Month: October 2009

UFO? Meth lab? Fireworks?

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Hi all

Welcome to my “quiet Berkeley neighborhood”. Last night an explosion rocked the street (KTVU). Bomb disposal team & hazardous material specialists running rampant but there’s no official statement on what happened just two houses from my bed. Time for some speculation I guess…

I have a deal for you too, from Santa Cruz.

North
AKJ98642
QJ
J9
Q

Greg heard me open 1 and this was the auction:

West
North
East
South
 
 
pass
1
pass
1NT1
pass
32
pass
33
pass
34
pass
45
pass
46
pass
pass7
a.p.
 

1. GF relay
2. Maximum (14-15 HCP), 5-5
3. Relay
4. 1-5-5-2
5. Aces?
6. Two of the same color
7. Not enough for slam

Greg looked at a unavoidable loser and he wasn’t particularly happy with the trump situation so he passed at game level. I can confess I was a bit scared when he passed my 4 answer. I had no idea what was going on.

Full deal:

East Dealer
NS Vul
North
AKJ98642
QJ
J9
Q
West
Q5
743
832
A9643
East
T3
K82
764
KJ752
South
7
AT965
AKQT5
T8

Of course the trumps came tumbling down so twelve tricks where easy. At the other table our teammates witnessed an enthusiastic North bidding slam on his own. Lose thirteen. Meh!

Powerlift

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Hi all

This deal is from the Santa Cruz sectional last weekend. I was playing with Greg, with Andrew and Hansa as teammates. It was a nice day with reasonable play.

South
Q7
AQ4
KQ865
854
West
North
East
South
 
11
1
DBL2
pass
2
pass
23
pass
2
pass
3NT
pass
4
pass
5
a.p.
 
 
  1.  16+
  2. 5-7 hcp takeout-ish, or any GF hand without a describing bid
  3. Too strong for an immediate jump to 3NT

The interference was minimal, but very effective as our relay auction had been disrupted. I had powerful trumps sitting over East, but with the unfavourable vulnerability I didn’t want to try to deconstruct 1. In the rest of the auction Greg was able to show his 4-4-0-5 (with extras because he passed 3NT) the natural way. I considered a powerlift to 6, but because of my huge wastage in and no significant support for any of Greg’s suits I decided against it.

North Dealer
NS Vul
North
AKT3
KJT2
–
AQJT9
West
9652
8763
93
K62
East
J84
95
AJT742
73
South
Q7
AQ4
KQ865
854

Because the trump King was onside thirteen tricks were easy on the Ace lead. Greg had every spot card in to make 6 yawningly boring. I don’t feel too bad for missing out on slam here, as our opponents stopped in game as well.

Inverted Midas

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Hi all

September was a good month. I made some progress with my Oracle DBA 2 course, in two weeks or so I’ll be able to apply for the vendor exam. My remote database job has been working out too (read: I didn’t break too many things). But to all nice songs come ends, and the same thing applies here: they don’t have enough Oracle clients to keep me for a permanent position.

Oh well, I’ll take my mind off of things with a new project: brewing my own beer. We bought hops, grain, yeast and some other ingredients for our own Pale Ale. We’ll start easy and small, only a 5 gallon batch. In a month I’ll publish the results and the size of my hangover.

This deal is from a Sunday afternoon game in El Cerrito.

North
KQ982
K95
A862
7

South
A5
QJT64
KT953
4

West
North
East
South
 
 
 
1
pass
1
pass
2
pass
4
a.p.
 
 

South opened a tad light for being vulnerable, but I don’t disagree. The final contract looks healthy, if everything breaks nice and smooth you’ll only lose one and one . Well, I can tell you Inverted Midas reared it’s ugly head. When we touched this deal it turned into the exact opposite of gold. You can think of something appropriate yourself.

South Dealer
All Vul
North
KQ982
K95
A862
7
West
–
A72
QJ74
T98632
East
JT7643
83
–
AKQJ5
South
A5
QJT64
KT953
4
 

The lead was a for the Jack and then the enemy entered a cross ruff for down three. Ugh! Unfortunately nobody was able to bid the cold game in EW. Even 6 looks close, but that only comes home on a favourable lead.