“A Man for All Doubles”

By Anne Bank

1. When did you begin playing bridge and how were you introduced to the game?

—à I began playing bridge during my sophomore year at Haverford College near Philadelphia. Unsurprisingly, I hung out with a rather nerdy set, so we spent lots of our free time playing games.

At first, bridge was just one of them, but my good friend Alex Werner and I decided to take it more seriously and write out some fairly extensive system notes. Then, we started playing in a good weekly evening game near Swarthmore.

2. Please give us a brief introduction. Who is Jordan Chodorow?

—à I graduated from Stanford Law in 1997 and returned to my hometown of L.A. I practiced labor and employment law for three years and have practiced tax law in Westwood for the last dozen years.

Outside of the office, I’m a huge movie buff. I saw well over two hundred last year. I used to be a film critic and still post online reviews of everything I see.

I’m a big Clippers and Kings fan and love to go to games or watch them from home. My favorite sport, though, is tennis. I was a tennis umpire in a former life and had the privilege of sharing the court with the likes of Sampras, Agassi, and the Williams sisters.

These days, I get my exercise from my elliptical machine, which I try to use at least an hour or two each day.

Besides bridge, my other competitive hobby is crossword puzzles. I’m the back-to-back defending champion of both the L.A. and Bay Area tournaments.

My favorite activity of all, though, is spending time with my boyfriend of five years, Daniel. We love traveling and attending concerts and theater.

3. You are giving a two part lecture series at our club on Doubles. Why did you choose that subject?

—à You can tell players from pushers by whether they know what they’re doing with the red card – and most people don’t.

4. How do you prepare for a bridge game/tournament?

—à It’s important to go over your card and system each time you play, both beforehand and after. When misunderstandings occur, clarify and hone your agreements. Put them in writing.

Don’t eat a heavy meal, drink booze or discuss hands at length between sessions. Far better to spend the time between sessions working out and the evenings getting plenty of rest. Physical condition translates into mental acuity and stamina.

Make a concerted effort to redouble your concentration during the first and last rounds of a session. Getting off to a bad start can put you in a losing frame of mind, and countless events are won and lost on the last round.

That’s what happened in the North American Pairs B in Philly in 2003, when Harvey Katz and I drew the then-leaders on the last round. All I said to Harvey was, “Big finish.” We outplayed them badly in the round and won going away.

5. What is your process of keeping and growing the calibar of your bridge game?

—à Read. Read everything. I read Mike Lawrence’s site, Bridge Clues, every day, and the Bulletin and the Bridge World every month – cover to cover. You could feast for months on the treasure trove of information and analysis at the Bridge Winners website. Get on Larry Cohen’s free e-mail list. He sends out a bunch of great stuff every month. You must read. You will never ever get to the next level just by playing. Also, I provide vugraph voice commentary on Bridge Base Online, and I always learn something from a session, whether it’s a useful treatment or a card play technique or simply how a disaster can happen. I also play online with top players for whom I have great respect and who do not sugarcoat anything. We all make myriad mistakes at bridge. You must lose your ego and view every mistake as a learning opportunity. When I got one hand very right, one of those top players was kind enough to submit it to Phil Alder, who wrote it up in the New York Times bridge column. I also occasionally take on select students, and I find that presenting concepts to them – even organizing concepts for these lectures – helps to crystallize them for me.

6. What is the draw that bridge has for you?

—à Partnership. There’s no better feeling than a great auction in which partner and I communicate everything we want to say and achieve the optimal result, or a beautiful defense in which we each send the right signals and draw the right inferences.

7. Please share some important bridge tips that our readers would benefit by.

—à I’ve done that in my previous lectures, 10 Little Tricks That Will Improve Your Game (Immediately!) and 10 More Little Tricks That Will Improve Your Game (Immediately!). Some of my favorites: Invite conservatively, accept aggressively – that way you either play 1NT/2M or 3NT/4M. Let those who invite aggressively and accept conservatively (most people) play 2NT and 3M – contracts with lots of extra risk and no extra reward. If you’ve been debating for five seconds whether to accept an invitation, you should have accepted it three seconds ago. Make your signals as clear as possible for partner without sacrificing a card that may be useful in the card play. Don’t be a busy defender, except against very high contracts. The defense usually kicks at least one trick every time it breaks a new suit. That’s just a sampling. There are thousands more.

Jordan, would you be willing to post a few double’s problems and then post answers as a follow up.

1.) True or false: It is never right to make a penalty double if you know the opponents will make their contract with overtricks.

2.) Partner opens 2H. RHO overcalls 2S. You double. What does your double show?

3.) Partner opens 1NT. RHO doubles, showing an unspecified single-suiter. You pass, and LHO bids a “forced” 2C. Partner passes and RHO bids 2S, showing that his suit is spades. You double. What does your double show?

4.) Which of the following is an acceptable takeout double of 1C if you and partner agree to play “minimum off-shape takeout doubles”? A: xx / KQJx / AQTx / xxx or B: KQx / ATxx / Ax / xxxx?

5.) Partner opens 1C. RHO overcalls 1S. You double. How many hearts do you show?

Answers:

1.) False. I opened my first “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble” lecture with a hand where partner at favorable vulnerability opens 4H, RHO overcalls 4S, and we hold five hearts to the queen and out. The right call is a stripe-tailed ape double! Even if they make the contract with three overtricks, we will only be minus 1390. If they bid even a small slam, we will be minus 1430. You’ll spend your lifetime playing bridge. Spend a week learning the numbers on the backs of the bidding cards.

2.) Penalty! Once partner has made a weak-2 or a preempt, he’s finished bidding! You can force him to describe further, for example if 2NT asks for Ogust or Feature responses. But there’s no such thing as a double asking the preemptor to describe his hand further.

3.) Light takeout. You show about 5 or 6 HCP and shortness in spades – enough to compete but not enough to claim outright ownership of the hand. If you had 7+ HCP, you would redouble RHO’s double, saying “It’s our hand,” after which any subsequent double by your side would be penalty.

4.) B. If you double with A, you have no acceptable continuation over partner’s 1S response (if you’re lucky enough not to have a partner who jumps in spades!). To double with B is acceptable to show opening values if you agree to play minimum off-shape takeout doubles.

5.) Four or more. You could easily have five or six without the values (10+ HCP) for a free bid of 2H. If you have the long heart hand, you’ll show it by continuing with 2H over partner’s rebid.

1. My bidding structure is good
2. Playing the hand
3. My defense has gotten better in the last year or two
4. Firm signaling agreements with partners

6. What is it like being married to a bridge player? How did you make it part of your life and have there been any difficulties? Do you have any advice for couples who play together?

As told to Anne Bank
February 2012

Toby was one of the first people I met at the Beverly Hills Bridge Club. She was always pleasant and made my bridge partner and I welcome from the beginning. She had a dry sense of humor, expertise in many areas and was willing to play with anyone. She never let you down as a partner; she had a great deal of “finesse.”

This was the first interview I did on behalf of the bridge club which will turn into a series of interviews. Unfortunately, there was so much more to learn about Toby but she was taken from us too soon.

Here is a bit of her story she shared with me:

Toby did not play bridge with her son, Guy. She said he was too good for her but they did go over bridge hands together. Toby lived in Hawaii and Lithuania. She traveled the world since 1985 and taught in many different countries including England and the Baltics. She had a Ph.D, MFT, and was very interested in AIDS research and medical innovations in that field.

What made you take up bridge?
My son Guy was 13 and I drove him for bridge lessons. They were free; he got good and I got adequate.

What made you continue playing bridge?
I played at the Westwood Bridge Club and started reading some research on bridge. I read that bridge players have a stronger immune system and live longer. I found bridge to be an interesting game; there are so many possibilities to the hands to think through and good communication with your partner is essential.

What makes a good bridge partner?
You partner knows various systems and uses them correctly and most importantly enjoys the game.

Any suggestions for improving your game?
Read more, study more, do the bridge column.

Any last words to our bridge players?
Stay away from people that bother you. Keep learning in all areas. I hope humanity will be kind to other people.

WE MISS YOU TOBY!