Month: April 2007

Hi all

Another one from Groningen.

Sitting in 4th position I’m wondering if it’s right to introduce this anemic hand. The main suit is fair in quality, but overall it lacks a little "oomph".

LHO opens 1, Hoek jumps to 6 and RHO… jumps… too… 7 it is.
I’m stunned.
Stunned.

Declarer ruffed the lead and collected 13 tricks without any problems. I’m afraid our teammates are not greedy enough to try for the grand after very heavy interference. After declarer had claimed his tricks, Hoek immediately asked what would have happened had he followed 1NT. I think it depends on how beat and/or weak the opponents are. I like the jump to 6 better, it raises so much pressure.

Our teammates are walking towards us. I start with "Did you bid 7..", but Dennis interrupts me: "No, but we win some imps on that particular deal."
No comprendo, senor!
They got doubled in 6, the redouble eventually netted us 6 imp.

Our winning streak ended here. In the last round we oppose "Mr & Mrs Smith", unfortunately without Angelina Jolie. Hoek and I try, but there’s just no juice left anymore. We lose 13-17 against number 1 and eventually rank 4th. I’m happy, we had a terrible start on Saturday. The metamorphosis on Sunday left me and others speechless, all in ease we played, defended and collected.

Hi all

We are on a rampage. I have no other word for it. And when points are flowing towards you like crazy, you have the energy and patience to look a little bit deeper into a game like this:

South (me) gets to play 4. West starts with the  9. Take a deep breath. What can go wrong? You have five minor suit tricks so another five have to come from trumps (or an unlikely one from ). So draw trumps then?

I didn’t touch trumps, I just played on and ruffed two high in my hand (I discarded a on the 3rd ). Finally I score four trumps in dummy and one in my hand, because West overruffed once. A solid ten tricks.

At the other table declarer tried to clear trumps, but when they broke 4-1 he had too much to do and was set one trick. Nine times out of ten he would have gotten away with it, but this was the tenth time. I noticed the 4-1 split during the post mortem. During my play I wasn’t aware of any bad breaks. But that may also be a bad thing.

Hi all

Yesterday I showed you a solid 9 card suit. Today I get freaky, we shuffled the cards so well in Groningen. Our team is still on a high, having gained more than 70 VIP in three matches. I pick up these cards:

Boy! This has got to be one of the prettiest holdings I ever laid my hands on, a strong red 6-6, less than 3 losers. East brutally disrupts my dream with a 2 opening, showing a weak hand with both majors or some strong hand. When Hoek showed some values I blasted to slam: 6. West leads the King of .

Plan the play. You have to ruff a in dummy, so the suit has to split 2-4. And the trumps have to come in clean.

I take the lead with the Ace (discarding a ), cash the Ace, to the Ace, and for symmetry’s sake also the Ace. Ruff a , back to hand with a ruff and the King. West shows out. West? Yes! West. East had opened a “weak with both majors” on a 4-4-4-1. I lose 2 tricks in trumps, down 1.

I confess, I completely didn’t think of the possibility East having 4 trumps. But it’s easy to cope with, don’t cash trump Ace! Just ruff a in dummy and then play the other trump from dummy to your Ten. You win with every 3-2 split in trumps, 4-1 with East having a bare honor, and QJ-4th with East.

Luckily the other table had a blind spot too, for a wash.

Hi all

Last Saturday and Sunday I played with Hoek, Dennis and Martijn “Termiet” (Groningen guy) the EGBC teams tournament in Groningen. It was the first big tournament for Hoek and me, I can confess I was a bit anxious.

I dare not tell you about Saturday. It was a dark, dark day. Everything Hoek and I did went wrong. Somebody must have put a spell on us, I don’t know. My team tried to drown the jinx in legendary amounts of beer, but I went to bed fairly early for I was totally drained. Sunday, hesitant and a little hangover-ish we took the cards from our first board.

Whoa! I pick up a solid 9 card suit . What to do? I hate to open these kinds of hands with some forcing bid and a timid 1 leaves to much room for the opponents. So I started with 5, it’s definitely preemptive and partner has a general idea how big my playing strength is.The opponents are silent and Hoek raises me to 6.

Gold.

A fine raise by Hoek, because of my unusual call he estimated (hoped for) a void in my hand and valued the rest of his hand enough for slam. At the other table South opened a Namyats 4, but the 4-level wasn’t high enough to shut out East. Eventually Dennis and Martijn bought the contract in 5 undoubled (?).

We shook off the dirt and gloominess from the day before and jumped on the roller coaster of succes.

Hi all

I’m back, baby! Here’s the 3rd and final part from Star Wars. Hendrik and I were performing on our zenith of powers.

First hand I was holding this red twosuiter. With Hendrik I agreed weak jump reverses, so this hand fits nicely.

 

 

 

1

pass

1

4

5

5

a.p.

 

 

Not afraid of the vulnerability or lack of Aces I competed to the 5-level. Hendrik showed faith by not doubling 5. He expected big distribution instead of solid amounts of points in my hand.

I got a ruff, which was worth 1 whole imp. As you can see, there are a lot of tricks to take for both sides.

That’s all, we’re done fondling Leia. Cheers!