Rock star

Hi all

I feel like a rock star. People were almost fighting to attend my second class on bridge at UC Berkeley. I don’t know how many students tried to sign up (almost 40 or so), but we were limited to only 24 lucky students. Even one of the professors tried to catch a glimpse of me.

Back to earth.

Here’s a double dummy problem Dennis showed me (years ago). In a week or so, if nobody has posted the answer in the comments, I’ll post it there myself. Until then, good luck!

South Dealer
All Vul
North
K32
432
Q32
Q432
West
T987
8
JT98
J987
East
AQJ654
JT9
7
K65
South
AKQ765
AK654
AT

South declares 6, West leads the Ten.

President’s Day Regional (part 2)

Hi all

Okay, I’ll just start with confessing that we didn’t win our bracket in the KO Teams. Whole day long Greg and I played solid, compensating for our teammates soft results and more. But the last match we just didn’t have any room to score. I opted for a superior 3NT while I knew there was a 5-3 fit present, and the other table copied our result. The match was decided when we didn’t bid a non-vulnerable 3NT on these combined cards:

North
Q5
75
KQT843
KQ8

South
AJ74
AJ83
J62
75

Ace of onside, 2-2 and both honours onside. Right! A couple of overtrick imps flew back and forth, so the finals we lost with a 7 imp margin. Oh well, better luck next time.

There was one other interesting relay sequence in the penultimate match.

South
AQ9764
K643
A
AK

West
North
East
South
 
11
pass
1NT2
pass
3NT3
pass
44
pass
45
pass
46
pass
4NT7
pass
… 6
a.p.
 
 
 

1. Catch all bid
2. GF relay
3. 11-13 balanced, 2-3-5-3
4. Aces?
5. 1 (or 4)
6. Kings?
7. 0 (or 3)

After 4NT I knew Greg was holding a fistful of Queens and Jacks. Bidding 6 was undisciplined, I need the trump Jack to show in dummy and a place to park my loser. What eventually pushed me to bidding 6 was that I estimated the other table would be in slam too.

North Dealer
All Vul
North
J8
AQ9
QT975
Q82
West
KT532
8
J643
JT7
East
JT752
K82
96543
South
AQ9764
K643
A
AK

Well, trump Jack did shine in dummy, but when I cashed trump Ace I quickly discovered this slam wouldn’t come home. But my estimate was right, the deal was a push.

President’s Day Regional (part 1)

Hi all

Last Sunday I played the Compact KO Teams, President’s Day regional. When I entered the playing room I was surprised, I could see something like 150 tables, and this was not the only room. There were several events held simultaneously (pairs, Swiss, senior etc).

We meet our teammates and have a small chuckle over the differences in system. We play our modified Viking Precision and they play some vanilla 2-1 system. I don’t think the difference can be any bigger than this.

First match, first board. We’re in for a ride:

South
KQ63
KJ6
AKJT84

West
North
East
South
 
 
 
11
pass
12
pass
1NT3
pass
24
pass
25
pass
2NT6
pass
37
pass
3NT8
pass
4
a.p.
 
 
 

1. Big, 16+
2. Game forcing: 8-11 hcp, balanced or at least a 5 card
3. Relay
4. 5 card ; balanced or a sidesuit in
5. Relay
6. Balanced
7. Agreeing , natural continuation
8. Undiscussed, but it sounds like a collection of Queens and Jacks and suggesting a place to play

South Dealer
– Vul
North
A9542
QT83
KT5
7
West
J87
942
AJ742
Q5
East
T
A75
Q9863
9632
South
KQ63
KJ6
AKJT84

Greg had forgotten (due to the excitement of playing a new system) about the inversions of 1 and 1. So he had to mastermind his way out of the mess he created. But the trumps had a friendly split, and when the Queen of came tumbling down there were twelve tricks for a push. Luckily the opponents didn’t have the right tools to find the cold slam.

If you play an highly artificial system like this it is like keeping a rhino as a pet. No problems if you treat it nice and with respect, else it will smack you around and leave you broken, beat and scarred.

We were both very awake after this incident, and the rest of the day all relays were flawless. Cheerio!

Course material?

Hi all

A couple of months ago I started a casual bridge course in Games of Berkeley. Now there are nine enthusiastic students left. Every week they struggle with the problems I serve them. After we’re done, at 9.30 pm or so, we often go out to cool down with a beer. Those are the very good nights.

This weekend I was contacted about a (not so casual) bridge course at Cal, or to be precise: University of California, Berkeley. Starting Monday, February 9, starring me as teacher. Yikes! Twenty-two students showed up, I took a hard swallow and fainted. No, I’m just kidding, a couple of them were just interested in their iPhones and the credit my course is worth, but I had the vast attention of the majority. I think I was able to tell a pretty coherent story, but next week we’ll see how many students have dropped.

Maybe in a couple of weeks they can help me with this deal.

South
KT
AK843
AQ72
J3

West
North
East
South
pass
1
3
Double
pass
4
pass
… 6
pass
6
a.p.

Over 3 I could have bid a forcing 3, but I thought double was a tad more flexible. Partner surprised me with an undiscussed 4 bid, and after a while I just bid a "pick-a-slam" 6. Not enough, for this was the complete deal:

West Dealer
All Vul
North
AQJ9743
Q75
K94
West
65
T92
JT85
K762
East
82
J6
63
AQT9854
South
KT
AK843
AQ72
J3

 
Even if I start with 3 instead of double I don’t see a sensible road to the grand in .

Imagine

Hi all

Imagine your standing for a wooden door, it’s old and moldy and a bit dusty too. It feels like there are hidden but not forgotten treasures behind that door. It makes a creaking sound when you open it. And when your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, you see them: Viking weapons. If I were in a movie I would say something like: "I’m back, baby!". I found someone with a solid precision background willing to give Viking Precision a try.

And you know what’s really nice? If you pick up cards like this:

South
AQ83
AKQ853
K74

 
A sequence as in a dream, smooth and fitting like a glove.

West
North
East
South
 
 
 
11
pass
32
pass
33
pass
44
pass
55
pass
66
pass
7
a.p.
 
 
 

1. 16+
2. 12+ hcp, 4441 with a red singleton
3. Natural, agreeing
4. Cue
5. Exclusion Blackwood
6. 2 Keycards without trump Queen

This was the complete deal.

South Dealer
– Vul
North
KJ76
QT75
6
AQ95
West
94
AK96
T72
JT83
East
T52
J8432
J94
62
South
AQ83
AKQ853
K74

 
There was nothing to the play.