Vikings in Space

Hi all

Life is back to normal, well, as normal as it can get in Berkeley. I’m still on the lookout for a job, but recently CNN brought the news that the unemployment rate in California has risen to more than 9%. Combine that with the global economic situation and you can figure out that I’m in for a bumpy ride. Oh well, we’ll see what the future brings us.

Last weekend was exciting. On Saturday I played a sectional in Pleasanton together with Andrew G. The morning session we scored a fine 60% round, the afternoon session my lack of routine struck for a skinny 51something%. That feels good if you haven’t played a serious match in weeks… months. And on Sunday Sanne and I went to a Bay Area Quasi Juniors party in San Francisco. That’s quite the mouthful. Games and beer, you don’t need extra ingredients for a succesful party.

Here’s a deal from Pleasanton:

 
Your sitting 3rd seat, vulnerable against not, pondering whether or not you should (or dare to) pre in . But to your surprise your partner opens 1 and your RHO overcalls 2. Right! You have maximum support but a terrible flat distribution. Maybe a direct jump to game obfuscates things best for the opponents, but I chose to bid a timid 2 intending to bid up to the five level if needed. LHO supports and partner makes a nice describing bid with 4. The auction ends with my 4 bid. Huh?

1. Natural, intending to compete to the five level if there is a double fit present

RHO starts with a top and I ask partner with a smile how many trumps he expects. I drop all seven of them on the table and I’m not surprised Andrew is set one trick.

 
Having seven trumps as support is a nice thing, just as bidding a timid 2. But I’m still wondering what East was looking for. Did he need another Ace to bid? Didn’t he hear his partner support? I know for sure that we would have reached at least small slam if we had held the EW cards.

Hi all

Something went wrong when I updated my WordPress to version 2.7 Coltrane. I need to update my theme, clean up some old code and prepare for a switch of host. In the end all will be nice and fun. Currently I’m trying out the Hybrid theme by Justin Tadlock. It’s a tad sober but stylish, and it functions pretty robust. Though there are still a couple of css-thingies I have to hammer out.

Martin visited Berkeley a couple of weeks ago. We had planned to participate in the Sacramento sectional, but it got canceled due to a family emergency in our second pair. So we decided to visit a Sunday game in Oakland.

I still have nightmares about this deal. Waking up some unholy hour, I’m soaking in my own sweat.

I agree my jump to 3NT isn’t very scientific, but with my stack and point surplus I thought 3NT would be easier. West kicked off with a small (and encouraging) East winning the trick with the Ace. West won the second rounds of with his Queen and I took the third round with my King.

Here’s my train of thought:
– The suit splits 5-3.
– The opponents have the Ace of as a sure entry.
– West has bid his without the Ace, so he’s my candidate for holding the other pointed Ace.
– Ergo I cannot get off lead else I will be set one trick.
– What other options do I have…? Maybe the suit is worth five tricks, together with three tricks and my King makes nine.

So that’s what I did, I cashed three rounds of finding out Mr. West is holding four of them. Nasty!

I have one final option, and that’s if East holds the Ace of . When I played my small  towards dummy West follows suit with a small one. Sure sure, stop teasing me! But to my surprise East gains the trick with the Ace. Huh? And now heaven came crashing down on me. Darkness absolute! East had another , overtaken by West who sets my 3NT with a diabolical Jack of . Am I going insane?

 
So I dug my own grave by cashing three rounds of . West was really out to get me, bidding his meager four card suit accompanied by a whole Jack in one of the opponent’s suits. But it worked, I was the lone soul that went down in this cold contract.

Happy holidays, y’all!

Hi all

Last Thursday I enjoyed my first Thanksgiving ever. Discard soberness, the task at hand was to indulge in enormous amounts of food. I’m not exaggerating here, there was not just one 16-pound-turkey prepared for us (some twenty people), no, there were two of those beasts waiting for us. 

I have some nice memories from the day before as well. I was a mercenary for Leerdam in the ICL. This game I had a trick up my sleeve, and when the opponent didn’t pay attention for a moment, I got away with murder.

1. Weak, 4+

I thought I had an easy save against their vulnerable game, but look what happened:

West started with a trump for the Ace in dummy. I finessed in directly and West fired back his Queen of trumps for my King. When I played the Ace of I noticed East had dropped two pretty valuable cards. So far I’ve only lost one trick, but there are still a and two to lose. If only I could dispose of three  in dummy.

Ingredients: an evil and greedy mind + sleepy West

I innocently played the 6 of from hand and West followed with the 5. Bingo! Next I was able to discard two more  from dummy and claim +590.

Hi all

Thursday, November 20th. Browsing around on the internet looking for events and nice places in the neighbourhood I found out there’s a Belgian beer bar in Oakland. Some twenty minutes later Sanne and I arrived at The Trappist where they were celebrating the 25th anniversary of Chimay in the US. Too bad all the Chimay was gone already, but I think I have found my sanctuary. The Brother Thelonious I had brought a very bright smile to my face and spread familiar warmth throughout my body.

A game. I was watching Leerdam (old colleagues from Transfer Solutions) in the Intercity League and what I saw wasn’t very good. After eight boards they had to close a 50 imp gap. But in the second half of the match they blitzed their opponents ending the match 71-56 in their favour. Not bad for only sixteen boards *cough*.

West led the Jack of and now Geert-Jan (ggoulash on BBO) could shine, for this was the deal:

He ruffed the lead, drew one round of trumps noticing the 0-3 split. Ace of and another one and the opponents tested him with more love. Next he negotiated two ruffs in dummy with the Queen and Jack. The play was virtually over, Geert-Jan had a complete count on East. This is the five card ending:

When Geert-Jan played a small from dummy East could have made life a bit more difficult by ducking, but when he rose with the King of , Geert-Jan simply drew the last trump and finessed against West’s Queen of  for 11 tricks. Nice!

Hi all

Here’s a fine hand from Dombo a couple of weeks ago. Hoek opened 1 and I couldn’t be restrained until I had parked myself in a pairs 6NT. West led a small .

 
As you can see 6 is laydown, and even 7 has good play (combined chances of ruffing out the Queen or a finesse). But how to scramble together twelve tricks in NT? And the communication to and fro isn’t really a walk in the park as well.

The 8 is covered with the 9 (by Dennis) for my Ace. I unblock my Ace and King and cross to dummy in . On the run of I have to choose wich suit to keep, either or . The latter I decide.

It comes down to the finesse. If that would fail, then I still can hope for the appearance of the Ten of . I would estimate these odds to be around 70%, the opponents have had some difficult discards as well on the run of , and I believe they have all their guards still intact.

My Jack proves to be a trick. I’m home.

But wait, things get better when I cash my King. West gets a little sweaty and throws a . Let’s take a look at East when I put some pressure on him with my Ace of .

I have to admit, I didn’t expect a double squeeze with the as pivot suit to materialize. But it did.