Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 282

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

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

Mon 31^st 1^st Ivy & Hans V 69% 2^nd Esko & Frode 58%

Wed 2^nd 1^st Ivy & Terry 62% 2^nd Jan & Ursula 59%

Fri 4^th 1^st Jean-Charles & Mike 57% 2^nd Jan & Tom 56%

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Bidding Quiz

Hand A Hand B With Hand A RHO opens a weak 1NT (12-14), what do you do?

♠ 108 ♠ KJ4

♥ K104 ♥ Q762 With Hand B partner opens 1♠, what do you bid?

♦ AJ83 ♦ J74

♣ KJ974 ♣ AK9

Bidding Sequence Quiz

C 1♥ pass 1NT pass

2NT How many points is the raise to 2NT?

D 1♣ pass 1♠ pass

1NT pass 2♥ Is 2♥ weak or forcing?

E 1♥ pass 2♦ pass

3♣ pass 3♥ Is 3♥ weak or forcing?

Doubling a Weak No Trump Board 27 from Monday 31^st

Dealer: ♠ KQ4 West North East(A) South

South ♥ A82 - - - pass

Love all ♦ K765 pass 1NT (1) dbl (2) 2♠

♣ 1098 dbl (3) all pass

♠ J92 N ♠ 108 (1) Weak, 12-14

♥ Q96 W E ♥ K104 (2) What did you bid with this East hand A in

♦ Q942 S ♦ AJ83 this week’s quiz? This penalty double is

♣ Q53 ♣ KJ974 ridiculous of course.

♠ A7653 (3) In the belief that partner had 15+ points.

♥ J753

♦ 10 And what happened? 2♠ doubled made exactly for a clear top to N-S.

♣ KJ2 The bottom lines: -

- A double of 1NT is 15-17 points, this is true whatever range the 1NT opening is.

- If you start doubling 1NT with anything from 12-18 points then partner will have no idea whether to pull it or not. Restrict a (penalty) double to a 3 or 4 point range (15-17 or 15-18)

- There are lots of green pass cards in the bidding boxes – use one of them if RHO opens and you have a flat 12 count.

4-4 is better than 5-3 Board 11 from Friday 4^th

Dealer: ♠ KJ4 Table A

South ♥ Q762 West North(B) East South

Love all ♦ J74 - - - 1♠

♣ AK9 pass 4NT (1) pass 5♠ (2)

pass 6♠ all pass

♠ 9 N ♠ 8765

♥ A104 W E ♥ 9 Table B

♦ K862 S ♦ Q953 West North(B) East South

♣ J8653 ♣ Q742 - - - 1♠

♠ AQ1032 pass 2♣ (1) pass 2♥

♥ KJ853 pass 4NT (3) pass 5♣ (4)

♦ A10 pass 6♥ all pass

♣ 10

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand B in this week’s quiz? You have a fit and probably enough values for game, but this 4NT is premature as there may be a superior 4-4 (or even 5-4) ♥ fit.

(2) Two keycards + ♠Q.

Table B: (1) This North got it right, take it slowly with a (forcing) 2♣ bid just in case partner has 4 ♥’s. 2♥ is incorrect as that promises 5 ♥’s. It is quite permissible to bid a three card suit in situations like this.

(3) RKCB for ♥’s

(4) Three keycards.

And what happened? 6♥ is cold but a ♠ contract should make just 11 tricks. At the Pattaya bridge club defence is not always perfect and the four results were:

6♥=, 6♠= and 4♠+2 twice

The bottom lines: -

- A 4-4 fit is usually better than a 5-3 fit and a 5-4 is even better.

- A 2♥ response to a 1♠ opening promises a five card suit.

- A 2♣ response to a 1♠ opening could well be just a 4 or even 3 card suit.

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

North South You are South, declarer in 3NT, plan the play on the ♦3 lead.

♠ AQ95 ♠ KJ

♥ J8 ♥ A542

♦ J865 ♦ AK92

♣ 973 ♣ AQ8

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

Dealer: ♠ AQ95 West North East South

South ♥ J8 - - - 2NT

Love all ♦ J865 pass 3♣ pass 3♥

♣ 973 pass 3NT all pass

♠ 743 N ♠ 10862 West leads the ♦3 against your 3NT contract.

♥ 973 W E ♥ KQ106

♦ Q1073 S ♦ 4 (a) Which card do you play from dummy?

♣ KJ10 ♣ 6542 (b) Suppose you play low and East plays the ♦4,

♠ KJ which card do you win with?

♥ A542

♦ AK92

♣ AQ8 .

Count your tricks. You have one ♥, three ♦’s and one ♣ and three sure ♠’s, four if either the ♠10 drops or if you can get to dummy after you unblock the ♠KJ. If you could somehow take 4 ♠ tricks you would have no problem with this hand.

Consider the ♦ position. If you play the ♦J at trick one you have blown it – no entry to dummy after unblocking the ♠KJ. So you play low and East’s ♦4 indicates that West has led from ♦Q1073 and you have three sure tricks in the suit. The point is that you have three sure tricks in the suit even if you win the first trick with the ♦A or ♦K!

By doing just that you will have created a later entry to dummy with the ♦J. After you win the first ♦ high, cash the ♠KJ and then the 2^nd high ♦ and then lead a low ♦ towards the ♦Jx. West wins the ♦Q but you have the ♦J entry and 9 tricks without needing a ♣ finesse.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Everybody was in 3NT but just one out of five made it exactly. (+1 twice and -1 twice).

The bottom lines: -

- Look for creating an entry to a long suit.

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 6♦ and South leads the ♠J.

♠ 865 ♠ A4 Trumps are 2-2, plan the play

♥ A532 ♥ KJ10

♦ KQ75 ♦ A10986

♣ QJ ♣ AK3
Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 26 from Wednesday 2^nd

Dealer: ♠ KQ32 West North East South

East ♥ 864 - - 1♦ pass

Both vul ♦ J4 1♥ pass 2NT 4♦

♣ 10765 pass pass 6♦ all pass

♠ 865 N ♠ A4 This is the bidding from Dave’s book. It was

♥ A532 W E ♥ KJ10 not duplicated at the Pattaya bridge club where

♦ KQ75 S ♦ A10986 nobody ended up in 6♦.

♣ QJ ♣ AK3

♠ J1097 Anyway, you are in 6♦ and trumps are 2-2,

♥ Q97 plan the play

♦ 32

♣ 9842

You have a certain ♠ loser and a possible ♥ loser. If you finesse ♥’s and it loses, the opponents will cash their ♠ trick.

Hands that have losers in two suits, one of which is inevitable (♠’s here) and one of which is not (♥’s here) lend themselves to strip and throw-in plays.

The trick is to give up the ♠ trick at such a time that any return costs the defenders a trick. In order to do this you must (1) remove all of the opponents’ safe exit cards and (2) throw them in with a suit that is equally divided between your hand and dummy.

The play here is to win the opening lead, draw trumps and play three round of ♣’s discarding a ♠ from table. This discard of a ♠ is the key play of the hand. It now evens out the ♠ holding between your hand and dummy. You now give up a ♠ and get the rest regardless of who wins.

The bottom lines: - Look out for endplays when you have a certain loser and a two-way finesse.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge Club? Nobody was in 6♦. Results were 3NT+2, 3NT+3, 4♥+3, 6NT +1 and 7♦=.

Terry’s comment. Note that Kantar says that there is a ‘certain’ ♠ loser – that is not true if you guess the ♥ finesse correctly (as Ian did in 7♦! and also the declarer in 6NT+1).

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: Pass, obviously. If you double partner will take you for 15-17/18 points.

Hand B: 2♣. There is no need to rush and there may be a superior 4-4 ♥ fit. 2♥ is wrong as that promises q 5-card ♥ suit.

Bidding Sequence Answers

C 1♥ pass 1NT pass

2NT 2NT is about17-18, remember that partner may have only 6 pts.

D 1♣ pass 1♠ pass 2♥ is a weak bid promising 5 ♠’s and 4 ♥’s and partner is

1NT pass 2♥ expected to pass or correct unless he has exceptionally good ♥’s

E 1♥ pass 2♦ pass

3♣ pass 3♥ 3♥ here should be played as forcing.