Month: October 2007

Hi all

Some pairs night Hoek and I sit down against two charming ladies. 

1. 15-19 balanced or unbal 4+

I felt my Viking heritage emerge. Envisioning both and Ace and some honour I can see 6 is to claim, or at finesse at most. The opponents have already made clear my partner is ultrashort in . It’s the brutal optimism of the Viking nature, when I bid 6 I could swear I heard hungry wolves cry. I notice my partner’s face turns ashy grey.  

Hoek erred during the play. But he’s hard to blame when partner blasts to slam on such marginal values without any scientific enquiries. I guess it’s hard to deal with a Viking partner when you’re not yet familiar with his habits.

Here’s what could have happened. East started with the King and continued with the Queen. There’s is a very faint beep on the heart monitor, but the patient is still alive. Ruff the continuation. Cross to the King of and isolate the menace by ruffing another one. Ruff a high in dummy, cross in trumps, ruff another high in dummy, and cross again to hand with the last trump. Now when you play the remaining trumps and Ace of , you squeeze East out of her spade guard or her honours.

Hi all

I won’t waste any time, here’s a 3NT from Star.  

South started with 1 (preparing for a strong NT), West interfered with 1 and the auction ended in 3NT. West kicked off with a small and a rich dummy comes down.

That’s an awful lot of points together, so nine tricks should be easy, not? Count first, there are three , a , two and two available. You just need to conjure one little, cute extra trick. There are several chances, could be 3-3, a working finesse, and there are even distant throw in and/or squeeze possibilities.

I’m still surprised and a bit disturbed that the majority of declarers (including my partner *sorry Hoek*), overlooked the safetyplay in .

Start with the King of and then play a small towards your hand and cover everything East inserts. You win with every 3-2 split, and you can cope with every 4-1 or even 5-0 split.

I think Hoek got punished badly for overlooking the safety play, but on the other hand with these kinds of games you can make or break your own luck.

It’s funny, I was completing this story about safety and nine solid tricks in 3NT, when I found out Marcel Winkel (very likeable and famous Dutch ‘Meesterklasse’ contender) had written too about the same deal.
Mumbles something about great minds…

Hi all

My pen must have gained some extra superdimensional mass, I haven’t been able to pick it up lately. But this weekend teams season starts, so hopefully I can dig up some stories (or my muse) then. Here’s a nice play by Hoek.

Dummy hits the table and you’re surprised, 5 is near cold.

There are ten tricks and all you have to do is find the Queen of for +400. Go get your looking glass and trenchcoat and play the detective. You know, snoop around a little, acquire your intel from smelly people in dark alleys and smoke a lollipop. Do you feel like Columbo already? West starts with a small for East’s Ace and three seconds later the Queen greets you with a faint smile.

Okay, let’s take an analytical stroll together. The points are divided evenly, so you can assume East’s jump to game is based upon distribution instead of sheer point power. If West has raised on a three card East holds seven of them. Distributional power? Put check mark here.

One round of trumps extracts all enemy trumps, you proceed with a ruff and exit in for East’s Ten. The Jack also tries to claim a trick but you ruff it. Take the finesse now? There’s no rush, you can postpone it. Let’s see what happens if you drop your trumps on the table, here’s the layout on the penultimate one:

Is there more information about distribution? Both opponents have a stiff . East is holding seven . And the way he played the suit… I would bet East to hold a 7-2-3-1. That leaves a 3-5-4-1 for West. Estimated hands and point count do comply with the bidding. Another check mark.

The answer is easy: West gets squeezed out of his third on the final trump, for he has to guard the 8 in dummy. And East is known for holding two at most. So there’s no need to finesse. You can just play Ace-King and kiss the Queen hello. "Darling! I’m thrilled to see you show up after all!"