Tonya must cut that, then runs her last club. She then flings the heart 9 onto the table. She's shocked that it's good, but I'm not. It ends not with a bang, but a whimper.

Tonya and Dick win the tournament, and the majority of the money. Overall, they played best, so it's a fitting end. I want to thank TV One for broadcasting the show. Yes, I know it wasn't just for me, but it was really interesting to think about a new game. In searching about the game, I found very few resources and sample hands. I hope that these transcribed hands provide assistance for players. Having just watched a few television hands, I claim no brilliance, but I can provide some commentary on errors I witnessed. Now, game on!

The show first aired in November 2005. This page was transcribed in January - February 2006.