Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 326

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 8^th Feb 2009

It is best to use my home number to contact me unless I am at the bridge club.

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My MSN messenger ID is tj_quested@hotmail.com

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Mon 2^nd N-S 1^st Janne & Kerstin 59% 2^nd Ivy & Royd 56%

E-W 1^st Derek & Gerard 63% 2^nd Gene & Paul Sc 60%

Wed 4^th N-S 1^st Janne & Per-Ake 60% 2^nd Hans V & Lars B 58%

E-W 1^st Lennart & Gun K 65% 2^nd Derek & Gerard 61%

Fri 6^th N-S 1^st Janne & Lars B 55% 2^nd Lars G & Lennart K 53%

E-W 1^st Gun K & Per-Ake 71% 2^nd Hans V & Sally 63%

The Tripple

Congratulation to Janne who has become just the 11^th play in the Club’s history to achieve the triple (winning all 3 sessions

in one week), and note that he did it with 3 different partners.

Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A everybody is vulnerable, partner opens a weak

2♥, what do you bid?

♠ AK ♠ 10853

♥ KJ103 ♥ J With Hand B you open 1♦ and partner bids 1♥. What do you

♦ AJ76 ♦ AKQJ4 bid? Think about this one as not everybody agrees; and what

♣ 1074 ♣ AK4 would be your 2^nd choice as a reasonable alternative?

Hand C Hand D With Hand C you open 1♣ (could be short) and partner bids 1♠.

RHO doubles, (showing the red suits), what do you do?

♠ AQ8 ♠ AK96

♥ 1064 ♥ 109653 With Hand D partner opens 1♦ and you bid 1♥. Partner jumps

♦ Q10 ♦ - to 2NT (18-19), what do you bid?

♣ AQ986 ♣ J1032

Hand E Hand F With Hand E you open 1NT and partner transfers with 2♦,

what do you bid?

♠ AKQ ♠ AQJ96

♥ AJ102 ♥ A

♦ Q87 ♦ Q10985 With Hand F partner opens 2♥, what do you bid?

♣ J87 ♣ A4

Bidding Sequence Quiz

G 1♦ pass 1♥ pass Is 1♠ forcing?

1♠

H 1♦ pass 1♥ pass 2♠ is forcing, but is it game forcing?

2♠

J 1♦ pass 1♥ pass The 2NT rebid shows 18-19, highly invitational but not

2NT forcing. But does it deny a 4-card ♠ suit?

The Problem with Ogust Board 13 from Monday 2^nd

Ogust is a popular convention which I like – if you hold a decent hand, say 16 points, and partner opens a weak two (6-10) then you probably want to be in game if partner is maximum. Ogust enables you to find out how good partner is, but there appears to be one drawback...

Dealer: ♠ 109642 Table A

North ♥ 74 West North East(A) South

both vul ♦ KQ1083 - pass 2♥ pass (1)

♣ K 4♥ (2) all pass

♠ AK N ♠ 8 Table B

♥ KJ103 W E ♥ AQ9852 West North East(A) South

♦ AJ76 S ♦ 52 - pass 2♥ pass (1)

♣ 1074 ♣ Q983 2NT (2) pass 3♠ (3) dbl (4)

♠ QJ753 4♥ (5) 4♠ (6) pass pass

♥ 6 dbl all pass

♦ 94

♣ AJ652

Table A: (1) This is an ideal Michaels Cue bid of 2♠ had RHO opened 1♥, but there is no such thing as a pre-empt over a pre-empt and so South has to pass. 2♠ would show a decent hand with ♠’s and 3♠ a strong hand. 4♣ (Leaping Michaels) would show the black suits (usually 5-6) but promises a much stronger hand.

(2) What did you bid with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? This may depend upon how disciplined your partner is with his weak twos, but 4♥ should make opposite most vulnerable weak two openings.

Table B: (2) But this West has Ogust in his bidding armory and decided to find out if partner was minimum or maximum with an Ogust 2NT enquiry.

(3) Maximum, with two honours in the trump suit.

(4) Unfortunately for E-W, this 3♠ response enabled South to show his ♠’s at no risk.

(5) West can now bid 4♥ in complete confidence.

(6) But now North knows that there is a good ♠ fit and can compete.

And what happened? Every E-W were in 4♥ except two that had to double 4♠. 4♠ doubled went just one down and was a good save against the 620 for 4♥ making exactly.

The bottom lines: -

- Ogust is a great convention, but every convention has its drawback.

- Note that this is yet another example of the Law of Total Tricks, N-S have 10 ♠'s and so should compete to the 10 trick level.

Contacting Members

There is a list of club members/visitors, together with e-mail and/or telephone numbers, on the website. If you want your details added then please tell me. The page is protected by a password so that only active club members and visitors can use it. It is generally of use for people wishing to find a partner. Please do not give the password to a 3^rd party – if anybody wants the password then they have to contact me. I may (will) occasionally change the password if an undesirable person gets hold of it.

The 2NT Rebid Board 16 from Monday 2^nd

Dealer: ♠ 10853 Table A

West ♥ J West North(B) East South

E-W vul ♦ AKQJ4 pass 1♦ pass 1♥

♣ AK4 pass 2♠ (1) pass 4♠

all pass

♠ Q742 N ♠ J

♥ A42 W E ♥ KQ87 Table B

♦ 973 S ♦ 108652 West North(B) East South(D)

♣ 975 ♣ Q86 pass 1♦ pass 1♥

♠ AK96 pass 2NT (1) pass 3NT (2)

♥ 109653 all pass

♦ -

♣ J1032

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand B in this week’s quiz? This jump to 2♠ is forcing to game and perhaps a bit of an overbid with a mis-fit for partner and a really ropey ♠ suit. 1♠ is possible I suppose (my 2^nd choice) but that is not forcing and I think that North should make more of an effort.

Table B: (1) As I said above, I don’t like 1♠ or 2♠ here and prefer the ‘in between’ bid of 2NT. I agree that it’s not ideal (a doubleton ♥ would be better) but I prefer it to 3NT (which totally rules out finding a possible ♠ fit).

(2) What did you bid with this South hand D in this week’s quiz? I guess that this is affected by your answer to sequence J. In my (and Max Hardy’s) opinion the 2NT rebid does not deny a 4-card major and if you agree with this philosophy then 3♣ (New Minor Forcing) is the best bid and will enable a possible 4-4 ♠ fit or 5-3 ♥ fit to be uncovered.

And what happened? Three pairs got to the top spot of 4♠ (making or making +1). Two pairs overbid to 6♠ and both went -2 (I assume that North rebid 2♠ at (1) and South got carried away?). 3NT was bid twice and made exactly for above average as two players went one down in 4♠.

The bottom lines: -

- In Standard American, a jump 2NT rebid does not deny a 4-card major.

- After a 2NT (or 1NT) rebid New Minor Forcing is a very useful tool, I have just recently written it up, it’s in the conventions folder and on the web:

Conventions > Section 2 > New Minor Forcing.

An Adjusted Score Board 20 from Monday 2^nd

The director was called into action on this board...

Dealer: ♠ AQ West North East South

West ♥ 853 pass 1NT (1) 2♦ (2) 3NT

both vul ♦ QJ 4♦ pass pass dbl (3)

♣ AJ8542 all pass

♠ 1097543 N ♠ J

♥ 109 W E ♥ AQJ642

♦ K8652 S ♦ 10943

♣ - ♣ Q10

♠ K862

♥ K7

♦ A7

♣ K9763

(1) A somewhat off-beat 1NT, but quite acceptable.

(2) Meant as Multi Landy (a single suited hand). But at this point West alerted and said that the bid was natural, showing a ♦ suit.

(3) South had a think here, and asked West how many ♦’s East had, and West said at least five. Presumably assuming that West had good honours in the ♦ suit for his raise, South feared that a ♦ lead would defeat 4NT and so he doubled.

At the end of play N-S obviously complained that they had been given the wrong explanation (twice). East was asked why he had not corrected the explanation before the opening lead and he replied that he had not heard partner say that he had 5 ♦’s. His only comment was that the score was +710. Wrong!

So what should the director do?

The rules are fairly clear here. N-S were given incorrect information and an adjusted score is in order. South said that he would have bid 4NT had he known that East had a long undefined suit. So I adjusted the score to 4NT making exactly which is what the outcome would have been on a ♦ lead (a ♥ lead and it would have made 11 tricks as at another table). 6♣ makes, but only one person (Sally of course) bid it, with 5♣+1 being the most popular spot.

The bottom lines: -

- If you make an incorrect bid and partner gives the correct definition then there is no penalty.

- If you make the correct bid and partner gives an incorrect definition then there may well be an adjusted score, as here.

- N-S were clearly injured here by the incorrect information and so the score was adjusted to the most likely outcome for the injured party had the correct explanation been given.

- If your partner gives an incorrect explanation and you are declarer or dummy, then you should inform the opponents before the opening lead.

- Incidentally, I much prefer to play the 2♦ bid as a 6-card major (with a long minor then bid it directly at the three level). This would enable West to bid at the 4 level (4♦ or 4♥ by agreement) to show support for both majors. Without this agreement that 2♦ can only be a major, West cannot bid this as East may well have a ♣ suit.

The Club Championships

It’s beginning to look like a two-horse race, with Janne and Hans regularly swapping places at the top of the Bronze competition and Janne now qualifying for the Silver ahead of Hans. Interestingly, they did not partner each other this week (but Janne did partner Hans’ sister once!).

	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		606.0 Janne Roos 599.0 Hans Vikman 573.7 Bob Short	321.3 Hans Vikman 319.7 Janne Roos 301.8 Bob Short 296.1 Lars Broman 295.7 Derek & Gerard 295.4 Johan Bratsberg 293.5 Lewis Berg 293.5 Paul Quodomine 289.7 Gene Moats 289.7 Paul Scully 288.7 Bob Pelletier 284.2 Lars Gustafsson 278.8 Royd Laidlow

The Tripple

Janne has become just the 11^th person to achieve the triple (winning all three sessions in one week). The last person to do it was (no surprise) Hans Vikman just under a year ago. The standard of play at the club has improved dramatically over the last couple of years and getting the triple these days is quite an achievement, unlike 2-4 years ago when one local cowboy won it five times – he has no chance these days and his last triple win was in 2006.

The tripple was won just once in 2007 and twice in 2008; now that Janne is resident here his aim is surely to break the record of 5 total triples (apart from winning the Gold Cup of course)?

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

North South You are South, declarer in 5♠ after East has shown a good hand

♠ K ♠ AQJ10942 with good ♦’s. West plays the ♦10 which East wins with the ♦J,

♥ AJ842 ♥ Q continues with the ♦A and then the ♦K, what do you do?

♦ 74 ♦ 82

♣ 10987 ♣ 963

Dave’s Column answer Board 21 from Wednesday 4^th

Dealer: ♠ K West North East South

North ♥ AJ842 - 1♥ 2♦ (1) 4♠

N-S vul ♦ 74 pass pass 5♦ (2) 5♠

♣ AKJ52 all pass

♠ 87653 N ♠ -

♥ 75 W E ♥ K10963 (1) This is the bidding from the book, I like

♦ 106 S ♦ AKQJ953 the 5♦ bid chosen by our opponent which

♣ Q1074 ♣ 8 caused N-S to overbid to 6♣ when South

♠ AQJ10942 perhaps unwisely bid 5♠.

♥ Q (2) And here we see the total futility of the

♦ 82 pathetic 2♦ bid at (1). N-S now know

♣ 963 enough not to bid on over 5♠.

Anyway, this is a play problem and not a bidding one, so let’s assume that N-S are allowed to peacefully bid to 5♠. West leads the ♦10 which East wins with the ♦J, cashes the ♦A and continues with the ♦K. What do you do?

When first played, South discarded a ♣ at trick three, West threw a ♥ and dummy ruffed. The ♥A was then led and a ♥ ruffed, but West overruffed to defeat the contract.

Unlucky of course. How could he know that East has 5 ♥’s to go with his 7 ♦’s? How was South to know to cash ♣AK and ruff a ♣ to draw trumps?

He had overlooked the correct play at trick three. Declarer should have thrown the ♥Q, not a ♣. Then he could immediately ruff a ♥, draw trumps and eventually discard his third ♣ on dummy’s ♥A.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Everybody in 5♠ went -1 and there were various other scores.

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

West East You are West, declarer in 4♠ after South had opened 1♥.

♠ AK9875 ♠ J106 North leads the ♥2, plan the play

♥ 96 ♥ A5 (1)

♦ Q3 ♦ A75

♣ QJ8 ♣ A10975

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 19 from Wednesday 4^th

Dealer: ♠ Q43 West North East South

South ♥ J732 - - - 1♥

E-W vul ♦ 9642 1♠ pass 2♥ (1) pass

♣ 63 3♠ (2) pass 4♠ all pass

♠ AK9875 N ♠ J106

♥ 96 W E ♥ A5 (1) An Unassuming Cue Bid, showing a

♦ Q3 S ♦ A75 sound raise to 3♠ or better with three

♣ QJ8 ♣ A10975 card ♠ support.

♠ 2 (2) Showing opening values.

♥ KQ1082

♦ KJ108 North leads the ♥2, plan the play.

♣ K42

Your side has 25 HCPs leaving the opposition with 15. As South opened the bidding he should have at least 12 leaving North with 2 or 3 at most. The contract looks so good that you must protect against unpleasant scenarios like north having ♠Qxx, the ♣ finesse losing and North getting in early to lead to lead a ♦ through dummy’s ♦A. So how can North get in early to lead a ♦? If you win the first ♥ and play the ♠AK and North has ♠Qxx, you can be in trouble.

Say you take a losing ♣ finesse and South is inspired enough to lead a low ♥ (North’s ♥2 lead should promise an honour) to North who returns a ♦, you are now one down.

The correct play is to duck the opening lead; then South has no way to get North in for a ♦ return and you have time to dispose of your losing ♦ on a ♣. You have made an advance avoidance play at trick one; keeping North, the danger hand, from getting in later to lead a ♦.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Six players bid 4♠ and five made it. One N-S pair found the good sacrifice of 5♥*-2 and the other two N-S’s were in ♠ partscores.

Super-Accept Board 16 from Wednesday 24^th

Our opponents bid nicely to the good ♥ game at table B on this board.

Dealer: ♠ 10854 Table A

West ♥ Q4 West North East(E) South

E-W vul ♦ KJ96 pass pass 1NT pass

♣ KQ3 2♦ pass 2♥ (1) pass

pass (2) pass

♠ 6 N ♠ AKQ

♥ K9853 W E ♥ AJ102 Table B

♦ 432 S ♦ Q87 West North East(E) South

♣ A1065 ♣ J87 pass pass 1NT pass

♠ J9732 2♦ pass 3♥ (1) pass

♥ 76 4♥ (3) all pass

♦ A105

♣ 942

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand E in this week’s quiz? This East correctly devalued for the flat 3433 shape and the ‘bad’ ♠AKQ (a 4^th ♠ would be nice). And he decided to simply complete the transfer.

(2) West does not know about the ♥ support opposite and quite reasonably passed.

Table B: (1) This is the answer to question E. It’s true that the hand should be downgraded as mentioned above, but the nice trumps with the ♥10 are some compensation and I would evaluate the hand at 16+ points which is non-min and so good enough to super-accept.

(3) And now it’s easy for West, knowing that there are 4 ♥’s and a non-minimum hand opposite.

And what happened? Four pairs reached 4♥ and three made it. Four pairs stopped in 2♥ and one pair somehow lost the 5-4 ♥ fit (with a singleton) and played in 3NT. Assuming that declarer plays for the ♥’s to split 2-2 then the 4♥ contract is cold unless South leads a ? which will probably only happen if North doubles the 2 ? transfer bid.

The bottom lines: -

- I recommend super-accepting with 4 trumps and a non-minimum.

- There are more sophisticated variations on super-accepting and it’s all written up in the No Trump bidding book.

The support double and redouble Board 22 from Wednesday 24^th

Dealer: ♠ 853 Table A

East ♥ AK93 West North East(C) South

E-W vul ♦ AJ72 - - 1♣ pass

♣ 42 1♠ dbl (1) 2♣ (2) pass (3)

pass (4) pass

♠ KJ1095 N ♠ AQ8

♥ 854 W E ♥ 1064 Table B

♦ 8654 S ♦ Q10 West North East(C) South

♣ J ♣ AQ986 - - 1♣ pass

♠ 65 1♠ dbl (1) redbl (2) pass

♥ QJ7 2♠ (5) all pass

♦ K93

♣ K10753

Table A: (1) Showing the red suits.

(2) What did you bid with this East hand C in this week’s quiz? This pair play a short ♣ (could be two) and so East decided to show his 5-card suit. The alternative is to bid 2♠ (which generally shows 4-card support) or the bid chosen at table B.

(3) South does not double (penalties) of course as he can be fairly sure that E-W have a ♠ fit.

(4) Perhaps West should bid 2♠, but that is normally a 6-card suit and partner may well be short. It would be easy if E-W played Support (Re)Doubles.

Table B: (2) This is the best bid if you have it in your bidding armory – a Support Redouble showing exactly 3-card support for partner’s major.

(5) And now it’s easy for West, knowing that there are 3 ♠’s opposite.

And what happened? 2♣ was bid at two tables and went -3 for 300 away and a joint top. 2♠ by West should be fairly comfortable and it made +1 twice for the joint E-W top.

The bottom lines: -

- The Support Double and Support Redouble are very good bidding tools, they show 3-card support for partner’s major when you open, partner responds in a major and RHO either bids or doubles. Note also that this convention leaves open the possibility of penalizing the opponents should responder have a good hand and if there is no fit.

- The Support Double is written up on the website:

Conventions > Section 2 > Support Double.

Suit Play problem

♦ 9632 ♦ KJ1074 I was asked about this one. This is your trump suit, with ample

entries to either hand. How do you play the suit?

The play of the suit - answer Board 27 from Wednesday 24^th

Dealer: ♠ A109 West North East South

East ♥ 943 - - pass 1♣

E-W vul ♦ A85 pass 1NT 2♦ pass

♣ 9765 pass 3♣ pass pass

3♦ all pass

♠ QJ6 N ♠ K82

♥ KQ76 W E ♥ 102

♦ 9632 S ♦ KJ1074

♣ 32 ♣ QJ8

♠ 7543

♥ AJ85

♦ Q

♣ AK104

There’s nothing much to the bidding, except to note North’s nudge that pushed them up to the three level.

So onto the play. South leads the ♣AK and a 3^rd ♣. East wins and eventually gets to dummy with a ♥. How should he play the ♦ suit? He played the ♦9 and ran it and went -2 when it lost to the singleton ♦Q. I was later asked if this play was correct, or if East should go up with the ♦K?

If you disregard the bidding then the ♦ distribution could be anything, so if ♦’s are divided Ax – Qx one way or the other then it’s even money. But consider AQx opposite x. If South has AQx there’s nothing to be done but if North has AQx then you have to run the 9. Now consider the bidding, North bid 1NT denying a 4-card major and so it’s very likely that he does indeed have 3 ♦’s (and South one). So running the ♦9 is even more certain to be the best play. Unlucky!

I put the suit into the play program on the website (which does not know about bidding) and it too ran the ♦9.

The bottom lines: -

- When missing two honours, consider the possibility of one player holding both and it’s usually best to take the deeper finesse.

- If you want to know how to play a particular suit combination then simply put it into the suit play program on the website.

A new suit opposite partner’s weak two opening Board 2 from Wednesday 24^th

I (and most people) play this as forcing, and this deal demonstrates why.

Dealer: ♠ K5 Table A

East ♥ K73 West(F) North East South

E-W vul ♦ K3 - - 2♥ (1) pass

♣ J108752 3NT (2) all pass

♠ AQJ96 N ♠ 1082 Table B

♥ A W E ♥ QJ10542 West(F) North East South

♦ Q10985 S ♦ 6 - - 2♥ (1) pass

♣ A4 ♣ Q93 2♠ (2) pass 3♠ (3) pass

♠ 743 4♠ (4) all pass

♥ 986

♦ AJ742

♣ K6

Table A: (1) Perhaps a shade light, but at this vulnerability and with great intermediates in the suit, I think the bid is fine.

(2) What did you bid with this West hand F in this week’s quiz? Partner has a 6-card suit and one way to be pretty certain that you score none of them is to bid 3NT with a singleton. I think 3NT is a terrible bid here, give East the ♥K instead of a small ♥ and it’s still going down.

Table B: (2) This is the best bid and my answer to question E, provided that you play it as forcing – as is generally recommended. If partner has 3-card ♠ support then ♠’s is probably where you want to play.

(3) Showing ♠ support. You would have to agree if 3♦ could show shortage and ♠ support.

And what happened? 3NT was pretty hopeless and went -1. 4♠ was bid 6 times and made on two occasions.

The bottom lines: -

- Do not bid 3NT with a singleton in partner’s weak two suit. If you have bundles of points then either look for another spot (if you have a decent suit) or else bid 4 of partner’s suit.

- In view of the above, it’s best to play a new suit over partner’s weak two as forcing.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 2NT (Ogust) or 4♥. If you do not play Ogust then bid 4♥ which should make opposite a disciplined vulnerable opener. But if you play Ogust then you can check that partner is not minimum with a 2NT bid. 3♥ is wrong here as that is a pre-emptive raise.

Hand B: 2NT. That’s what I bid at the table and I stand by it. I know it’s not perfect but I prefer it to the other options of 1♠, 2♠ and 3NT. I don’t like 1♠ as it’s not forcing; I don’t like 2♠ as it is game forcing and this hand is not good enough with a ropey ♠ suit and a mis-fit with partner; I don’t like 3NT as a possible 4-4 ♠ fit will be missed. So in my opinion 2NT is the lesser of the evils, with 1♠ my 2^nd choice. Note that the jump 2NT rebid does not deny a 4-card major.

Hand C: Redouble. This is a Support Redouble, showing 3-card ♠ support.

Hand D: 3♣, New Minor Forcing, looking for a possible 5-3 ♥ fit or 4-4 ♠ fit. If you do not play NMF then I would bid 3♠.

Hand E: 3♥, with a non-minimum and 4 card support, a super-accept is in order.

Hand F: 2♠, forcing. I cannot see that 2NT Ogust will be of any use – you want to know if partner has ♠ support. 3NT, with a singleton ♥, is terrible (you may well never get to dummy).

Bidding Sequence Answers

G 1♦ pass 1♥ pass 1♠ is not forcing.

1♠

H 1♦ pass 1♥ pass 2♠ is game forcing.

2♠

J 1♦ pass 1♥ pass The 2NT rebid may well have a 4-card ♠ suit. If responder has

2NT 4 ♠’s he should bid 3♣ (NMF) or else 3♠ if not playing NMF.