We played an eight board swiss match against four WBF ranked players (Woman Master, World Life Master, and two Grand Life Masters. Note that these aren't namby pamby titles like ACBL Life Master, since three of them have won a Rosenblum, two won a Bermuda bowl, etc.). I declared six of the eight boards, and had a GLM in my seat at the other table, so I hoped that we'd win big and I'd get a nice blog post. I think there was one IMP decided by card play (I was defending that board) and everything else happened in the bidding. I declared a slam carefully, when I might have gone down, but they weren't in slam at the other table. I lost 11 IMPs in 3N down two when my counterpart made an overtrick, but that all due to the opening lead. GLM on my left led SQ from SQTx (?) and my teammate led a club up to declarer's KJT8x, so that was a two trick difference (the overtrick was gravy). I was so annoyed when I heard their auction. I held A9 K98x Jx KJT8x, and the uncontested auction at the other table was 1D-1H, 1S-3N.

REALLY? I mean, why can't pard hold Kxxx A Axxx Axxx (slam is good), or KQxx A Axxx Axxx or Kxxx A Axxx AQxx (slam is excellent) or even KQxx A Axxx AQxx (grand is excellent. I realize pard might jump over 1H, but try getting to 7C now...).

Anyway, that was super unjust, but we still won 14/20 VPs.


BTW, in another match we had an aggressive auction to 6S:

ATxx Kx KQ98x Ax
KQJx AJTx J7 Qxx

The beer (D7) made me do it:

1N-2C
2H-3D
3S-4C
4N-6S

1N was 15-17. 3D was natural, game forcing. 4C was a control bid for spades (with both minors pard would start with 2S not 2C). 4N was rolling.

LHO led CJ and what's your line? Keep in mind she had already led from the club king against SEVEN DIAMONDS this round. I know they say to lead clubs against slams, but that's ridiculous.

Anyway, I thought about the dummy for a minute then won CA, SK, and tabled HJ. She covered and I won, drew trumps (they broke), cashed hearts pitching my club loser, and led DJ, with the DT dropping eventually.

FOR A PUSH! I don't know how they got to 6S, but they played it the other direction and got a heart lead. (N.B. Opening leads from three small worked very, very poorly all day).

Current Mood: content

You hold AT62 Q87 KJ2 432 and open 1N (10-12) at matchpoints. The opponents bid naturally:

1N-2S-P-3D, P-P-X

Your partnership agreement is to lead trumps against doubled partscores, so you lead a small diamond. Dummy tracks KQ873 A93 864 T7 and pard wins DA, then plays another diamond and you draw a third round of trump.

Just for fun, I'll tell you that pard started with 954 J652 A7 KJ65 and deep finesse thinks you can hold them to eight tricks. What do you play to trick four and why?

I haven't run this through a double dummy analyzer, but it looks like the quickest way to set the contract is to duck a diamond to declarer's singleton jack!

Current Mood: amused

9) 3rd, favorable
ATxxxx Q9xx AKx -

1C-1S
1N-2D
2H-2S
3S-5C
5S-?

1C may be as few as two cards, with a weak NT
1N was 13-15 (not a really good 15)
2D was artificial, game forcing checkback
2H showed 4H, did not deny 3S
5C was exclusion RKC (pard showed 2 without)
Now what?

I wasn't ABSOLUTELY positive pard would take 6H as a signoff, but I was almost sure. Still, I bid 6S in case pard had something like KJx AJTx Qxx Qxx, since I can afford to lose a heart finesse as long as it doesn't result in a spade ruff! Not to mention, pard might have KJx Axxx xx Axxx and RHO might have KHJTxx!

In practice, pard had Kxx AJxx xx AQxx, and I ruffed two clubs along the way (trumps were 2-2) to see if I could drop CK and make seven with HK onside long.

Timed properly, if LHO has CK you can make seven anyway:

On a trump lead draw trumps, DA, DK, ruff, CA, C ruff, lead to HJ, C ruff, run trumps for the club heart squeeze.


4) 1st, both
Qxxx AKxxxx x Kx

1H-2N
3D-3H
?

2N is 4+ hearts, game forcing (not my favorite treatment)
3D is a singleton or void in diamonds, with or without extras (not my favorite treatment)
3H is a punt

We play 3S here as a non-specific, non-serious slam try. 3N would be a "serious" slam try. How do you evaluate this hand? Do you want partner to cooperate in a slam auction without any extra values, even with good controls? Or do you want to back pedal with your 12 HCP?

Since SAK and a minor ace makes slam worthwhile to wonderful pretty much regardless of partner's shape, I think you should make a serious slam try. We control bid first and second round controls economically, so 4C is just right. Pard, with AK Jxxx QJ9 Axxx would sign off over a wimpy 3S try.


31) 1st, unfavorable
AKJxx x KQx QTxx

1S-2C
3H-4C
4S-4N
?

2C is game forcing
3H is a singleton or void in hearts, club support, significant extra values (3C would have shown modest extras, usually four card support)
4C is natural (I think Redwood here has negative utility, though most of the Diamond LM's I know love it)
4D over 4C would have been RKC (I'm not a Luddite, I just don't like Redwood) so 4S is a control bid for clubs, neutral about diamond control

So, what is 4N and what's your call?

Pard could have bid RKC with 4D over 3H, so the RKC boat has sailed. It's either a diamond control bid, or it's rolling, too strong to back pedal with 5C, basically demanding slam when pard has diamond control. I prefer that treatment. What are the odds pard wants to show diamond control on this auction, but can't afford to pass 5C?

Pard had Qx AJx xx AKxxxx, so we had about 16 winners after the DA lead.

Current Location: United States, California, San Francisco
Current Mood: tired

1) Both, IMPs, 1st seat
Ax xxxx Axx AT9x

1C-1H, 2H-2S, ?

2S is natural (think KQxx), trying for game. I bid 4H, pard went down. What do you think?
If he had something like Kxxx Axxxx xx xx I want to be in game, red at IMPs, since it's over 37.5%, and he should be better than that. I like aces...


2) None, IMPs, 3rd
Ax ATx AJ A98xxx

Pard opens 1N (14+ to 17), opps silent. What's your plan?

We play Walsh relay, so we bid:

1N-2D, 2H-2S, 2N-3C, 3N-4N, 6C

2D was, ostensibly, a transfer to hearts. 2S forced 2N. 3C showed a single suited slam
try with 6+ clubs, but not a great suit. 3N denied interest. 4N was quantitative, asking for
any non-min (4S would have asked for a max). Pard had KQTxx KJx Qx KTx.

I got a heart lead, and led up to CT, to secure my contract. LHO had singleton CJ so I
made seven. At the other table, they bid 1S-2C, 2N-4N, 6N and got a diamond lead,
then misguessed clubs for down one.


I'd waited at least 15 years for a walsh relay auction, and it was nice to reach the right contract for the right reasons. If pard had a max with bad clubs, like KQJ KQxx KQxx xx I'd be happy staying low, though that would be a pretty deep position. I definitely didn't want to force to slam if pard had a min and no interest in clubs.

Current Mood: happy

A9753 AQ7 AKT9 2
KQ4 K964 QJ6 J83

1C-(1S)-1N, P-3N

Down 1, -100, win three IMPs!

At the other table 6S went down two. Granovetter got what he deserved for overcalling 1S on JT862 82 87 QT65!

Rubber bridge at the Mayfair my butt. I wouldn't be surprised if Ira Rubin tracked him down tonight and (expletives deleted).

Current Mood: cheerful

There are lots of people who play SO SLOWLY you don't know what they're thinking about. Ever. Other people think about valid bridge problems. You can take some of that offline, though. Say you know RHO has 5 spades, 3 hearts, and 2 clubs. 13-(5+3+2) = 3, so he has 3 diamonds. Easy, right? Everybody knows that. But not everybody memorizes it. If you memorize all the distributions, then you don't need to do math. If you're slow at arithmetic, that can speed up your game a lot. Next time, just say 5...3...2...THREE, without the math.

So, memorization is great. Sometimes. The problem memorization, as with anything, is overdoing it. If you memorize something that doesn't always apply (like 2nd hand low, say) you give yourself a mental block. That's a bad idea, though arguably still better than playing super slowly.

I gave myself a mental block to pitch a loser on a loser. A few months ago I built a winner and pitched my loser on the loser but I should have pitched a potential winner on the loser, then pitched my loser on the established winner. It was SUPER costly when the cards hit the 1% chance where it mattered. And my partner expressed his...discontent.

It came up again this weekend, and I got it right. Yay me, for overcoming my learning disability. BTW, I wrote up this deal using bridgebase's deal viewer. Pretty neat, huh?

http://tinyurl.com/df5hju

In the August, 2007 ACBL bulletin, Marty had an article about this card combination:

9865
AJ432

There's a similar one in the 2001 Encyclopedia of contract bridge (AJ9xx opposite xxxx) but that's a little different since you can't pick up KQT7 onside with the actual holding.

He says "if East-West clubs split 2-2, your play doesn't matter." That means he'll play the ace on either the first or second trick. He then says that when RHO plays the 7 he'll play the ace, because QT7 and KT7 are twice as likely as KQ7. He finishes by saying you should finesse the jack if RHO plays the T instead of the 7.

Ok, fine. Not to mention this was in the intermediate players section, and he specified that RHO is a "normal" intermediate player. Still, against an expert, is it right to play the ace? If RHO will play the T from T7 (and why wouldn't he?) you can finesse the J and then cash the ace (remember, he claimed all doubletons), but now a T from QT7 or KT7 picks up a second trick for RHO.

The encyclopedia gives different probabilities of picking up the suit for one loser, and different lines of play, based on whether RHO will falsecard the T from those three holdings. Well done, ACBL! It also gives a probability of picking up the suit when RHO will split from KQ7. That's pretty optimistic.

If you're not sure you'd find this falsecard, as RHO, at the table, just remember it the way I do: play upside down count.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: I Fought the Law - The Clash

I rarely enjoy a 4/5 place in the one session unit swiss teams, especially with a blitz in the wrong column. This time was different. I played two strip squeezes!

7) 1st, both
Jx AQxx - AKJxxxx

1C-2H-P-P, 3C-P-P-P

LHO starts by giving her partner a heart ruff, and you play 3C:

Axx T98 Txxxxx Q
Jx AQxx - AKJxxxx

RHO returns DK. Now what?

I pitched a spade, ruffed the next diamond (LHO played the ace), cashed CQ (both follow),
so I could afford to ruff a diamond high (lho pitched a heart), and draw another trump, both following. Now I can claim 10 tricks! LHO has to be 3=6=2=2, so I can cash two more trumps and he cannot afford to pitch two more hearts, coming down to KJ tight, or I can establish my hearts, so he must pitch a spade. Then SA, S ruff, small heart endplays him. I suppose, if he's classy, he'd duck the heart and say "Lucky, lucky"


14) 4th, unfavorable
AT8 xxx Kxx AQTx

1C-1H-1S-P, 1N-P-3N-P, P-P

LHO leads HK and you play 3N with:

KQ76 A9xx QJx Jx
AT8 xxx Kxx AQTx

Weird. You have 13 opposite 13, both jacks are working, two tens are working, and 3N is terrible.

I ducked the first two hearts, and won the third (RHO pitched two discouraging clubs). Shoot, no club finesse here. Now, I admit, the deal is a bit flawed. I had to use my Jedi powers to get RHO to win one of the first two rounds of diamonds, then not switch to a club. No problem. She ducked the small diamond from dummy, won the second, then cleared her (entryless) diamonds. Yay. Now four spades, one heart, two diamonds, and a lead away from CK give me nine tricks. LHO pitched a club on the third diamond, btw. It looks like LHO is 3=5=2=3 or 2=5=2=4. I don't have the entries to cash a high spade then finesse the ten, but 1=5=2=5 with a stiff SJ isn't that likely anyway. What's percentage? A priori a finesse is better than a 3-3 break, though it's better to play spade from the top if you have another entry to dummy (I didn't). Still, as the Hideous Hog said, ceteris is never parabis. Does the auction suggest LHO has a tenth high card point? Or a side four card suit?

I broke the tie by deciding not to go down two (spade finesse losing, LHO cashes hearts for down one, exits safely with a spade, and gets CK for down two). So I cashed SA, K, Q (RHO shows out, oh well) and threw LHO in with a heart. Strip squeeze for -50, but I won two IMPs!

Current Mood: happy

Someone from the club asked me to play, and just a few weeks later I sat west in the unit game. Here are a few somewhat interesting deals:

2) 3rd, favorable
Q64 9754 K6 T972

P-P-?

This seems like a clear 1S opener, so why mess around?

P-P-1S-2D, 3D-P-?

It's absolutely clear to bid 3S if you don't want to give away the show. I passed, hoping LHO would be green enough (even though he's red) to pass. I got my wish, once again confirming that it's EXTREMELY important to wish for the right thing.

Pard got out, miraculously, down four, -200. They can make 5N. There was a 660 for north/south, and any notrump part score would have been worth 210 for them, but nobody got there. Sheesh. One stupid matchpoint for us. The best laid plans of mice...


3) RHO was running her trumps in four of a major after playing club, club, club ruff. Our clubs were 4-4, so I had to decide when to pitch my last club, so pard would know it was safe to pitch hers. I could do it early, middle, or late. I picked middle, and that was wrong. I haven't studied this theory enough. With one regular partner, I would pitch it right away, since she would go into the tank, literally, forever if I made things tough early.


22) 3rd, unfavorable
Qxxx JTxxx ATxx -

P-P-?

This seems like a clear 1H opener, so why mess around?

We bid, uncontested:

P-1H, 1N-2D, 4D-P

1N was not forcing. I later suggested 2S was available as a strong diamond raise.
Pard was a bit quacky for a four level bid, regardless:

AJT Qx J9xxx QJx
Qxxx JTxxx ATxx -

CT-J-K-?

I found SKxx in the pocket, 3-1 diamonds with a stiff honor, and there was no trump promotion, so I scored +130, for a top.



And here's a "bridge" story you'll love.

I decided to play Frankenstein (the doctor, not the monster) and put together two players to be my GNT teammates. After about 70 phone calls, I arranged for one to drive 3.5 hours to play pairs with the other, then play teams with me the following day. Spiffy.

Then I read in the unit column in the forum (not my unit, btw, so I'm probably one of three people in the world reading another unit's column) that the sectional was cancelled! Sheesh.

Current Mood: silly

I met Les Bart at a nationals. He gave me a handout on his convention, and I'd heard good things about it, so I read a few Bridge World articles and decided to give it a try. I moved a few calls around, and here's what I play now.

a) 1S-1N is semi-forcing, so I can pass if I won't accept a balanced invite or a three card limit raise.

b) 1S-1N, 2C can be 5=3=3=2. 1S-1N, 2D promises four.

c) 1S-1N, 2C-2D asks opener to rebid as if I had a weak hand with at least six hearts. If he bids above 2H, it shows interest in game opposite that hand. If he bids 2H and I pull, different bids show different hand types (duh) and cancel the previous message.

d) 1S-1N, 2C-2H shows five hearts and another place to play (2 spades, 5 diamonds, 4 clubs or, maybe, 1=5=4=3). Opener pulls to 2S with short hearts, then responder tries another strain. 1S-1N, 2C-2H, 2S-2N shows 1=5=4=3, and wishes partner luck on finding a decent home.

e) If you have 1=4=5=3 you are in trouble. I recommend you pass 1S, even with a seven count, especially at matchpoints. I just watched some juniors land in their 5-1 spade fit, down three, and they were LUCKY because of the random pull from their 3-2 club fit! Seriously, if you're lucky pard will pass 1N, or rebid something other than 2C, or have at least four clubs. I'm not usually that lucky.

f) I prefer to play 1S-2N is game forcing, balanced. Then 1S-3C is a forcing raise, 1S-3N is a strong notrump, and 1S-1N, 2C-3N is the "Invite" with long clubs and 0-1 spade.

Here's what the bids through 3N mean. A "bid" of 2C after 1S-1N, 2C is really just a pass. Hope that's not too confusing:

	Over 1S	Over 1S-1N, 2C	Over 1S-1N, 2C-2D, 2H
1N	Semi-forcing
2C	GF	To play
2D	GF	Marionette to 2H
2H	GF	Flexible	To play
2S	3+ spades, about 7-10	2+ spades, about 5-7	2 spades, about 8-10
2N	4 card game forcing raise	Balanced invite, 1-2 spades, 2-3 clubs	Balanced invite, 4+ clubs
3C	Invite, long clubs, 0-1 spade	5+ clubs, about 8-9	5+ clubs, about 10-11
3D	Invite, long diamonds, 0-1 spade	6+ diamonds, weak	Invite, long diamonds, 2 spades
3H	Invite, long hearts, 0-1 spade	Invite, 6 bad hearts, 2 spades	Invite, long hearts, 2 spades
3S	4 card limit raise	3 card limit raise	4-3-3-3, choice of games
3N	13-15, flat, 3 spades	6+ clubs, 0-1 spade, lots of shape, about 8-9	"Invite", long clubs, 2 spades

Current Mood: productive