2008 was a very good year for me personally and professionally. I got married, improved my bridge play, took on some new students, and met a lot of fun, talented people all over the ACBL. I played in six Sectionals, ten Regionals, and two NABCs (sorry, Detroit-- I decided that I only wanted to do one frigid-weather Nationals this year). A lot of work has gone into planning our own Regional. My proudest accomplishment is, over the last 18 months, bringing a bright beginner well along her road to experthood.
Here's the places I went for bridge tournaments this year, and how I did at them:
January:
Salem, OR Sectional: 13
Bermuda Regional: 59
February:
Las Vegas Regional: 63
March:
Toronto Regional: 23
April:
Washington, DC Sectional: 8
Gatlinburg, TN Regional: 78
May:
Medford, OR Regional: 17
Portland, OR Sectional: 10
Raleigh, NC Regional: 29
June:
Grants Pass, OR Sectional: 9
Reston, VA (Washington, DC) Regional: 38
July:
Las Vegas NABC: 22
August:
Charlottesville, VA Sectional: 26
Hunt Valley (Baltimore), MD Regional: 26
September-October:
Seaside, OR Regional: 22
November:
Virginia Beach, VA Regional: 57
Boston NABC: 19
December:
Charlottesville, VA Sectional: 25
Looking back, this year marks the fewest Sectionals I've played in many years. I didn't quite make it to either of my annual goals for colored points-- 100 Silver and 10 Platinum (98 and 6, resspectively). Hopefully my 600ish will put me somewhere reasonable on the Top 500 list. I'm hoping to make it in the top 300.
So here's to as fun of a 2009, starting with the Charlottesville Regional!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Pressure (Warning: contains math)
I'm often asked the main differences between club-level bridge and high-level bridge. My answer's always the same: "Pressure." Expert opponents will attempt to give you a problem on every hand.
Here's an example:
You're West, holding
In an all-expert IMP game, you deal (nobody's vulnerable). North opens 1H. Partner (former junior standout and current all-around great guy Charlie Garrod) leaps to 3S. South thinks for a bit and bids 4H. What's your call?
First of all, how many defensive tricks do you have? I'd say right around one and a half. Most of the time the opponents' spades will split 2-1, and the diamond holding will usually be worth a trick. Once in a very great while, you'll be able to take two spade tricks-- remember, partner's under 30 and won't always have a seven-bagger for a nonvul three bid.
Next, is it safe to bid? Well, I'd argue more that it's not safe to pass! I think we have seven spade tricks and a diamond for at worst -300 in four spades doubled. So it's certainly right to bid.
But here's the pressure part. When he held this hand against me, Stan Schenker made the gutsy call of 5S, forcing the last guess on his opponents!
We guessed correctly -- 5S went for 500 when we could only make 5H -- but let's look at the mathematics of the situation:
Let's say that the opponents will double 5S 80% of the time, and bid a failing 6H 20% of the time. So, 20% of the time we win 11 imps for +50 opposite +450. The other 80% of the time would be split up like this:
3/4 of the time, 5S will go for 500. We'll lose 2 imps for this.
1/8 of the time, partner has a better hand than we expected and will only go for 300. We now win 4 imps.
1/16 of the time, partner has a worse hand than we expected-- maybe a six-card suit. We go down 800, and lose 8 imps. Ouch!
1/16 of the time, partner has a real dog. They defend well and we go for 1100! Lose 12! Oof!
So here's the whole table:
20% win 11
60% lose 2
10% win 4
5% lose 8
5% lose 12
Put all these wins and loses together and the expected imp gain is plus 0.4 imps! This means that this action could work out well, it could work out poorly, but in the long run, it's a winning action.
The percentages I used to weight the actions are totally subjective, and only a product of my at-the-table experience. If you think that the numbers are wildly different, plug them in to a spreadsheet and play around with them. You can download the Excel spreadsheet I used for this exercise by clicking this link.
Two-fifths of an imp may not sound like that much, but if you make sure all of your bids and plays have a positive imp expectancy, you'll find yourself winning most of your matches.
Nice bid, Stan!
Here's an example:
You're West, holding
| ♠ | AQT |
| ♥ | Q65 |
| ♦ | QJT |
| ♣ | T954 |
In an all-expert IMP game, you deal (nobody's vulnerable). North opens 1H. Partner (former junior standout and current all-around great guy Charlie Garrod) leaps to 3S. South thinks for a bit and bids 4H. What's your call?
First of all, how many defensive tricks do you have? I'd say right around one and a half. Most of the time the opponents' spades will split 2-1, and the diamond holding will usually be worth a trick. Once in a very great while, you'll be able to take two spade tricks-- remember, partner's under 30 and won't always have a seven-bagger for a nonvul three bid.
Next, is it safe to bid? Well, I'd argue more that it's not safe to pass! I think we have seven spade tricks and a diamond for at worst -300 in four spades doubled. So it's certainly right to bid.
But here's the pressure part. When he held this hand against me, Stan Schenker made the gutsy call of 5S, forcing the last guess on his opponents!
We guessed correctly -- 5S went for 500 when we could only make 5H -- but let's look at the mathematics of the situation:
Let's say that the opponents will double 5S 80% of the time, and bid a failing 6H 20% of the time. So, 20% of the time we win 11 imps for +50 opposite +450. The other 80% of the time would be split up like this:
3/4 of the time, 5S will go for 500. We'll lose 2 imps for this.
1/8 of the time, partner has a better hand than we expected and will only go for 300. We now win 4 imps.
1/16 of the time, partner has a worse hand than we expected-- maybe a six-card suit. We go down 800, and lose 8 imps. Ouch!
1/16 of the time, partner has a real dog. They defend well and we go for 1100! Lose 12! Oof!
So here's the whole table:
20% win 11
60% lose 2
10% win 4
5% lose 8
5% lose 12
Put all these wins and loses together and the expected imp gain is plus 0.4 imps! This means that this action could work out well, it could work out poorly, but in the long run, it's a winning action.
The percentages I used to weight the actions are totally subjective, and only a product of my at-the-table experience. If you think that the numbers are wildly different, plug them in to a spreadsheet and play around with them. You can download the Excel spreadsheet I used for this exercise by clicking this link.
Two-fifths of an imp may not sound like that much, but if you make sure all of your bids and plays have a positive imp expectancy, you'll find yourself winning most of your matches.
Nice bid, Stan!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Our New System
Meg and I have recently switched over to a version of Transfer Precision, with some success. I thought I'd give you folks quick rundown on the system.
"Standard" Precision is a strong-club system with natural positive responses to 1C. With our version of Transfer Precision, we bid a strain other than what we have in order to have the stronger (and less defined) hand as declarer more often. Here's a quick rundown on our responses to the forcing 1C opening:
1C (16+HCP if unbalanced, 17+ if balanced; any shape)
or
Over partner's transfer positive, opener can bid the suit shown to show a fit and start a (short - for now) series of asking bids. Here's an example of our asks at work:
1C - 2C;
2D - 3H;
3S - 4C;
4N - 5H;
7D - P.
1C = 16+, artificial
2C = 5+ diamonds, 8+ HCP (game force)
2D = Tell me more!
3H (sixth step)= Six-card suit with one of the top three honors
3S = Tell me more!
4D (third step)= Three controls outside diamonds (A=2, K=1; this must be the ace of clubs and king of spades)
4NT = Keycard ask in diamonds (eventually we'll use 4H for this, but we haven't gotten around to discussing all the ramifications of this yet); opener doesn't yet know if responder's suit is Axxxxx or Qxxxxx
5H = Two keycards without the queen of diamonds
7D = Six diamonds plus AK of the other three suits is twelve tricks... if partner has club length I can get a club ruff for the 13th. With my club shortness it makes it more likely that he has length there. Well, here goes -- I hope he has 3+ clubs or a major-suit queen!
How would you and your partner get to this 29 HCP grand slam?
"Standard" Precision is a strong-club system with natural positive responses to 1C. With our version of Transfer Precision, we bid a strain other than what we have in order to have the stronger (and less defined) hand as declarer more often. Here's a quick rundown on our responses to the forcing 1C opening:
1C (16+HCP if unbalanced, 17+ if balanced; any shape)
- 1D = 0-7 HCP or 8+ with a 4441 shape (any singleton)
- 1H = 8+ HCP, 5+ spades
- 1S = 8+ HCP, 5+ hearts
- 1NT = 8+ HCP, 5+ clubs
- 2C = 8+ HCP, 5+ diamonds
- 2D = 8-13 HCP, balanced
- 2H, 2S, 3C, 3D = 4-6 HCP, six-card suit
| ♠ | AKTxxx |
| ♥ | xxx |
| ♦ | xx |
| ♣ | xx |
or
| ♠ | QJxxxx |
| ♥ | KTxxx |
| ♦ | x |
| ♣ | x. |
Over partner's transfer positive, opener can bid the suit shown to show a fit and start a (short - for now) series of asking bids. Here's an example of our asks at work:
|
|
1C - 2C;
2D - 3H;
3S - 4C;
4N - 5H;
7D - P.
1C = 16+, artificial
2C = 5+ diamonds, 8+ HCP (game force)
2D = Tell me more!
3H (sixth step)= Six-card suit with one of the top three honors
3S = Tell me more!
4D (third step)= Three controls outside diamonds (A=2, K=1; this must be the ace of clubs and king of spades)
4NT = Keycard ask in diamonds (eventually we'll use 4H for this, but we haven't gotten around to discussing all the ramifications of this yet); opener doesn't yet know if responder's suit is Axxxxx or Qxxxxx
5H = Two keycards without the queen of diamonds
7D = Six diamonds plus AK of the other three suits is twelve tricks... if partner has club length I can get a club ruff for the 13th. With my club shortness it makes it more likely that he has length there. Well, here goes -- I hope he has 3+ clubs or a major-suit queen!
How would you and your partner get to this 29 HCP grand slam?
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Charlottesville Sectional
The Charlottesville Winter Sectional was an amazing success. Table count was up a lot from last year. It was successful for us, too -- for the second Charlottesville tournament in a row Meg and I were 1st and 2nd in the masterpoint race. (You can check out my post on the last tournament here.) This time, she edged me out-- she played one session with our friend and teammate Geoff (3rd on this tournament's list) while I played with our buddy Al. Meg and Geoff placed, we didn't... so it goes. I'll get her next time!
Playing together, we had two event wins and three third overalls. This was a surprisingly strong showing; I wasn't expecting to do great things this tournament. We'd just made the switch over to playing Transfer Precision. There are always some speedbumps with system changes, especially sweeping ones like that.... and there were. Happily, the few misunderstandings we had didn't cost. Our best event was the Saturday night Swiss-- we won all four of our matches for a total of 72 Victory Points out of a possible 80. We outscored the opponents 119-3! Those 3 imps were my fault. I held:
Meg opened 1C (strong, artificial, and forcing). I could have bid 2H to show 4-6 HCP and a long heart suit, but I decided that Jx of spades wasn't worth the full 1 HCP. I planned to show a 0-3 hand on the next round...and maybe I should have. So I bid a conventional 1D, (usually) negative.
If Meg had rebid 1H (Kokish; hearts or balanced), I could have rebid 2D showing an awful hand with long hearts. But her rebid was 2C. Now I reevaluated... I had a fit for partner's long suit and two doubletons! So I bid 2H trying to find a fit there. When she rebid 3C, I gave up.
She went down two for -200. The opponents went down 100 in 2H at the other table. Had I bid 2H immediately or passed her 2C, we would have pushed the board and been perfect for the event! Oh well...
Playing together, we had two event wins and three third overalls. This was a surprisingly strong showing; I wasn't expecting to do great things this tournament. We'd just made the switch over to playing Transfer Precision. There are always some speedbumps with system changes, especially sweeping ones like that.... and there were. Happily, the few misunderstandings we had didn't cost. Our best event was the Saturday night Swiss-- we won all four of our matches for a total of 72 Victory Points out of a possible 80. We outscored the opponents 119-3! Those 3 imps were my fault. I held:
| ♠ | J3 |
| ♥ | QJT973 |
| ♦ | 95 |
| ♣ | T95 |
Meg opened 1C (strong, artificial, and forcing). I could have bid 2H to show 4-6 HCP and a long heart suit, but I decided that Jx of spades wasn't worth the full 1 HCP. I planned to show a 0-3 hand on the next round...and maybe I should have. So I bid a conventional 1D, (usually) negative.
If Meg had rebid 1H (Kokish; hearts or balanced), I could have rebid 2D showing an awful hand with long hearts. But her rebid was 2C. Now I reevaluated... I had a fit for partner's long suit and two doubletons! So I bid 2H trying to find a fit there. When she rebid 3C, I gave up.
She went down two for -200. The opponents went down 100 in 2H at the other table. Had I bid 2H immediately or passed her 2C, we would have pushed the board and been perfect for the event! Oh well...
Monday, December 22, 2008
Let's defend!
You're vulnerable, they're not. You're leading the field in the penultimate match of a sectional Swiss Team event. Against the second-place team (a very solid, if unspectacular bunch) nothing of much interest has happened in the first few boards. On board three you pick up:
Your RHO opens 1C in first seat, and your side stays out of the auction. The opponents bid
1C - 1H;
1S - 2D!;
2N - 3H;
3N - P.
Upon querying you find out that 2D was an artificial game force. Before you make the opening lead, you try to reconstruct the opposing hands.
RHO opened 1C, rebid 1S, showed a diamond stopper, and denied any heart support. It seems like he holds 4135 (possibly 4144 with great clubs and awful diamonds).
LHO responded 1H, forced to game, then rebid his hearts even after his partner denied holding three. So he must have six hearts. Not much more is known about his hand (except that he's wildly unlikely to have four spades). Let's give him a tentative 3622.
If those are the shapes of the unseen hands, what does that leave partner? Three spades, two hearts, five diamonds, and three clubs (3253).
(By the way-- if you don't do something like this before your opening leads, you should try it. It's amazing the things you can figure out before seeing any of the other 39 cards.)
So now that you have a reasonable picture of the unseen hands, what should you lead? Diamonds feel right; they're your side's probable eight-card fit. So which diamond? You decide that it's probably right to start untangling the honors. So which one - the queen or the ten? It's just barely possible that LHO is 3613 or 3712 with the singleton jack of diamonds, so you decide to table the queen of diamonds. Dummy comes down and you see:
Almost what you had constructed, except dummy's singleton honor is in clubs. Declarer plays low from the table, partner plays the three (upside-down attitude), and declarer wins with the king. What's going on here?
Normally, you'd expect partner to hold the ten of diamonds to be signalling positively when you lead the queen. You hold the ten, though. So your lead has worked fairly well and hit partner with a diamond suit headed by the jack! That's great news... but we haven't taken five tricks just yet.
Declarer leads a heart toward dummy. You play low smoothly (of course), declarer sticks in dummy's nine, and partner wins with the queen. The nine of diamonds comes back from pard. Continuing your trick-one plan, you unblock the ten. Declarer lets you hold this trick. You exit your third diamond and partner plays the jack.
Dummy's now in and exits a high heart to your ace (partner following, declarer pitching a spade). Now what?
What's going on in the diamond suit? Does pard only have three diamonds himself? Did we just set up declarer's fourth diamond? You put yourself in partner's shoes. With an original J93, would you return the 9 on the second round from a holding of J9? You don't think so. It's much more likely that partner held J983 and is giving you a suit-preference signal for spades. But that's not all-- since partner is flagging a spade card, he won't have anything in clubs! If you don't cut transportation now, declarer can get at least three club tricks to go with two diamonds and four hearts. So you table a spade, and declarer sighs and concedes down one. You pick up ten imps for your trouble, as your teammates are +420 in hearts. Here's the whole hand:
This hand was defended in this fashion at the table by my lovely wife Meg. We went on to win the event. Well done!
| ♠ | 983 |
| ♥ | A864 |
| ♦ | QT5 |
| ♣ | JT2 |
Your RHO opens 1C in first seat, and your side stays out of the auction. The opponents bid
1C - 1H;
1S - 2D!;
2N - 3H;
3N - P.
Upon querying you find out that 2D was an artificial game force. Before you make the opening lead, you try to reconstruct the opposing hands.
RHO opened 1C, rebid 1S, showed a diamond stopper, and denied any heart support. It seems like he holds 4135 (possibly 4144 with great clubs and awful diamonds).
LHO responded 1H, forced to game, then rebid his hearts even after his partner denied holding three. So he must have six hearts. Not much more is known about his hand (except that he's wildly unlikely to have four spades). Let's give him a tentative 3622.
If those are the shapes of the unseen hands, what does that leave partner? Three spades, two hearts, five diamonds, and three clubs (3253).
(By the way-- if you don't do something like this before your opening leads, you should try it. It's amazing the things you can figure out before seeing any of the other 39 cards.)
So now that you have a reasonable picture of the unseen hands, what should you lead? Diamonds feel right; they're your side's probable eight-card fit. So which diamond? You decide that it's probably right to start untangling the honors. So which one - the queen or the ten? It's just barely possible that LHO is 3613 or 3712 with the singleton jack of diamonds, so you decide to table the queen of diamonds. Dummy comes down and you see:
| |||||||||||||
|
Almost what you had constructed, except dummy's singleton honor is in clubs. Declarer plays low from the table, partner plays the three (upside-down attitude), and declarer wins with the king. What's going on here?
Normally, you'd expect partner to hold the ten of diamonds to be signalling positively when you lead the queen. You hold the ten, though. So your lead has worked fairly well and hit partner with a diamond suit headed by the jack! That's great news... but we haven't taken five tricks just yet.
Declarer leads a heart toward dummy. You play low smoothly (of course), declarer sticks in dummy's nine, and partner wins with the queen. The nine of diamonds comes back from pard. Continuing your trick-one plan, you unblock the ten. Declarer lets you hold this trick. You exit your third diamond and partner plays the jack.
Dummy's now in and exits a high heart to your ace (partner following, declarer pitching a spade). Now what?
What's going on in the diamond suit? Does pard only have three diamonds himself? Did we just set up declarer's fourth diamond? You put yourself in partner's shoes. With an original J93, would you return the 9 on the second round from a holding of J9? You don't think so. It's much more likely that partner held J983 and is giving you a suit-preference signal for spades. But that's not all-- since partner is flagging a spade card, he won't have anything in clubs! If you don't cut transportation now, declarer can get at least three club tricks to go with two diamonds and four hearts. So you table a spade, and declarer sighs and concedes down one. You pick up ten imps for your trouble, as your teammates are +420 in hearts. Here's the whole hand:
| ||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
|
This hand was defended in this fashion at the table by my lovely wife Meg. We went on to win the event. Well done!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Should I bid that grand slam?
I got an email the other day from a good friend spending the winter in Mazatlan, Mexico. He held:
His partner opened 1S. He gave a game-forcing spade raise (much better than a 4C splinter, in my opinion) and found out about short diamonds opposite. He hopped into RKC and found his partner with two keycards and the queen of spades. He was wondering if he should bid 5NT (asking for kings), 6S, or 7S.
Here's the auction up to this point:
1S - 2NT
3D - 4NT
5S - ?
There's a little-known extension of Roman Keycard that I'd like to share with you. Let's say that the trump suit has been irreversibly set, as in this auction. After the number of keycards have been shown, you can ask for kings with 5NT (We strongly recommend that the response to 5NT show specific kings rather than number of kings) as a grand try, but there are other grand-slam tries available. We play that bidding a new suit asks for third-round control of that suit.
Without third-round control, responder bids 6 of the agreed trump suit. With a shortness control (a doubleton) responder bids seven of the agreed-upon suit. With a high-card control (the queen), responder does something else interesting. So let's give opener a few sample hands on this auction:
1S - 2NT
3D - 4NT
5S - 6H!
?
Hand A:
Without third-round control in hearts, responder signs off in 6S.
Hand B:
Responder has a doubleton heart, so bids the cold 7S.
Hand C:
Responder has the queen of hearts, so his job is to do "something interesting". His partner already knows about the aces and the queen of spades, so responder cuebids 7H to let his partner choose the right grand slam.
Hand D:
Now responder has something "interesting" other than the queen of hearts. He cuebids 7C to show both the queen of hearts and the king of clubs. Now the asker can count top tricks-- 5 in spades, 5 in hearts, 1 in diamonds, and the A and K of clubs-- 13 running tricks without ruffing! Over 7C the proper bid is 7NT. It's not only the top-scoring grand slam, but it's the safest one!
| ♠ | K863 |
| ♥ | AKJ32 |
| ♦ | J86 |
| ♣ | A |
His partner opened 1S. He gave a game-forcing spade raise (much better than a 4C splinter, in my opinion) and found out about short diamonds opposite. He hopped into RKC and found his partner with two keycards and the queen of spades. He was wondering if he should bid 5NT (asking for kings), 6S, or 7S.
Here's the auction up to this point:
1S - 2NT
3D - 4NT
5S - ?
There's a little-known extension of Roman Keycard that I'd like to share with you. Let's say that the trump suit has been irreversibly set, as in this auction. After the number of keycards have been shown, you can ask for kings with 5NT (We strongly recommend that the response to 5NT show specific kings rather than number of kings) as a grand try, but there are other grand-slam tries available. We play that bidding a new suit asks for third-round control of that suit.
Without third-round control, responder bids 6 of the agreed trump suit. With a shortness control (a doubleton) responder bids seven of the agreed-upon suit. With a high-card control (the queen), responder does something else interesting. So let's give opener a few sample hands on this auction:
1S - 2NT
3D - 4NT
5S - 6H!
?
Hand A:
| ♠ | AQJ72 |
| ♥ | 764 |
| ♦ | A |
| ♣ | KJ63 |
Without third-round control in hearts, responder signs off in 6S.
Hand B:
| ♠ | AQJ72 |
| ♥ | 76 |
| ♦ | A |
| ♣ | KJ632 |
Responder has a doubleton heart, so bids the cold 7S.
Hand C:
| ♠ | AQJ72 |
| ♥ | Q64 |
| ♦ | A |
| ♣ | T863 |
Responder has the queen of hearts, so his job is to do "something interesting". His partner already knows about the aces and the queen of spades, so responder cuebids 7H to let his partner choose the right grand slam.
Hand D:
| ♠ | AQJ72 |
| ♥ | Q64 |
| ♦ | A |
| ♣ | K763 |
Now responder has something "interesting" other than the queen of hearts. He cuebids 7C to show both the queen of hearts and the king of clubs. Now the asker can count top tricks-- 5 in spades, 5 in hearts, 1 in diamonds, and the A and K of clubs-- 13 running tricks without ruffing! Over 7C the proper bid is 7NT. It's not only the top-scoring grand slam, but it's the safest one!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Well bid hand from Boston
Jenni and I tackled this hand in the Open Board-A-Match:
Playing against our friends Robert Todd and Richard Helams, I picked up this huge one loser 6-6 red hand... and saw my partner open 1D! [1D was limited to 15 HCP and could be as short as 2 in a balanced hand.] I started with a quiet 1H. Robert, having passed his eight-bagger on the first round, bid 2S at his next turn. Jenni passed, I forced, and I kept making slam and grand tries until Jenni showed the king of clubs. My 6D bid was a plea for her to bid 7H with the king of diamonds. She didn't have it, so she couldn't bid the grand... but she was able to put it in the top BAM spot of 6NT! This was not what I had originally planned with my 6-6, but it seemed like it had to be a good contract for the form of scoring.
We were very happy with the result, until we found out that our opponents had a bashing auction to 6H, and our teammate made the very reasonable lead of his stiff diamond... our +1440 lost the board to -1460. Too sad!
Playing against our friends Robert Todd and Richard Helams, I picked up this huge one loser 6-6 red hand... and saw my partner open 1D! [1D was limited to 15 HCP and could be as short as 2 in a balanced hand.] I started with a quiet 1H. Robert, having passed his eight-bagger on the first round, bid 2S at his next turn. Jenni passed, I forced, and I kept making slam and grand tries until Jenni showed the king of clubs. My 6D bid was a plea for her to bid 7H with the king of diamonds. She didn't have it, so she couldn't bid the grand... but she was able to put it in the top BAM spot of 6NT! This was not what I had originally planned with my 6-6, but it seemed like it had to be a good contract for the form of scoring.
We were very happy with the result, until we found out that our opponents had a bashing auction to 6H, and our teammate made the very reasonable lead of his stiff diamond... our +1440 lost the board to -1460. Too sad!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Hands from the Open Board-A-Match in Boston
I played the Victor Mitchell Open Board-A-Match Teams with Jenni Carmichael. We played a fun version of Transfer Precision (much like Meg and I play, with a few tweaks). Click here to read my earlier post on this event, written from Boston.
Here's a few more hands from the BAM:
(A) All red
Partner opens 1D (2 or more diamonds, 10-15 HCP), RHO passes, you bid 1H, and LHO jumps to 2S. This gets passed around to you. What's your call?
(B) Red vs. white
You open 1D (could be short, again...), partner bids 1H, you rebid 1S, and partner splinters with 4D! What's your call?
Here's a few more hands from the BAM:
(A) All red
Partner opens 1D (2 or more diamonds, 10-15 HCP), RHO passes, you bid 1H, and LHO jumps to 2S. This gets passed around to you. What's your call?
(B) Red vs. white
You open 1D (could be short, again...), partner bids 1H, you rebid 1S, and partner splinters with 4D! What's your call?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A few bidding problems from the Boston NABC
Here are some problems I faced in the Mini-Blue Ribbon Pairs playing with Mike Develin. All problems are at matchpoints.
(A) All white
LHO opens 3H, partner overcalls 3S, and RHO passes. What's your call?
(B) All white, matchpoints
Partner opens 1S. RHO overcalls 2H. What's your bid / plan?
(C) All white
LHO opens 1C, partner overcalls 1NT, and RHO passes. You can:
-pass
-bid 2H (transfer to spades)
-bid 2S (to show an invite with diamonds)
-bid 3C (weak transfer to diamonds)
-bid 2C (Stayman; pulling 2H to 2S shows an invitational hand with 5 spades)
(A) All white
LHO opens 3H, partner overcalls 3S, and RHO passes. What's your call?
(B) All white, matchpoints
Partner opens 1S. RHO overcalls 2H. What's your bid / plan?
(C) All white
LHO opens 1C, partner overcalls 1NT, and RHO passes. You can:
-pass
-bid 2H (transfer to spades)
-bid 2S (to show an invite with diamonds)
-bid 3C (weak transfer to diamonds)
-bid 2C (Stayman; pulling 2H to 2S shows an invitational hand with 5 spades)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Wrapup: You Be The Judge II
I recently posted two terribly underbid hands from the Boston NABC and asked for readers' opinions on where the blame should lie. I received a very nice set of responses, but sadly, not enough to meet the Fabulous Prize threshhold of twelve respondents. Maybe next time! Anyway, here's the results:
(For reference, here's Hand One and Hand Two.)
Hand One:
Percentage of blame: West 89%
Worst call: 6C
Hand Two:
Percentage of blame: West 25%
Worst call: Pass
(For reference, here's Hand One and Hand Two.)
Hand One:
Percentage of blame: West 89%
Worst call: 6C
Hand Two:
Percentage of blame: West 25%
Worst call: Pass
Thursday, December 4, 2008
You Be The Judge II: Boston NABC (Part Two)
Here's the second You Be The Judge hand from Boston:
Hand 2:
IMPs, all red
North dealt and passed. East passed, and South opened 1D. Here's the total auction:
Here's your questions:
(A) What is West's percentage of the blame for these ten lost IMPs?
(B) What was the worst action taken?
Once again, if we get enough responses, a fabulous prize* will go to the jurist that comes closest to the consensus.
Let's get those votes in!
*Prize is not even moderately fabulous.
Hand 2:
|
|
IMPs, all red
North dealt and passed. East passed, and South opened 1D. Here's the total auction:
| West | North | East | South |
| P | P | 1♦ | |
| X | P | 1♥ | P |
| 3♥ | P | P | P |
Here's your questions:
(A) What is West's percentage of the blame for these ten lost IMPs?
(B) What was the worst action taken?
Once again, if we get enough responses, a fabulous prize* will go to the jurist that comes closest to the consensus.
Let's get those votes in!
*Prize is not even moderately fabulous.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
You Be The Judge II: Boston NABC
For the original You Be The Judge post, click here.
Your job (yes, you. Even if you've never commented before, this is a great time to start) is to answer two questions for each of these two hands.
I will post one hand today and one tomorrow.
(A) Assign a percentage of the blame to West. (If you think both partners contributed equally, West gets 50%. If West had three times more of the blame then East, West gets 75%.)
(B) Name the worst action of the entire hand.
If we get enough commenters (12 or more), the person with both consensus answers and is closest on the percentages will receive a fabulous prize*.
The case before the jury today is a crime of underbidding:
(1) All red, matchpoints
East opened 1NT (14-16). West Staymanned and bid 3C [forcing] over the denial reply. East bid 3D, and West splintered with 4S. East cued 5H, West bid 6C, and East passed. Here's the auction:
--- 1NT;
2C - 2D;
3C - 3D;
4S - 5H;
6C - P.
There are clearly thirteen runners in any of three strains.
(A) What was West's percentage of the blame for missing this granny?
(B) What was the worst action taken by either partner? (This does not have to be by the player to which you assigned most blame)
Hand #2 tomorrow. Let the deliberations commence!
*Prize is not fabulous.
Your job (yes, you. Even if you've never commented before, this is a great time to start) is to answer two questions for each of these two hands.
I will post one hand today and one tomorrow.
(A) Assign a percentage of the blame to West. (If you think both partners contributed equally, West gets 50%. If West had three times more of the blame then East, West gets 75%.)
(B) Name the worst action of the entire hand.
If we get enough commenters (12 or more), the person with both consensus answers and is closest on the percentages will receive a fabulous prize*.
The case before the jury today is a crime of underbidding:
(1) All red, matchpoints
East opened 1NT (14-16). West Staymanned and bid 3C [forcing] over the denial reply. East bid 3D, and West splintered with 4S. East cued 5H, West bid 6C, and East passed. Here's the auction:
--- 1NT;
2C - 2D;
3C - 3D;
4S - 5H;
6C - P.
There are clearly thirteen runners in any of three strains.
(A) What was West's percentage of the blame for missing this granny?
(B) What was the worst action taken by either partner? (This does not have to be by the player to which you assigned most blame)
Hand #2 tomorrow. Let the deliberations commence!
*Prize is not fabulous.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Boston NABC Wrapup
It was a historic North American Bridge Championship. Eric Rodwell put together an unprecedented performance. Rodwell was second in the two-day Life Master Pairs, first in the two-day Open Board-A-Match Teams, first in the three-day Blue Ribbon Pairs, and first in the three-day Reisinger Board-A-Match Teams for a staggering 623.75 masterpoints [all platinum] for the ten days. This performance should solidify his standing as the top American player, if not the top player in the world.
On a more personal note, it was a successful NABC for me as well, even though I earned only about 1% of Rodwell's points. I created very fun partnerships with old friends Jenni Carmichael and Mike Develin, as well as new friend Adam Parrish. I also played a national event with my good friend and former regular partner Drew Hoskins. On top of that, there were two successful days with my student Michael. I had a good time with all of my partners this week, and learned something from each of them.
I have lots of hands to report... but not today. Now I just need rest!
On a more personal note, it was a successful NABC for me as well, even though I earned only about 1% of Rodwell's points. I created very fun partnerships with old friends Jenni Carmichael and Mike Develin, as well as new friend Adam Parrish. I also played a national event with my good friend and former regular partner Drew Hoskins. On top of that, there were two successful days with my student Michael. I had a good time with all of my partners this week, and learned something from each of them.
I have lots of hands to report... but not today. Now I just need rest!
Friday, November 28, 2008
It's your lead: Part II
Here's the full deal from yesterday's post (deal rotated for reader's convenience):
The auction had gone: (1S) P (2D) 2H; (3D) 4H (6S) [all pass]. I hoped that the opponents were 5-4 in diamonds, so I led the four of diamonds, planning to hop in with the ace of spades on the first round and triumphantly give a diamond ruff. Besides, with LHO's jump to 6S, it didn't sound like he had any hearts... so, the four of diamonds came out.
I was mildly surprised to see a heart in dummy, but had no worries-- trusty partner would give me trump suit preference! A high spade would show the ace of hearts, and a low spade would show a singleton diamond.
Declarer won in hand and led the queen of spades. I jumped with the ace, and partner played... the four! Thrilled with my chain of reasoning, I led another diamond. The whole hand, of course, was:
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
I was mildly surprised to see a heart in dummy, but had no worries-- trusty partner would give me trump suit preference! A high spade would show the ace of hearts, and a low spade would show a singleton diamond.
Declarer won in hand and led the queen of spades. I jumped with the ace, and partner played... the four! Thrilled with my chain of reasoning, I led another diamond. The whole hand, of course, was:
| ||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
|
Thursday, November 27, 2008
It's your lead...
You're East, non-vul against vul at matchpoints. You hold:
What's your lead?
Think about it, and I'll post the full hand tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
| ♠ | A92 |
| ♥ | QT62 |
| ♦ | J64 |
| ♣ | J43 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | P | 2♦ | |
| 2♥ | 3♦ | 4♥ | 6♠ |
| P | P | P | |
What's your lead?
Think about it, and I'll post the full hand tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Boston NABC: Open Board-A-Match
On Sunday, I played the first day of the Open Board-A-Match with Jenni Carmichael. Jenni is an old friend, but this was our first time playing together [outside of the midnight game]. We decided to play a version of Transfer Precision with lots of fun stuff. Our teammates, T.C. Yang and Li-Chung Chen, played vanilla two-over one.
A quick word about Board-A-Match [BAM]: This is a team of four event that looks a lot like a pair game. You play two boards against one team at the same time your teammates are playing the same boards against their teammates. It's scored like matchpoints, but your score only gets compared with what happens at the other table. The three possibilities are to lose the board [zero points], tie the board [half a point], or win the board [one point]. It doesn't matter how much better you do than the other table's result – beating them by 10 points gets you the same “win” as beating them by 1000 points.
Here's an example of BAM bridge:
I held
954 753 QT32 AQ4.
Nobody was vulnerable, and partner opened 1NT [14-16]. My RHO overcalled a Cappeletti 2C, showing an unspecified long suit. I passed, LHO bid a forced 2D, and RHO showed his suit with 2H. I passed this as well. Jenni made the good decision to reopen with a double with
AK87 T4 KJ95 K85.
RHO passed, and I pulled to 3D. LHO bid 3H, which got passed around to me. Now, I certainly couldn't see the five tricks we'd need to set 3H, but I doubled anyway. I felt that our cards could easily go +90, +110, or +120 at the other table, so if we were about to go -140, a double wouldn't cost anything. But if we're about to go +50, a double turns it into +100, beating the possible 90 at the other table. And if we're about to set it two for +100, double would turn it into +300 which beats any possible partscore result. The only time that double would cost was if our teammates were also in 3H and 3H was making. The chances of both of those things being true was so miniscule that double is going to be right more than 90% of the time.
At the other table, our teammates were indeed in 3H... but they went down the same two tricks as our opponents did. +300 at our table and -100 at theirs adds up to a win!
In the first session, we scored 16 points out of a possible 26, a very good score. We dropped down to twelve and a half (a touch below average) in the second set, but we qualified for the second day quite comfortably. In the second day, we didn't do much of anything, and ended up half a board shy of the overalls.
Two problems:
(A) All red
3 Q954 T32 K9872
You pass in first seat. LHO opens 1C, RHO bids 1S, LHO lifts to 2S, and RHO hops to 4S. This gets passed around to partner, and she doubles. What's your lead?
(B) All red
T762 76 KJ9862 J
There are three passes around to partner, who opens 1C [strong, artificial, and forcing]. LHO overcalls 1H, you double [artificial, 5-7 HCP], and LHO jumps to 3H. Partner doubles [takeout]. RHO passes. What's your call?
A quick word about Board-A-Match [BAM]: This is a team of four event that looks a lot like a pair game. You play two boards against one team at the same time your teammates are playing the same boards against their teammates. It's scored like matchpoints, but your score only gets compared with what happens at the other table. The three possibilities are to lose the board [zero points], tie the board [half a point], or win the board [one point]. It doesn't matter how much better you do than the other table's result – beating them by 10 points gets you the same “win” as beating them by 1000 points.
Here's an example of BAM bridge:
I held
954 753 QT32 AQ4.
Nobody was vulnerable, and partner opened 1NT [14-16]. My RHO overcalled a Cappeletti 2C, showing an unspecified long suit. I passed, LHO bid a forced 2D, and RHO showed his suit with 2H. I passed this as well. Jenni made the good decision to reopen with a double with
AK87 T4 KJ95 K85.
RHO passed, and I pulled to 3D. LHO bid 3H, which got passed around to me. Now, I certainly couldn't see the five tricks we'd need to set 3H, but I doubled anyway. I felt that our cards could easily go +90, +110, or +120 at the other table, so if we were about to go -140, a double wouldn't cost anything. But if we're about to go +50, a double turns it into +100, beating the possible 90 at the other table. And if we're about to set it two for +100, double would turn it into +300 which beats any possible partscore result. The only time that double would cost was if our teammates were also in 3H and 3H was making. The chances of both of those things being true was so miniscule that double is going to be right more than 90% of the time.
At the other table, our teammates were indeed in 3H... but they went down the same two tricks as our opponents did. +300 at our table and -100 at theirs adds up to a win!
In the first session, we scored 16 points out of a possible 26, a very good score. We dropped down to twelve and a half (a touch below average) in the second set, but we qualified for the second day quite comfortably. In the second day, we didn't do much of anything, and ended up half a board shy of the overalls.
Two problems:
(A) All red
3 Q954 T32 K9872
You pass in first seat. LHO opens 1C, RHO bids 1S, LHO lifts to 2S, and RHO hops to 4S. This gets passed around to partner, and she doubles. What's your lead?
(B) All red
T762 76 KJ9862 J
There are three passes around to partner, who opens 1C [strong, artificial, and forcing]. LHO overcalls 1H, you double [artificial, 5-7 HCP], and LHO jumps to 3H. Partner doubles [takeout]. RHO passes. What's your call?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
A few more hands from Boston
For the first Friday and Saturday of the Boston NABC, I played pairs with a student. Michael is very easy and fun to teach. He's always interested in learning something new, and he retains what he's learned very well.
Here's a few tough hands we faced:
(A) Red vs. white
AKQ53 9 J64 KQ75
Over your 1S opening, partner forces to game with 2H. You rebid 3C, and pard bids 3H. What's your call?
(B) All white
KQT97642 4 none T954
Partner passes and RHO opens a weak 2H. Do you bid here?
We had a nice auction with these hands:
[South] QJ543 42 AQ4 AQ5
[North] AK T JT65 KJT942
South first to bid:
1NT[1] – 2S[2]
2NT[3] – 3H[4]
4C[5] – 4NT [6]
5S[7] – 6C
1.15-17, often holds a five-card major
2.Either a balanced invitational hand or clubs
3.Minimum – with the invitational hand I would've passed
4.Shows a slam try with long clubs and short hearts
5.Natural and slam-positive [in the context of already having showed a minimum]
6.Keycard ask
7.Two keycards [two aces or one ace and the king of clubs] plus the queen of clubs
They led a heart to East's queen, and shot a diamond back through AQx. Michael took the percentage line by rejecting the finesse. He hopped up with the ace and drew two round of trumps, unblocked the ace and king of spades from the board, came back to hand with a high club drawing the last trump, and pitched three diamonds on his good spades. Well done!
There was a cute play position on this board:
[North] AT2 AK9542 J6 AQ
[South] Q84 J86 A8 T7532
I opened 1H as North. LHO stuck in a 2D bid. Partner raised to 2H, and that's all I needed – I jumped to 4H. LHO led the king of diamonds. I won on the table and tried to split the trumps 2-2, to no avail. RHO had a trump trick. So I exited with a diamond, putting LHO in a fix. Another diamond would give me a ruff-sluff, and she didn't want to lead away from the king of clubs, so she led a low spade. I played low from the table, and the king popped up on my right. I won the ace and decided it was a good time to try to endplay my right-hand opponent. I led out a heart, and he put a club back through my AQ. I finessed, losing to the king. LHO returned a diamond. I ruffed in hand, laid down the ace of clubs, and played out all of my trumps. Here's the position I saw when I led my last trump:
Q8
none
none
T
T2
2
none
none
I knew my LHO had the jack of spades, and hoped she had the jack of clubs. When she parted with a spade, I pitched the club from the table, and led to the queen of spades. The jack duly dropped on my left! I lost only a heart, a diamond, and a club. Making four!
(C) White vs. red
K42 A75 Q2 AKJ53
LHO opens 3D, partner doubles, and RHO passes. What's your call?
Here's a few tough hands we faced:
(A) Red vs. white
AKQ53 9 J64 KQ75
Over your 1S opening, partner forces to game with 2H. You rebid 3C, and pard bids 3H. What's your call?
(B) All white
KQT97642 4 none T954
Partner passes and RHO opens a weak 2H. Do you bid here?
We had a nice auction with these hands:
[South] QJ543 42 AQ4 AQ5
[North] AK T JT65 KJT942
South first to bid:
1NT[1] – 2S[2]
2NT[3] – 3H[4]
4C[5] – 4NT [6]
5S[7] – 6C
1.15-17, often holds a five-card major
2.Either a balanced invitational hand or clubs
3.Minimum – with the invitational hand I would've passed
4.Shows a slam try with long clubs and short hearts
5.Natural and slam-positive [in the context of already having showed a minimum]
6.Keycard ask
7.Two keycards [two aces or one ace and the king of clubs] plus the queen of clubs
They led a heart to East's queen, and shot a diamond back through AQx. Michael took the percentage line by rejecting the finesse. He hopped up with the ace and drew two round of trumps, unblocked the ace and king of spades from the board, came back to hand with a high club drawing the last trump, and pitched three diamonds on his good spades. Well done!
There was a cute play position on this board:
[North] AT2 AK9542 J6 AQ
[South] Q84 J86 A8 T7532
I opened 1H as North. LHO stuck in a 2D bid. Partner raised to 2H, and that's all I needed – I jumped to 4H. LHO led the king of diamonds. I won on the table and tried to split the trumps 2-2, to no avail. RHO had a trump trick. So I exited with a diamond, putting LHO in a fix. Another diamond would give me a ruff-sluff, and she didn't want to lead away from the king of clubs, so she led a low spade. I played low from the table, and the king popped up on my right. I won the ace and decided it was a good time to try to endplay my right-hand opponent. I led out a heart, and he put a club back through my AQ. I finessed, losing to the king. LHO returned a diamond. I ruffed in hand, laid down the ace of clubs, and played out all of my trumps. Here's the position I saw when I led my last trump:
Q8
none
none
T
T2
2
none
none
I knew my LHO had the jack of spades, and hoped she had the jack of clubs. When she parted with a spade, I pitched the club from the table, and led to the queen of spades. The jack duly dropped on my left! I lost only a heart, a diamond, and a club. Making four!
(C) White vs. red
K42 A75 Q2 AKJ53
LHO opens 3D, partner doubles, and RHO passes. What's your call?
A few more hands from Boston
For the first Friday and Saturday of the Boston NABC, I played pairs with a student. Michael is very easy and fun to teach. He's always interested in learning something new, and he retains what he's learned very well.
Here's a few tough hands we faced:
(A) Red vs. white
AKQ53 9 J64 KQ75
Over your 1S opening, partner forces to game with 2H. You rebid 3C, and pard bids 3H. What's your call?
(B) All white
KQT97642 4 none T954
Partner passes and RHO opens a weak 2H. Do you bid here?
We had a nice auction with these hands:
[South] QJ543 42 AQ4 AQ5
[North] AK T JT65 KJT94
South first to bid:
1NT[1] – 2S[2]
2NT[3] – 3H[4]
4C[5] – 4NT [6]
5S[7] – 6C
1.15-17, often holds a five-card major
2.Either a balanced invitational hand or clubs
3.Minimum – with the invitational hand I would've passed
4.Shows a slam try with long clubs and short hearts
5.Natural and slam-positive [in the context of already having showed a minimum]
6.Keycard ask
7.Two keycards [two aces or one ace and the king of clubs] plus the queen of clubs
They led a heart to East's queen, and shot a diamond back through AQx. Michael took the percentage line by rejecting the finesse. He hopped up with the ace and drew two round of trumps, unblocked the ace and king of spades from the board, came back to hand with a high club drawing the last trump, and pitched three diamonds on his good spades. Well done!
There was a cute play position on this board:
[North] AT2 AK9542 J6 AQ
[South] Q84 J86 A8 T7532
I opened 1H as North. LHO stuck in a 2D bid. Partner raised to 2H, and that's all I needed – I jumped to 4H. LHO led the king of diamonds. I won on the table and tried to split the trumps 2-2, to no avail. RHO had a trump trick. So I exited with a diamond, putting LHO in a fix. Another diamond would give me a ruff-sluff, and she didn't want to lead away from the king of clubs, so she led a low spade. I played low from the table, and the king popped up on my right. I won the ace and decided it was a good time to try to endplay my right-hand opponent. I led out a heart, and he put a club back through my AQ. I finessed, losing to the king. LHO returned a diamond. I ruffed in hand, laid down the ace of clubs, and played out all of my trumps. Here's the position I saw when I led my last trump:
Q8
none
none
T
T2
2
none
none
I knew my LHO had the jack of spades, and hoped she had the jack of clubs. When she parted with a spade, I pitched the club from the table, and led to the queen of spades. The jack duly dropped on my left! I lost only a heart, a diamond, and a club. Making four!
(C) White vs. red
K42 A75 Q2 AKJ53
LHO opens 3D, partner doubles, and RHO passes. What's your call?
Here's a few tough hands we faced:
(A) Red vs. white
AKQ53 9 J64 KQ75
Over your 1S opening, partner forces to game with 2H. You rebid 3C, and pard bids 3H. What's your call?
(B) All white
KQT97642 4 none T954
Partner passes and RHO opens a weak 2H. Do you bid here?
We had a nice auction with these hands:
[South] QJ543 42 AQ4 AQ5
[North] AK T JT65 KJT94
South first to bid:
1NT[1] – 2S[2]
2NT[3] – 3H[4]
4C[5] – 4NT [6]
5S[7] – 6C
1.15-17, often holds a five-card major
2.Either a balanced invitational hand or clubs
3.Minimum – with the invitational hand I would've passed
4.Shows a slam try with long clubs and short hearts
5.Natural and slam-positive [in the context of already having showed a minimum]
6.Keycard ask
7.Two keycards [two aces or one ace and the king of clubs] plus the queen of clubs
They led a heart to East's queen, and shot a diamond back through AQx. Michael took the percentage line by rejecting the finesse. He hopped up with the ace and drew two round of trumps, unblocked the ace and king of spades from the board, came back to hand with a high club drawing the last trump, and pitched three diamonds on his good spades. Well done!
There was a cute play position on this board:
[North] AT2 AK9542 J6 AQ
[South] Q84 J86 A8 T7532
I opened 1H as North. LHO stuck in a 2D bid. Partner raised to 2H, and that's all I needed – I jumped to 4H. LHO led the king of diamonds. I won on the table and tried to split the trumps 2-2, to no avail. RHO had a trump trick. So I exited with a diamond, putting LHO in a fix. Another diamond would give me a ruff-sluff, and she didn't want to lead away from the king of clubs, so she led a low spade. I played low from the table, and the king popped up on my right. I won the ace and decided it was a good time to try to endplay my right-hand opponent. I led out a heart, and he put a club back through my AQ. I finessed, losing to the king. LHO returned a diamond. I ruffed in hand, laid down the ace of clubs, and played out all of my trumps. Here's the position I saw when I led my last trump:
Q8
none
none
T
T2
2
none
none
I knew my LHO had the jack of spades, and hoped she had the jack of clubs. When she parted with a spade, I pitched the club from the table, and led to the queen of spades. The jack duly dropped on my left! I lost only a heart, a diamond, and a club. Making four!
(C) White vs. red
K42 A75 Q2 AKJ53
LHO opens 3D, partner doubles, and RHO passes. What's your call?
Monday, November 24, 2008
Warmup Pairs: First Thursday, Boston NABC
I played the first event at the Boston NABC – the Thursday Stratified Open Pairs – with Cincinnatan up-and comer Adam Parrish. Adam and I had a fabulous time but didn't matchpoint very well. Adam's lots of fun – we'll be playing the North American Swiss Teams later in the tournament.
All problems are matchpoints.
(A) Red vs. white
Q7 KJ984 AQJ52 8
Partner opens 1C, and over your 1H, rebids 3NT. What is he showing here? What's your bid?
(B) All white
AJT94 9 QJ7 9862
LHO opens 1NT, showing “good 10 to bad 13”. RHO invites with 2NT, and LHO bids 3NT, which gets passed around to you. Your call.
(C) Red vs. white
A3 AQT9753 742 8
LHO opens 1D. Pard passes, and RHO bids 1S.
(C1) What's your call?
(C2) LHO will pass, and RHO will bid 3NT over 2 or 3H. Your lead.
(D) All red
QT KJT832 J8 K92
Partner opens 1C. You respond 1H, He rebids 1S, and you bid 2H (showing constructive values). He rebids 2S, presumably 5=x=y=6. What's your call?
(E) All red
A AK74 AQ9854 52
There are two passes to you, and you open 1D. LHO overcalls 1S. Partner bids 2H, and RHO leaps to 4S. What's your bid?
Friday, November 21, 2008
Virginia Beach Morning Compact KO: Day Two
After barely surviving both round-robins of the day before, Geoff and I entered the semi-final of the Morning Compact KO.
Match One: We met up with one of the teams that had beaten us the day before.
(A) All white
RHO opens 2S, which gets passed around to partner. He balances with 3H, and RHO passes. What's your call?
(B) All red
RHO opens 2NT, 20-21. Everyone passes. What's your lead?
We had a great time of it at both tables -- final score (for 12 boards): 54-4. Revenge is sweet.
Match Two: We played against the Grand Old Couple of Mid-Atlantic bridge, the Bloomers. Always tough but always fun, George and Judith have been winning bridge tournaments since before my parents were alive.
(C) All white
The opponents have the uncontested auction of:
1NT [15-17] - 2D [transfer]; 2H - 3H; 3NT - Pass.
What's your lead?
(D) Red vs. white
LHO passes, partner opens 1D, and RHO bids 1S. What's your call? I bid 2D... but whatever you do, you'll be on lead against 4S when LHO forces to game. What's your lead?
(E) All white
Partner opens 1H. You force to game with 2D, and he rebids 2H. You show your second suit with 2S, and he rebids 2NT. What's your bid?
Final score: 40-10. We were much stronger as a team on the second day, and Geoff and I had many fewer misunderstandings. Hopefully we get the opportunity to play again sometime soon.
Match One: We met up with one of the teams that had beaten us the day before.
(A) All white
 T9764 |
 432 |
 AK95 |
 Q |
RHO opens 2S, which gets passed around to partner. He balances with 3H, and RHO passes. What's your call?
(B) All red
| T72 |
| Q43 |
| KT72 |
| AT2 |
RHO opens 2NT, 20-21. Everyone passes. What's your lead?
We had a great time of it at both tables -- final score (for 12 boards): 54-4. Revenge is sweet.
Match Two: We played against the Grand Old Couple of Mid-Atlantic bridge, the Bloomers. Always tough but always fun, George and Judith have been winning bridge tournaments since before my parents were alive.
(C) All white
| KJ9 |
| AK5 |
| K874 |
| T43 |
The opponents have the uncontested auction of:
1NT [15-17] - 2D [transfer]; 2H - 3H; 3NT - Pass.
What's your lead?
(D) Red vs. white
| J8 |
| Q5 |
| 98542 |
| Q964 |
LHO passes, partner opens 1D, and RHO bids 1S. What's your call? I bid 2D... but whatever you do, you'll be on lead against 4S when LHO forces to game. What's your lead?
(E) All white
| KQJ4 |
| A |
| KJ9763 |
| A6 |
Partner opens 1H. You force to game with 2D, and he rebids 2H. You show your second suit with 2S, and he rebids 2NT. What's your bid?
Final score: 40-10. We were much stronger as a team on the second day, and Geoff and I had many fewer misunderstandings. Hopefully we get the opportunity to play again sometime soon.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Boston NABC starts today!
Today is the start of the 2008 Fall NABC in Boston, MA. I'll be there through the bitter end. Internet access may be limited, but I'll try to keep you up to date on what's going on!
A few hands from Monday night
On Monday, I directed the local 199er game. An odd number of people showed up without partners, so I sat in with John. We came in first by less than half a matchpoint -- sorry, Colvilles! [I'm not eligible to win masterpoints in this game, but my partner is.] There were a few very interesting hands.
First, I held
at favorable vulnerability. There were two passes to me. I opened 1D, LHO doubled, pard redoubled, and RHO bid 1S. It didn't seem right to beat around the bush here, so I just threw out 4H, hoping he'd pull to 5D with short hearts. It worked well... he held
On a spade lead, I pitched a club and lost only a club and two hearts.
Then came this hand:
I opened 1C at all white, and partner bid 2NT. I wasn't sure how to find out if 6N would be any better than 6C, so I just shot out 6C. Everyone passed, and LHO led the jack of diamonds. I saw:
I was relieved to see that 6N would be down on a diamond lead. Twelve tricks were there for the taking -- seven clubs, three hearts, one diamond, and one spade -- but at matchpoints, garnering an overtrick can be very important. So I tried to find a thirteenth trick while making sure to not give up my twelfth.
I won the diamond in hand with the stiff ace, and led a trump to the ten [both opponents following - now there's only one left out]. I led a low diamond off the table, and RHO played the king! There's one hurdle crossed. I ruffed high in my hand (safety first! I severely doubt RHO made this play from seven diamonds to the KT, but you never know) and went back to the king of clubs, drawing the last trump. I cashed the queen of diamonds (RHO showing out) pitching a spade, and led out all of my trumps (throwing spades from dummy). Here's the position when I led my last trump from hand:
So I led the last club. I knew LHO had the diamond ten left, so when she threw away a heart, I could safely pitch the nine from dummy. RHO looked rather uncomfortable, and I knew I had them. RHO also pitched a heart, and I led out the top hearts dropping RHO's jack for making seven. RHO needed to keep Jxxx of hearts and the ace of spades for her last four cards, and that's certainly impossible!
This isn't a true double squeeze, in that my LHO wasn't squeezed at all -- but if she'd had the heart length instead of her partner, she would've been squeezed between Jxxx of hearts and the ten of diamonds.
It's possible that this ending wouldn't produce 13 tricks if LHO had the ace of spades to go with the ten of diamonds and RHO had sole control of the heart suit, but in that case, I would've just had the twelve tricks I started with!
First, I held
| none |
| QJ985 |
| AKQJ64 |
| T8 |
at favorable vulnerability. There were two passes to me. I opened 1D, LHO doubled, pard redoubled, and RHO bid 1S. It didn't seem right to beat around the bush here, so I just threw out 4H, hoping he'd pull to 5D with short hearts. It worked well... he held
| A5 |
| 7642 |
| 85 |
| K9542 |
On a spade lead, I pitched a club and lost only a club and two hearts.
Then came this hand:
| K52 |
| A7 |
| A |
| AQJ9873 |
I opened 1C at all white, and partner bid 2NT. I wasn't sure how to find out if 6N would be any better than 6C, so I just shot out 6C. Everyone passed, and LHO led the jack of diamonds. I saw:
| Q7 |
| KQT3 |
| Q963 |
| KT2 |
| K52 |
| A7 |
| A |
| AQJ9873 |
I was relieved to see that 6N would be down on a diamond lead. Twelve tricks were there for the taking -- seven clubs, three hearts, one diamond, and one spade -- but at matchpoints, garnering an overtrick can be very important. So I tried to find a thirteenth trick while making sure to not give up my twelfth.
I won the diamond in hand with the stiff ace, and led a trump to the ten [both opponents following - now there's only one left out]. I led a low diamond off the table, and RHO played the king! There's one hurdle crossed. I ruffed high in my hand (safety first! I severely doubt RHO made this play from seven diamonds to the KT, but you never know) and went back to the king of clubs, drawing the last trump. I cashed the queen of diamonds (RHO showing out) pitching a spade, and led out all of my trumps (throwing spades from dummy). Here's the position when I led my last trump from hand:
| none |
| KQT3 |
| 9 |
| none |
| K5 |
| A7 |
| none |
| A |
This isn't a true double squeeze, in that my LHO wasn't squeezed at all -- but if she'd had the heart length instead of her partner, she would've been squeezed between Jxxx of hearts and the ten of diamonds.
It's possible that this ending wouldn't produce 13 tricks if LHO had the ace of spades to go with the ten of diamonds and RHO had sole control of the heart suit, but in that case, I would've just had the twelve tricks I started with!
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