Club News Sheet – No. 244 www.pattayabridge.com 8^th July 2007

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 086 6089887

It is best to use my home number to contact me unless I am at the bridge club.

My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com

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Mon 2^nd 1^st Frode & Kees 59% 2^nd Lewis & Terry 57%

Wed 4^th N-S 1^st Paul Wij.. & Harry 61% 2^nd Sally & Kenneth 59%

E-W 1^st Terje & Lewis 64% 2^nd Sean Burgess & Paul K 60%

Fri 6^th 1^st Eddie & Jan 58% 2^nd Sean Burgess & Paul K 56%

Bidding Quiz Standard American is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B What, if anything, do you open with Hand A in 2^nd seat?

♠ A8432 ♠ K9

♥ 4 ♥ KJ632 (a) What, if anything, do you open with Hand B in 1^st seat?

♦ KQ86 ♦ KJ643 (b) What, if anything, do you open with Hand B in 4^th seat?

♣ J96 ♣ 6

Hand C Hand D What, if anything, do you open with Hand C in 2^nd seat?

♠ KQ987 ♠ K10

♥ J ♥ AJ92 With Hand D RHO opens 1♠, what do you bid?

♦ KJ1052 ♦ A109

♣ 75 ♣ AK83

Hand E Hand F What, if anything, do you open with Hand E in 4^th seat?

♠ 10 ♠ A42

♥ AQ1082 ♥ AJ9 With Hand F partner opens 1♦, what do you bid.

♦ AQ87 ♦ 976

♣ 864 ♣ K752

Hand G Hand H What, if anything, do you open with Hand G in 2^nd seat?

♠ A974 ♠ A

♥ 4 ♥ KJ105 With Hand H RHO opens 1♣, what do you bid?

♦ AJ7532 ♦ J52

♣ J9 ♣ AJ982

Bidding Sequences Quiz

J 1♣ pass 1NT How many ♣’s would you expect the 1NT bidder to have?

K 1♦ pass 2NT How many points is 2NT?

L 1♠ dbl pass 1NT How many points is 1NT?

M 1♠ dbl pass 2♥ How many points is 2♥?

The Club Championships The current standings are: -

Gold Cup = Best 30 Silver plate = Best 10 Bronze medal = Best 5

1816.8 Janne Roos 666.8 Janne Roos 350.4 Janne Roos

1784.8 Jan v Koss 650.5 Jan v Koss 340.2 Jan v Koss

1755.7 Dave Cutler 634.5 Lars Gustaffson 336.2 Bengt Malmgren

630.9 Paul Savelkral 332.9 Paul Savelkral

627.2 Dave Cutler 325.6 Gunnar Barthel

This week’s silly double Board 30 from Wednesday 4^th

Dealer: ♠ A

East ♥ KJ105 West North(H) East South

Love all ♦ J52 - - pass pass

♣ AJ982 1♣ (1) dbl (2) redbl (3) pass (4)

pass (5) pass (6)

♠ K1065 N ♠ J743

♥ Q74 W E ♥ 9832

♦ K10 S ♦ AQ97

♣ K1065 ♣ Q

♠ Q982

♥ A6

♦ 8643

♣ 743

(1) A weakish third-in hand opener. It’s only 19 for the rule of 20 but anything goes in third seat and it does have three 10’s.

(2) What did you bid with this North hand H in this week’s quiz? Here we clearly have a member of the “double to show an opening hand” brigade. A take-out double is short in the suit bid and playable in the other three suits (unless very strong). I hardly call a stiff ♠A or ♦J52 ‘playable’ suits. Pass is very clear.

(3) 9+ points and often short in partner’s suit. It’s often looking for a penalty but the quality of these majors makes the bid dubious. Still, it is 9+ points, so OK I guess. Pass or 1♥ are the alternatives.

(4) With no 5 card suit South simply passes.

(5) West must pass here – there’s no guarantee that partner has ♠’s.

(6) And North is quite happy with the way thing have turned out, but…

… what happened? West made(!) 1♣ redoubled for 230 and a clear top. 4-1 fits are generally difficult to play, especially with an adverse 5-3 split offside and a combined 20 count, but even with his limited capabilities as a declarer this West managed to struggle home.

The bottom lines: -

- A take-out double should be short in the suit bid and playable in the other three suits, especially unbid major(s).

- As it turned out, North got exactly what he deserved (a bottom). This double is very poor as North would have been totally fixed had East passed and South bid the obvious 1♠.

Worth an opening? – part 1 Board 4 from Monday 2^nd

N-S missed a decent 4♠ game on this deal – who would you blame?

Dealer: ♠ A974

West ♥ 4 West North(G) East South

both vul ♦ AJ7532 pass pass (1) pass 1♣

♣ J9 pass 1♠ (2) pass 2♠

pass pass (3) pass

♠ 2 N ♠ 10863

♥ Q9832 W E ♥ AK76 (1) Did you open with this North hand G in this

♦ K10 S ♦ 94 week’s quiz? It conforms with the rule of 20

♣ Q10654 ♣ K82 and is a sound opener.

♠ KQJ5 (2) Quite why North chose 1♠ instead of 1♦ is a

♥ J105 mystery.

♦ Q86 (3) North should make an effort.

♣ A73

And what happened?

North’s terrible bidding was matched by his terrible declarer play, he got a near bottom for 2♠+1 when two other N-S’s were making game.

Worth an opening? – part 2 Board 23 from Monday 2^nd

E-W missed an easy ♦ partscore on this deal – who would you blame?

Dealer: ♠ J542

South ♥ 9743 West(C) North East(E) South

both vul ♦ 4 - - - pass

♣ KQJ9 pass (1) pass pass (2)

♠ KQ987 N ♠ 10 (1) Did you open with this West hand C in this

♥ J W E ♥ AQ1082 week’s quiz? It conforms with the rule of 20

♦ KJ1052 S ♦ AQ87 and has the points in the long suits and

♣ 75 ♣ 864 excellent intermediates. To me it’s a clear opener.

♠ A63 (2) Did you open with this East hand E in this

♥ K65 week’s quiz? In 4^th seat Pearson’s rule of 15

♦ 963 applies and this is only 13, I had a good long

♣ A1032 think but where are the ♠’s? I eventually passed!

The bottom lines: -

- The rule of 20 applies in 1^st and 2^nd seat.

- In 3^rd seat, anything goes.

- The rule of 15 applies in 4^th seat.

- In 2^nd seat, open a marginal hand that contains decent ♠’s as partner may pass a good hand in 4^th seat if he is short in ♠’s.

- Note that some may not like to open the West hand C as there appears to be no decent rebid if partner responds 2♥. Actually a 2♠ rebid is fine (it does not guarantee a 6-card suit in that auction); but E-W play 2/1 and so 3♦ is correct and does not show extras when playing 2/1.

Worth an opening? – part 3 Board 5 from Friday 29^th

This deal is from the date stated. i.e. 2 weeks ago. There was nowhere to put it in last week’s news sheets but it fits in nicely with the previous two articles this week

Dealer: ♠ J976 Table A

North ♥ K1086 West North East(A) South(D)

N-S vul ♦ 75 - pass 1♠ (1) dbl (2)

♣ 1075 pass 1NT (3) pass 2NT (4)

all pass

♠ Q5 N ♠ A8432

♥ Q753 W E ♥ 4 Table B

♦ J432 S ♦ KQ86 West North East(A) South(D)

♣ Q42 ♣ J96 - pass 1♠ (1) dbl (2)

♠ K10 pass 2♥ (3) pass pass (5)

♥ AJ92 pass

♦ A109

♣ AK83

Table A: (1) Did you open with this East hand A in this week’s quiz? It’s just 19 for the rule of 20 but I too would open 1♠. The points are in the long suits and it has nice shape. I would think about passing if it was 5242 shape; the ♥ singleton indicates action. The other reason why I would open this hand is that it is in 2^nd seat and has the ♠ suit. If you pass and LHO passes then partner will be in 4^th seat and may well pass a good hand because he does not have ♠’s and knows about the rule of 15 (as happened on the previous page).

(2) What did you bid with this South hand D in this week’s quiz? Dbl, with the intention of bidding 2NT next go (if partner does not respond 2♥) is correct, showing a hand too good for an immediate 1NT overcall.

(3) North went wrong here. She thought that a two level response would show more values than a one level 1NT bid. Actually the opposite is true; 2♥ would show about 0-8 but 1NT guarantees 6-9 points.

(4) 3NT is correct here if partner does indeed have the promised 6-9 points.

Table B: (1) This East (Gene) also chose to open, good bid.

(2) And South again correctly doubled.

(3) This North found the correct response.

(5) South should invite with 3♥, but as it happens North would decline.

This hand was brought to my attention by North at Table A who claimed that East had psyched (opening with only 10 points) and reminded me that psyching is not allowed at this club. The latter is true, but East’s opening is not a psyche, merely an opening on the light side. Had East opened 1♥ then that would be a psyche and not allowed. North apparently mis-played the board as she placed East with more points, but the main problem was the poor 1NT bid, the hand plays much better in ♥’s even with the adverse 4-1 split. And what happened? 2NT went one down for a poor score. 2♥ made +1 for a good score. The bottom lines: -

- Psyching is not allowed at this club, but reasonable light openings are.

- A non-jump response to a take-out double promises zero points, even if it is at the 2 level.

- A 1NT response to partner’s take-out double promises 6-9 points.

- Responding to partner’s take-out double is clearly written up on the website

(Basic Bidding > #133 Responding to partner’s take out double)

Worth an opening? – part 4 Board 16 from Wednesday 4^th

Dealer: ♠ J1042 Table A

West ♥ 84 West(B) North East South

E-W vul ♦ A872 1♥ (1) pass 3NT (2) pass

♣ A43 pass (3) pass

♠ K9 N ♠ AQ85 Table B

♥ KJ632 W E ♥ AQ7 West(B) North East South

♦ KJ643 S ♦ Q5 1♥ pass 1♠ (2) pass

♣ 6 ♣ J952 2♦ pass 3NT (4) all pass

♠ 763

♥ 1095

♦ 109

♣ KQ1087

Table A: (1) Did you open with this West hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? It’s 21 for the rule of 20 but has poor intermediates and no aces. But it does have an easy rebid and I would always open this hand in 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd seat.

(2) Apparently this E-W pair were having a poor session and so East went for 3NT (for the extra 10 at pairs scoring) and hoped for a ♠ lead. The bid denies 4 ♠’s and denies decent 3 card ♥ support and shows good minors. The fact that his partner was a weaker player may possibly have influenced his decision.

(3) The 3NT bid is fairly categorical that East wants to play in No Trumps and so West correctly did not bid his ♦’s.

Table B: (2) This East correctly bid 1♠ - never deny a 4-card major.

(4) But this East then also incorrectly went for 3NT. Partner has shown 9 or 10 red cards and the ♣’s are presumably very dangerous. With three excellent ♥’s 4♥ is clear but this East also “went for 3NT for the extra 10” at pairs scoring. I think that this is possibly even worse than the 3NT bid at Table A for two reasons: -

(a) These are excellent ♥’s and with this ♦ holding it may well be possible to get and extra trick with a (high) ♦ ruff.

(b) You are obviously going to get a ♣ lead and 3NT will only (possibly) score better than 4♥ if partner has something in ♣’s. I would always bid 4♥, but if you really want to try for 3NT then bid 3♣ to find out if partner has something there. But this West was also a poor player and East presumably did not want to risk him being declarer?

And what happened? At Table A South led a low ♣ which North won with the ♣A but he did not continue ♣’s (he thought partner had 4 ♠’s on the bidding) and so 3NT made. But it scored badly as everybody else (except table B) were in 4♥ making or making +1.

At Table B the ♣K was led and after E-W had wrapped up the first 5 tricks East exclaimed that he would never, never open that West hand. This is the most emphatic case of ‘doing a Chuck’ (immediately blaming partner for your own mistakes) that I have witnessed in over a year (since Chuck left). The bottom lines: -

- Every West in the club opened 1♥, and so did every experienced player that I later asked.

- Don’t let the greed for the ‘extra 10’ let you get into silly 3NT contracts when you have excellent 3 support for partner’s 5 card major (and a weak suit elsewhere).

- Don’t “do a Chuck”. It is extremely discourteous and will always get written up.

The 2NT response Board 14 from Monday 2^nd

The 2NT response to 1♣/♦ is 10-12 in Standard American, but not everybody likes the bid. In SAYC it’s 13-15 (but nobody plays that). Most advanced Acol players play Baron 2NT which is a strong hand, around 15-19 points. E-W got in a tangle here when East (basically an Acol player) thought that West’s 2NT was strong.

Dealer: ♠ 7

East ♥ K108432 West(F) North East South

Love all ♦ J853 - - 1♦ pass

♣ Q10 2NT (1) pass 4NT (2) pass

5♥ (3) pass 5NT (4) pass

♠ A42 N ♠ KQ53 pass (5) pass

♥ AJ9 W E ♥ 5

♦ 976 S ♦ AKQ104

♣ K752 ♣ AJ9

♠ J10986

♥ Q76

♦ 2

♣ 8643

(1) What did you bid with this West hand F in this week’s quiz? 2NT is spot on playing Standard American.

(2) But this East is primarily an Acol player, and most experienced Acol players play the Baron 2NT (15-19) and East assumed that West had such a hand. So he bid 4NT which I think he meant as ace-asking, I would play 4♣ as Gerber here and 4NT as quantitative.

(3) West was unsure what 4NT meant and since he was near max he decided to show his two aces.

(4) East meant this as a king ask

(5) But West thought it best to pass as he was not sure what was going on.

And what happened? 5NT made +1 for a joint top to E-W anyway. 7♣, 7♦ or 7NT make as the cards lie but nobody bid slam.

The bottom lines: -

- Without agreement to the contrary, most players in the club play Standard American and a 2NT bid over a 1♣/♦ opening is a balanced 10-12 with no 4-card major.

- When partner’s last bid was a natural 2NT then 4♣ is Gerber and 4NT is invitational.

- But some players play that 4♣ is only Gerber over a 1NT or 2NT opening; I guess that that leads to less mis-understandings but is not such an efficient treatment and is illogical.

- I have written up a page explaining when 4 ♣ is Gerber and when 4NT is Blackwood, it's in the conventions folder and on the web (Conventions > Section 3 > Blackwood or Gerber?)

- And, indeed, if you play 2NT as Baron then 15-19 is such a wide range that you certainly need a quantitative 4NT bid.

- 2NT over a 1♥/♠ opening is best played as Jacoby 2NT, I play it as 16+ points, balanced, with 4 card support for partner’s major.

Inverted minors Board 10 from Monday 2^nd

E-W bid nicely to the best contract on this deal and made an overtrick. But this is Pattaya bridge club and silly results at other tables meant it was just an average.

Dealer: ♠ AK3 Table A

East ♥ 972 West North East South

Both vul ♦ Q53 - - pass pass

♣ K975 1♣ pass 2♣ (1) pass

pass (2) pass

♠ J982 N ♠ 65

♥ Q64 W E ♥ A108 Table B

♦ AK10 S ♦ 976 West North East South

♣ Q62 ♣ AJ1043 - - pass pass

♠ Q1074 1♦ (3) 2♣ (4) pass (5) pass

♥ KJ53 pass (6)

♦ J842

♣ 8

Table A: (1) E-W play inverted minors, so 2♣ here showed a decent hand with good ♣ support. 3♣ would have been a weak pre-emptive bid.

(2) With a miserable hand barely worth an opener, West was happy to pass since partner was a passed hand.

Table B: (3) This West decided to open 1♦, I would open 1♣.

(4) A candidate for worst overcall of the year?

(5) Presumably E-W play negative doubles …

(6) … but West forgot to double?

And what happened? 2♣ at table A made +1 and should obviously be a good score. But there were strange results at other tables. The ridiculous 2♣ by North at Table b went for 400 (it would have been 1100 if doubled). At another table 3♣ by West was doubled and made for 670. So the modest 110 scored by this West at table A got an average (the other two tables scored 90).

The bottom lines: -

- Inverted minors are great; they are generally forcing to 3 of the minor but not when by a passed hand.

- To overcall a 1♦ opening with 2♣ with this North hand must be a candidate for worst bid of the year.

- Understand the re-opening double when playing negative doubles. The automatic re-opening double still applies if partner is a passed hand.

- Don’t overcall at the two level with 4 card suits.

Dave’s Column Here is this week’s Dave input involving the best play for the contract.

West East You are North, playing in 6♥ after South had made an opening

♠ A962 ♠ K753 bid of 3♣. South leads the ♣K, how do you play the hand?

♥ J52 ♥ AKQ1096

♦ 54 ♦ AK

♣ A962 ♣ 7

Dave’s Column answer Board 27 from Wednesday 4^th

Dealer: ♠ QJ108 West North East South

South ♥ 83 - - - 3♣

Love all ♦ Q108762 pass pass dbl pass

♣ 5 3♠ (1) pass 4♣ (2) pass

4♥ (3) all pass

♠ A962 N ♠ K753

♥ J52 W E ♥ AKQ1096 (1) Not quite good enough for 4♠.

♦ 54 S ♦ AK (2) Showing a huge hand and wanting to see if

♣ A962 ♣ 7 West’s ♠’s were rebiddable. Good bidding.

♠ 4 (3) West’s ♠’s were not rebiddable but West

♥ 74 really should do more holding two aces.

♦ J93 I guess 5♣?

♣ KQJ10843

This is from Dave’s book and East is meant to be in 6♥. But, although all of the clubs top pairs sat E-W on Wednesday nobody was in 6♥. Anyway, onto how it should be played.

♠ QJ All will be well if the ♠’s are 3-2. If not, you

♥ - will need to throw South in to give you a ruff

♦ Q10 and discard. Win the ♣ lead and ruff a ♣ at

♣ - trick two! Play the ♥A and ♥J and ruff

another ♣. Cask the top ♦’s followed by the

♠ 96 N ♠ 75 ♠K and ♠A. When the ♠’s prove to be 4-1,

♥ 5 W E ♥ KQ that leaves this position.

♦ - S ♦ - You should lead dummy’s last ♣ and throw

♣ 9 ♣ - a ♠ loser from the East hand.

♠ - South will have to win and give you a ruff

♥ and discard. You ruff in the West hand and

♦ J- throw East’s last ♠.

♣ QJ10

And what happened? One E-W pair were in 6NT and made it, I guess that North thought that he was squeezed and threw a ♠ at some stage. The other 5 pairs were in 4♥ (or 5♥) and all made just 11 tricks except just one player who did make 12.

The bottom lines: -

- Looks like most of the club find Dave’s play problems a bit tricky.

- And, as usual, nobody out of 6 pairs was in the pre-destined contract of 6♥.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 1♠. It’s only 19 for the rule of 20 but has the points in the suits and nice shape. If you play Muiderberg twos then 2♠ is a possibility, but I think it’s good enough for 1♠. I do not like to pass a marginal opener containing the ♠ suit when in 2^nd seat as if it is passed to partner he may well not open with a very respectable hand because he’s worried about the ♠’s (Pearson’s rule of 15).

Hand B: (a) 1♥. It’s 21 for the rule of 20 and has an easy rebid. I agree that it has no aces or touching honours but it’s still one above the rule of 20 and a clear opener.

(b) Pass. In 4^th seat it’s Pearson’s rule of 15 (points plus spades) and this hand is only 13 Pearson points.

Hand C: 1♠, it conforms with the rule of 20, has the points in the long suits and has good intermediates.

Hand D: Double, with the intention of bidding 2NT next go or raising 2♥ to 3♥.

Hand E: Pass. Where are the ♠’s? If you open then the opponents may well out-bid you in ♠’s. Pearson’s rule of 15 for 4^th seat openers copes with this dilemma and this hand is only 13 Pearson points.

Hand F: 2NT, a balanced 10-12 with no 4 card major playing Standard American. This is a fairly routine bid but not everybody likes it. Playing SAYC 2NT is 13-15 and playing Acol most experienced players play it as 15-19 (the Baron 2NT). But this is a Standard American quiz and so the answer is 2NT.

Hand G: 1♦, it conforms with the rule of 20.

Hand H: Pass. Double is a terrible bid with length and strength in the suit opened. The only remotely sensible alternative is 1♥ but 4-card overcalls are best left to the experts who are adept at playing in Moysian fits.

Bidding Sequence Answers

J 1♣ pass 1NT Four, usually, but it may depend upon who bid it. Dave would always be exactly 3334 shape as he would always bid 1♦ with a 4 card ♦ suit. I bid slightly differently and would bid 1NT rather than 1♦ with a hand like ♠AQ4 ♥ K103 ♦7654 ♣ 843.

K 1♦ pass 2NT In Standard American it’s 10-12. In strict SAYC it’s 13-15 but virtually nobody plays that. In the UK many play Baron 2NT and then it’s about 15-19.

L 1♠ dbl pass 1NT 6-9. A 1NT response to partner’s double always shows points and a stop. With less points, bid a suit, which promises zero points…

M 1♠ dbl pass 2♥ … 0-8.

.