Excuse Me …

… while I kiss the sky.

Here’s a final deal from Purmerend, Kees (South) in action. Phantom Club home brew gives us this:

South
AT
AQ7
AK965
Q63
West
North
East
South
 
pass
pass
11
pass
22
pass
2NT3
pass
34
pass
3
pass
3NT
pass
4
a.p.
 
 
 

1. Takeout of a 1 opening, 15-17 NT, or any stronger hand
2. 4+ , 8+ hcp
3. 15+ NT, GF
4. Repeated transfer, showing 5+

Interesting inference here is that Kees knows I have a poor suit, with 8+ hcp and a good suit I probably would have opened. West starts with a small and this is what he sees:

North
KQ9
T8653
Q7
K82
South
AT
AQ7
AK965
Q63

With his usual eye for detail Kees wins the lead in hand, plops down trump Ace (safety play), crosses to dummy with a and then plays a trump to his Queen (West surrendering the Jack). He exits with his final trump to East who flicks a on the table.

North
K
T8
Q7
K82
South
AK965
Q63

The runs via the 5, West’s Jack to dummy’s Queen. With silky smoothness Kees takes a finesse against East’s presumed Ten and all depart on the train. Taking 12.

North Dealer
EW Vul
North
KQ9
T8653
Q7
K82
West
J87652
J4
J2
JT7
East
43
K92
T843
A954
South
AT
AQ7
AK965
Q63

Immediately burly East yells at his partner (a subdued looking female) for inserting the Jack. If she had played low then there wouldn’t have been a finessing position etc etc … I intervene and tell him in strict words:

  1. not to castigate partner
  2. he would have a hard time finding an expert partner who would recognize the situation and ignore the hardwired “3rd man high” law
  3. if he had wanted to prevent the 2nd uptrick he could/should have cashed the Ace of

I’ve been playing quite a few Cash Games at Bridge Big. It is big, big fun and currently I’m €31.97 in the plus. Supple interface, support for multiple devices, cheat-impossible and extremely addictive. Disclaimer: I do know both founders personally. 

Emotions

Hi all

Welcome back. Here’s another deal from the “Koemarkttoernooi” in Purmerend. Kees and I sit down against two middle-aged ladies and we inform them of our ghostly agreements. Our mention of 12-14 NT openings gets greeted with: “How illogical!”. I snicker inside, that is what you find intriguing about Phantom Club? Oh boy! Sitting South I pick up:

South
A32
7432
A8652
6

A lot of action during the bidding.

West
North
East
South
1
pass
1
pass
2
DBL
pass
31
3
pass
pass
42
pass
pass
4
DBL3
a.p.
 
 
 
  1. Good hand, weak hands go through Lebensohl 2NT
  2. Slightly insane, but white in pairs I am Iron Man
  3. Emotional

I lead my singleton and a scary dummy comes down.

West
KQJ
AKJ85
T
9875
South
A32
7432
A8652
6

I admire the raise on West’s beautiful 3-piece. I wait until Kees wins his Ace of to give me my ruff, but all he offers is a measly Ten and declarer wins it with the Queen. Yikes! How are we going to beat this? Declarer unperturbed starts on trumps and I win the second one. I can cross in to get my ruff but that’s equivalent to throwing the towel.

I take stock and visualize the play. If I cash my Ace and continue declarer will have to ruff with dummy’s final trump. In order to extract my last trump she will have to cross to her hand. Of course a ruff is the way to go, but maybe she’ll take the easy route by trying a . Then if I get my ruff we can cash another for down one.

Full deal:

West Dealer
EW Vul
North
76
Q96
KJ43
JT32
West
KQJ
AKJ85
T
9875
East
T9854
T
Q97
AKQ4
South
A32
7432
A8652
6

It works out as I visualized. East apologizes and though I can tell West shows some signs of disappointment she doesn’t berate her partner. That’s how I like to see it. Of course I myself don’t hide my anguish & distress over Kees’ takeout double of 2, I even document it here: Garbage Royale!

On a serious side note, I’m still hunting for a job. If you happen to be in need of an Oracle Developer/DBA with affinity for wireless tech spiced up with a tad of Java, or if you give me a little time to acquire whatever skills necessary (I learn fast!), take a look at my LinkedIn profile, or shoot me a message through the contact form in About Me. Thanks.

Spooky

Hi all

Kees and I played in Purmerend last Saturday. Not too high profile, elderly opponents abundant, hopping from one bar to another on the “Koemarkt”, enjoying the sun, drinking Estaminet Premium Pils, and generally having a blast.

Did I mention we agreed to play Phantom Club? It’s a system that revolves around assuming your RHO has opened 1. So you can open aggressively having just overcall values and then practice all your partnership bidding agreements. Adam Meyerson wrote about it here. Spooky!

This was one of my grande moments:

South
AQJ62
AQ5
T4
A94

That’s a fairly pure 17-count. RHO opens in 3rd hand 1 and I have an easy overcall.

West
North
East
South
pass
pass
1
1
2
pass
pass
2
a.p.
 
 
 

I decide we won’t get rich by defending 2, so I rebid my . LHO starts with a and dummy comes down.

North
K5
T862
J98
T732
South
AQJ62
AQ5
T4
A94

It seems defending 2 would have been the right choice after all… RHO plays her top 3, and on the last one I have a decision to make. LHO has echoed a doubleton so I pitch a instead of ruffing, LHO discarding a . The lady on my right ponders for a while and puts down a 4th , looking for a promotion but giving me a sluff & ruff. LHO’s 7 forces dummy’s King while I pitch my last small .

North
5
T862
T732
South
AQJ62
AQ5
A

By now I’m fairly confident LHO is holding both missing honors for her 2 call and probably some cards, too. I wave to the waiter to order two beers and a strip squeeze with split fork. Come again? On my 5th trump this is the position:

North
T862
T
South
2
AQ5
A

I pay close attention to LHO’s final discard, here’s the little “if-then-else” I visualized:

If ( discard)
  then cash Ace and exit , use Ace as entry for free ;
If ( discard)
  then cash Ace to strip West from , exit Queen to place West;
Else
  Fatal Exception("Revoke bridge license");

I take 9.

West Dealer
EW Vul
North
K5
T862
J98
T732
West
T74
KJ9743
53
KJ
East
983
AKQ762
Q865
South
AQJ62
AQ5
T4
A94

Without the sluff & ruff I can work towards the same position for 8 tricks, East doesn’t have a to fire through me to prevent the placing.

After 32 boards Kees and I end up with 63.73% and a 5th place, good for some “Jonge Jenever” and Italian delicacies. We didn’t encounter any Ghost Busters… fortunately.