Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 320

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 28^th Dec 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 22^nd N-S 1^st Lars B & Lars G 59% 2^nd Jeremy & sally 59%

E-W 1^st Tommy & Petter 65% 2^nd Dave & Robbie 63%

Wed 24^th N-S 1^st Hans & Lars B 57% 2^nd Paul Q & terry 56%

E-W 1^st Bob S & Johan 61% 2^nd Gunn & Torbiorn 54%

Fri 26^th 1^st Janne & Jeremy 65% 2^nd Jean W & Terry 62%

	to news-sheet main page
	to Pattaya Bridge home page
	to bridge book reviews	to bridge conventions	to No Trump bidding
	to bridge CD's and computer games and software

Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

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

♠ QJ10 ♠ A95

♥ AK3 ♥ J542 With Hand B partner opens 1NT and you bid 2♣. Partner

♦ Q83 ♦ AJ6 replies 2♦, what do you bid.

♣ K832 ♣ 1054

Hand C Hand D What do you open with Hand C?

♠ 62 ♠ 4

♥ 1092 ♥ AJ With hand D you are vulnerable and the opponents are not.

♦ AKQJ865 ♦ 9743 Partner opens 3NT (gambling) and RHO doubles, what do

♣ 6 ♣ Q109532 you do?

Bidding Sequence Quiz

G 1♣ 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ What is the 1♠ bid, natural or 4^th suit forcing?

Christmas Day Party

The Xmas party and teams-of-4 event was a great success, many thanks to Paul Quodomine who organised it all. The final result after 4 of the 5 rounds seemed almost certain, with the team of Arnt Blix, Alan Purdy, Hans Bijvoet and a couple more (sorry, I don’t have their names to hand) having won all of their matches and sitting on top 24 VPs clear of the 2^nd placed team of Hans Vikman, Jean Wissing, Lars Broman and Janne Roos. So it would appear to need a miracle for them not to win. But miracles do sometimes happen, Hans Vickman’s team won the last round 20-0 and Arnt Blix’s team lost 15-5 and so lost the final by just one VP!

Editorial

1) If we have a Howell movement where a pair moves from one direction to the other at the same table, then please physically move. This avoids mis-boarding and scoring errors.

2) Annual membership fees are due soon. It will save time on Monday 2^nd Jan if people pay before then.

The Gambling 3NT Board 26 from Friday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ 4 Table A

East ♥ AJ West North East South(C)

N-S vul ♦ 9743 - - - 1♦ (1)

♣ Q109532 1♠ (2) 2♠ (3) 5♠ pass

pass dbl (4) all pass

♠ K10987 N ♠ AQJ53

♥ Q643 W E ♥ K875 Table B

♦ - S ♦ 106 West North East South(C)

♣ AKJ4 ♣ 87 - - - 3♦ (1)

♠ 62 dbl (5) pass 4♦ (6) pass

♥ 1092 4♠ pass (7) all pass

♦ AKQJ865

♣ 6 ‘Expert' Table

West North(D) East South(C)

- - - 3NT (1)

dbl 5♦ (8) ? (9)

Table A: (1) What did you open with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? This has come up in previous news-sheets and the answer is not 1♦.

(2) Double is the alternative, but 1♠ here is very reasonable as there will presumably be enough room to bid again later.

(3) Presumably showing a sound raise to 3♦?

(4) A bit wild with a singleton trump, but North thought that South had the odd trick or two for the opening bid.

Table B: (1) This was another popular choice for question C. I prefer it to 1♦.

(5) At the three level West has no alternative but to double for take-out.

(6) Showing both majors.

(7) Opposite a pre-empt, North knows not to double.

‘Expert’ (1) This is the best answer to question C – a gambling 3NT showing a long

Table: totally solid (7-8) card minor with nothing outside.

(8) What did you bid with this North hand D in this week’s quiz? Knowing of the 7-8 tricks in ♦’s opposite, North can pre-empt at the 5-level. He can be pretty sure of at least two ruffs and although it’s adverse vulnerability the contract should go at most one down. The opponents must be cold for a major suit game (maybe slam) of course.

(9) It’s not clear what East should do now, maybe there’s a slam?

And what happened? Six different results : 6♠-1, 5♥-1, 4♠+2, 5♠*=, 3♠+2 and 6♦*-2.

The bottom lines: -

- The gambling 3NT is an excellent convention – it describes your hand perfectly.

Dave’s Column Here is Dave’s input involving the play of the hand.

West East You are West, declarer in 6♠ and North leads the ♣K.

♠ A109765 ♠ K82 Plan the play.

♥ 2 ♥ AK743

♦ A1073 ♦ K862

♣ AJ ♣ 5

Dave’s Column answer Board 16 from Wednesday 24^th

Dealer: ♠ QJ4 West North East South

East ♥ J986 - - 1♥ pass

E-W vul ♦ J4 1♠ pass 2♠ pass

♣ KQ109 3♦ pass 4♦ pass

5♣ pass 5♥ pass

♠ A109765 N ♠ K82 6♠ pass

♥ 2 W E ♥ AK743

♦ A1073 S ♦ K862 North leads the ♣K, plan the play

♣ AJ ♣ 5

♠ 3

♥ Q105

♦ Q95

♣ 876432

What generally happened was that declarer took his ♣A, ruffed a ♣ in dummy, and cashed his two high trumps. When South discarded to reveal the trump loser declarer was held to just 11 tricks

So how should West guard against a possible 3-1 trump break? He should win the ♣A but does not need to ruff his other ♣ immediately. Instead, West should cash the ♠A and lead a ♥ to dummy’s ♥A. After ruffing a low ♥ he leads a trump to dummy’s ♠K, revealing the bad, but not unexpected, break. However, thanks to his careful play, West retains control. He cashes dummy’s ♥K discarding a ♦ and ruffs another ♥ to establish dummy’s 5^th ♥. Now the delayed ♣ ruff pays dividends – it places the lead in dummy for the lead of the last ♥ and a 2^nd ♦ discard. Now, whether North ruffs or not, he only scores his natural trump trick.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Just one pair bid slam and went -1. All of the other pairs stopped in 4♠ making just +1.

Dave’s 2^nd Column Here is Dave’s 2^nd input involving the play of the hand.

North South You are North, declarer in 6♥ and East leads the ♠2. North

♠ AKQ ♠ 65 takes West’s ♠10 with the ♠A, cashes the ♥AK as both defenders

♥ AKQ94 ♥ J1086 follow, cashes the ♠KQ with East following and dummy

♦ 3 ♦ AKQ4 discarding the ♣7 and West discarding the ♣2.

♣ J964 ♣ K107 The ♦AKQ are played, declarer discarding two ♣’s as both opponents follow. Declarer plays the ♦4 from table and

West discards the ♣3. How should declarer continue?

Dave’s Column answer Board 17 from Wednesday 24^th

Dealer: ♠ AKQ West North East South

West ♥ AKQ94 - 1♥ pass 2NT (1)

Love all ♦ 3 pass 3♦ (2) pass 4♥ (3)

♣ J964 pass 4NT pass 5♣ (4)

pass 6♥ all pass

♠ 107 N ♠ J98432

♥ 52 W E ♥ 73 (1) Jacoby 2NT. I personally prefer to have a

♦ J92 S ♦ 108765 better hand, but this partnership’s style is to bid

♣ AQ8532 ♣ - 2NT with an opening hand and 4-card support

♠ 65 (2) ♦ shortage

♥ J1086 (3) Fast arrival – South’s hand has gone downhill.

♦ AKQ4 (4) 1 keycard playing 1430.

♣ K107

The complete deal is above, after the running commentary given on the previous page the end position is : -

♠ - Declarer leads the ♦4 from dummy and West

♥ Q94 discards the ♣3, what should declarer do?

♦ - He should count the hand!

♣ J9 West has shown exactly 2 ♠’s, 2 ♥’s and 3 ♦’s,

so the rest of his cards are all ♣’s – six of them.

♠ - N ♠ J98 That leaves East with zero ♣’s and declarer

♥ - W E ♥ - should run the ♦4, discarding a ♣. Whatever

♦ - S ♦ 108 East plays declarer ruffs in dummy and

♣ AQ853 ♣ - discards his remaining ♣ from hand.

♠ -

♥ J10

♦ 4

♣ K10

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Five out of seven North’s bid 6♥ and they all went down. 4♥ made +1 and 5♦* by East went -5 for 1100 away.

That infamous 4333 type shape again Board 4 from the Xmas teams-of-4

I have just one board from the Xmas teams of four match, and the result for the winning team or runners-up of the competition depended upon it! – there was just one VP difference! (although the hero of the hand – Lewis, North at table B – was from another team!)

Dealer: ♠ QJ10 Table A

East ♥ AK3 West North(A) East South(C)

Both vul ♦ Q83 - - pass pass

♣ K832 pass 1NT (1) pass 2♣ (2)

pass 2♦ pass 3NT (3)

♠ K73 N ♠ 8642 all pass

♥ Q98 W E ♥ 1076

♦ K1052 S ♦ 974 Table B

♣ QJ3 ♣ A97 West North(B) East South

♠ A95 - - pass pass

♥ J542 pass 1♣ (1) pass 1♥

♦ AJ6 pass 1NT (4) pass pass

♣ 1054 pass (5) pass

Table A: (1) What did you open with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? A balanced 15 count so ‘automatically’, without a second glance, open 1NT? That’s what Hans Bijvoet bid here, and I expect most players who do not regularly read the news-sheets, would open. Hans Bijvoet and I have a long history of disagreements over bidding, and this is no exception. I would bid as table B but others, including the well-known (?) Jean-Francois Fohrer, simply ignore totally flat shape and open 1NT. Counting to 15 seems to be the limit of hand evaluation techniques by some so-called ‘experts’.

(2) 2♣, Stayman, is clear here.

(3) But what did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? At pairs scoring there is no doubt in my mind – this is a rubbish (3433) hand with just one point in the ‘long’ suit and I would bid an invitational 2NT. At teams one must go for thin vulnerable games and 3NT, as bid by Alan Purdy here, is reasonable I suppose (but only when vulnerable at teams scoring).

Table B: (1) This was Lewis, my frequent partner at the club. He is obviously very familiar with my opinions about the 4333 type shape and even with the ‘working’ ♠10 he correctly decided that the hand was not good enough for an opening 15-17 1NT. I totally agree and this is my (our) answer to question A.

(4) Showing a balanced 12-14, which is all that this hand is worth.

(5) West asked about the 1NT rebid, asking “12-14?”. Paul Quodomine (South partnering Lewis) replied "Usually, though he could have 15 with a 4-3-3-3

pattern and poor spot cards." I just love these guys (Paul Q and Lewis). They totally agree with me (and most real experts) about how bad the 4333 shape is.

And what happened? This deal would have been enough for Alan/Hans’ team to win the competition had either of them known about how bad the 4333 shape is. 3NT went -2 and 1NT made exactly. The bottom lines: -

- 4333 is the WORST POSSIBLE SHAPE. If you bother to read some of the blogs written by Jean-Francois Fohrer on the club blogsite (www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com) he goes into lengths to explain how good(!) the shape is in a NoTrump contract. Even making 1NT was a struggle with these N-S cards!! 4333 is garbage – deduct a point and ignore the French!

The Club Championships

Here are the latest standings in the club competitions. It’s nearly all over now, but apart from Hans winning, everything else is very close and depends upon the results of the next two sessions.

	Gold Cup = Best 30	Silver Plate = Best 10	Bronze Medal = Best 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	1904.0 Hans Vikman 1856.5 Sally Watson 1849.9 Dave Cutler 1848.4 Janne Roos 1845.6 Lewis Berg 1817.1 Lars Gustafsson 1806.6 Bob Pelletier 1790.3 Ivy Schlageter 1786.1 Derek & Gerard 1761.3 Jeremy Watson	683.5 Hans Vikman 664.9 Sally Watson 663.8 Jeremy Watson 661.8 Dave Cutler 652.2 Lewis Berg 651.0 Lars Gustafsson 648.3 Janne Roos 646.8 Derek & Gerard 645.6 Janne Roos 643.6 Ivy Schlageter	352.6 Hans Vikman 342.3 Dave Cutler 341.1 Jeremy Watson 341.1 Sally Watson 339.7 Lars Gustafsson 335.8 Lewis Berg  335.3 Ivy Schlageter 333.8 Derek & Gerard 327.4 Tomas Wikman 326.2 Bob Pelletier

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 1♣, deduct a point for the totally flat 3343 shape with insufficient intermediates to compensate.

Hand B: 2NT, invitational. Again, deduct a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape. The only exception is that you may try bidding 3NT when vulnerable at IMP scoring.

Hand C: 3NT, showing a 7-8 completely solid minor suit with nothing outside.

Hand D: 5♦. At adverse vulnerability you can afford to go just one down, so 6♦ is probably too high at this vulnerability. You know partner has 7 (maybe 8) ♦ tricks and you should get two ruffs with your hand.

Bidding Sequence Answers

G 1♣ 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ The meaning of 1♠ here is up to partnership understanding. The sequence came up at the Xmas teams of 4. Alan bid it meaning it as 4^th suit forcing. His partner Hans explained the bid as natural (and forcing). I’m with Hans here and I play 2♠ as 4^th suit forcing, but it’s up to you.