Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                           Club News Sheet – No. 370

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880              13th Dec 2009

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Mon 7th   N-S    1st  Dave C & Frode            59%       2nd    Janne & Paul Q                      58%

                E-W   1st  Hans V & Paul Sc          66%       2nd    Alan K & Jan                         53%

Wed 9th    N-S   1st  Alan K & Paul Q            72%       2nd    Gerry C & Sally W                 65%

                E-W   1st  Dave H & Paul S            58%       2nd    Dave C & Terry Q                 56%          

Fri  11th    N-S   1st  Paul K & Sean               60%       2nd    Dave H & Sally                      57%

                E-W   1st  Janne & Lars B              68%       2nd    Dave C & Tomas                   57%

       
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Bidding Quiz                    Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

 

Hand A           Hand B           With Hand A you elect to open 2 at love all. LHO bids 2 and partner doubles, passed to you. What do you do?

J                   QJ87                                         

65                 Q97              With Hand B LHO opens 1 and partner overcalls 1. RHO

KJ76532       Q85              passes, what do you do?   

K104           AQ4            

 

     
Ron Klinger web site
     
 

 

 
The Unassuming cue bid
                                      Board 28 from Monday 7th  

 

I was asked to write up about this one when they missed (a dodgy) game at Table A.

 

Dealer:             K10543                                      Table A

West                AJ53                                          West          North         East          South(B)

N-S vul            K7                                              1             1              pass         3    (1)

                        95                                              pass           pass (2)      pass

 

A62                    N               9                         Table B

K86                W    E            1042                  West          North         East          South(B)

A102                  S                J9643                  1             1              pass         2   (1)

K1083                                 J762                   pass           4    (3)      all pass

QJ87                                         

Q97                                           

Q85                                          

AQ4                                    

 

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? This South thought that 3 was invitational and so bid it.

(2)   North has no reason to bid on.

Table B:     (1)  This is a good answer to question B, an Unassuming cue bid to show a sound raise to 3 or better. Note that some experts will bid 3 here to show 4 card support and Paul Q will bid 3NT.

(3) With a sound opener and decent shape North bids game. The alternative is to pass the buck back with 3 or some other bid which South would raise to 4 because of the 4-card support.

 

And what happened? At Table A North made 3+1. Other results were 3NT=, 3=, 2+1, and 4-1.

The bottom line:

-         Understand the Unassuming Cue bid - it’s in the conventions section of the website.

-         For Paul Quodomine’s view on what South should bid, see his column.

 

 

Dave’s Column           Here is Dave’s first input on the play of the hand.

 

Dealer:             K1092                                        Book bidding

South               Q9                                              West          North         East            South

Both vul            A1004                                       -                 -                 -                 1

                        Q106                                         pass           1              pass           1NT

pass           3NT           all pass      

                         

                              N             AQ72             You are East, defending against 3NT.  

                          W    E          A6                  Partner leads the 7 playing 4th best leads,

                              S              K752             and declarer plays low from dummy. When

                                              753                you play the A, declarer plays the 2.

What do you know about the suit and what           

is your plan?

                                             


Dave’s Column answer                      Board 23 from Wednesday 9th    

     

Dealer:             K1092                                        Book bidding

South               Q9                                              West          North         East            South

Both vul            A1094                                       -                 -                 -                 1

                        Q106                                         pass           1              pass           1NT

pass           3NT           all pass      

                         

54                       N             AQ72                 

K10875          W    E          A6                 

86                       S              K752             You are East, defending against 3NT.  

9842                                  753                Partner leads the 7 playing 4th best leads,  

                        J86                                       and declarer plays low from dummy. When you

J432                                     play the A, declarer plays the 2.    

QJ3                                      What do you know about the suit and what is

AKJ                                     your plan?

 

From the auction you know South has no more than 4 ’s, and the 7 tells you that West has 5 ’s. If he had the J1087x he would have led the J. Therefore he has the K which leaves only 13 points for declarer. It is unlikely that West has any other high card but if he has the KJ you will always defeat the contract. Declarer can do no more than five ’s and one before you regain the lead in ’s or ’s.

You would like to put West in so that he can lead a or a , but if you return a now, West will duck when he does not hold the KJ. Without an outside entry, the duck is the normal play as it offers the best chance to take four tricks when East has three ’s.

So send West a strong message about your length by returning another suit. The 7 would normally convince him that you have no interest in ’s, and, when you next play a he will know that you have only two.

Declarer wins the and plays the 8 to your Q. You now play the 6 to West’s K and West returns a . If declarer had taken the finesse at trick three, West would play a when in with the K.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 3NT-1 four times; 2NT= three times and 2(W) -1.

 

 

 

Dave’s 2nd Column   Here is Dave’s second problem on the play of the hand.

 

West                East                              West            North         East          South

953               AK72                       1NT             pass           2           pass

KJ6              98                            2                pass           2NT         pass

AJ3               875                          3NT             all pass

AKQ4          J1073                                  

                                                                       

You are West, declarer in 3NT. North leads the 3 upon which South plays the 10,

plan the play.


Dave’s 2nd Column answer              Board 24 from Wednesday 9th

 

Dealer:             Q104                                          Book Bidding

West                AQ432                                       West          North         East            South

Love all            K62                                           1NT (1)      pass           2             pass

                        86                                              2              pass           2NT           pass

3NT           all pass

953                     N             AK72                  

KJ6                W    E          98                        

AJ3                     S              875                 (1)  deduct a point for the flat 4333 type shape.

AKQ4                                J1073                  

J86                                      

1075                              

Q1094                           North leads the 3 and South plays the 10,

952                                plan the play          

 

In 3NT, West took the J and saw that he needed a third trick for nine tricks. So he cashed the A intending to continue with the K and a third , hoping for a 3-3 break. His chances might have been 18% against a careless North , but the actual North reflected that that South was most unlikely to have an ace, and if West had J the contract was probably cold. So North threw the Q under the A. South won the third with the J and led a to defeat the contract.

West needs a 3-3 break but can’t afford to let South win a trick to lead a . Hence West must play North for Qxx – about an 18% chance. West should lead the A at trick two and return to hand with a and lead a second .

If North plays the Q on the second round (or the first) of ’s, then declarer plays low from dummy. If North plays low on the second then dummy wins the K and leads a third to North’s Q and the contract is secure.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 3NT+1 twice; 3NT= twice; 1NT+1; 3nT-1 twice and 2(N)-2.

 

 


Paul’s Column

 

If you preempt, should you pull partner’s double of the opponents with something “extra”?

 

In my never too humble view NO!  Your partner has told you that you have them on the ropes and are closing in for the kill.  Consider the following board 1 from Monday, 7/12/09.  North opened 2D holding ♠J, ♥65, KJ76532, ♣K104. While I sympathize with the 2D opening, when East bid 2H and South doubled (purely penalty!) what did you bid with this hand A in this week’s quiz? North pulled to 3D.  This made exactly for a very poor score.  His partner’s double should have resulted in at least +300 or possibly +500 against a very questionable game in NT for N/S.  If you preempt it is your PARTNER who has further control of the auction.  If you elect to preempt you relinquish the right to bid again unless requested to do so by partner.  If you don’t feel your initial preempt was enough well tough … YOU made that decision and now partner has spoken in no uncertain terms.  Be disciplined.  South on this hand held ♠KQ105, ♥AQ102, 94, ♣QJ9.  This balanced 14 count will seldom produce game opposite a “normal” weak 2D opening but the opportunity for a good plus was missed.

 

Hand 28 from Monday, December 7, had South holding ♠QJ87 ♥Q97 Q85 ♣AQ4 (Hand B).  West opened 1C, North overcalled 1S and East passed.  The popular contracts reached were 3 or 4 spades but as South I reasoned a bit differently.  My “soft” 13 points and club holding argued for declaring, and I couldn’t do that in spades!  Since we were vulnerable my partner had to have a reasonable hand for the overcall so I made the practical bid.  3NT!  I knew we had a source of tricks in spades, the club position was good for us, and my red Queens would likely be facing some honor holdings in partner’s hand.

 

As it turned out 3NT was the only making game (though at least one declarer made 4S on a mis-defense) but if you suppress such good support for partner you’d better be prepared to defend your action later!  Partner’s hand was about as expected: ♠K10543 ♥AJ53 K7 ♣95.  With the missing honor cards in opener’s hand this proved to be an easy hand to play.  I am an advocate of supporting partner whenever possible, but there ARE exceptions. Is  it ALWAYS right to support partner’s suit?

 

                                                <end of Paul’s Column>                                                 

Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:    Pass. Partner’s double is penalties and he is the captain after you have pre-empted. If you think that 3 is reasonable (it is not) then you should have opened with 3. Do not bid again having pre-empted – especially if partner has made a penalty double.

Hand B:    2, or 3. In this situation any raise of partner’s overcall (2, 3 or 4 here) is pre-emptive and you should cue bid the opener’s suit to show a sound raise to at least three of partner’s suit. Some experts advocate using 2 with 3 card support and 3 with 4 card support (this complies with the Law of total tricks).

In Paul’s column he advocates ignoring the known 5-4 fit and bidding 3NT with the hand.

 

 

 

Current club championship standings

 

 

Gold Cup = Best 30

Silver Plate = Best 10

Bronze Medal = Best 5

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1956.4 Janne Roos

1936.3 Hans Vikman

1908.0 Paul Quodomine

1813.4 Sally Watson

1770.2 Lars Broman

1744.3 Ivy Schlageter

1742.8 Paul Scully

1728.9 Bob Pelletier

1725.8 Bob Short

693.1Janne Roos

686.7 Hans Vikman

668.5 Paul Quodomine

639.8 Sally Watson

632.1 Lars Broman

631.2 Per-Ake Roskvist

625.4 Jeremy Watson

625.0 Per Andersson

622.6 Guttorm Lonborg

622.6 Paul Scully

355.2 Janne Roos

351.7 Hans Vikman

342.7 Paul Quodomine

333.2 Alan Kleist

332.6 Per-Ake Roskvist

329.8 Per Andersson

327.8 Sally Watson

327.6 Lars Broman

325.4 Jeremy Watson

325.3 Ivy Schlageter

 

 

       
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