Ishmael Del'Monte - Part 1

Article series — Ishmael Del'Monte

This is part of the series on Ishmael Del'Monte. One of the very best players in the world. He tragically passed away last year.

This article covers the 2022 Soloway Knockout Teams, Phoenix: quarter final, Cope v Cayne, quarters 1 and 3.

Ish was a giant of Bridge, one of the very best players the bridge world has seen.

This is a look at the last US national Ish would ever win, the Soloway 2022 Knockout Teams. Going through some of these hands gives a glimpse into his style. He was dynamic and hard to figure out, he would consistently find ways to get to good contracts, or pressure the opponents into bad ones.

Cope (Simon Cope, Kevin Rosenberg, Finn Kolesnik, Ishmael Del'Monte) against Cayne (Bob Drijver, Bart Nab, Danny Molenaar, Tim Verbeek; Patricia Cayne npc). Cope won 167-130.

Features of when to do more

1. Competitive auctions where the opponents have the majority of the points
2. Early on in the auction, before both opponents have bid, or at least before 1 of them has bid. Opening the bidding was a time, especially NV, where Ish liked to bid more.
3. Not vulnerable
4. When fits or big fits were possible, Ish would see more upside in bidding.

Features of when to do less

1. He has the majority of points - he did not like overbidding and going down.
2. Competing with not many points vulnerable - the time to be sensible.
3. When he thought his hand was more suitable for defending and therefore would get a better score from defending rather than declaring

Ish was keen to open the bidding NV, especially when the opponents were vulnerable (referred to as favourable vulnerability). Here with 12 points opposite an "opening hand" Ish did not want to get too high, so he started off with a non forcing 1NT. He did not want to game force opposite partner's 10 or 11 point opening hand, and get a minus score with a combined 22-23 points.

There is a nice bid available I've talked about before (The unusual 2♠ bid · practice it: Better Rebid Fundamentals (2)).

Ish bid 2♠ - this is a somewhat common idea - since he has denied Spades already, his 2♠ is artificial - it shows a maximum raise in clubs - stronger than just bidding 3♣ which can be done on a lesser hand.

Going positive again

With the big club fit its easy to get carried away. Ish saw a bad hand here. Once he showed a cue raise with his 2♠ bid, he was very happy to not go higher than 3♣. Don't get carried away with 11 points opposite an opening hand

Going positive - slow to slam

Don't overbid slam on boring flat hands

On this bidding Ish knew his partner had 18-19 points, that was their particular system for this event (not standard or recommended necessarily). Should he bid on?

Ish bid 4♥.

Ish took the view that he has already invited slam, and he is giving his partner leeway to decide whether his hand is good or bad. Putting his faith in fundamental bidding ideas - if you can show your hand, do it, and then leave the decision to partner.

Generally when you have two balanced hands, you really want around 33 points for slam. It's only when you have those big 5 or 6 card side suits that you can have good chances of making 12 tricks with less points.

The result was 11 tricks, opposite partner's minimum and bad hand, perfectly judged.

Nil vul competition

Ish bid 3♣ here, not deterred by the bad balanced hand, why?

1. Bidding early on in the auction, before east has had a chance, is worth more than bidding later - Bid your hand as soon as possible!
2. It may well be the opponent's hand, the opponents probably have the majority of the points, it may be time to get in the way
3. Not vulnerable
4. The possibility of a big club fit, partner opened 1♣ and sometimes has clubs - uncovering big fits in competition can be like hitting the jackpot.

The result was a dazing auction, where the opponents had no idea whose hand it even was. Ish's side quickly got to 5♣ undoubled, whereas at the other table East West played and made 4♠.

At the other table, north passed with Ish's hand instead of bidding the explosive 3♣.

Opening 1NT

Classic 1NT opening

Ishmael routinely opened this 1NT, why? The opening bid of 1NT communicates a lot about your hand in a single bid, the point range, the approximate nature - there are hands that qualify for it, and others that don't. Learning to judge that is a great skill that will lead to winning decisions.

What happened at both tables

At Ish's Table, west did too much bidding to the 4 level with such a poor hand - why did that happen?

1. People get too carried away at "favourable", they bid as if gravity no longer exists, especially with only an 8 card fit and a reasonably balanced hand, the bid wasn't called for. 3♥ is already aggressive enough.
2. Ishmael had this effect on people - something not to be underestimated, Ishmael's timing was so good that it often was hard to play against. It compounded the opponents problem, they felt they couldn't play a straight up game and beat him. In reality, playing straight up bridge, not doing anything fancy (silly), is the way to get your best results. If your opponents are better than you, accept that, and still just play your game, calmly.

Suitable for 3NT

This is a typical Ishmael hand where he bids contracts that others wouldn't and makes more tricks than everyone else.

In recent weeks I've said that people often misjudge what to do with 6322 shape.

Ish makes a stunning bid, that many players would not understand. He bids 2NT, reflecting his strength and his "shape" - despite two glaring features

1. No spade stopper? At favourable vulnerability people often preempt on very weak suits. He takes the view that his partner is possible/probable to have a stopper OR the opponents will not even lead it. Here both were true, it wasn't led and partner had a double stopper.
2. The 6 card heart suit - Ish sees an excellent hand for 3NT, likely 7 tricks. He also sees a hand that is full of losers (6322 shape) and may not play well in 4♥. This is a completely different hand to say 6331 shape.

In general no, but here Ish judged 2NT as the superior bid and basically didn't want to be scared away from doing it - we don't always get a perfect hand in every respect that fits a bid. Experience told him that this type of hand can quickly get to 9 tricks in 3NT, but often won't get to 10 in 4♥.

The play was also excellent - a diamond was led, and at trick 2 north switched to a low heart, Ish took the finesse - taking advantage of the information given from the 2 of hearts - expecting it to be low from an honor. North may not have played the 2 if he had 3 or 4 low cards in the suit.

More coming soon.

Read next: Favourable Vulnerability: When to Bid Aggressively · Hand Evaluation in Suits: Do More with a Good Suit · Do Less with a Weak Trump Suit · Should You Invite with 11? Practical Guide

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