Month: July 2007

Hi all

No inspiration and little material for stories this week. At Dombo there were several crazy games, lots of voids and 7+ card suits flying around, but there’s just not much to tell about that. So here’s a compilation from last week, a sensitivity theme.

This is Hoek’s hand. He heard me open 1 (unbalanced), his RHO jumped to 2 (weak) and he showed his four card  suit with a negative double. Lefty raised to the three level and I introduced , again a level higher. Well, Hoek knows me a little by now, I have shape instead of points.

But what to do?

I like Hoek’s arguments for bidding 4. You have not enough to raise partner to the game, but you do want to bid on if partner has extras. If I had an Ace extra I would have bid the same, and then we would have reached game. Not now, 4 was passed out, and the lucky break in trumps brought us ten tricks. Switching back to 4 may seem dangerous, it’s only a 5-3 fit, but in 4 they are losers just the same .

On the next deal my partner (Peter-Paul) had to play 6. Due to heavy interference in  and a little bit of insecurity we missed our best spot in 6.

West led a . Peter-Paul took the lead in dummy (discarding a ), crossed to his Ace and back to the King. He tried to cash the other two honours, but East ruffed one of them. That and a inevitable  loser led to down one. So his plan would have worked out if either the would split 4-3, or a doubleton trump with the doubleton . The odds seem reasonable.

Here’s my plan: take the lead (discard a ), ruff a , ruff a , cross to the Ace of and ruff your last with the King. Now you have to get to your hand and the only way is to ruff another . Draw trumps then, and take the right decision in . It’s not particularly hard on this deal. It looks as if my plan is succesful if trumps are 3-2 (barring some extreme distributions). Nothing more. If one of my faithful readers has another view on this matter, feel free to react.

Hi all

Between the mummy and some Dead Sea Scrolls I found this dusty deal in my room. What I can remember is that I was unable to formulate a solid plan. I just started playing and finally ended up with ten miraculous tricks.

North opened a weak NT and I ended up playing 4. When dummy hit the table (West led a ) I had nothing but vibrations and my gut, I saw no clear route to ten tricks. If I remember correctly I was busy with damage control instead of making. At first sight it seems there is just too much to do: draw trumps, develop and avoid losing too many tricks.

I took the lead in hand and crossed to the King of . Next a to my King and still no clouds to be seen. I exited with a small East taking with the Ace. After some thought East decided to cash the Ace and I ruff. A ruff brings down the Queen and I discard a on a high . West ruffs.

Huh? Yes, are 1-6.

West tries to give his partner a ruff but East has no trumps anymore. I’m in control now and claim ten tricks, losing two trumps and a .

Did you spot East’s error? How can East put West on lead to play a second round of trumps?

Here’s how: if he had inserted his Queen he can duck the second round of , leaving West on lead with the Ten to play a killing trump.

I wonder how to summon this trance again where my subconsciousness takes over. These kinds of plans never work out when I’m paying attention or put a lot of sweaty effort in devising a plan.

Hi all

Last night pairs at Dombo, I played with Frank. About half the games we soared through the skies scoring top after top after top. Now in my deepest and darkest voice, the other twelve games were bottom low. Sometimes we went so deep down we could say hi to Kerberos in the underworld.

Here we soared.

1. Fitshowing
2. I control and

Frank ruffed a in dummy and claimed twelve tricks. Easy.

Here we took a plunge, head first.

1. Fourth suit forcing

When I look at the auction now I see stress and insecurity. Let’s see what went wrong. With almost eight tricks in my hand I should do more than just a timid 2 after a two-over-one, a 3 bid is certainly justified. After Frank’s reverse I had too much power I had not shown yet, but I could not repair anymore. And when I asked for Aces I didn’t get the information I wanted/needed. If Frank had asked for Aces his picture about my hand would have been complete and he might have been able to pick the right spot in 6NT.

There was no little voice in my head saying 5 is worth zilch in pairs, only dead silence. Luckily it wasn’t a complete zero for us, because one pair went down in 6 on an enemy cross ruff.

Hi all

Hoek and I practiced our team skills last Tuesday. During summer the field is too random to play just solid matchpoint bridge. You have to kill some palooka’s to score above average, else other people will do and leave you empty handed. There is a dangerous downside playing soft opposition, you don’t get put to the test. And that can lead to a comfortable laziness. Hoek and I were invited to show our skills in a teams match against strong opponents.

Hoek wasn’t afraid when he bid a vulnerable game on the following deal. His reasoning was clean and clear as always, when I have four trumps and bring a significant number of tricks I bid game. So true, but they didn’t bid it at the other table.

1. Landy, showing both Majors

At both tables slam was reached with the following hands:

North produced a masterbid with 4 and slam was reached. I don’t know how they bid slam at the other table, but I really like 4 here. It is a well timed bid that should make your partner smile for the rest of the evening.

The rest of the boards were kinda flat, so there was little room to score. In the end, due to a defensive error and a few scattered imps we lost the match by 10.

Hi all

On Friday Dennis and I tried to shine at BCO (pairs). One of the first games I’m in 3NT, I screw up badly. Developing my opponents suits is generally spoken a bad thing. A game later I double my opponent in 4 (via some insecure Ghestem sequence). She was holding a solid 6-6 and dummy brought some usefull cards too. Two overtricks were possible but she might have felt sorry for me. I’m very familiar with these kind of nights, it’s a struggle for points.

Vulnerable against not I open 1NT (12-14). Suddenly everybody has something to say.

1. 12-14
2. Takeout

What the hell? Dennis picks my five card suit. What kind of hand does he have?

A takeout double doesn’t promise a strong hand, we agreed Rubensohl for that. No, a competitive 34/43-0-6 (maybe an offensive 34/43-1-5) fits his bidding better. But what to do? I still have five trumps and an Ace, but it’s value is near worthless opposite a void. I’d be happy to trade my honours for the Ace of . No, my hand contains too many losers and too little power for game, I decide.

West isn’t done bidding yet: 4. Passed to me.

I crumble. I have no idea what to do. Let’s bring out Larry Cohen, maybe he has some ideas. It looks like there are 21 trumps together (11 + 10 = 21 trumps). I estimate points are divided about even. I’m holding about 1.5 defensive tricks and can account Dennis probably for the same amount. This brings me nowhere, I still don’t know what to do.

We won’t get very rich from +100 if we are cold a partscore and I don’t believe we will collect +300. I pass with more than just a little remorse.

The King in dummy made my heart jump. We will surely score plus this game. I get a ruff too and we score +100. A large part of the field went down in 5. If you switch the King and King in East-West 4 is a big candidate to make.

Hi all

Last night at Dombo I played with Wim vd F. Solid bridge like always and we agreed some fancy 2-level openings: either a weak hand in the suit bid or 4-5 in the two suits above with opening values and not forcing. The consequences for your 1-level openings and responses are quite nice. But it only occurred a few times, not enough to give me a clear idea about it’s effectiveness/destructiveness.

Here’s a little gem. Take ten in spades.

East led a and I took stock. If trumps are 2-2 then this is easy. Can I cope with trumps not splitting? Yes, if the Ace of is favourably placed.

Can I get home if it’s offside? Yes. Here’s the full layout, I’ll walk you through.

You take the lead in hand and give away your Queen of . Let’s assume East persists in , you take it and cross to trump Ace. Now play a to your King, West takes his Ace. It looks like you have four inescapable losers now, two a and a trump. Watch carefully.

West returns a , you ruff it. You cash your King of trumps (maybe they are 2-2). Now ruff a , ruff a and cash the Queen of . The harbour is in sight already.

When you play the last from South, West has nothing to gain by ruffing in the air, so a goes away. You ruff the last from dummy with your 8, West still has to follow suit. You put your loser on the table and both opponents claim it.

Let there be fusion. Melt together your losers.

Hi all

Last night at Star. Hoek and I are on a steady +20 imp per match. Not bad, but looking at the mistakes and several “Sorry, we have no agreements yet” it could have been so much better.

1. Unbalanced, 4+
2. Splinter
3. I have all controls, how about trumps?

No Ace asking, just thoughtfull and clear bidding. Sometimes I wonder about those Viking tools I spent so much time with developing and memorizing.

But we dug up more than just gold. Here’s a fine example of misunderstood dirt.

Hoek (North) opened 1 and jumped to 4 when I responded 1. I had extras, the King of is certainly worth a lot, but I was afraid of more than one loser so I put a reluctant pass on the table. Thirteen tricks later Hoek and I had a small discussion.

A jump to 4 shows a solid suit with (at least) four , so that one is not possible. A direct jump to game shows a weakish hand with at least ten red cards. But you have way too much strength and first controls for that. So a slam invitational splinter remains. I guess we would have bid slam then.

Hi all

No more whining. Though my opponents did when this game was finished. I really got away with murder, me carrying a bloody knife on the scene of the crime. Anyone call CSI and NCIS?

After pass – 3 it’s my turn. Lots of ugly, ugly points, but with a very good suit. I cannot bid 4 because of Leaping Michaels’ and I’m looking at way too many losers for 5. No, the bare King of didn’t stop me in bidding 3NT, partner surely has something that combines into a stopper (I pray a little).

Lefty kicks off with the Ten. This is the full layout:

East ducked the lead and when the broke 2-2 I claimed the fastest nine tricks ever. East shrieked in agony that from a doubleton West should always lead the lower one and some foul language crosses the table. I wipe a little sweat from my forehead and write +600.

Hi all

So little time. My new job is like a dream come true, but it leaves little room for writing. I just have to beat the drums the right way and get used to the rythm. Here are two slams from Star:

 

1. unbalanced (4+ )

Hoek wanted to get two messages across with one bid: his slam aspirations and his fit. But the resulting sequence doesn’t look really smooth. Certainly, it’s an excellent contract, even slightly better than 6. But still, there was no designated captain in the bidding, so grand investigation was impossible. If the EW cards are split something like this:
 

Then 6 is always down, while in 6 you can eliminate all suits and with a loser on loser play achieve a placing. The following ruff and sluff let’s you discard your other loser.

Another slam.

 
Hoek and I weren’t able to bid this bleeding edge slam on very minimal values. Too bad! But these little diamonds really make my bridgelife shine. If anyone sees a sensible way to reach slam (West will overcall), please, feel free to comment.