Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                           Club News Sheet – No. 450

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                              3rd July 2011

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

My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 27th        1st  Bob P & Robbie               63%       2nd     Niels & Sigurd                     61%
Wed 29th        1st  Tom G & Johan                69%       2nd     Bob P & Nick                      59%
Fri 1st             1st  Terje & Sigurd                  59%       2nd     Arne & Svein                       58%

 

 

Bidding Quiz           Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

 

Hand A           Hand B           What do you open with Hand A?

♠ AJ7              ♠ KQ95                  
♥ Q5                ♥ AK97           With Hand B LHO opens 3♣ and partner doubles,
♦ QJ1097         ♦ J73                what do you bid? 
♣ A105           ♣ 54

Hand C           Hand D           With Hand C RHO opens 3♣, what do you bid?

♠ 872               ♠ 4                                          
♥ Q4                ♥ AK10           With Hand D RHO opens 1♠, what do you bid?
♦ K9832          ♦ A653                                   
♣ AK8            ♣ AJ965                             
                       
Hand E           Hand F           With Hand E it’s love all in 2nd seat, what (if anything)
                                                do you open?
♠ Q94              ♠ K2                                       
♥ J4                 ♥ Q62              With Hand F partner opens 1♠ and RHO overcalls 2♣,
♦ J107542        ♦ K1082          what do you bid? 
♣ AQ               ♣ 10873

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz 

           
1NT     pass     2♣        pass         
2♦        pass     2♠                    Is 2♠ weak, invitational or forcing?


Double 1 with just three ’s?                           Board 21 from Friday 1st July

Dealer:             ♠ AQ9863                                     Table A
North               ♥ 97                                               West          North         East(D)      South(F)
N-S  vul           ♦ QJ7                                             -                 1♠              2♣   (1)      dbl  (2)
                        ♣ K4                                             pass           2♠              pass (3)      pass 
pass (4)
♠ J1075                 N             ♠ 4                          
♥ J8543             W    E          ♥ AK10                   Table B
♦ 94                       S              ♦ A653                    West          North         East(D)      South
♣ Q2                                     ♣ AJ965                  -                 1♠              dbl   (1)      pass
                        ♠ K2                                              2♥              2♠              dbl   (5)      pass
                        ♥ Q62                                            pass (6)      pass 
                        ♦ K1082                                 
                        ♣ 10873                                               

Table A:    (1)  What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? I don’t really like this and prefer the bid at table B.
                 (2)  What did you bid with this South hand F in this week’s quiz? This South bid a negative double to show some
                        points the red suits in his style? My style is that a negative double here guarantees four ♥’s and I would pass.
                 (3)  I guess that dbl here is best – as long as partner takes it as take-out?
                 (4)  West was put off from balancing with 3♥ because he assumed South had four ♥’s. Perhaps he should have
                        asked North what South promised with his negative double?
Table B:     (1)  This is my answer to question D. It would be nice to have four ♥’s, but these ♥’s are good and a double is
                        clearly the most descriptive bid.
                  (5)  Intended as take-out.
                  (6)  This hand and these ♠’s are nowhere good enough to pass for penalties, and West should work out (if he did
                        not know) that partner’s dbl is take-out as he himself holds four ♠’s.

And what happened? No E-W pair reached the best contract of 3♥. One pair overbid to 4♥-1, another to 4♣*-4 and the
other three let North play in 2♠ (2♠*+2, 2♠*= and 2♠=).
The bottom lines:

  1. If partner doubles for take-out, then a second double is also for take-out.
  2. There are may different treatments of negative doubles. e.g after 1M – 2m:

.     Some (like Paul Kelly) play that it simply shows points.
.     Some (like Dave) play that it shows the two unbid suits
.     Some (like me and Marty Bergen) play that it guarantees 4 cards in the unbid major and says nothing about the unbid minor.
.     And it appears that some play it as showing the unbid suits but one may be just three cards? Since in this example it was
      three cards in the unbid major, I would guess this is in the first category (simply showing values)?


Responding to partner’s double                        Board 25 from Friday 1st July

Dealer:             ♠ J                                                 Table A
North               ♥ 852                                             West(B)     North         East(C)      South
E-W vul           ♦ A4                                              -                 3♣             dbl   (1)      pass
                        ♣ QJ109732                                  4♥    (2)      pass           pass           dbl   
                                                                               4♠              pass           pass           dbl   
♠ KQ95                 N             ♠ 872                       pass           pass           5♦              dbl
♥ AK97             W    E          ♥ Q4                        all pass
♦ J73                      S              ♦ K9832                 
♣ 54                                      ♣ AK8                    Table B
                        ♠ A10643                                      West          North         East(C)      South
                        ♥ J1063                                         -                 3♣             pass (1)      pass
                        ♦ Q106                                          dbl   (3)      pass           3NT           all pass
                        ♣ 6                                               

Table A:    (1)  What did you bid with this East hand C in this week’s quiz? This hand is good enough
                        for a 1-level opening bid; but, especially with miserable majors, it is not good enough to
                        force partner to bid at the three level, and this ♦ suit is obviously not good enough for a 3♦ bid.
                 (2)  What did you bid with this West hand B in this week’s quiz? Opposite a sensible double you
                        want to play in game, presumably 4-of-a major, and the best bid is 4♣, asking partner to
                        choose the strain. Unfortunately this would not work in this scenario because of partner’s
                        off-beat double with nothing in the majors.
Table B:     (1)  This pass is clearly the best answer to question C.
                  (3)  Now this is more like it – this is the sort of hand where a double of 3♣ is the best bid.
                  (4)  And with a good hand with two ♣ stops, 3NT is clear here.

And what happened? Two pairs reached the easy 3NT+1.  The other results were 3♣(N)*-2, 5♦*-1 and 5♦-3.
The bottom lines:

  1. Remember the cue bid when you have a good hand (West here) but it is not clear what to bid:
  2. As we saw in the previous example, a take-out double does not guarantee four cards in an unbid major.
    If East had a sensible double with say 4351 shape then West’s 4♥ bid would probably be a disaster, missing the 4-4 ♠ fit.

Dave’s Column

West                East                               West        North         East           South
♠ 963               ♠ K5                             1NT        pass           3NT           all pass
♥ AQ6             ♥ 74  
♦ A953            ♦ QJ1087      
♣ AK6            ♣ QJ105
                                                     
You are West, declarer in 3NT. North leads the ♥5. It’s matchpoint pairs and so an overtrick would be nice.
Plan the play. And how would you play at teams?


Dave’s Column Answer                 Board 20 from Wednesday 29th  
     
Dealer:             ♠ J104                                           Book Bidding
West                ♥ J9853                                         West          North         East           South
Both vul            ♦ K                                                1NT           pass           3NT           all pass
                        ♣ 8432                                         

♠ 963                     N             ♠ K5                        North leads the ♥5. It’s matchpoint pairs and
♥ AQ6               W    E          ♥ 74                         so an overtrick would be nice. Plan the play.
♦ A953                    S              ♦ QJ1087                 And how would you play at teams?
♣ AK6                                  ♣ QJ105           
                        ♠ AQ872                                
                        ♥ K102                    
                        ♦ 642                       
                        ♣ 97                             

At matchpoint pairs West knows that he may get a poor score if he takes just nine tricks in 3NT if other
Wests are making more. So he went for the maximum by running the ♣’s and finessing in ♦’s. North took
the ♦K and the ♠J shift meant down two. But West knew that the same thing would happen at many other tables.
At IMP scoring West wants to give himself the best chance of making the contract and so cashes the ♦A.
A good rubber-bridge player wins eleven tricks; the good duplicate player wins just seven.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 3NT+2, 3NT+1, 3NT= and 2♦+3.

Terry Comment: I was sat out for both of Dave’s columns this week and glad about this one as I would have
gone two down against good defence (the ♠J switch). A singleton ♦K with North is just over 6% and at pairs
I would most certainly go for the extra overtrick with the finesse.

 

Dave’s 2nd Column

Dealer:             ♠ AJ7                                            Bidding            
North               ♥ Q5                                              West          North(A)   East           South
Both vul            ♦ QJ1097                                       -                 1♦    (1)      1♥              2NT
                        ♣ A105                                         pass           3NT           all pass
                 
     N             ♠ 642                
W     E          ♥ KJ9863              
      S              ♦ A43               
                      ♣ QJ743

You are East, defending 3NT. Partner leads the ♥7:
(a)  If declarer plays low from dummy, what card should you play?
(b)  If declarer plays the ♥Q from dummy, how should you defend?
                                                                               
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer             Board 21 from Wednesday 29th  
     
Dealer:             ♠ AJ7                                            Bidding            
North               ♥ Q5                                             West          North(A)   East           South
Both vul            ♦ QJ1097                                      -                1♦    (1)      1♥              2NT
                        ♣ A105                                         pass           3NT           all pass
                 
♠ 9853                   N             ♠ 642                
♥ 72                   W    E          ♥ KJ9863              
♦ K2                      S              ♦ A43                West leads the ♥7
♣ QJ743                                ♣ 2                    (a)  If declarer plays low from dummy, what card
                        ♠ KQ10                                         should East play?
                        ♥ A104                                    (b)  If declarer plays the ♥Q from dummy, how
                        ♦ 865                                              should East defend?
                        ♣ K986                  

What did you bid with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? This was the popular choice but I would
(did in practice bidding when sat out) open 1NT.

 

Onto the play, with South as declarer.

West led the top of his doubleton, dummy played low, and East impulsively inserted the his ♥J.
South wisely allowed the ♥J to win, and East was then trapped. He returned his ♥K to blot North’s ♥Q,
but it wasn’t enough. South still had ♥10 for a second ♥ stop and west had no ♥ left to lead when he got
in with the ♦K. If declarer plays the ♥Q from dummy at trick one, East should not cover with the ♥K but
encourage. When West later wins with his ♦K he continues with ♥’s and East can again establish his ♥ suit
before his ♦A is dislodged.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 3NT(S)-2 four times, 3NT(N)+1.

Note that the play is slightly different if North is declarer. North wins the opening ♥ with the ♥Q, crosses to
dummy with a ♠ and leads a ♦. West has to be alert and hop up with the ♦K in order to beat the contract,
but this is perhaps not so obvious with Norh as declarer and the ♦ suit concealed. At the one table where North
was declarer West failed to do this and 3NT made +1.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A:   1NT. The ♦QJ1097 is worth more than 3 points and if you end up as declarer the ♥Qx is usually
                  better in declarer’s hand than in dummy.
Hand B:    4♣, asking partner to pick a major. You should not jump to 4♥ or 4♠ as partner has not promised
                  both majors with his double.
Hand C:   Pass. This hand is not good enough for a double at the three level. Also, there will generally be
                 problems – if partner jumps in a major or bids 4♣ asking you to pick a suit – you will have gone
                 past 3NT which is very likely to be the best contract.
Hand D:   Dbl. It would be nice to have 4 ♥’s, but you don’t, and double is clearly the most descriptive bid.
Hand E:    Pass. I guess that you could open 2♦ if your partnership allows such a lousy suit in 2nd seat.
                  But the reason that this is in the quiz is that two(!) players found a 1♦ opening on this West hand 27
                  from Friday. This is ridiculous of course in any but 3rd seat. The result was that they ended up in a
                  hopeless slam when partner had 19 points.
Hand F:    Pass. Actually this is up to your partnership agreements on negative doubles. If you play that a negative
                  double simply shows values then you double. If you play that the double shows 4 ♥’s, or shows the
                   two unbid suits, then you pass.

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers  
                 
G      1NT  pass   2♣   pass         If you play “Garbage” Stayman, as most in our club do,
         2♦     pass   2♠                   then 2♠ is weak to play, with 5 ♠’s and 4 ♥’s.

 

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

1798.8 Janne Roos
1750.2 Hans Vikman
1725.0 Tomas Wikman

639.8 Per Andersson
638.4 Hans Vikman
636.2 Paul Quodomine
627.6 Janne Roos
624.0 Lars Broman
617.8 Paul Scully
614.2 Bob Short
611.7 Sean Burgess
609.4 Jeremy Watson
608.3 Sigurd Zahl

332.2 Per Andersson
326.2 Hans Vikman
325.3 Paul Scully
321.7 Lars Broman
318.9 Janne Roos
318.4 Dave Hurst
316.6 Alan Kleist
316.3 Paul Quodomine
314.8 Bob Short
312.6 Gerard / Derek