Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                             Club News Sheet – No. 289

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880                   25th May 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 19th    1st  Jeremy & Sally               59%       2nd    Gastone & Kenneth = Dave & Ivy            56%

Wed 21st    1st  Bob & Nick                   62%       2nd    Ivy & Robbie                                           61%

Fri 23rd       1st  Jean-Francois & Terje    61%       2nd    Bob & Robbie                                          58%

 

Bidding Quiz                   

 

Hand A           Hand B           With Hand A partner opens 1 in 1st seat, what do you bid.

 

972               82                

85                 AK72           With Hand B partner opens 1, RHO bids 1, you bid 2,

Q                  J54                LHO bids 2. Partner bids 3 and RHO bids 3.

K1097642   9642            What do you do?

 

Hand C           Hand D           With Hand C you open 1 and LHO overcalls 1♠. Partner

bids 2 and RHO bids 2, what do you do?

KQ75           QJ7                                    

J10985         J109854       With Hand D you open 1 and LHO overcalls 1♠. Partner  

AK2             AK2             bids 2 and RHO bids 2, what do you do?

J                   J

 

Hand E            Hand F            With Hand E RHO opens 1 and you overcall 1. LHO

bids 2 and this is passed to you. What do you do?

AJ1063         K4               

6                   Q9753          With Hand F partner opens 1. (a) What do you bid?

Q109            J96               (b)  Suppose you bid 1NT and partner raises to 2NT, what do

K1075         K96                   you bid?

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz

 

G     1      pass   1NT   pass       How strong is 2NT?

        2NT

H     1      pass   2      pass       What does 3 show?

        3

J      1      1      2      2          What does 3 show?

        3

 


The Weak Jump Shift                                          Board 19 from Friday 23rd  

 

When partner opens one of a suit, then a jump in a new suit is traditionally a strong hand, game forcing, and a very good suit. These days most more experienced players play a weak jump shift, which shows a weak hand with a long suit, too weak for a normal reply so generally about 2-5 points with a 6-card suit (7-card if at the three level). Here is an example of the treatment working very well.

Dealer:             972                                             Table A

South               85                                               West          North(A)    East            South

E-W vul           Q                                                -                 -                 -                 1   

K1097642                                 pass           pass (1)      pass

 

J85                    N             Q643                    Table B

J102               W    E          9763                     West          North(A)    East            South

A842                  S              KJ3                       -                 -                 -                 1

AJ3                                    Q8                       pass           3   (1)      all pass

                        AK10                                       

AKQ4                                      

109765                                      

5                                         

 

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? This is the traditional bid – not enough points for a response.

Table B      (1)  This is the answer to question A if you play weak jump shifts. At the three level it should be a 7-card suit.

 

And what happened? 3 was the best spot for N-S and scored +1 for a joint top. 1 by South went one down for a bottom to N-S.

The bottom lines: -

-         Weak jump shifts are probably a good idea if not abused. They are not ‘standard’ and need to be alerted.

-         Note that many players play only 2 and 2 as weak jump shifts. This particularly applies to those who play Bergen

Raises or Mini Splinters.


Obey the Law of Total Trumps                           Board 17 from Friday 23rd 

This is a recurring theme, yet few seem to understand it!

Dealer:             82                                               Table A

North               AK72                                         West          North(B)    East            South(C)

Love all            J54                                              -                 pass           pass           1

9642                                          1              2    (1)      2    (2)      3    (3)                        3        (4)                                                4  (5)    all pass

AJ1063              N             94                        

6                     W    E          Q43                      Table B

Q109                  S              8763                     West(E)     North(B)    East            South(C)

K1075                               AQ83                   -                 pass           pass           1

                        KQ75                                        1              2              pass (2)      pass

J10985                                      dbl   (6)      3    (7)      all pass

AK2                                          

J                                          

 

Table A:     (1)  This is correct, 6-9 points and 3 or 4 card trump support.

(2)   Not a bid I would make unless under an assumed name.

(3)   What did you bid with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? You should pass. This is a competitive auction with the points approximately even, so The Law Of Total Trumps applies. South should only bid 3 here if he holds six ’s.

(4)   This is also wrong of course as it shows six ’s.

(5)   What did you bid with this North hand B in this week’s quiz? You should bid 4. This North is the player I have mentioned a few times recently who always gets bad scores with weaker players because he trusts his partner. He actually does know about the Law and partner has promised 6 ’s. Also, the opponent’s bidding indicates that they have 6+3= 9 minimum ’s. So there are a total of at least 19 trumps (ho-ho, there are only 16 because West, East and South all showed one more than they actually had). So given that there are 19 trumps then either 4 or 4 will make and with these great ’s it’s more likely to be 4 that is making. And if 4 goes -1 that’s a good score against their ‘sure’ contract.

Table B      (2)  This East sensibly passed of course.

(6)   What did you bid with this West hand E in this week’s quiz? This double is best; it is take-out, showing 5 ’s and also playable in both minors.

(7)   North simply obeys the Law. He knows that there are a total of 9 ’s and so bids to the level of the Law.

 

And what happened? 4 went -1 for a bottom. 3 is the top spot. The bottom lines: -

-         Obey the Law of Total Trumps.

 

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

 

North               South                     You are North, declarer in 6. East leads the J.

4                   A532                  Trumps split 2-1, plan the play.

AQ10           987

AK2             94

AKQJ42      10983                           


Dave’s Column answer                      Board 1 from Wednesday 21st   

     

Dealer:             4                                                 West          North         East            South

North               AQ10                                         -                 2             pass           2

Love all            AK2                                           pass           3             pass           4 (1)

                        AKQJ42                                    pass           4    (2)      pass           4  (2)

                                                                              pass           6             all pass

KQ87                 N             J1096            

543                 W    E          KJ62              (1)  agreeing ’s and showing slam interest.

Q10853              S              J76                  (2)  a cue bid (showing the ace)

6                                        75                 

                        A532                              East leads the J, trumps are 2-1, plan the play.     

987                                      

94                                              

10983                                 

 

You have two possible losers – if East has both missing honours.

If this were a hand that could not be stripped before playing ’s, you should plan on taking two finesses – a 75% chance of making two tricks.

With this deal your plan should be to coordinate drawing trumps with stripping ’s and ’s before leading a from dummy. Is it possible?

Yes. Win the opening lead and ruff a high; enter dummy with a trump and ruff a 2nd high; back to dummy with a trump and ruff dummy’s last ; now AK and a ruff puts you in dummy. Everyone is down to 4 cards. Both you and dummy have 3 ’s and a trump and the lead is in dummy where it should be.

Lead a from dummy and play either the 10 or Q. West wins but must either lead into your tenace or give you a ruff and discard.

 

Terry’s comment. A trump lead is more interesting. Declarer adopts the same line of play but he now comes down to a three card ending with just three ’s in each hand. There is no ruff and discard option now but fortunately East too is left perforce with just three ’s and the endplay works. Had East started with just 3 ’s then the endplay would not work as he could keep a and Kx as his last three cards. Since a 4-4 fit is only 33% it is not at all clear that Eddie’s line is better than the double finesse on a trump lead; but I am not going to do the maths for the author.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? The hand was played 4 times. The two declarers in 6 both went one down, 3NT+1 was the top score and a very conservative 4+1 came second.

 

 

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

 

West                East                  You are East, declarer in 4. South leads a low and North

7653             QJ1098        plays the J. Plan the play.

KQ8             72                

A42              KQJ           

753              AK9                                                  


Dave’s 2nd Column answer              Board 2 from Wednesday 21st

     

Dealer:             AK                                             West          North         East            South

East                  J653                                           -                 -                 1              pass

N-S vul            10873                                         2              pass           3    (1)      pass

                        J64                                             4    (2)      all pass

 

7653                   N             QJ1098          (1)  With no suit particularly needing help there

KQ8               W    E          72                         is no suit suitable for a help-suit game try, so

A42                    S              KQJ                     3 is a simple invitation.

753                                    AK9               (2)  With 4 trumps and a maximum West accepts

                        42                                              of course.

A1094         

965                                       South leads the 2 to North’s J, plan the play.

Q1082        

 

You have two losers, one quick loser and one slow loser. It is always the slow losers that you have to concentrate on.

Notice that the ’s and the ’s are evenly divided between your hand and dummy – the worst possible arrangement.

In order to get rid of a slow loser in an evenly divided suit attack an unevenly divided suit. Here ’s is the unevenly divided suit.

If South has the A you can establish a winner for a discard – but you must act before your 2nd stopper is removed.

Win the A and lead a low . If South wins you have established a winner for a discard. South does best to duck but it makes no difference: re-enter your hand with a and lead a 2nd . South should win and lead a 2nd . You win, cross to dummy with a and discard your losing on the good .

Only now do you begin to draw trumps. If you had started trumps earlier North wins and returns a and it’s too late to set up the for a discard.    

 

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge Club? Just for a change, everybody was in 4. Just one made it, the other three all going one down.

 

 

 


Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:     3, provided that you play weak jump shifts. In standard you should pass; a 1NT response is reasonable but may well get you into the wrong spot.

Hand B:    4, partner has promised six ’s and the Law of Total Trumps says to compete to the four level.

Hand C:    Pass. This is a Law Of Total Trumps situation. The points are roughly even and partner has only promised three ’s. So there may be only a total of 8 ’s and you should pass. Also, of course, you have excellent ’s and have no qualms about defending a contract. It is, of course, allowable to ‘sacrifice’ by bidding one more than the Law

says, but you should only do that in the pass-out seat.

Hand D:    3. The same problem of course but this hand is different. Although it has less points than hand C, that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters in this situation is the number of trumps. With one more than already shown, bid one more.

Hand E:    dbl. You want to compete; you have already shown 5 ’s and a take-out double is the best bid now.

Hand F:     (a)  1NT. You do not have enough for a 2 bid unless you are playing a weak NT.

(b)  3NT. I prefer this to a (forcing) 3 because the suit is rather poor and also partner is most likely 5143 or 5134 shape as he did not open 1NT (assuming you allow 5-card majors in your 1NT opening). This hand actually comes from the 16-31 May issue of Pattaya Today which I bought to check up on Robbie’s complaint that they do not mention the Pattaya Bridge Club (he’s right, it appears that they don’t do much on local clubs/associations or local activities, I recommend the Pattaya Mail or the Pattaya People which both mention our club; but I have sent Pattaya Today an e-mail). Anyway, the author of their bridge column says “it’s probably best to pass”.

I disagree, partner’s raise of 1NT to 2NT should show around 17 points and you should clearly bid game; it’s maximum and the K is a great card.

       

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz

 

G     1      pass   1NT   pass       2NT is around 17 points. This awkward sequence comes

        2NT                                     up more often when playing a weak NoTrump

H     1      pass   2      pass       3 is generally played as invitational, so about 16-17 points

        3                                        but a hand not suitable for a help-suit game try. Some players do play it as pre-emptive (to inhibit the next player from balancing and maybe finding a fit) but that’s not common.

J      1      1      2      2          This is totally different. 3 here shows no more than a basic

        3                                        opener but guaranteeing six’s. To make a game try opener

would have to bid 3 or 3