Out website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 257

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 7^th Oct 2007

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

My MSN messenger ID is tj_quested@hotmail.com

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Mon 1st 1^st Jan & Tomas 63% 2^nd Gastone & Gene 67%

Wed 3^rd 1^st Lars G & Jean 63% 2^nd Gerry & Per-Ake 62%

Fri 5^th 1^st Harry & Paul 61% 2^nd Jo & Sally 55%

Bidding Quiz Standard American is assumed unless otherwise stated.

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

♠ A ♠ Q3 With Hand B you open 1♣ and LHO overcalls 2♣ (which is

♥ AQJ1098543 ♥ Q974 apparently natural!!). Partner bids 2♦, what do you bid?

♦ AK ♦ A84

♣ - ♣ A1086

Hand C Hand D With Hand C RHO opens 1♣ (a) What do you bid?

(b) What do you bid if the opponents play a short (could be 2) ♣?

♠ K4 ♠ AKJ105

♥ J2 ♥ AK102 (a) What do you open with Hand D?

♦ J102 ♦ AJ6 (b) Suppose you choose 1♠ and partner bids 2♠, what now?

♣ KQJ752 ♣ 5

Hand E Hand F With Hand E partner opens 6♥! What do you do?

♠ 964 ♠ AKQ105

♥ K ♥ 105 With Hand F partner opens 1NT and you transfer with 2♥.

♦ 54 ♦ 43 Partner completes the transfer with 2♠, what do you do?

♣ QJ96532 ♣ J942

Hand G Hand H With Hand G RHO opens 6♥, what do you bid? (if it affects

your decision, RHO is a very experienced player).

♠ K82 ♠ 109762

♥ - ♥ K853 With hand H LHO opens 1♣ and partner bids 2♣ and RHO bids 2♦,

♦ Q10986 ♦ 75 what do you bid if (a) you have agrees to play Michaels,

♣ AK1074 ♣ 43 (b) you have no agreement?

Bidding Sequence quiz

J 2♠ dbl pass 3♥

pass 4♣ What is 4♣, is it forcing?

K 1♣ 2♣ (a) What is the 2§ cuebid overcall?

(b) What is the 2♣ cuebid overcall if the opponents play a short ♣?

(c) What is it if you ask if 1♣ is short and bid 2♣?

L 6♥ What is a 6♥ opening bid?

The Club Championships There are now 7 members qualified for the gold cup.

The current standings for the top 7 in each competition are: -

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

1834.2 Jan v Koss 666.8 Janne Roos 350.4 Janne Roos

1816.8 Janne Roos 655.2 Jan v Koss 343.2 Bengt Malmgren

1812.3 Dave Cutler 644.2 Dave Cutler 340.3 Jan v Koss

1760.9 Bob Pelletier 644.1 Bengt Malmgren 332.9 Paul Savelkral

1725.8 Phil Lovell 636.9 Lars Gustaffson 332.0 Lewis Berg

1722.9 Ivy Schlageter 636.7 Paul Savelkral 330.1 Dave Cutler

1720.7 Sally Watson 636.0 Lewis Berg 325.6 Lars Gustafsson

Bid out your shape Board 22 from Friday 5^th

Expert opinion is divided as to whether a transfer followed by a new minor suit should be 5-5 or can be 5-4. I am a firm believer in the latter – show your shape.

Dealer: ♠ AKQ105 Table A

West ♥ 105 West North(F) East South

N-S vul ♦ 43 - - pass 1NT

♣ J942 pass 2♥ pass 2♠

pass 3NT (1) all pass

♠ 876 N ♠ J92

♥ K983 W E ♥ QJ64 ‘Expert table'

♦ K107 S ♦ Q52 West North(F) East South

♣ Q63 ♣ 875 - - pass 1NT

♠ 43 pass 2♥ pass 2♠

♥ A72 pass 3♣ (1) pass 4♠ (2)

♦ AJ986 all pass

♣ AK10

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand F in this week’s quiz? Everybody in the club bid 3NT, but then I was not playing

‘Expert’ (1) This would be my choice; with all of the points in the two suits, an excellent ♠ suit,

Table: and remarkably weak doubletons I would bid 3♣. If you have read the book on No Trump bidding you will know that this is not an invitation for partner to bid 5♣, but is warning partner of the weakness in the two unbid suits and offering 4♠ as an alternative contract.

(2) Our South has read the book, and knowing that there is just one ♥ stop he sensibly elects to play in the 5-2 ♠ fit.

And what happened? Everybody ended up in 3NT; it either makes or goes down according to how you guess the ♠’s. 4♠ is cold and would have scored a clear top whether the ♠’s were guessed correctly or not.

The bottom lines.

- When partner opens 1NT and you have a 5 card major and a 4 card minor, then bid out your shape if your points are in your long suits (so if you have two weak doubletons).

- This is all clearly explained in section 3.1.3. of the No Trump bidding book

Editorial

We will be moving before the end of October. A new location has not yet definitely been found, so let me know of any suggestions.

Dealing with the short ♣ Board 24 from Monday 1^st

Two of our club’s top players got in a mess on this deal. One denied a 4-card major (and then bid it later!) and the other bid a 4-card major which his partner had denied.

Dealer: ♠ K4 West(B) North(C) East South(H)

West ♥ J2 1♣ (1) 2♣ (2) 2♦ pass (3)

Love all ♦ J102 2NT (4) pass 3♠ (5) pass

♣ KQJ752 4♦ (6) pass 5♦ all pass

♠ Q3 N ♠ AJ85

♥ Q974 W E ♥ A106

♦ A84 S ♦ KQ964

♣ A1086 ♣ 9

♠ 109762

♥ K853

♦ 75

♣ 43

(1) Playing a short ♣ (so could be 2 cards).

(2) What did you bid with this North hand C in this weeks quiz? This cue bid overcall traditionally shows a huge hand (equivalent of a 2♣ opener). But that comes up infrequently and so most players play the Michaels cue bid here (showing both majors in this instance). But North was unethical here, he asked “do you play a short ♣” and then bid 2♣ when he got the affirmative reply. I was North at another table and made the obvious pass.

(3) What did you bid with this South hand H in this week’s quiz? If you have agreed to play Michaels cue bids then 4♠ (or 4♣ or 4♦ to get partner to pick a major) is the bid. With no agreement then partner has a huge hand and a forcing cue bid of 3♣ is probably best. Obviously this South understood that partner’s 2♣ bid was natural. This is close to cheating and I clarify the new club rules, provoked by this incident, below.

(4) What did you bid with this West hand B in this week’s quiz? I believe that West was confused as to what North’s bid meant and thought that it might be showing both majors. However, there was no alert (Michaels has to be alerted) and partner’s two-level response and the unethical question makes it clear that the 2♣ bid was natural. I would bid 2♥ - never deny a 4 card major.

(5) I would bid 3NT here as in my opinion partner’s 2NT bid denies a 4-card major.

(6) This goes past 3NT – surely West should bid 3NT; but he thought that East’s 3♠ bid was 4^th suit – asking for a stop. He has my sympathies here as it’s not obvious – East should have bid 3NT at (5).

And what happened? 5♦ made but scored a joint bottom as everybody else was in 3NT with most making overtricks. The bottom lines.

- Probably the majority of the club play a short ♣ and you have to decide how to defend against it. I treat it as a natural bid (it is 99% of the time).

- Anyway, N-S behaved unethically in my opinion – I would adjust the score had I been asked to do so, but here are the new club rules on this matter.

- A short ♣ needs to be alerted, then there’s obviously no need for the question. In fact, I think it’s best to announce ‘could be short’ and then you’ll never get an unethical question.

- You are not allowed to ask if the opponents play a short club during the auction. If you do so, that implies that you yourself have a good ♣ holding. In the future if anybody feels that they are harmed by such an illegal question they will get an adjusted score and the offending side will be penalised. I should probably have done that on this ocassion.

- Even if the opponents play better minor, the question still has the same implications.

- If you wish to know, ask the opponents if they play a short ♣ before the bidding begins if they fail to pre-alert it.

New club rules regarding the short ♣.

I have added a new local club rule, number 18: -

a) A 1§ opening that may be short (maybe two cards) needs to be announced. Wave the alert card and state ‘could be short’.

b) At no stage during the auction may an opponent ask if you are playing a short §.

c) If an opponent does indeed ask about a possible short ♣ opening when he himself holds ♣’s, then he will be penalised regardless of whether the opponents play a short ♣ or not.

I always have a copy of the local club rules with me and it’s up on the web site.

The six-level opening Board 25 from Wednesday 3^rd

What was your answer to bidding sequence L in this week’s quiz? A 6♣/♦/♥/♠ opening should show a 12 trick hand but missing just one honour in the trump suit. It invites partner to bid the grand if he has the ace or king.

Dealer: ♠ A West North(A) East(G) South(E)

North ♥ AQJ1098543 - 6♥ (1) dbl (2) pass (3)

E-W vul ♦ AK - redbl all pass

♣ -

(1) What did you open with this North hand A

♠ QJ107533 N ♠ K82 in this week’s quiz? 2♣ is a poor choice

♥ 76 W E ♥ - as you may well have difficulty in later

♦ J732 S ♦ Q10986 finding out if partner has the ♥K as opposed

♣ 8 ♣ AK1074 to the useless ♣A. The answer is to open 6♥!

♠ 964 This asks partner to bid 7♥ with a top ♥ or

♥ K else pass.

♦ 54 (2) Obviously East did not understand the bid.

♣ QJ96532 (3) And neither did south.

And what happened? Just one pair reached 7♥ when North mistakenly opened 1♣ instead of 2♣. I don’t really want to know the rest of their auction. As nobody else reached 7♥ I guess that no N-S pair know about the 6-level opening bid?

The bottom lines.

- An opening bid of 5♥/♠ is very similar. I asks partner to bid 6 with an honour (A,K or Q) and to bid 7 with both.

- If partner opens either of these openings, an outside ace is irrelevant.

Open 2♣ with a two-suiter? Board 24 from Friday 5^th

Two West’s played this deal in 1♠ making slam. Should they have opened 2♣ or should East have responded?

Dealer: ♠ 32 Table A

West ♥ 953 West(D) North East South

Love all ♦ Q5 1♠ (1) pass pass (2) pass

♣ KJ10972

Table B

♠ AKJ105 N ♠ 8764 West(D) North East South

♥ AK102 W E ♥ J6 1♠ (1) pass 2♠ (2) pass

♦ AJ6 S ♦ K1042 4♠ (3) all pass

♣ 5 ♣ 863

♠ Q9

♥ Q874

♦ 9873

♣ AQ4

Table A: (1) What did you open with this West hand D(a) in this week’s quiz? At the two tables where 1♠ was passed out East tried to blame West, saying that West should open 2♣. I disagree, I would open 1♠ (if not playing Benjamin) – this West hand is not quite strong enough for a 2♣ opener (it’s only 8 tricks).

Table B: (1) This West also opened 1♠, fine by me.

(2) But this East realised that his hand, with 4 trumps (so at least a 5-4 fit) and decent shape, was well worth a 2♠ response.

(3) What did you bid with this West hand D(b) in this week’s quiz? Obviously there is game, and possibly slam. A 4♣ splinter is best but as it happens East would stop in 4♠ anyway with his weak hand.

And what happened? Two Wests played in 1♠, the other three played in 4♠.

The bottom lines.

- In my opinion this West hand is not good enough for a traditional 2♣ and I too would open 1♠. And to answer the question posed at the top of the page I think that East, with 4 ♠’s, should respond 2♠ rather than passing.

- There would, of course, be no problem if you play Benjamin twos (2♣ - 2♦ - 2♠ - 4♠) where the East hand is easily worth a shot at game opposite an 8 playing trick hand in ♠’s.

- However you look at it, this West hand has 8 playing tricks (and 5 losers) and is not quite worth a traditional 2♣ opening in my opinion, although I would not argue too much if you did open 2♣.

- Splinters can be played by opener or responder.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 6♥. This says that you have 12 cold tricks, often with a void, and are only missing a top trump. If you start of with a strong 2♣ (or Benjamin 2♦) you will probably have difficulties in later establishing if partner has the ♥K or the useless ♣A.

Hand B: 2♥. Partner has not denied a 4-card major.

Hand C: (a) Pass. With length and strength in RHO’s suit it’s best to pass if you are not strong enough for 1NT.

(b) Pass. You could agree that 2♣ is natural over a possibly short ♣, but I much prefer to be able to play Michaels and the short ♣ is not often short anyway (only on about 1% of 1♣ openings). If you do indeed decide that it is best to play 2♣ as natural over a possibly short 1♣ opening (a very silly treatment in my view) then this needs to be alerted.

Hand D: (a) 1♠, it’s not quite good enough for 2♣. Playing Benjamin twos it’s worth 2♣ (2♣ - 2♦ - 2♠). A 2NT opening is allowable but I don’t like it when 5-4 in the majors; put a ♠ in with the ♦’s (so 4441) and 2NT would be OK even with a weak singleton.

(b) 4♣, a splinter showing ♣ shortage with ♠’s agreed and showing slam interest.

Hand E: 7♥. Partner is demanding that you bid the grand with a top ♥.

Hand F: 3♣. This, in my opinion, is better than 3NT – warn partner of the weakness in the two red suits. 4♠ is a poor choice as partner may well have two small ♠’s with both red suits well covered.

Hand G: Pass. RHO has 12 tricks missing a ♥ honour and is obviously void in ♣’s.

Hand H: (a) 4♠ (or 4♣ or 4♦ to get partner as declarer), but I prefer the direct 4♠ as it’s more pre-emptive

(b) 3♣ (or 3♦). With no agreement, 2♣ is a very strong hand, so cue bid to get partner playing in four of a major.

Bidding Sequence Answers

J 2♠ dbl pass 3♥ 4♣ shows a very strong hand with ♣’s but is not forcing, to show

pass 4♣ a huge hand, cue bid 3♠.

K 1♣ 2♣ (a) Michaels if you agree that, otherwise a very, very strong hand.

(b) The same, unless you agree something else.

(c) If it’s a ♣ suit, then it’s cheating?

L 6♥ A 6♥ opening bid is 12 solid tricks missing a top trump honour.