Club News Sheet – No. 254 www.pattayabridge.com 16^th Sept 2007

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Mon 10^th 1^st Bengt & Wolfgang 59% 2^nd Dave & Lewis 58%

Wed 12^th 1^st Bengt & Wolfgang 59% 2^nd Per-Ake & Jean 58%

Fri 14^th 1^st Sean B.. & Lewis 63% 2^nd Bob & Dave 52%

Bidding Quiz Standard American is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A everybody is vulnerable. You open 1♣ and LHO

overcalls 1♥. This is passed round to you, what do you bid?

♠ QJ94 ♠ K5

♥ 6 ♥ 94

♦ AQ86 ♦ AKQJ9 With Hand B you open 2NT and partner transfers with 3♥;

♣ AQ64 ♣ AK42 RHO doubles this, what do you do?

Hand C Hand D With Hand C you open 1♠ and partner bids 2♦, what do you bid?

♠ AJxxxx ♠ KQJ5

♥ x ♥ 106 With Hand D it’s favourable vulnerability. You open 1♣,

♦ KJ ♦ 5 and LHO doubles. Partner redoubles and RHO bids 1♦, what

♣ AQxx ♣ AJ10875 do you do?

Hand E Hand F With Hand E everybody is vulnerable. Partner opens 1♣ and

RHO overcalls 1♥, what do you bid?

♠ K105 ♠ A74

♥ KQJ82 ♥ 5 With Hand F LHO opens 1♦ and partner overcalls 1♥. RHO

♦ 93 ♦ Q8653 passes, what do you bid?

♣ K72 ♣ AJ96

Bidding Sequences Quiz All of these sequences occurred this week

G 1NT pass 2♣ pass What is 4♣, i.e. is it Gerber or RKCB for ♥’s?

2♥ pass 4♣

H 1NT pass 2♣ pass What is 4NT?

2♥ pass 4NT

J 1NT pass 2♣ pass What is 4NT?

2♥ pass 4♣

4♥ pass 4NT

K 1NT 2NT What is the 2NT overcall?

L 1♦ 1♥ pass 2NT How many points is 2NT in response to partner’s 1♥ overcall?

M 1♠ pass 2♦ pass

3♠ Is 3♠ forcing?

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The re-opening double Board 23 from Monday 10^th

If you play negative doubles – then remember the automatic re-opening double.

Dealer: ♠ K105 Table A

South ♥ KQJ82 West North(E) East South(A)

both vul ♦ 93 - - - 1♣

♣ K72 1♥ (1) pass (2) pass 1♠ (3)

pass 3NT all pass

♠ A72 N ♠ 863

♥ A9543 W E ♥ 107 ‘Expert’ Table

♦ K4 S ♦ J10752 West North(E) East South(A)

♣ J93 ♣ 1085 - - - 1♣

♠ QJ94 1♥ (1) pass (2) pass dbl (3)

♥ 6 all pass

♦ AQ86

♣ AQ64

Table A: (1) A totally normal overcall.

(2) What did you bid this North hand E in this week’s quiz? You want to double for penalties but cannot as you play negative doubles. So you pass and await partner’s ‘automatic’ re-opening double.

(3) What did you bid this South hand A in this week’s quiz? This 2♠ bid is very poor, and surely the bid of someone looking only at his own 13 cards and not thinking. But it looks like everybody at the club bid this way?

Table B: (2) This expert fortunately has a reliable partner.

(3) Automatic. This is the answer to question A which, as every N-S pair played in 3NT, it looks like everybody got wrong?

And what happened? Although the opening bid and overcall are both pretty obvious, not a single N-S pair defended 1♥ doubled. West would make 3-4 tricks and so 800-1100 to N-S. Everybody was in 3NT scoring 630 or 660

The bottom lines: -

- If you play negative doubles, then remember the automatic re-opening double.

- Even at the one level penalties can be lucrative, especially against vulnerable opponents.
When partner’s transfer gets doubled Board 26 from Monday 10^th

When partner transfers and RHO doubles, this is for a lead. But opener should take advantage of the extra bid available (pass) to show only two card support. This West did not realise this and went for an unnecessary 1000 when his partner made an unwise redouble.

Dealer: ♠ AQ643 Table A

East ♥ 73 West(B) North East South

both vul ♦ 10852 - - pass pass (1)

♣ J6 2NT (2) pass 3♥ (3) dbl (4)

3♠ (5) pass 4♠ pass

♠ K5 N ♠ J109872 pass dbl redbl (6) all pass

♥ 94 W E ♥ KJ65

♦ AKQJ9 S ♦ 6 ‘Expert’ Table

♣ AK42 ♣ Q8 West(B) North East South

♠ - - - pass pass (1)

♥ AQ1082 2NT (2) pass 3♥ (3) dbl (4)

♦ 743 pass (5) pass 4♠ (7) pass

♣ 109753 pass pass (8)

Table A: (1) A reasonable Muiderberg 2♥ opening, maybe South forgot the system or maybe he thought it not quite good enough when vulnerable?

(2) This is surely the best opening.

(3) Transfer

(4) Showing good ♥’s and asking for a ♥ lead.

(5) What did you bid with this West hand B in this week’s quiz? You do not need to complete the transfer when RHO doubles, and pass (showing only two ♠’s) is best.

(6) Foolhardy.

‘Expert’: (5) Our expert knows when to pass. With only two ♠’s pass is clear, especially with

Table: nothing in ♥’s and no tenace to protect.

(7) With 6 decent ♠’s East wants to play in 4♠ and, with this ♥ holding, it is obviously best for him to be declarer.

(8) North should not double now that he is not on lead - 4♠ by East is making!

And what happened? A number of strange results, with West, East and North all declaring in contracts of 3♠ or more! West at Table A went two down so 1000 away for a bottom. One pair did score 1100, but that was E-W when North played in 3♠ doubled -4.

The bottom lines: -

- If partner’s transfer gets doubled, then pass to show just 2 of the suit, complete the transfer with three (or a poor 4) and super-accept with 4 and a good hand.

- Have some respect for decent opponents. This East behaved rather badly when he saw his partner going down; saying that North found a lucky ♥ lead, perhaps he should have taken the doubles by North and South into account – or maybe he thinks that Lewis and Dave are such poor players that their doubles mean nothing and they don’t know what they’re doing?

A re-double is out for blood Board 25 from Monday 10^th

North missed a huge penalty on this board.

Dealer: ♠ KQJ5 West North(D) East South

North ♥ 106 - 1♣ dbl redbl (1)

E-W vul ♦ 5 1♦ (2) 1♠ (3) pass 2NT

♣ AJ10875 pass pass pass

♠ 982 N ♠ A1043 (1) 10+ points and usually a mis-fit for partner.

♥ J75 W E ♥ K982 (2) I would only bid a 5 card suit here.

♦ J874 S ♦ AK3 (3) What did you bid with this North hand D in

♣ K96 ♣ 42 this week’s quiz? Partner’s double has shown

♠ 76 an interest in doubling the opponents and you

♥ AQ43 should pass (forcing). If at all in doubt about

♦ Q10962 the wisdom of this, look at the vulnerability!

♣ Q3

And what happened? Although they missed the 500 on offer, South still got a top when he made 2NT+2. Only one N-S pair bid game and they went down in 3NT.

The bottom lines: -

- If you open, LHO doubles and partner redoubles then partner is out for blood, try to penalize the opponents if at all possible. If you cannot double yourself then pass – it’s forcing and partner will either double or bid.

- Even at the one level penalties can be lucrative, especially against vulnerable opponents.

The Club Championships The current standings are: -

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

1820.8 Jan v Koss 666.8 Janne Roos 350.4 Janne Roos

1816.8 Janne Roos 654.4 Jan v Koss 343.2 Bengt Malmgren

1811.3 Dave Cutler 644.2 Dave Cutler 340.2 Jan v Koss

1751.6 Bob Pelletier 644.1 Bengt Malmgren 332.9 Paul Savelkral

1713.5 Phil Lovell 636.7 Paul Savelkral 332.0 Lewis Berg

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

West East You are East, playing in 4♠ after an uncontested auction.

♠ KJ52 ♠ A862 South leads the ♥Q, how do you play the trump suit?

♥ K4 ♥ A73

♦ KJ104 ♦ AQ6

♣ 764 ♣ K83

Dave’s Column answer Board 10 from Wednesday 12th

Dealer: ♠ Q4 West North East South

East ♥ 9862 - - 1NT pass

both vul ♦ 752 2♣ pass 2♠ pass

♣ Q1092 4♠ all pass

♠ KJ52 N ♠ A862 The auction is uninteresting, onto the play.

♥ K4 W E ♥ A73

♦ KJ104 S ♦ AQ6 “One situation when you should be wary of taking

♣ 764 ♣ K83 finesse is when it will be into the dangerous hand.

♠ 1097 That’s the case here.

♥ QJ105 South leads the ♥Q and you win with the ♥A,

♦ 983 How do you continue?

♣ AJ5

Suppose you look at the ♠ suit in isolation then a finesse is a good idea. You cash the ♠A and finesse the ♠J, losing to North’s ♠Q. North will switch to the ♣Q or ♣10 and you will lose 3 ♣ tricks, going down. Since North is the danger hand, the defender who can lead through your ♣K, you should take steps to keep him off lead. You should play ♠A and ♠K, spurning the finesse. Here the play will yield an unexpected bonus: the ♠Q will fall doubleton from North and you score an overtick.

Suppose South had started with ♠Qxx though, you would still make the contract. You play 4 rounds of ♦’s and discard a ♣ from East. Even if North had started with ♠Qxx you still have a good chance. If he had to follow to three round of ♦’s, you discard a ♣ on the 4^th ♦ and do not mind whether North ruffs or not.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 4♠-1, 3♠= three times and, 4♠+2 twice.

The bottom line: -

- Do not take a finesse into the danger hand if you can avoid it.

Doing a Chuck again Board 27 from Monday 10^th

Dealer: ♠ AJ84 West North East South

South ♥ KQ - - - 1NT (1)

Love all ♦ 84 2NT (2) dbl (3) pass pass

♣ AJ542 3♦ (4) dbl 3♥ (5) dbl

all pass

♠ 107 N ♠ 963

♥ 87 W E ♥ A10962 (1) Weak, 12-14

♦ KJ632 S ♦ 975 (2) Showing both minors. West really should be

♣ KQ97 ♣ 108 5-5 for this bid, I suspect that he was tempted

♠ KQ52 to bid because the 1NT opening was weak.

♥ J543 (3) Able to penalize at least on of West’s suits

♦ AQ10 (4) Luckily West has found the 5-3 fit.

♣ 63 (5) This is sheer lunacy – East removed the known 5-3 fit into his own suit and later claimed that West’s 2NT bid was strong!

What happened? 2♥ doubled went for 800.

Responding 2NT to partner’s overcall Board 4 from Monday 10^th

I wrote an article about responding in NoTrumps to partner’s overcall in news-sheet 239. This North chose to disagree with the words of wisdom and went for 200 when he got doubled.

Dealer: ♠ A74 Table A

West ♥ 5 West North(F) East South

both vul ♦ Q8653 pass pass 1♦ 1♥

♣ AJ96 pass (1) 2NT (2) pass pass

dbl all pass

♠ KQJ2 N ♠ 65

♥ J7632 W E ♥ A10 Table B

♦ K S ♦ A10972 West North(F) East South

♣ 432 ♣ Q1087 pass pass 1♦ 1♥

♠ 10983 pass (1) 1NT (2) pass pass

♥ KQ984 pass (3)

♦ J4

♣ K5

Table A: (1) Looking to defend 1♥ doubled.

(2) What did you bid this North hand F in this week’s quiz? This is an overbid opposite a 1-level overcall.

Table B: (2) This North got it right, 1NT here shows 10-12.

(3) And West was not quite so happy to double 1NT.

And what happened? 2NT doubled went for 200 and a poor score.

The bottom lines: -

- If partner overcall at the one level, then a 1NT bid by advancer is NOT 6-9 and 2NT is NOT 11-12.

- Another reason that North should not overbid is that E-W are playing negative doubles and West may well have a good hand with a stack of ♥’s sitting over partner (he did – but fortunately for North it was not as bad as he deserved).

- No less than two of the club’s very top players seem to disagree with these statements.

- I’ll do the usual quote in a minute, but it’s totally logical: partner has overcalled at the one level and has only promised 8+ points. If you hold 11 points then 2NT may well be too high, and if the opponents know what they’re doing (as here) you will be doubled for penalties.

- Unfortunately the Max Hardy books do not mention NoTrump bids by advancer; but it’s the same whatever system you play and Crowhurst clearly states (page 226) that over a 1-level overcall, advancer’s No Trump bids are as follows: -

1NT = 10-12

2NT = 13-14

3NT = 15+

I totally agree with Crowhurst, it’s basic common-sense. If you disagree, then feel free to add a comment on the club’s new blogsite - www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com - under the comments section for the news-sheet 254 entry.

I wrote all of this up on the web site a few months ago:

General bridge Topics > Responding with NoTrumps to partner’s overcall.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: Dbl – ‘automatic’. Partner most likely has a penalty ♥ hand and could not double as you play negative doubles.

Hand B: Pass – this shows just two ♠’s. If you complete the transfer after a double then that shows at least 3 of the suit.

Hand C: 3♣. This is a much more descriptive bid than 3♠ because the ♠ suit is relatively weak and the ♣ suit has two top honours.

Hand D: Pass, forcing. Partner’s double promises 10+ points and usually a mis-fit hoping to double the opponents somewhere. You cannot double 1♦ (penalties) so pass and see if partner can. This loses nothing, if partner cannot double 1♦ the he will probably bid 1♥ and you can then bid 1♠.

Hand E: Pass. And pass partner’s re-opening double. If partner does not re-open with a double then give him copies of the 50 or so news-sheets where I have gone into similar deals.

Hand F: 1NT, showing 10-12 points in this situation. Remember, partner has not opened and may have as few as 8 points for his 1-level overcall. Also, where are the ♥’s? It’s quite likely that RHO has a decent hand with ♥’s sitting over partner. 2NT here is an overbid that is likely to get doubled (it was). Pass is a reasonable alternative to 1NT but I prefer to bid; if you pass then LHO will double (automatic) and RHO is probably passing with a ♥ penalty hand, the opponents are then in doubling mode and your 1NT now is more likely to be doubled for penalties.

Bidding Sequences Answers

G 1NT pass 2♣ pass Standard here is that 4♣ is Gerber, asking for aces. You could

2♥ pass 4♣ play it as RKCB but you would have to agree that.

H 1NT pass 2♣ pass 4NT here is quantitative

2♥ pass 4NT

J 1NT pass 2♣ pass 4NT here is a sign off. 4NT is always a sign off once 4♣ has

2♥ pass 4♣ been used as the ace-ask; 5♣ would be asking for kings.

4♥ pass 4NT

K 1NT 2NT The 2NT overcall is unusual – 5-5 in the minors and pre-emptive

L 1♦ 1♥ pass 2NT 2NT in response to partner’s 1♥ overcall is 13-14. It is NOT 10-11 as partner may have as few as 8 points for the overcall.

M 1♠ pass 2♦ pass 3♠ is forcing, showing a good 6+ card suit. Playing Acol it is

3♠ just highly invitational.