Insurance, Star Wars part 2

Hi all

Another one from last Saturday. With drawn lightsabers and a merciless grin we sit down against Jabba and another loathsome creature.

South
KQ87643
J8
2
J43

Your RHO opens 2, either some strong hand or weak with . You didn’t agree preempt over preempt so pass. LHO waits with 2 and Hendrik mentions his on the 3 level. Now RHO bids 3, a strong red twosuiter. I like that, opponents who have solid agreements, even after intervention.

West
North
East
South
 
 
21
pass
22
3
33
4
5
5
double
pass
6
6
double
a.p.

1. Weak with or some strong hand
2. Waiting bid
3. Strong twosuiter, and

East Dealer
– Vul
North
JT92
KJ8
AKQ952
West
T97643
QT76
T86
East
A5
AKQ52
A9543
7
South
KQ87643
J8
2
J43

Hendrik did very good to take his 100 point insurance against 6 red. If East holds the Queen of , slam makes on a double finesse.

Points are divided 20-20, but both sides can make a 5 level contract. I’m not a big fan of Larry Cohen, but he’s right here, 22 trumps together, double fits, so there are a lot of tricks to take.

Pink and Green, Star Wars part 1

Hi all

Last Saturday I played with Hendrik in a teams tournament. Bridgeclub Star celebrated its 65th birthday and organized a large teams event: “Star Wars”. Dust off those lightsabers, refresh your jedi skills and rekindle your love for Leia.

Hendrik wore a stylish ultrapink shirt that combined so well with my blinding green pants that some opponents called the tournament director. You gotta hurt them where you can.

North
97
3
AQT865
A965

South
AJ2
965
K94
QJT7

I opened the South hand with 1NT, (11)12-14. West preempted with 3 and now Hendrik had a problem. Praying for some fit and a stopper he bid 3NT. West started with the King. Now what?

I could have tried a Bath coup, but I figured West would find the killing switch to . So I took it and put the Queen on the table. West plays small smoothly. Cash out for down 1 or risk a losing finesse?

I was so blinded by the possibility of 9 tricks that I took the finesse. It lost. The opponents granted me 1 more trick in the end for down 7.

South Dealer
– Vul
North
97
3
AQT865
A965
West
KQT863
AKT
J2
82
East
54
QJ8742
73
K43
South
AJ2
965
K94
QJT7

What I should have done is ask. Ask myself what our teammates would do. Some partscore in a major probably. So cashing out will gain a few imp, while taking the finesse risks a lot. Grabbing 8 tricks would have gained 3 imp, for our teammates did score +140.

Points Schmoints

Hi all

I have a lot of nice deals, keep in touch this week. Here’s one from Friday where I played with Dennis.

South
J9863
K8532
7
QT

Your RHO opens a 15-17 NT. All vulnerable I didn’t dare to enter the bidding with this garbage. LHO passes too, but Dennis doubled, showing and another suit (Lionel). RHO bids 2 and now I had something to think about. My lack of points was more than compensated by my distribution and major fit, so I jumped to 3, invitational. Dennis raised me to game.

East Dealer
All Vul
North
KT52
6
A64
AJ972
West
Q4
QJ94
T952
543
East
A7
AT7
KQJ83
K86
South
J9863
K8532
7
QT

There was nothing to the play, the Queen was where I wanted her to be. So, what about this law of not bidding game when the opponents open a strong NT? Here there are ten cold tricks with just 18 hcp together.

We finished first smoothly: +53 imp.

Sweet Potato Soup

Hi all

Another fine recipe. It made me feel all glowy on the inside.

Curry paste:
4-5 dried red chili’s
chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic
chopped lemongrass (a full teaspoon)
some coriander, cumin & salt
1/2 a teaspoon of shrimp paste (use more for sweeter taste)

Use a vice to grind all the ingredients together, physical labour is a good thing. But the lazy ones can use a kitchenmachine as well. When finished add some sunflower oil, keep the curry paste in a closed jar in the refrigerator. It doesn’t stay good forever, but up to 2 weeks it should.

Ingredients:
1 kg of sweet potatoes (cut into pieces)
6 dl chicken or vegetable stock
4 dl coconut cream
peas (I use about 250 gr for 1 liter soup)
1 spoonful of curry paste

Preparation:
Heat the curry paste in a large pan until you have set free the aromas. Add the pieces of potato, stock and coconut cream and bring to boil. On low fire cook until the potatoes are tender. Use a kitchenmachine to get the soup smooth and silky. Add the peas and heat for a couple more minutes. Serve.

Overruled

Hi all

Last night, after 16 boards René and I had collected an impressive amount of 61 imp. Minus! I just sat there and wave after wave kept hitting me. Evenings like this make you want to crawl back into your cave and sleep until spring. But things changed in the last twelve boards, we clawed back 38 imp. Still leaving us at a very meager total of -23.

South
7
964
AKQJ83
A96

Is this hand worth a strong ? It has a lot of playing strength, but it’s just . So I opted for 1. René starts the party with a gameforcing 1NT.

West
North
East
South
 
 
 
11
pass
1NT2
pass
23
pass
24
pass
35
pass
3NT
pass
???
 

1. 11-13 balanced, 10-15 unbalanced 4+ , or 12-15 any 4441
2. GF relay
3. , unbalanced
4. relay
5. Singlesuited

3NT is end, but I had a lot of playing strength I had not shown yet. I overruled René’s 3NT with 4, showing a very good suit with strong slam aspirations. René cooperated with a cue, I cued in , René continued with 5 and that was enough to launch me to slam.

South Dealer
NS Vul
North
T54
AKJ85
7
KQ73
West
AJ832
3
T652
T85
East
KQT6
QT72
94
J42
South
7
964
AKQJ83
A96

You can combine your chances of a 3-3 split (or Jack doubleton) with a finesse in . A few pairs reached the slam in but failed due to the bad break in trumps. This 13 imp gain was definitely the turning point in the evening.

Fantunes-ish

Hi all

Last Thursday at Dombo Sjoerd and I agreed to play something Fantunes-ish. For those who are not familiar with the (surprisingly natural) Italian system: all 1-level openings are 13+ hcp and forcing for 1 round, all 2-level openings are natural, 5+ card suit with 9-12 hcp. Constructive all the way. There were some gadgets and tricks involved, but 20 minutes of system talk is hardly enough to discuss every implication of a forcing NT, let alone all the inversions and transfers that Fantoni and Nunes play together.

Here’s a 3NT:

North
A63
AK84
J9852
7
South
KQ74
52
K64
A964

Sjoerd (North) opened 2 showing a 5+ card suit, 9-12 hcp. I looked for a fit and ended up in 3NT. I liked my King a lot, otherwise an invite on a not so special 12 count is frivolous at best. I was spared a  lead, West led a small . Plan the play!

Source of tricks: . Three can be developed there, but the defence will surely shift to  when they see the massive NS holding. Put some smoke up, try to obscure things.

Let the lead run to your Queen, now play a small to the 8. East takes it and will try to clear partner’s suit. Now play a from dummy and you will probably have enough information to do the right thing. I think tackling the suit this way obscures things best for EW. But you have to hope West doesn’t (or can’t) rise on the small , because West can see there is no future in .

West Dealer
NS Vul
North
A63
AK84
J9852
7
West
JT82
T9
Q73
Q852
East
95
QJ763
AT
KJT3
South
KQ74
52
K64
A964

So the plan above will probably work out. My plan was a shade different, but along the line I took a wrong guess and went off.

What about the system? I like it a lot, a very natural touch, but with a robust relaying engine and enough gadgets to keep my convention hunger satisfied. Feel free to drop me a line (see the “About me..” page) if you have any suggestions, or if you are just interested in developing/following something fun and working.

Dutch Squeeze

Hi all

Little to tell. Here’s a +12 imp story from Star yesterday.

North
63
AKJ964
KQ5
A6

South
8
Q753
AT972
J83

René (North) opened a strong . He found out the giant fit in before the heavy interference in obstructed too much. Imagining a stiff in my hand was a bit of a gamble, but paid out very well when he jumped to the cold slam in (only 24 hcp together!).

Here’s a nice Dutch Squeeze from (and by) Martin:

West Dealer
All Vul
North
Q87
A653
K94
T52
West
T9
JT8
T7532
AKQ
East
J53
Q9
AJ86
9864
South
AK642
K742
Q
J73

A normal board from just another night at the bridge club.

The auction was not very exciting: pass – pass – pass – 1 – pass – 2 – a.p.

I was declarer and West started with three rounds of and switched to a . With five obvious losers (three , one and one ) it seems normal to take the with the King, pull trumps and play a diamond. However, not completely awake on this partscore, I took the with the Ace after which I started thinking. As I had removed the safe entry to the King, the best line is probably to play two rounds of trumps, before surrendering a to maximize the changes in case the split 4-1. I, however, played three rounds of before I played the Queen. North took and returned the fourth .

West Dealer
All Vul
North
65
K9
West
T8
T7
East
Q
J86
South
6
K74

On the last West was caught in a Dutch squeeze (patented by Bob Slavenburg). If I would have had a less and the Jack instead, West had to keep the Ten guarded to prevent declarer from overtaking the Jack. In that case East still has a stopper. West had no idea, discarded a and there it was: the overtrick.

Coffee in Italy

Hi all

Espresso, a short, sharp bolt of strong black coffee. I’m hooked, without coffee my life would grind to a halt. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but I fell in love with the liquid black gold when I was just a little boy.

In Italy, espresso is considered so essential to daily life that the price is regulated by the government. Be aware, however, that these regulated prices apply to items consumed while standing at the bar. The prices for those same items increase, sometimes dramatically, when you sit at a table.

When I first heard this, I thought they were talking nonsense to me, I couldn’t believe it. But it’s really truly true. It so shows that when this law passed, people understood what was really important in daily life.

Here’s a picture. Me drinking coffee in the morning. Don’t start about bad hairdays, it was day four of a music festival in Denmark. You are supposed to look a bit sloppy.

Aaah.... coffee
 

Open Dutch Pairs Qualifiers

Hi all

Yesterday Martin and I participated in the qualifiers for the Open Dutch Championships Pairs. It was a rough night, we crossed about every strong opponent in the room and took some less fortunate decisions. What do you think about this one?

North
5
QJT96
83
QJT95

All vulnerable, my RHO passed and so did I. LHO opens 2, either weak with or any semiforcing+. Martin overcalls 2 and I jump to game. Without taking a split second pause LHO bids 4. Martin competes with 5, RHO 5 and I was willing to compete to the 7 level. I bid a descriptive 6 and Martin finally got doubled in 6.

North
5
QJT96
83
QJT95

South
AK743
K9752
A62

Well, don’t you just want to claim twelve tricks? East certainly has everything for his gameforcing hand in , doesn’t he? Martin took a confident finesse in . Bad news: it was offside. 

West Dealer
All Vul
North
5
QJT96
83
QJT95
West
J9763
82
QT6
K83
East
AKQT842
5
AJ4
74
South
AK743
K9752
A62

I have seen this before, people thinking a solid suit with an outside trick is worth a semiforcing.

Sigh!

I could barely suppress the urge to put a flamethrower on my opponent when he mentioned he did good this game. We scored 54%, occupying place 5, about 1% short in qualfying for next round. Better luck next year.

Teams March 3rd, part 2

Hi all

Yesterday I showed you a game where Sjoerd was looking for gold. Today it’s about hitting gold:

North
AK6
AKJT94
AK
82

Again an “Utrecht strong 1NT”. Sjoerd answered 2, showing 6+ hcp but less than three Napolitan controls. Wim bid his and Sjoerd bid a semi-positive 2NT, Wim 3 (nothing else to bid). Now Sjoerd gave one little push with a 4 cue. Wim blasted straight to the slam.

North Dealer
– Vul
North
AK6
AKJT94
AK
82
West
J
Q62
J954
KT543
East
QT842
83
T82
Q96
South
9753
75
Q763
AJ7

Wim had no real troubles after a lead. Va banque he played: Ace of , Ace and King of , to the Ace, discard a loser on the Queen and finesse against the Queen of trumps. Agreed, slam isn’t really odds on, but a slam that makes is a good slam.