Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 269

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 6^th Jan 2008

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 24^th 1^st= Jim & Royd 61%

1^st= Gun & Lennart K 61%

Wed 26^th N-S 1^st Magnus & Per-Ake 60% 2^nd Gun & Lennart K 59%

E-W 1^st Gerard & Derek 57% 2^nd Mieke & Harry 56%

Fri 28^th N-S 1^st Gun & Lennart K 57% 2^nd Bob & Jo 56%

E-W 1^st Dave & Royd 63% 2^nd Paul S & Ursula 57%

Mon 31^st N-S 1^st Gun & Hans 61% 2^nd Lars G & Lennart K 59%

E-W 1^st Jo & Dave 62% 2^nd Kenneth & Per-Ake 59%

Wed 1^st N-S 1^st Phil & Tomas 58% 2^nd Bob & Olaf 54%

E-W 1^st Arne F & Lars F 62% 2^nd Derek & Gerard 55%

Fri 3^rd N-S 1^st Sean B & Terje 62% 2^nd Gun & Lennart K 62%

E-W 1^st Geo & Alan 58% 2^nd Bob & Jo 57%

Bidding Quiz Standard American is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A RHO opens 1♥, what do you bid?

♠ AQJ87 ♠ -

♥ 10 ♥ AK73 With Hand B LHO opens 1♠ and this is passed round to you.

♦ K52 ♦ AKQ73 You double and partner bids 2♥, what do you do now?

♣ AQ93 ♣ A543

Hand C Hand D With Hand C partner opens 1♦ and you bid 1♥. Partner bids

1NT (12-14), what do you bid?

♠ K83 ♠ Q95

♥ K843 ♥ Q753 With Hand D partner opens 1♣ and you bid 1♥. Partner

♦ K105 ♦ A65 raises to 2♥, what do you bid?

♣ K86 ♣ K73

Bidding Sequence Quiz

E 1♣ pass 1♦ pass

1♥ pass 2♠ What is the jump to 2♠, Natural and strong or 4^th suit forcing?

The Club Championships

Congratulations Dave. It’s all over now, with Dave getting a run of results over 60% over the last two weeks and eventually winning the Gold Cup fairly comfortably from Lewis in 2^nd and Jan in 3^rd. Janne Roos won the Silver Plate and Bengt Malmgren won the Bronze Medal. A total of 14 people scored enough to qualify in the Gold Cup and the top 15 for each competition are below. Complete championship results for 2007 are on the website.

	Gold Cup = Best 30	Silver Plate = Best 10	Bronze Medal = Best 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15	1869.1 Dave Cutler 1855.6 Lewis Berg 1847.5 Jan v Koss 1836.4 Paul Savelkral 1816.8 Janne Roos 1810.2 Lars Gustaffson 1770.2 Bob Pelletier 1755.5 Per-Ake Rosequist 1748.7 Ivy Schlageter 1747.1 Wolfgang Foitik 1734.4 Sally Watson 1725.8 Phil Lovell 1706.7 Tomas Wikman 1703.1 Kenneth Johansson -	670.5 Lewis Berg 666.8 Janne Roos 658.9 Dave Cutler 655.2 Jan v Koss 647.8 Lars Gustaffson 645.3 Paul Savelkral 644.1 Bengt Malmgren 643.7 Terje Lie 634.5 Derek & Gerard 627.1 Gunnar Barthel 625.0 Sean Burgess 624.3 Bob Pelletier 621.8 Per-Ake Rosequist 621.4 Ivy Schlageter 620.8 Wolfgang Foitik	350.4 Janne Roos 346.0 Lewis Berg 343.2 Bengt Malmgren 341.1 Jan v Koss 336.7 Paul Savelkral 335.2 Dave Cutler 333.4 Terje Lie 332.5 Lars Gustafsson 331.8 Derek & Gerard 325.6 Gunnar Barthel 324.7 Ursula Lehner 324.1 Sean Burgess 323.8 Gerry Hulbert 322.4 Per-Ake Rosequist 322.4 Clive Bell

Editorial

The 2007 year has been very successful. We’ve had a close Gold Cup competition and have finally found a very satisfactory venue with very reasonable prices for refreshments. But it seems that I do have to remind a few people that the Bowling Green is a restaurant/pub and as such their business is selling food and drinks. Please to not bring drinks in from outside.

Too hot – too cold. On Friday I had conflicting complaints from two players sitting one meter apart. One said it was too hot and the other said it was too cold; they also had a disagreement over whether a fan should be turned on or not. In my opinion the temperature was perfect. Anyway, I have now made up three notices that I will place on three particular tables (two under the air conditioning and labelled ‘Cold Table’ and one in the corner labelled ‘Warm Table’). Do not complain if you choose to take a stationary seat at one of these tables.

My computer broke down for four days over the new-year holiday and so last week’s news-sheet was not produced and this is a double issue. There are a few hands left over for next week as I ran out of time – 4 days down time created havoc for me and I have a huge backlog of things to do.

I would like to remind people that the yearly membership is now due. It’s 1000 bht for a year, 600 bht for 6 months or 150 bht for a month. The playing fee is 100 bht for members and 150 bht for non-members.

Bidding again having doubled – part 1 Board 11 from Monday 24^th

If you have a choice between a double or overcalling in a 5-card major, which should you choose? I have strong opinions here and I set them out in the ‘bottom lines’.

Dealer: ♠ AQJ87 Table A

South ♥ 10 West North(A) East South

Love all ♦ K52 - - - pass

♣ AQ93 1♥ dbl (1) 3♥ (2) pass

pass 3♠ (3) pass (4) pass (5)

♠ 105 N ♠ K9632 pass

♥ KQ975 W E ♥ J843

♦ A943 S ♦ 8 ‘Expert’ Table

♣ K2 ♣ 1087 West North(A) East South

♠ 4 - - - pass

♥ A62 1♥ 1♠ (1) 3♥ (6) pass

♦ QJ1076 pass dbl (7) pass 4/5♦ (8)

♣ J654 pass

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? It has opening values + and is short in the suit opened, so this player doubled. It was not a happy ending and I give my opinions when our experts get it right (of course).

(2) This is best played as weak with 4 ♥’s after a double.

(3) North now realized that he has a ♠ suit, but if he wishes to mention it, it has to be at the three level now.

(4) East knows it’s going down, but does not double as N-S may well have a minor suit to run to (indeed, they can make game in either minor).

(5) North unjustly criticized this pass – see my comments below.

‘Expert’ (1) Our expert North makes the best bid of course. Showing the 5-card ♠ suit is

Table: much better than a fatuous double.

(6) This jump after an overcall is best played as pre-emptive.

(7) But North has absolutely no problem now. He has already shown his 5-card ♠ suit and this double now is take-out.

(8) Whether South bids game or not they will get a good score.

And what happened? 3♠ went down three for a near bottom. North criticized South’s pass at (5), saying that since he has doubled South should have bid ♦’s. This is ‘doing a C….’ (immediately blaming partner for one’s own mistakes). North is totally to blame; his double followed by a ♠ bid shows a very good ♠ overcall, not necessarily playable in any other suit. North should simply have bid as the experts did.

The bottom lines: -

- If you double and then bid a suit, that shows a single-suited hand which is too strong to simply overcall.

- With a 5-card major, it’s usually best to overcall rather than double.

- Do not blame partner for your own mistakes.

Bidding again having doubled – part 2 Board 3 from a while back.

This board is not actually from Pattaya bridge Club, but from another ocassion when I had the misfortune to partner a particularly unpleasant player who continually erroneously criticised everybody at the table.

Dealer: ♠ 642 West(me) North East(B) South

South ♥ 109 - - - 1♠

E-W vul ♦ 1096 pass pass dbl pass

♣ K10976 2♥ (1) pass 4♥ (2) all pass

♠ J10952 N ♠ - (1) This hand is not good enough for a penalty

♥ J62 W E ♥ AK73 pass or a 1NT bid, so 2♥ is the only real option.

♦ J52 S ♦ AKQ73 (2) What did you bid with this East and B in this

♣ J2 ♣ A543 week’s quiz? Partner has promised nothing and

♠ AKQ87 3♥ (or 2♠) is best, showing a very strong

♥ Q854 hand. This actual 4♥ bid is too much as

♦ 84 partner has promised absolutely nothing.

♣ Q8

And what happened? North led a ♠ and obviously the contract is hopeless. If declarer ruffs then he loses control and is unable to draw trumps and then run the ♦’s. Declarer actually ducked the first ♠ and South returned a trump. Declarer won with the ♥J and the desperate contract would now actually have made if the trumps broke 3-3. They did not so the result was minus one. East then declared to the whole room how bad her partner was, being unable to make 4♥ when dummy has 20 points and a void. I suggest she reads up on bidding (and manners) rather that criticizing everybody in sight.

The bottom lines: -

- If you double and partner responds with a non-jump then he may well have a worthless hand.

- With a very good hand you can double and then raise partner or else cue bid the opener’s suit, but to bid game you really need 9 tricks in your own hand.

- Do not blame partner for your own mistakes (doing a C….).

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♠ and South leads the ♥Q, plan the play.

♠ J73 ♠ AKQ1084

♥ K2 ♥ 6

♦ 872 ♦ AKJ

♣ 107432 ♣ A65

Dave’s Column answer Board 26 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ 962 South leads the ♥Q against 4♠ by East.

East ♥ A954 How will you play?

Both vul ♦ 1065

♣ KJ8 You have 9 easy ticks and one way to try for

a 10^th is to take the ♦ finesse. That’s only a

♠ J73 N ♠ AKQ1084 50% chance though, and would fail as the card

♥ K2 W E ♥ 6 lie. A better idea is to try to set up the ♣’s,

♦ 872 S ♦ AKJ hoping for a 3-2 break. If no luck comes from

♣ 107432 ♣ A65 that direction you can fall back on the ♦ finesse,

♠ 5 thereby combining two chances instead of

♥ QJ10873 relying on just one. How should the play go?

♦ Q843

♣ Q9

The first point is that you should play low from dummy at trick 1. If you make the mistake of covering the ♥Q with dummy’s ♥K, North will win and defeat the contract by switching to ♦’s – (the defenders would be able to set up the ♦Q before you have established the ♣’s). So you play low to the first ♥ and ruff the 2^nd round of ♥’s. You then draw just one round of trumps with the ♠A.

Now you continue with the ♣A and another ♣. If North wins and plays a ♦ through, you rise with the ♦A. You then draw a 2^nd round of trumps and play another ♣. There is nothing the defenders can do. You win North’s ♦ return with the ♦K and cross to the ♠J, drawing the last trump. You then discard the ♦ loser on dummy’s established ♣’s.

Do you see what would go wrong if you draw a 2^nd round of trumps before playing on ♣’s?

North could return 3^rd round of trumps when he gained the lead, removing dummy’s entry before the ♣’s were set up (this is what happened at at least one table at the Pattaya Bridge Club).

And what happened? Just one pair out of seven made 4♠.

The bottom lines: -

- Sometimes you have to develop your main side suit before drawing trumps.

Dave’s 2^nd Column Here is Dave’s 2^nd input involving the best play for the contract.

North South You are North, playing in 6♥ and East leads the ♣Q, plan the play.

♠ AJ5 ♠ 762

♥ AKJ1096 ♥ Q5

♦ 54 ♦ AK963

♣ K6 ♣ A74

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 27 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ AJ5 How do you play in 6♥ when East leads the ♣Q?

South ♥ AKJ1096

Love all ♦ 54 You are unlikely to get two ♠ tricks and so should

♣ K6 aim to set up dummy’s ♦ suit.

You should win the ♣ lead with the ♣K, preserving

♠ K1084 N ♠ Q93 dummy’s ♣A for later in the play. If you draw three

♥ 83 W E ♥ 742 rounds of trumps next you would waste an entry

♦ Q1082 S ♦ J7 that dummy’s ♥Q represents. You could then set

♣ 952 ♣ QJ1083 up and enjoy dummy’s ♦’s only if they broke 3-3.

♠ 762 To succeed against a more likely 4-2 ♦ break you

♥ Q5 must play on ♦’s before drawing trumps. Play just

DUMMY ® ♦ AK963 the ♥A and then continue with the two top ♦’s.

♣ A74 Ruff a ♦ with the ♥K, noting the 4-2 ♦ break, and

return to dummy with the ♥Q. You can then ruff another ♦ with a high trump, setting up dummy’s last ♦. After drawing the outstanding trump you cross to the ♣A to throw one of the ♠ losers on the established ♦.

And what happened? Nobody bid the slam but three out of seven made 4♥+2.

The bottom lines: -

- Sometimes you have to develop your main side suit before drawing trumps.

Bridge Cryptogram Each letter denotes a specific letter in the alphabet.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

__	__		__		__			__	__		__		__			__		__		__		__		__		__		__			__		__	__
2	14		1		1			11	10		6		14			11		17		15		14		20		10		26			4		9	5
__		__		__		__	__			__		__		__	__		__		__		__		__		__		__		__	__		__			__	__	__	__
18		4		9		26	11			7		17		18	18		17		12		17		23		26		9		11	24		14			25	1	13	23

__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	__	.
24	10	1	11	25	13	7	9	6	20	10	13	26	12	14	17	26	5

4333 Type Shape – part 1 Board 30 from Wednesday 26^th

Same old theme, but people still ignore my words of wisdom.

Dealer: ♠ 1072 Table A

East ♥ A62 West(C) North East South

Love all ♦ J4 - - 1♦ pass

♣ Q742 1♥ pass 1NT pass

3NT (1) all pass

♠ K83 N ♠ A95

♥ K843 W E ♥ QJ Table B

♦ K105 S ♦ A9873 West(C) North East South

♣ K86 ♣ J105 - - 1♦ pass

♠ QJ64 1♥ pass 1NT pass

♥ 10975 2NT (1) all pass

♦ Q62

♣ A9

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this West hand C in this week’s quiz? This raise to 3NT is way over the top.

Table B: (1) This West got it right. Knock off a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape and the hand is only worth an invitation.

And what happened? Three pairs overbid to 3NT and went one or two down. Two pairs stopped nicely in 2NT making exactly.

The bottom lines: -

- Knock off a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape.

4333 Type Shape – part 2 Board 16 from Wednesday 26^th

And here we go again.

Dealer: ♠ 872 Table A

West ♥ K6 West North East(D) South

E-W vul ♦ 10732 1♣ pass 1♥ pass

♣ J106 2♥ (1) pass 3♥ (2) pass

4♥ (3) all pass

♠ A64 N ♠ Q95

♥ J1098 W E ♥ Q753 Table B

♦ QJ S ♦ A65 West North East(D) South

♣ AQ42 ♣ K73 1♣ pass 1♥ pass

♠ KJ103 2♥ (1) pass pass (2) pass

♥ A4

♦ K984

♣ 95

Table A: (1) This is a decent hand in support of ♥’s, but not quite worth 3♥.

(2) What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? It has the infamous 4333 type shape and I would pass. If you think it’s worth a try for game then 3♣ (help-suit game try) is better than 3♥.

(3) West has a clear accept opposite a try for game.

Table B: (2) This East got it right – knock off a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape.

:

And what happened? Two pairs stopped nicely in 2♥; two pairs somehow stopped in 3♥ (quite how one can stop in 3♥ baffles me as if either makes a try the other has a clear accept); and two overbid to 4♥ both going one down.

The bottom lines: -

- Deduct a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 1♠. You have a 5-card ♠ suit, so bid it. If you double and then later bid ♠’s that will show a much stronger hand and very good ♠ suit.

Hand B: 3♥. This shows a very strong hand. 2♠ is an alternative for more experienced players. 4♥ is an overbid as partner may well have nothing. But if you do decide to overbid to 4♥ and partner indeed has nothing and goes down, then you simply say ‘sorry partner’ instead of criticizing him as one player did.

Hand C: 2NT. Knock off a point for the 4333 type shape. An invitation is quite enough with this totally flat hand.

Hand D: Pass. Knock off a point for the 4333 type shape. Note that if you feel it’s worth an effort (I don’t) then you should bid 3♣ (a help suit game try) rather than 3♥.

Bidding Sequence Answers

E 1♣ pass 1♦ pass This is up to partnership agreement, but ‘standard’ is that

1♥ pass 2♠ 1♠ would be natural and forcing and 2♠ is 4^th suit forcing.