Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 281

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 30^th Mar 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 Hans V & Lars Broman 65% 2^nd Paul B & Ivy 55%

Wed 19^th 1^st Jean W & Terry 61% 2^nd Paul B & Sally = Arne & Jan 56%

Fri 21^st 1^st Gerard & Ursula 65% 2^nd Paul B & Oranong 57%

Bidding Quiz

Hand A Hand B With Hand A partner opens 1♣, what do you bid?

♠ AQ43 ♠ J952

♥ Q753 ♥ A1042 With Hand B you open 1♣ and partner responds 1♦, what

♦ KJ643 ♦ A5 do you rebid?

♣ - ♣ A63

Bidding Sequence Quiz

C 1♣ pass 1♦ Does the 1♦ bid deny a 4-card major?

D 1♣ pass 1♦ pass

1NT Does the 1NT bid deny a 4-card major?

E 1♥ pass 2♦ pass

2♥ pass 2♠ Is 2♠ forcing?

F 1♥ pass 2♦ pass

2♥ pass 3♠ What is 3♠?

G 1♥ 2NT 3♥ dbl 2NT is Unusual (both minors here), what is the dbl?

Holiday in South Africa with Bridge?

I received the following e-mail if anybody is interested: -

Dear Terry, I found your website whilst planning our trip to the Far East. My husband and I are bridge players, I would say intermediate level. We are both in our 50's and have just got our son married off this week so we are off travelling. We will be travelling through India, Far East and Australia and Japan.

 We were wondering if any of your members may be interested in hosting us, with a view to returning to us in Cape Town South Africa.

My husband and I were both born in Nairobi, Kenya, emigrated to UK where we have lived and brought up two boys. Three years ago we moved to Cape Town to a warmer climate and an outdoor life. We play bridge at the Pinelands Club and Sea Point (Atlantic Seaboard) club in Cape Town.

Please let me know if you have any members who would like to host us for a couple of weeks or so and we would be happy to return the favour.

 Kind Regards, Kirn and Vipin Jethwa, kvj1721@gmail.com

Play in the 4-4 major suit fit Board 18 from Friday 21^st

We saw this deal last week, a few people have indeed enlightened me as to how they ended up in silly 2NT and 3NT contracts: -

Dealer: ♠ AQ43 West North(A) East South(B)

East ♥ Q753 - - pass 1♣

N-S vul ♦ KJ643 pass 1♦ (1) pass 1NT (2)

♣ - pass 2NT (3) all pass

♠ K1087 N ♠ 6 This was apparently the auction at three tables

♥ 86 W E ♥ KJ9 (except that North bid 3NT at (3) at two tables)

♦ 109 S ♦ Q872

♣ Q10852 ♣ KJ974 North thought that the 1NT rebid denied a 4-card

♠ J952 major and South thought that the 1♦ response to

♥ A1042 1♣ denied a 4-card major. So who got it wrong?

♦ A5

♣ A63

(1) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? 1♦ is absolutely correct and is what most people would respond even if 4441 shape. Generally speaking, responder should respond up the line.

(2) What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? Unless you play Walsh (which is a rather advanced convention) you must bid 1♥. This 1NT bid denies a 4-card major in standard methods.

The bottom lines: -

- Look for the 4-4 major suit fit.

- Bid 4 card suits up the line.

- If you go past an unbid major to bid NoTrumps then that denies a 4-card major.

- To answer the question, South got it wrong, apparently at three tables!

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

North South You are South, declarer in 6♥, plan the play if: -

♠ Q ♠ A873 (a) West leads the ♣J

♥ 843 ♥ AKQ7 (b) West leads the ♠J upon which East plays the ♠K.

♦ AKQJ98 ♦ 65

♣ 874 ♣ AK3

Dave’s Column answer Board 1 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ Q West North East South

North ♥ 843 - 1♦ pass 1♥

Love all ♦ AKQJ98 pass 2♦ pass 3♣

♣ 874 pass 3♥ pass 6♥

all pass

♠ J109542 N ♠ K6

♥ J952 W E ♥ 106 This is the bidding from Dave’s book.

♦ 104 S ♦ 732

♣ J ♣ Q109652 Anyway, you are in 6♥ when: -

♠ A873 (a) West leads the ♣J

♥ AKQ7 (b) West leads the ♠J

♦ 65

♣ AK3 plan the play.

Before you can run the ♦ suit, a solid suit that has no outside entry, you must be able to draw trumps – all of the trumps.

(a) With the ♣J lead this is no problem. Simply win the opening lead and play out the three high trumps. If trumps are 3-3 that’s great; if they split 4-2 concede the trump trick and you have 12 tricks.

(b) Unfortunately with a ♠ lead you do not have the luxury of this play. If the trumps do not break and you give up a 4^th trump trick the opponents can then cash their ♠ winners. If, instead of giving up the 4^th trump you begin to run the ♦’s, somebody will ruff and you are stuck with your black suit losers. If you try to ruff two ♠’s in dummy you might be over-ruffed or run into other troubles.

No, the correct technique on a ♠ lead is to concede your likely trump loser at trick two. Lead a low trump! This safety play concedes an unnecessary trick if the trumps split 3-3 but ensures the contract with a 3-3 or the more likely 4-2 split.

You can then win any return, draw the remaining trumps and run the ♦’s. Note that you could not make this play had you had a singleton ♦ in hand as the defence could switch to a ♦ at trick 3.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? One pair was in 6♥ making. Other contracts were 7♥-1, 6NT=, 6♦=, 4♥+2 and 3♥-1.

The bottom lines: -

- Running a solid side suit in a suit contract may require special handling. Ducking an early round of trumps is often the answer.

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

West East You are East, declarer in 3NT and South leads the ♠3

♠ QJ10 ♠ K54 upon which North plays the ♠7. Plan the play.

♥ 652 ♥ AK8

♦ QJ1076 ♦ K93

♣ 43 ♣ AK72
Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 2 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ 76 West North East South

East ♥ Q1073 - - 2NT pass

love all ♦ A54 3NT all pass

♣ 10986

♠ QJ10 N ♠ K54 South leads the ♠3 and North plays the ♠7

♥ 652 W E ♥ AK8 Plan the play in 3NT by East.

♦ QJ1076 S ♦ K93

♣ 43 ♣ AK72

♠ A9832

♥ J94

♦ 82

♣ QJ5

The problem here is to recognize the problem. You would like to establish the ♦’s but you must count on the possibility of the opponent winning the 3^rd round of ♦’s.

If that turns out to be the case you will need an entry to dummy’s ♦’s . The only possible suit in which you can develop that entry is ♠’s. Therefore you should win the ♠K at trick one to ensure a later ♠ entry to dummy. Do this and you will have no trouble winning at least ten tricks. Win the first ♠ cheaply and you will have trouble getting to nine!

North will win the 3^rd ♦ and return a ♠; if you play the ♠K, South will allow you to hold the trick, and if you play low South will win and return a ♠, locking you in hand with no chance of reaching dummy.

The bottom lines: - Look out for unblocking plays if a hand is short of entries.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge Club? Just for a change, everybody was in the pre-ordained contract of 3NT. One made +2, three made +1 and two went down (presumably missing the unblocking play of the ♠K).

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 1♦. This does not deny a 4-card major.

Hand B: 1♥. Partner may well have a 4 card major and you should look for the 4-4 fit. 1NT is wrong as it denies a 4-card major.

Bidding Sequence Answers

C 1♣ pass 1♦ The 1♦ bid does not deny a 4-card major.

D 1♣ pass 1♦ pass

1NT The 1NT bid denies a 4-card major.

E 1♥ pass 2♦ pass

2♥ pass 2♠ 2♠ is a reverse and absolutely forcing…

F 1♥ pass 2♦ pass … thus I would take 3♠ here as a splinter, showing ♠ shortage

2♥ pass 3♠ and presumably just 3 ♥’s as there was no direct splinter.

G 1♥ 2NT 3♥ dbl The double here is surely penalties, overcaller has defined his

hand and responder presumably stretched to bid over 2NT.