Bridge

Hi all

These best wishes at Star yesterday really paid off, René and I ended up first with 58something%. I felt relieved.

Lots of jedi mind tricks, all in smooth ease we seduced our opponents into making fatal mistakes. With decent and polite smiles we accepted all gifts.

I almost dare not tell you about René’s (well timed) weak jump in . The opponents ended up in 3NT and missed their best spot in 4. It’s no typo, René blasted them out of their 6-3 fit. You do the math: his weak jump was based upon how many ?

Here’s a little gem:

I passed as a dealer, West opened 1, René introduced his suit and I bid 1NT, ending the auction. West started with four rounds of and Ace of and to the Queen. East wasn’t really happy to be on lead and decided to lead a , my Jack winning the trick. Current layout:

I cashed the King of and the Jack. Now I noticed East started with only four black cards. I played a to the King and the Ace, West showing out. I have complete count, West is 4-2-2-5 and East 2-4-5-2. Confident I play from top, the Queen would either be doubleton in West’s hand, or East had been squeezed out of it already. My 7 of was the 7th trick. I have heard this is worth beer in some places, so where can I collect?

Hi all

Another game from last friday. Because of the fine, strong honors in South (no soft Queens or Jacks) I sold it as a 22-23 NT. Dennis put me in 3NT. I got the lead of a small (4th) and this is what I saw:

I ducked both the lead and the continuation. When they pressed on in (wrong!, if the defence now shifts to a I will suffer the loss of five tricks) I won and played a to the Queen, East winning. Now a came back and here I could pluck the fruits of my early ducks. I took it and again a towards dummy, West rising. A fourth round of the pointy black suit followed, leaving me with an awkward discard in dummy:

Do I discard a and play for the Ten to drop, or discard a and hope something good happens in ? A discard leaves more options open: 3-3 or the Jack doubleton or a squeeze against East. The Jack dropped doubleton (sorry, no squeeze), resulting in nine tricks.

I’m satisfied with my play. But I guess this game is more about defence, take two tricks and then shift to to develop the setting trick there, with as entry. I have to improve my defensive skills, because I’m not sure if I’m able to imagine such defence at the table.

Hi all

Friday, Christmas drive at one of the other strong clubs in Utrecht (BCO). Though I’m no member anymore, I felt welcome the moment I entered the playing field. With Dennis this time, lucky me.

We played solid, here and there we bled some imp, but our opponents often returned the favour. Sitting South I held:

I heard lefty pass, Dennis 1NT (12-14), and my RHO entered the bidding with a preemptive 3. What to do? This is how the bidding proceeded:

1. 12-14

I had the right momentum in bidding 6, opposite a fitting hand and probably no wastage in it’s so close, I thought. And when it was passed around, it truly felt as if I had hit the soft spot.

When West started with a it was the end of the defence, I discarded the losing in dummy on my fifth after drawing trumps.
K’ching! 11 fat imp, for nobody had found this one.

Hi all

I have been silent for a couple of days. Last teams match was a disaster, and I have been, well… not myself lately. But let’s not get into that now. Here’s a game where I covered my ground. Maybe it’s plain simple, but I’m still proud of my nine tricks.

All vulnerable René opened 1, showing either 11-13 balanced, or 10-15 unbalanced with at least a four card suit , or 12-15 any 4441. My RHO overcalled 1 and I jumped to 3NT. West decided to lead the Ten and this is what I found in dummy:

The lead ran to my Queen and I started on the , East took the second round and returned another won in dummy. Now I ducked a to West and he returned a , but it was too little too late. I took the trick with the King and cashed the Ace of , East discarding a . Now I played the 4 from dummy and East split his honors. I ducked, completing the placing. Now East, stripped from all his exits, had to play either a in my fork or a away from his King: nine tricks. I estimated East having the King, while he had shown a crummy suit and nothing but the Ace.

At the other table the defence started with a but the couldn’t keep their eye on the ball and declarer got home, too. Here’s the complete layout:

Hi all

Closing the Strasbourg series. Another beauty.

The bidding was “yada yada” 6NT. The South hand is minimal, but has good honors in the long suits and a good rebid available. North will then solo carry on to slam.

West started with a small via East’s Queen for Kees’ King. Kind of a strange lead for South had bid . Kees now counted his tricks, ten solid and offer a good source for extra tricks. So from top, the fourth round won by East. A came back, taken with the Ace. Kees crossed to the Ace and cashed the 13th , leading to this position, with eleven solid tricks now:

Kees played a to his King and saw West’s Queen coming down. Next he played the Jack of and it’s all curtains for East-West. West had to keep the suit guarded and East had to protect against South’s small . So they both had to let go of their guard. Kees didn’t need a finesse, he knew the Queen would fall under Ace-King. A fine double squeeze.

Hi all

As promised, the second story about a 6NT in Strasbourg. Here are the NS hands:

After South had shown a 22-23 balanced and North inquired for a four card M, North (me) eventually made an enthusiastic leap to the small NT slam.

Kees was put to the sheer impossible task of not disappointing an enthusiastic partner. Even if the break, there are only eleven tricks. But West offered a hand by leading a small and when Kees called for the Jack, it won the trick. Kees played five rounds of and little pearls of sweat could be seen on West. He could follow suit two times, but then he let go of two small and then after a large pause… also the Ace of .

When Kees put the dreaded (to West) King of on the table, West was squeezed again. West discards from some red suit and you discard the other from dummy. Claim thirteen tricks on a progressive squeeze. Nice!

Here’s the complete layout:

Click here for the wikipedia article on progressive squeezes.

Hi all

Today I was sitting in the train with half a dozen sweaty, blue and purple veined French cheeses. When the people in my coach started complaining to eachother about the air conditioning and the funny, funky smell around, I couldn’t suppress a blush. But I’m at home right now, “destroying” evidence.

So three days, starting today, a story about 6NT. Brought to you by Kees and me, they are all very pretty I promise you.

The bidding wasn’t very interesting, I opened 1, Kees invited for a NT slam after showing his suit, accepted by me. The lady sitting West started with a for East’s King. A came back, and now, two tricks too late, I took stock to formulate a plan.

The King has to be onside to even have a chance for twelve tricks. And something good has to happen in as well. So the winning plan for twelve tricks is there: squeeze West out of her Majors. I crossed to hand with the Ace of and played the Queen, covered, for the Ace in dummy. Now three more rounds of (me discarding a ) and the Ace of .

Now when I crossed to my hand with the Queen of West was squeezed. Either the would break or the would come in. We’re finally home with twelve tricks.

Hi all

Last night advanced course at Dombo. I prepared some games at home and with exactly four students the table was complete. Here’s one of the prepared games where I found out my first analysis wasn’t completely correct.

The bidding isn’t really interesting, South opens a natural 1, North answers inverted, East interferes with some number in and eventually North-South will end up playing 5.

Now my original plan was to ruff the third round of high, cash both Ace and King of (the Vienna coup) and then drop all trumps on the table. West is squeezed in the Majors. This works because East has both honors, but if one of them is transferred to West, then this line is doomed to fail. West can unguard his without problems.

A trump squeeze is the true solution. Same as before, you ruff the third round of high, West discarding a (a is immediately fatal). And now you play four rounds of trumps, leading to this position:

West still has to find a discard. If a is discarded, you cash both in hand, enter dummy via a ruff and the Jack is your eleventh trick. A goes away? You can ruff out the remaining with the Ace as an entry. This line of play works too if both honors are divided and therefore the better play.

Edit 06-12-2006:
If East switches to a after just one high then you only have the Vienna coup to revert to. The opponents are already halfway in destroying your communication for the trump squeeze, but I guess your opponents are called Belladonna or Forquet if they do.

Hi all

No money at Star yesterday. René had troubles with public transportation so he asked me to find a substitute 40 minutes before kickoff. Yikes!

@Remco: Thanks for playing on such short notice.

No real misunderstandings, but we just didn’t score much. Add the few disasters we encountered and the minus 30 imp has been explained.

Our opponents couldn’t get to the good slam. After a strong 1NT in South you have problems in describing your playing strength. I guess the most reasonable (natural) sequence to slam is something like this:

This is only playable if you also play transfers on the four-level. You need them for hands that are just worth game. Via a transfer on the two-level and then bid game like above is mildly slam going. South has a true fit + three Aces and should advance to the slam. Holding three keys I wouldn’t even ask for Aces. Have a little faith.

Now how would I bid this one with René? Probably something like this.

1. Stayman or GF relay
2. GF relay
3. No 5 card minor
4. relay
5. 3-3-3-4
6. relay
7. 3 Aces
8. This should have play, but you’d better not have that wasted Queen of trumps!

It’s so simple.

Hi all

There was this 3NT Wednesday that has been bugging me. Itch, back, you know what I mean. Taking nine seemed possible, I just couldn’t get to the solution. Here’s the full layout.

Our opponents had an undisturbed auction to 3NT. I could have interfered by bidding my , but my holding was so anemic I threw it away. Declarer didn’t have any trouble on a non lead. At the other table though, they did interfere with 1. And the lead ducked to the Ten to keep communication intact left Sjoerd in a very miserable position. Eventually leading to one trick short.

So what to do?
You should take the lead with the Ace, and play a towards the King. It doesn’t matter if East rises or not, so let’s assume he ducks. Now play a small to dummy and finesse the Ten (or duck if your psychic). East will again play a small (communication!), but you take it with your Queen and then exit with your remaining .

East has to take his two because it’s the last time he’s on lead. Now the spotlights go to West, what to discard on the next two ? One small is easy, but on the 5th West is squeezed in three suits.

West still has to find a discard. Impossible!

A or a is immediately fatal, so West discards a . East plays back a trying to disrupt communication, taken in hand. Now cross over to the Queen and cash the other high as well. You discard your remaining small and West is now caught in a criss-cross squeeze.

That’s nice, first your partner murders you with too many , then declarer shakes a criss-cross squeeze out of his sleeve. I think I would stop playing bridge if I couldn’t see the beauty of it.

I need to practice, then practice some more and then just for the fun of it even a little bit more. Because three days to formulate a winning plan isn’t exactly winning bridge.

Edit: 26-11-2006
Kees-Jan has pointed out there is no three suited suicide squeeze if East doesn’t take his 5th . So you’re still stuck on just eight tricks. There is a way, though, and that is being crystal ball psychic when touching , so small to the King and then ducked to the bare Ace. Now if West refuses to take all his , you have three tricks in , two in and the Ace of . The necessary tricks in can be developed safely.