Bridge

Hi all

No more whining. Though my opponents did when this game was finished. I really got away with murder, me carrying a bloody knife on the scene of the crime. Anyone call CSI and NCIS?

After pass – 3 it’s my turn. Lots of ugly, ugly points, but with a very good suit. I cannot bid 4 because of Leaping Michaels’ and I’m looking at way too many losers for 5. No, the bare King of didn’t stop me in bidding 3NT, partner surely has something that combines into a stopper (I pray a little).

Lefty kicks off with the Ten. This is the full layout:

East ducked the lead and when the broke 2-2 I claimed the fastest nine tricks ever. East shrieked in agony that from a doubleton West should always lead the lower one and some foul language crosses the table. I wipe a little sweat from my forehead and write +600.

Hi all

So little time. My new job is like a dream come true, but it leaves little room for writing. I just have to beat the drums the right way and get used to the rythm. Here are two slams from Star:

 

1. unbalanced (4+ )

Hoek wanted to get two messages across with one bid: his slam aspirations and his fit. But the resulting sequence doesn’t look really smooth. Certainly, it’s an excellent contract, even slightly better than 6. But still, there was no designated captain in the bidding, so grand investigation was impossible. If the EW cards are split something like this:
 

Then 6 is always down, while in 6 you can eliminate all suits and with a loser on loser play achieve a placing. The following ruff and sluff let’s you discard your other loser.

Another slam.

 
Hoek and I weren’t able to bid this bleeding edge slam on very minimal values. Too bad! But these little diamonds really make my bridgelife shine. If anyone sees a sensible way to reach slam (West will overcall), please, feel free to comment.

Hi all

Here’s a story from Dennis. I hope you like bitter, cause this baby will surely leave that taste hanging in your mouth.

 

Dennis opened 1 and his partner raised to 2. RHO entered the bidding with a takeout double and via 2 – 3 – 4 the final contract is reached.

Partner leads the 2 of (odd leads). Declarer asks for a high from dummy and you are on lead. Now what?

Let’s try to fill in the blanks. Partner holds the King of and some other honour. It’s either the Ace of trumps or the King. But without trump Ace West would hold something like:

 

With that he wouldn’t have accepted the invite, would he? No, I think something like this fits the auction a little bit better:

 

So the defence is easy now, return a to partner’s King, and when he gets in with his King of  he can fire a through dummy’s Jack.

 

Oh boy! A combination of true macho bidding and a thoughtful opponent granted West ten tricks with Ace-King & Ace-King outside. West counted South’s points and dropped the Queen doubleton, instead of taking the finesse. Nice play, but still macho bidding in my book. Whenever I play this opponent I will eye him suspiciously.

Hi all

Yesterday I had a solid night with Frank, we were offered a few gifts and presents we couldn’t say no to, resulting in +47 imp. The intrinsic message in solid is lack of spectacle, so here’s a story I heard at the bar (starring Martin and Hoek).

All vulnerable you pick up this rubbish. An easy pass and your partner opens 2 (weak with or some strong hand). If you are completely cut off from any tablepresence you can add some destructive number of bids to that, but let’s stay calm and listen to what partner has to say.

1. Weak with or strong
2. Waiting
3. Strong with , forcing for one round
4. Second negative
5. Gameforcing twosuiter
6. I have nothing, leave me alone
7. Really?
8. What did I just say!

Declarer discarded a from dummy on his , ruffed a and ruffed a with the 8. Losing only one trick to the King of trumps, scoring +680.

So should North have raised? I think not. But making a little bit of fun because of North’s cowardness is always nice.

Hi all

Here’s another rabbit from Saturday, Martijn pulled a fast one on the opponents.

After pass-pass I open this hand with 1. LHO keeps silent and partner jumps to 6. Okaay, I wasn’t expecting that. Everybody is looking a bit stunned and my RHO fumbles through his cards looking for a lead. A small hits the table. Martijn eyes dummy for a second and claims 16 tricks.

West murmurs something about leading Aces against these kinds of sequences, but this gets lost in the surrounding noise.

Some uncounted number of rounds later Anna G. sits on my left. I know her from Poland a couple of years ago when I was still a junior bridge player. She’s playing with her Jeroen. I’m a bit embarrassed to show this game, it was the German beer and the friendly chatter that charmed her to her downfall.

Anna opens 1 and her partner splinters with 4. The auction ended in 4, but I gave 4 as a sacrifice a serious thought. Partner just has to have some in this auction, but I didn’t have the guts.

No troubles here as you can see. But Anna went on a little adventure. She took the lead with the Ace and ruffed a . Crossed to hand with the King of  and another  ruff. Ace of  ( away) and a  ruff with the 4, overruffed by Martijn with the 5. The trump switch ran via dummy’s Queen to Anna’s King and she ruffed another with trump Ace. This is the position:

Stuck in dummy she tried a but I rose with the Ace and played my Queen. It was a true uppercut. Looking at her unavoidable loser, she agreed she was one trick short. I’m a little bit happy our teammates went down in 6 for a wash.

Hi all

Yesterday I played in a little teams tournament in Groningen. The event took place in a circle of five enjoyable bars, all serving very fine German white beer. Ouch! I played with Martijn T. (also called Groningen guy from the EGBC teams-quadrilogy I wrote earlier).

I’ll start with an apology. Sorry (again) for my preempt on Ace-Ten sixth, vulnerable against not with a passed partner. I certainly gave that opponent happy feelings with King-Queen-Jack sixth in trumps breathing down my neck.

Your LHO opens 1 and RHO bids 1NT.

This is ugly news. I have a very nice hand, but LHO opening my suit just blows my hand to smithereens. I pass and after 2 – pass – pass it’s my turn again. I have no idea what to do. With slight feelings of nausea I throw an angry pass on the table.

Declarer doesn’t break a sweat and wraps up ten tricks easily.

Our teammates arrive saying they pulled a rabbit out of a hat again. West opened 1NT (!), East transferred to and South introduced his fine collection with 3. This gets greeted by a firm double by West, but East didn’t trust this and removed to 4. West jumped to 5 and South revealed Thor’s Mjolnir ending the auction with a double that still resonates in my ears.

West had no trouble developing the suit for +550. I wonder how South felt when West ruffed the second round of .

Hi all

More Patton, from last Tuesday. There were some crazy games and a couple of fatal mistakes. This deal my opponents were playing with my head. They said they were looking for down two vulnerable, but all they did was offer me a chance to steal my contract.

RHO opens 1 and I double for takeout. I’m not really happy with my distribution, but I have good points and a four card suit. Hoek bids 2 (showing a good hand) and this gets doubled by RHO. Now I could have passed to show a minimum, but I was afraid Hoek would move on to 3, so I bid 2. Everybody takes ten seconds to think, but nobody has anything to add.

The opponents start with three rounds of (West discarding two ). East returns the Queen of . I take it in dummy and review my options and chances. Something good has to happen in , so I try a small one to my 8, losing to West’s 9. The continuation I take again in dummy and I ruff a (East discarding a ).

The distribution is still a mystery to me. Still either opponent could hold four trumps, I could not see. Now when I played two rounds of , East discarded another . What the hell? Why doesn’t he ruff for down one? The third round of also stays alive, so I’m in my hand right now:

If I had read the position correctly, East holding four trumps with King-Queen, the solution is easy. Ruff my Ace of with the trump Ten. East will have to overruff, but is then endplayed. Forced to give me a free finesse in trumps.

I couldn’t believe my opponents were this bad, so I threw the hand away for minus one. If only I had been alert enough. If only, if only! I would have loved to crack my whip on East for his greediness.

Hi all

A double shot this time. The last two slam oriented hands from the Patton matches last Tuesday.

Difficult hand to open after pass – pass. I don’t like to open these kinds of hands with some strong opening bid. You never really get your shape or strength across. I chose to open 1 and prayed that that wouldn’t be the end of the auction.

I dare not show you what happened. Let’s just say that partner showed a lousy hand with some fit and I just raised myself to slam. As the kibitzing director later said: "It’s never a dull moment with you guys!"

What can I say? Slam isn’t exactly odds on. West started with the Ace of and shifted to a trump. I draw another round of trumps (a lucky 2-2 split), and I proceed with two rounds of , discarding a from dummy. Ace of and two ruffs follow and all celebrities make their appearance on the red, bloodstained carpet.

Ugly slam to be in, but so were the opponents. So it all evens out, doesn’t it?

Two games later I pick up these cards:

I can open this hand "weak with both Majors", but I chose not to. I have no distribution and a soft hand overall. My LHO opens 1 and Hoek enters the bidding with 2 (upper cuebid, showing 5-5 Majors, could be weakish because of my first hand pass). RHO passes and I jump to 4. Either partner is strong and this will easily make, and if partner is weak I want to take away as much room as possible.

LHO isn’t done bidding yet and puts a confident 4NT on the table. No explanation, but I guess it’s a strong and minor suit oriented hand. Hoek passes and RHO finds some good news in his cards: 6.

I have strong feelings these guys are for real. Because of the double fit in and and lack of defensive values I go for the sacrifice: 6.

I lose five obvious tricks (I could cope with the trumps splitting 0-4), resulting in -1100. So I start writing down +270 (or +290 if they take the finesse) in the difference column. What a disappointment! Nira and René weren’t able to bid the cold slam. But I was still happy with our result, though it had a little less shine than it could have had.

Hi all

Here’s another one from Patton Tuesday. Hoek and I had very sensitive slam sensors.

Hoek opens 1 (unbalanced, or 15-19 balanced) and I answer 1. Hoek now reverses with 2 and I have to make my mind up. Fourth suit force doesn’t bring me anywhere, I want to tell I have a very good suit. So I bid 3. Some cuebidding and Ace-asking later I’m in 6.

West leads a . I take some time to plan the play. Straightforward looks best. I take the Ace, and exit in , East rising with the King. I take the trump switch and ruff a , the Queen of comes crashing down and I claim an easy twelve tricks.

So East rising with the  King was a bad move and my opponents start complaining to eachother. During this verbal violence I take a deeper look into the game. I notice I should have started with a ruff, before exiting in . Then the ruff in dummy is the second entry for another ruff. And then there’s still the Ace in dummy as an entry to the developed suit.

On any other lead you have to take the double finesse in and combine it with developing the suit. Not impossible, but you’d better get your timing right.

Hi all

I wish I could start with some funny WW2 joke and general Patton, but the inspiration just isn’t there. Last night Patton at Star, I played with Hoek and René & Nira completed our team. There were lots of crazy games, about a dozen 10+ imp swings. It was not good bridge, but it was definitely entertaining.

I open 1 and Hoek answers inverted with 2. Here our current agreements stop, though we have similar ideas about bidding. I have reasonable slam aspirations and try to get that message across with 4. If Hoek had bid 4NT or 5 now, that would have been signoff, but he cooperates with a  cuebid. Yadiyadiya: 6.

West leads the 8 of . I see no reason not to take the finesse, and it loses to East’s King. He returns a for my King. Now three rounds of trumps, the remaining and a ruff complete my picture of the hands. West has shown up with 2-2 in the minors and five . So the  suit splits 4-2, now I know (based upon odds) where to look for the Queen of .

I write down +920. As it happens it was a far better slam than the 6NT they bid at the other table (minus 2). Yummie!