Vikings in Space

Hi all

Last Thursday the annual Dombo board meeting was scheduled. Talks and discussions for some two hours, so no time for a regular club night. Every year after the meeting it’s speedcarding, ten deals in twenty minutes. After two hours I’m totally exhausted and I feel like burning up, feverish. So no wonder the evening ended with too much beer, to cool down of course. Here’s an ugly one (for the opponents I mean):

René (North) opened 1 and I bid my . Now some funny guy interfered with 2. Why funny? I’ll show you in the complete diagram…

René told he had diamonds as well, and I finished the auction with a brutal jump to the grand in . I know, I know, it’s not really the scientific (Viking) way I’m known for, but remember, it’s speedcarding. There’s just no time for something unimportant like Blackwood.

The Ace of beats it, of course, but there might have been fear of hitting a void in dummy. Or maybe the Ace was hiding behind another card because of the high, confusing speed. I don’t know. This is what happened after the lead of a trump. René drew three rounds of trumps ending in dummy, six rounds of followed, René discarding a and all his . Leading to this position:

René felt everything right: after a ruff his last trump hit the table. Unbearable pressure on East. And this all was executed in less than two minutes. Chapeau!

Edit: November 1st, 2006.
After some thought and discussion I have to add something to this game. I agree, it sounds strange for a grand with an Ace outside, but there’s a better way to play it. You have to play four rounds of trumps before cashing six . Leading to this position:

This position has some criss-cross-feeling, but ultimately it’s a variation on the trump squeeze (wikipedia). And it works against both opponents, you just have to read correctly who’s holding both keys.

Hi all

There is this club in Woerden (BC Victoria) that gets under my skin. Months of preparation, psychotherapy, the works, it’s all in vain against them. These people get under my skin so easily it’s frightening. Timed remarks and comments take my blood to boiling point in seconds. Argh! But this year was different. René took almost all pressure away during the match, so I could keep my concentration. After twelve boards we gained a substantial lead (some 30 imps) by bidding careful part scores and staying out of bad games. It was good bridge.

The second half I took off badly with a misplayed slam. Shaking and trembling, but I was able to keep my cool. Look here:

I opened the South hand in 4th position with a strong . With René’s positive response the no-trump game was truly inevitable. Any plans after a lead? You have eight tricks with very small chances of developing a ninth. Kees suggested post mortem taking the second heart and exiting with your last heart. While this certainly has some merits, I don’t think it’ll work in this situation. You just have too little tricks to take, and there is very little pressure to exert.

This was my plan: I ducked the two times and was kind of happy that West didn’t shift to a , so the third round was for my Ace. I played the 7ducked to East’s Queen, and back came the Ten of . I took it and five rounds of followed. I watched the discards carefully and read the end position correctly, at least I hoped I did:

I exited with my Jack of and East was thrown in for the ninth trick. Yummie!

I enjoyed West’s angry explanation about unblocking and placings, I just wrote with a large smile my +400. At the other Wim found the lead and the contract was immediately without chance.

Hi all

Last Sunday the teams season started for us, 13 and 17 don’t put us in the top regions. Oh well, we’ll recover. I played terribly, giving away a vulnerable game, completely mishandling one of my own. Pffff, I get sweaty thinking back to those and other horrible errors. Here’s a little success (my hand):

René opened a strong and the relay sequence started with 1 (me showing ).

1. 16+
2. 8+hcp at least 5 card
3. relay
4. 12+ hcp
5. relay
6. exactly four
7. relay
8. 5-1-4-3 distribution
9. relay
10. Two Aces of the same rank
11. You play this! Either our together are good enough for discards or a finesse as backup plan.

This was the complete hand:

I must admit I was a bit surprised finding only a thirteen count in dummy, but it’s a fair call with so much playing strength. René upgraded his hand the same way I did, are we in sync or what?!?

I got a trump lead for East’s Ace and back came a . Nasty! Now I have to finesse before I can check out the . Fortunately it proved to be onside. The current layout would have provided a parking spot for the as well, but these odds are a factor smaller than the finesse being right.

This one the opponents didn’t find, but they scored a couple of nice part score swings and finally the match tipped in their favor, 13-17.

Hi all

Tuesday at Star. René was playing some tournament with Nira so substitute-time. I found Hans and we immediately agreed to not have a dull match. Fireworks, lots of them. First half we bid every possible game and defended mercilessly.

Second half. Less spectacular games with little room to score. There was one nice game where we pulled a smokescreen on our opponents.

East opened 1 and I overcalled 1. Not too happy with such a bad suit and soft values, but with ten cards in the black suits I wanted to do something. West doubled, showing four hearts and Hans (North) raised me to 2 (!). West ended in 3NT not worrying about the spadesuit.

But Hans did what he’s best at, do killing things to opponents. In other words: he found the lead. Declarer not blessed with second sight finessed into my bare King of and got beat one trick. Nice.

@Hans: thanks for playing and the big fun.

Hi all

Lack of nice games this week. So here’s one I can remember from the Open Pairs last year. And big thanks to Hoek for helping me out with bidding diagrams. Best viewed in Firefox.

I was holding a fairly nice hand:

The bidding was quite jumpy (me sitting South):

1. Preempting them out of their contract
2. Showing a “good” raise, four card support

I got a diamond lead and dummy hit the table with:

The diamond lead went to my Queen and I took stock. A crossruff seemed like a good idea and I played my small Heart, East winning cheap. He played back a trump but I rose and initiated my crossruff. Leading to this position:

I was in my hand with six tricks in my pocket. I cashed the Ace of (maybe trumps are 2-2) but East showed out. Now I had a complete count of the hand, West is 3-3-4-3 and East is 1-5-4-3, also suggested by the bidding. I cash the Ace and play a small to the King. West has to play small or he gives me my tenth trick immediately, but now I’m in dummy to ruff the last . Now West has two choices: discard and grant me my tenth trick with the 8, or overruff and being placed in .

Here’s the complete deal:

Hi all

Yesterday René (playing with Nira) got his hands on the next gem. It’s beautiful.

I don’t know about the bidding, but looking at the freak distributions, there must have been some action involved.

René was on play in 6 and he got the lead of the Ace and another one. He discarded a on the King and led the Ten of (some good vibrations at the table), ducked all the way, West discarding. Next he cashed his Ace and King of and West discarded again on the second round. He grabbed his chance with both hands: a ruff, win the King of and then a small one to his Ace. He ruffed another and now a from dummy, overruffing East’s small trump. He had reached this position:

He ruffed his last with the King of trumps, and now he was in dummy for the Grand Coup. I guess East must have felt sick underruffing four times!

Hi all

Last night at Star. This is why I play a relay-system.

 

1. 10-12 balanced
2. Stayman, or initiating a GF relay
3. GF relay
4. Showing four spades
5. Relay for distribution
6. 4-4-2-3
7. Aces?
8. Two Aces, or
9. That’s all I wanted to know

I boldly leaped to the slam. With the Queen of trumps smiling in dummy it’s a grand on a finesse (and some more). Even with a trump lead there was no play to it, I just ruffed a in dummy, only losing a trick to the King of .

This one looks hard to bid in a natural system, no?