Vikings in Space

Hi all

This deal is from Quick Tricks in San Francisco. About a year ago our DC party (Remco, Dennis, Martin and me) pillaged the club night. We finished first in both directions. So the stakes were high when Remco announced he was coming to visit us again, and that a night at QT was definitely on his schedule.

We meet our random teammates and sit down against an elderly couple. I’m holding:

When I hear Remco open 1 I know we’re in for a ride.

1. Natural, or invite+ with
2. 14-17 balanced
3. Slam try with
4. Cue
5. First round control
6. Three key cards

After the 5 response I could count Remco’s hand to be a 5332-distribution with Ace – King, Ace and the King. If Remco is holding three to the Ace then the grand is solid. The odds to that are 2 to 1, so I leapt to the grand.

Above you can see the single distribution where Remco was unable to pull off thirteen tricks. Even the added bonus of the Queen of dropping doubleton didn’t occur. With tears in my eyes I write down one for a 17 IMP laceration.

The Viking approach would have worked out fine:

1. GF relay
2. Maximum (14-15 hcp)
3. Relay
4. Balanced or a side suit in the other Major
5. Balanced
6. 5-2-3-3
7. Two Aces of the same rank
8. Two Kings of the same shape
9. I know you can’t possibly have a Queen, but I still want to ask
10. No Queen
11. Sigh

Hi all

Work and Dutch visitors have been eating my time. Here’s the last story from Reno.

After the first half against Stacy Jacob’s team (her not-so-up-to-date blog can be found here) we were ahead by a dozen IMP. That could have been two dozen if I hadn’t been a tad lazy when I blasted to small slam, the grand was on vanilla flavoured ice, so to speak.

Round 2.

The French ladies (D’Ovidio & Gaviard) join our table, and Drew and Michael pick up the glove against the Russian Gromova & Ponomareva. Geoff and I soon find out the French ladies are close to a breakdown, both nervous and partner wise. Or it looked like that. On this deal Geoff (North) ended up playing 3NT after I had overbid my hand by a mile and a half.

Because West had overcalled in Geoff decided to take the finesse in . That was down one and a three IMP loss due to a pass out at the other table. Man, that could have been a huge pickup!

Another loss.

Sitting South I opened 1 and after that West got to declare 4. Catherine D’Ovidio took her chance after a lead, switch and continuation. She ruffed it in dummy to take the finesse, Ace of , followed by another ruff and a ruffed with the Ace of trumps. Finally a trump to dummy to extract the remaining trumps and ten vulnerable tricks were hers. Our teammates played a modest  partscore, and ten IMP just blew out of the fenêtre.

We quickly wake up from our dreams of making day two when we sit down with Drew and Michael. The Russians wrecked havoc. Not a single bad board in sight. They bid, declared and defended flawlessly. Wham! Bam! Spasiba, ma’am!

Hi all

In the Vanderbilt Geoff and I teamed up with Drew Hoskins and Michael Bodell. Because of my massive amount of eligiblity points we didn’t get seeded dead last, instead we entered a convenient four-way. Convenient because just 32 boards might be enough to squeeze out a lucky win. Our first opponent was team O’Rourke with Duboin, Wold and Sementa as hired muscle.

The sponsor played a decent first half and then the Italian mercenaries rotated in. We did the best we could, but the 30-something imp gap was too much to overcome. Memorable was the 6 the Italians bid on:

Another big loss during the first half occurred on the following deal:

Geoff (North) ended up playing a modest 2 contract after West had opened 1. At the other table though, North got to play 4. When the finesse against the combined Queen – Ten worked we lost a bunch. Man, at top level bridge they do know how to combine overbidding with decent declarer play!

In a couple days I will tell you a story about the French ladies in our second match.

Hi all

I found Reno not a particularly interesting city. Sure there are casino’s, but it felt as a ghost town when strolling around. And when I see people frantically pushing buttons on slot machines, I feel wrapped in unease. A bête noire lurking in the shadows.

On the other hand I enjoyed playing bridge there a lot. Scratching the IMP Pairs with Drew Hoskins, winning two sections in side events, and some good bridge in the Vanderbilt as well. So I got home with my first Platinum points, a handful of Gold points and a couple of ACBL Reno mugs. What a bounty!

This deal is from the IMP Pairs. Drew and I easily qualified for the finals on Saturday, and out of the remaining 178 pairs we finished 43rd. Of course we could have ended about 20 places higher if I hadn’t blundered in blasting to slam off Ace – King of (-12 IMP). Hrrmph.

1. Of course this is nowhere close to a vulnerable overcall

Drew and I punished declarer for his lighthearted overcall. A to Drew’s Ace followed by a ruff, a to the Ace and another ruff. Ace of , King of and a third ruffed with the King (just in case). Drew put the icing on the cake by playing a fourth round of that I could ruff with my Jack in front of dummy. Down four!

Who needs to bid vulnerable games when you have opponents like this?

Hi all

In a week I’ll be in Reno, participating in the Nationals. I have planned to play the IMP Pairs (with Drew Hoskins) and the Vanderbilt (with Geoff Hopcraft). Both partners are capable of creating action and generating imps and stories. I’ll post them here.

Here’s another Beowulf story from last week at Piedmont.

1. 15-17 bal or any 18+
2. 6+
3. Natural
4. Natural

Perhaps I shouldn’t have ventured with 2, it shows (or should show) more than this crummy four card suit. On the other hand finding a fit might get a bit difficult if I can’t take the slow approach. Anyway, Geoff pushed to slam when he found out I was holding too.

My LHO starts with the Ten of , and I take stock. I have two paths, establish the or try to ruff two in dummy. If the opponents had started with the latter plan would have been fairly easy to execute. But the lead creates some transportation problems. So I decide to establish dummy’s .

After winning the King of I draw two rounds of trumps with the Ace and King, the Ten hasn’t shown up yet. Next I cash the Ace and ruff a with the 9, LHO discarding a . I cross to the King and ruff another with the Queen. This is the position:

My plan was to cross again in , extract the outstanding Ten, cash the and pitch dummy’s losing on my long for thirteen tricks. I fell off the bridge when East ruffed the to dummy and cashed the Ace for down one.

Mere minutes later the solution hit me. A surge of pure, redeeming insight made me want to crawl back in time and replay those last couple of cards.

Instead of crossing to dummy with another , I should have exited in . The opponents can take their trick but now dummy’s void and Queen function as entry to draw the last trump. Combining the chances of any favourable split with an unfavourable split but a well placed Ace of . It might be talking towards the cards, but assessing the value of that overtrick in 6 should have steered me in the right direction.

Hi all

They haven’t fixed their initcap problem, and their mailing room isn’t quite up to speed, but Oracle finally sent me my OCP certificate.

Together with Geoff Hopcraft I’ve been experimenting with a homebrew big 1 opening: Beowulf. A 1 opening shows 15-17 balanced or any stronger hand. There are just two responses possible to 1: 1 showing any 6+ and 1 showing a bust. After that the bidding takes a surprising natural turn. So the relays and asking bids I’ve always been so very fond of have been sacrificed to robust natural proceedings. I can’t tell yet whether this is systematic imp positive, but if so, our competitive agreements more than make up for it. As always the 1 is the Achilles heel of conventional systems, ours being nebulous to the n’th power, for it can be as short as zero.

Here’s an example of Beowulf in action:

1. 15-17 bal, or any 18+
2. 6+ hcp

After 1 the auction switched to natural mode and Geoff launched himself to slam.

During the auction Geoff figured the side fit would provide enough tricks for slam. As the cards lie slam barely qualifies as questionable. In order to enjoy the long Geoff needed to discard one on the top . Then the two top would have to survive before ruffing a third one high. After that he had to draw the remaining trumps ending in dummy to enjoy the . But at that point there are still only eleven tricks (four , five and two ). The twelfth needed to come from the suit, but when the Ace proved to be off side we wrote -50.

I enjoyed the 3 bid best, I could show a big hand and my exact distribution, and we were just at the 3-level! I’ll keep you posted with more Beowulf action.

Hi all

On Monday I played with Drew Hoskins in the Burlingame Regionals. I thought our setup (a 6-bagger consisting of Jason Rosenfeld, Foster Geng, Ari Greenberg and David Grainger) was already a force to be reckoned with, but when I saw Mike Lawrence at the playsite I felt tiny again. If I had known he was going to be there I would have brought half a dozen books for him to sign.

Here’s me picking up eleven imp:

The auction was short: 1NT – 3NT.

I can count six solid tricks, but when East shows out on the small lead I have seven already. I can play truly va banque and finesse in and play a towards the Queen for nine. But I don’t like to put all my eggs in one basket.

The finesse is almost unavoidable so I take it immediately. I’m glad to see the Jack wins the trick, that’s number eight.

I’m going to assume East is 4-5-4-0, for he pitched he a small on the first trick. My plan is to remove all of East’s idle cards and then place him to grant a trick to the Queen.

So I continued by cashing Ace and King of and the King, ending in dummy. I got off lead with the Ten of to West. West saw his partner’s pain too on the run of and decided not to cash his last . Instead he switched to the Ten of . I ducked and East won his Queen.

East exited with his remaining small and dummy took it with the Ace. I crossed to my Ace of and put East on lead again with my  Jack, discarding the from dummy. East sighs and grants the smiling Queen a trick. Nine!

At the other table declarer was less inspired and collected his eight tricks. I agree the defence looks less than optimal (East could have kept a , for example), but after a long day most players get a little soft. Capable declarers and defenders can and will take advantage of that.

Hi all

I’m counting down on my days of freedom & slacking. On Monday I’ll start my QA job at Newfield Wireless, a service provider for large telecom companies. A bonus for me is that it’s really, really just around the corner. I’m happy. And I can confess that again bridge has proven to be the vital key in me finding a job. Seriously, one day scientists will discover bridge cures diseases too, I’m positive.

Here’s a small deal from a Piedmont Monday night game.

All vulnerable l opened the South hand with a 12-14 NT and got to play there. Of course the opponents found a lead and damage control was priority one, as I could only count two solid tricks. My RHO won the King of and returned a small one. I had nothing to think about and threw my Queen which won the trick to my surprise. 

Processing the information at the table. RHO has both honors, honors are probably split, so West is the favourite candidate for holding the Ace. I proceeded accordingly and played my Ten to the Queen. She survived, and when I finessed against the Jack on the way back West won it with the Ace. So far so good, I can count five tricks now: two , two and a . The opponents take their and I discard to this position:

West now annoyingly switched to a . I don’t want to chuck up the sponge for -200. So after I’ve cashed the King of I go after the . I play my small to dummy’s 9 and East wins with the King. I take the continuation and sacrifice my Queen of to West who grinds his teeth and surrenders his Ten to dummy’s Jack. Well, who would have thought that anemic dummy was actually going to take two tricks?

The defence was correct up to the point where I played my small towards dummy. If West had risen with the Ace to continue setting up a winner, then his partner would still have the King as an entry. I was happy with -100, as a lot of pairs made eight or nine tricks in .

Hi all

Back in the US of A. My trip to The Netherlands was great but exhausting. Sleeping in different beds several nights in a row, cram visits to friends, family and old colleagues into small windows of time, oh, and did I mention “De Zaak” had Pauwel Kwak on draught. I fear that I’ve gained some difficult to lose weight.

Here’s a deal from a clubnight in Rotterdam. Rekindling my partnership with René (North) for a couple of hours. He didn’t let me down, for there was enough spectacle.

1. Natural 4+ , or 15-19 balanced
2. Explained as invitational with trump support
3. Blammo!

West sure took a timid approach valueing his hand, just 3 with seven trumps and a void? After René heard the explanation of 3 he announced a skip bid that felt well-acquainted. I have a couple of fond memories of René ruthlessly blasting to slam without enquiries. West took a few deep breaths before taking the plunge, he sacrificed in 6. We extracted a +500 penalty from that. 

The score sheet was … colourful. Pairs making 7, down in 7, 6 doubled with an overtrick or just making, down in 6, 6 doubled down two and one happy-go-lucky EW pair that got to declare 4 doubled.

Hi all

May the gods you are loyal to grant you the success you deserve for 2010.

It has been a whirlwind of attention, questions, Dutch treats and jet lag. Man, if I weren’t enjoying myself so much I would need a holiday after this. This deal is from a pairs night at Star. I was sitting West and heard the following auction.

1. Inverted
2. Stopper

I led my 5th and dummy revealed a promising stiff .

Partner Erik S. wins the Ace of and returns the Jack via the Queen for my … 2. I decided to duck to keep communications intact. Basically the analysis comes down to whether South holds Queen – doubleton, or Queen – third. The latter seemed more likely in my opinion.

Declarer wrapped up ten tricks easily.

For West it’s impossible to see from what holding East has returned the Jack. Maybe you can toy around with “change in tempo”-tactics, unfortunately I’m a too ethical player to adapt to such practices. In a teams match East can offer a helping hand in the defence. Seeing the danger that West might duck the Jack return, East can cash the Ace of first before firing back the Jack, that should stir West’s cup of coffee in the right direction.