Empty Handed

Hi all

Here’s an expensive deal from one of the post-Spingold knockout tournaments in DC. Outside it was hot and moist, the kind of weather you can mop me up with. But inside it was sub-Viking cold. At a certain point I even asked the director if he could rub me a little.

South
764
QT5
82
AKT74

West
North
East
South
 
 
 
Pass
1
Pass
1
Pass
2
Pass
…3
Double
3
Pass
4
Pass
4
a.p.
 

I doubled 3 as leaddirecting/penalty when West didn’t alert 3 after a significant pause. Of course 3 could be natural, but it could also be a free “keep-the-bidding-going”-bid. The opponents ended up in 4 after a series of bids that don’t make any sense to me.

Before I start out leading a top my RHO informs me 3 should have been alerted. We ask for the attention of a director. 3 was meant as check-back, but there was a failure to alert. The director instructed us to play the deal and get back to him when finished. This was the full deal:

South Dealer
EW Vul
North
AT3
962
Q43
9652
West
Q8
K47
AKT975
83
East
KJ752
AJ83
J6
QJ
South
964
QT5
82
AKT74

When the split 3-3 and the suit broke favourably ten tricks came rolling in. The director had nothing to add to the result, West had just (very) conveniently forgotten about their agreements. Talk about luck in extremo, Martin & Remco tried 3NT at the other table but lost the obvious six tricks.

At the table I overlooked my moment of glory. 4 can be set! Had I continued with a 3rd round of , in the double void, declarer’s demise would have been unavoidable. He can ruff on the short side, but if Dennis then ducks the Queen, declarer has fatal transportation problems because of the awkward position of both red Queens. The same story applies if declarer decides to ruff in his own hand, a fourth round of will leave declarer then empty handed.

Initcap

Hi all

In Oracle PL/SQL, the initcap function sets the first character in each word to uppercase and the rest to lowercase. Click here for an example. I guess people outside The Netherlands just have trouble with my last name (only “Oever” should be initcap’ed), but even so, I’m glowing with pride.

Here’s a nice slam from a side knockout event in DC. Pay some attention to the bidding sequence. The opponents must have thought we were beginners.

South
K74
AKJ98
AT873
West
North
East
South
 
 
 
1
pass
21
pass
22
pass
3
pass
4
pass
5
pass
6
a.p.

1. Natural or invite+ with
2. Any minimum or natural (3 would have shown a better hand)

Dennis naturally reversed into his four card and found me with a gigantic find and more than a minimum. I felt I could bypass 3NT and tic tic boom: 6.

This was the full deal:

South Dealer
NS Vul
North
JT6
6
KQ65
AKT84
West
Q82
T53
94
QJ932
East
A953
Q742
J2
765
South
K74
AKJ98
AT873

After the trump lead I could ruff my suit good and I pitched my losers on dummy’s . Twelve tricks and a big gain when the opponents stopped in 3NT. We lost in the semi-finals against the team that eventually won the knockout. But hey, when the Swedish girls team got knocked out in the semi-finals too, we had nothing to play for anymore. Sitting down against a bunch of ugly ass guys is certainly a lot less appealing.

Iron Monkey

Hi all

Here’s a small anecdote from DC. I cannot remember the full deal, just my hand and the dialogue. It happened in our second match (vs. team Morse) trying to qualify for the last 64 teams in the Spingold.

South
JT4
95
JT74
AT93


Red vs. white, Martin (North) opens 1 and RHO (curly hippy guy) overcalls 2. I have no bid, so I pass and Martin reopens with a double. Now what? With a small sigh I bid 2 and that’s the end of the auction.

Curly hippy guy leads a small and I put my dummy down saying that in a pairs tournament (penalty)passing was a definite option.

Curly hippy guy: “Did you really want to penalize the iron monkey?”
Me: “I would have loved to pull out my whip and give you a good spanking”
Curly hippy guy: “The last time someone offered me that I had to pay for it!”


You can imagine that the kibitzers where all over the floor crying with laughter.

The result? Martin collected seven tricks for -100 when the opponents found their ruff. And would 2 have survived a spanking? I remember analyzing for down two.