Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 329

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 1^st March 2009

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 23^rd N-S 1^st Lewis B & Richard M 59% 2^nd Janne & Per-Ake 57%

E-W 1^st Bob Short & Per And.. 67% 2^nd Paul Q & Terry Q 63%

Wed 25^th N-S 1^st Bengt & Dave C 59% 2^nd Alain & Jean-Charles 57%

E-W 1^st Dave H & Per And.. 57% 2^nd Bob P & Nick 57%

Fri 27^th N-S 1^st Bengt & Eddie 60% 2^nd Jean & Per-Ake 58%

E-W 1^st Janne & Lars B 63% 2^nd Svein & Tobjorn S 56%

Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A you open 1♣ and partner responds with 2♠ (a

Weak jump shift). What do you bid?

♠ AK ♠ A96

♥ K732 ♥ AQJ84 (a) What do you open with Hand B?

♦ Q53 ♦ A74 (b) Suppose you open 1♥ and partner bids 1♠, what now?

♣ AK107 ♣ 64

Hand C Hand D With Hand C RHO opens 1NT, do you double or pass?

♠ AQ104 ♠ KJ84

♥ KQ ♥ - With Hand D partner opens 1♥ and you bid 1♠. Partner then

♦ K932 ♦ K10963 bids 2♠, what do you bid?

♣ J103 ♣ QJ107

Hand E Hand F With Hand E partner opens 1♥ and you bid 1NT. Partner then

bids 3♣, what do you do?

♠ J42 ♠ 63

♥ 105 ♥ J10 (a) What do you open with Hand F?

♦ AJ1074 ♦ AKQJ (b) Suppose you open 1♣, partner bids 1♠, you reverse with

♣ J107 ♣ AKQJ8 2♦ and partner bids 2♠, what now?

Hand G Hand H With Hands G and H it is favourable vulnerability.

Partner opens 1NT in 4^th seat and RHO overcalls 2♥.

♠ 98 ♠ KJ962 What do you bid with either hand?

♥ KJ962 ♥ 98

♦ Q106 ♦ J106532

♣ Q32 ♣ -

Hand J Hand K With Hand J you open 1♥ and partner bids 1NT, what do

you do?

♠ Q ♠ 1076542

♥ AKQJ7 ♥ J8

♦ 963 ♦ 97 With Hand K partner opens 1♣, what do you do?

♣ AQ64 ♣ Q82

Bidding Sequence Quiz

L 1♥ pass 1♠ pass What is the 3NT bid and why would responder make it

2♠ pass 3NT rather than 4♠?

M 1♥ pass 1NT pass Is 3♣ invitational, forcing or game forcing?

3♣

N 1NT 2♥ dbl What is the dbl, penalties or ‘stolen bid’ transfer to ♠’s?

P 1♣ pass 1♠ pass

2♦ pass 2♠ pass (a) Is 3♣ forcing here?

3♣/♥ (b) What is 3♥?

Worth a double of 1NT? Board 5 from Friday 27^th

Dealer: ♠ J52 Table A

North ♥ J76 West(C) North East South

N-S vul ♦ QJ7 - pass pass 1NT

♣ 9852 dbl (1) pass pass (2) pass

♠ AQ104 N ♠ 9876 Table B

♥ KQ W E ♥ 5432 West(C) North East South

♦ K932 S ♦ 54 - pass pass 1NT

♣ J103 ♣ K64 pass (1) pass pass

♠ K3

♥ A1098

♦ A1086

♣ AQ7

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this West hand C in this week’s quiz? It’s 15 points with two tens, so surely warrants a double, doesn’t it??

(2) Maybe East should run to 2♥ (as one player did and scored a top when it went just one down).

Table B: (1) This West chose to pass. I agree and it’s my answer to question C. Despite having the values I would not double because the ♥KQ doubleton are bad and there is no good lead (very important).

And what happened? 1NT was doubled and left in twice: +1 (380) and +3 (780). 1NT undoubled was the most popular spot, making or making +2. The top score for E-W was actually 2♥ minus one.

The bottom lines

- Don’t make a borderline double of 1NT without an obviously good lead.

Raise a 4-card response with 3 cards? Board 32 from Monday 23^rd

Dealer: ♠ 10 Table A

West ♥ K97653 West(B) North East South

E-W vul ♦ QJ 1NT (1) 2♥ (2) 3♥ (3) pass

♣ AK85 3NT (4) all pass

♠ A96 N ♠ KJ84 Table B

♥ AQJ84 W E ♥ - West(B) North East(D) South

♦ A74 S ♦ K10963 1♥ (1) pass (5) 1♠ pass

♣ 64 ♣ QJ107 2♠ (6) pass 3NT (7) pass

♠ 8652 pass (8) pass

♥ 732

♦ Q5

♣ Q865

Table A: (1) What did you open with this West hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? I am not adverse to opening 1NT with a 5-card major and am also not adverse to having a weak doubleton. However, I don’t like both in one hand. With a good ♥ suit I much prefer 1♥ to 1NT and this is consistent with the writings in the NoTrump Book.

(2) ♥’s and a minor.

(3) Stayman, promising game forcing values, 4 ♠’s and denying a ♥ stop when playing Lebensohl.

(4) Showing a ♥ stop and denying 4 ♠’s.

Table B: (1) This West chose to open 1♥, I agree and it’s my answer to question B(a).

(5) It’s usually best to pass when RHO bids your suit.

(6) What did you bid with this West hand B(b) in this week’s quiz? There is usually a problem when you have a balanced hand and elect not to open 1NT. However, the solution here is quite simple; with a weak doubleton a possible 4-3 fit will play well and this ♠ suit is good enough to support. I totally agree with this bid.

(7) What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? It’s marginal, the void in partner’s suit is not good but there is a ♠ fit. The minor suits are great and I think it’s worth game. So 4♠ then? That’s what many will bid but, although this pair have only played together half a dozen times, they seem to have the same ideas in bidding. East was fully aware that West may have only three ♠’s and so he bid 3NT and that is my answer to the quiz question. 2NT is the alternative which leads to the same contract.

(8) Obviously West passes, assuming partner has good cards in the minors.

And what happened? Four out of eight pairs played in the top spot of 3NT; making exactly once, +1 twice and +2 once. The bottom lines

- In my opinion its fine to open 1NT with a 5-card major and it’s also fine to open 1NT with a weak doubleton, but open the major when you have both and it’s a decent suit. There is a whole paragraph on this in the book “The definitive guide to No Trump bidding, Stayman and Transfers” which is always at hand to borrow if you want some light reading (ho, ho).

- Sequences like 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♠ generally have 4-card support but it is not guaranteed, so only jump to 4♠ as responder if you have 5 ♠’s.

- If partner’s 1NT opening gets overcalled, play Lebensohl, there’s a lot more on this topic later in this news-sheet.

Raise partner’s weak jump shift? Board 8 from Monday 23^rd

Dealer: ♠ AK Table A

West ♥ K732 West North(A) East South(K)

Love all ♦ Q53 pass 1♣ pass 2♠ (1)

♣ AK107 pass 4♠ (2) all pass

♠ 8 N ♠ QJ93 Table B

♥ Q865 W E ♥ A104 West North(A) East South(K)

♦ A1042 S ♦ KJ86 pass 1♣ pass 2♠ (1)

♣ J643 ♣ 95 pass pass (2) pass

♠ 1076542

♥ J8

♦ 97

♣ Q82

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this South hand K in this week’s quiz? A weak jump shift, showing a 6-card suit with about 2-5 points is ideal. If you do not play weak jump shifts then it’s difficult. If you bid 1♠ then you may easily end up way too high (indeed, one pair did end up in 4♠-2 when South bid 1♠).

(2) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? In my opinion this hand, with just two ♠’s, is not even worth making an effort for game. If the hand had a couple more ♠’s and/or better shape then I play that 2NT is Ogust, to find out exactly how bad partner’s rubbish is.

Table B: (2) This would also be my choice, opposite 5 or less points game must be impossible.

And what happened? Two pairs stopped sensibly in 2♠. Three pairs overbid to 4♠. There were a couple or 1♣ openers that got passed out, but the resultant 70 or 90 is not as good as playing in 2♠ for 110. Remarkably, a total pass-out is also recorded on the traveler; presumably North had a couple of aces hidden behind other cards?

At our table I was East and North raised to 4♠. When it went two down North proudly proclaimed “but I had 19 points”. I said nothing of course, other than to thank them for the game.

The bottom lines

- Weak jump shifts are a very useful convention, they warn partner not to continue and have a pre-emptive effect.

- It is rare that opener has enough to try for game opposite a weak jump shift, but with 19 or so points, good trump support (AK doubleton is not good enough) and some shape then use Ogust (the responses are obviously different than when used over a weak two), this is written up on the website:

Conventions > Section 1 > weak jump shifts (near the bottom of the page).

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

West East You are West declarer in 3NT. North leads the ♥Q and you

♠ AK5 ♠ 643 duck two rounds. Upon winning the 3^rd round it’s time to

♥ A72 ♥ 5 tackle the ♣’s; which ♣ do you lead?

♦ AJ9 ♦ 543

♣ KJ95 ♣ A86432

Dave’s Column answer Board 20 from Wednesday 25^th

Dealer: ♠ J974 West North East South

West ♥ QJ1043 2NT pass 3NT all pass

Both vul ♦ Q876

♣ -

♠ AK5 N ♠ 643

♥ A72 W E ♥ 5

♦ AJ9 S ♦ 543

♣ KJ95 ♣ A86432

♠ Q108

♥ K986

♦ K102

♣ Q107

Answer: You have to bring in the ♣’s for 6 tricks as you can’t afford to give up the lead. If ♣’s are 2-1 there is no problem as long as you don’t block the suit. If ♣’s are 3-0 you can pick up the suit only if South has the length. In all cases it is correct to start with the ♣9 to the ♣A. If both follow, lead a ♣ to the king followed by the ♣J and then the ♣5 to dummy. If North shows out on the first round of ♣’s, win the ♣A, lead a ♣ taking the marked finesse, cash the ♣K dropping the ♣Q and finally lead the carefully preserved ♣5 to dummy’s ♣8.

So the answer to the question is the ♣9.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 3NT+2 twice, 3NT= and 3NT-1 four times.

The bottom lines: -

- Do not block your suits!

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

♠ 63 You hold this South hand F. What do you open and how do you

♥ J10 expect the auction to continue?

♦ AKQJ

♣ AKQJ8 Possibilities for the opening bid are: -

1♣ may be the winner because it allows for useful descriptive continuations.

2♣ runs some risk that you may not get to describe your hand

2NT is right on values but runs the risk that the defenders will lead a major through dummy which may do you in.

So what’s the opening bid to be? - 1♣, 2♣ or 2NT?

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 19 from Wednesday 18^th

Dealer: ♠ KJ754 West North East South(F)

South ♥ K7 - - - 1♣ (1)

E-W vul ♦ 7652 pass 1♠ pass 2♦ (2)

♣ 104 pass 2♠ (3) pass 3♣ (4)

pass 3NT (5)

♠ AQ9 N ♠ 1082

♥ Q9653 W E ♥ A842 (1) What did you open with this South hand F(a)

♦ 104 S ♦ 983 in this week’s quiz? Dave’s book recommends

♣ 952 ♣ 763 1♣ to be followed by a reverse and I agree.

♠ 63 (2) A reverse, forcing

♥ J10 (3) It is correct to show a 5-card suit here.

♦ AKQJ

♣ AKQJ8

(4) But this is where the book and I (Terry) disagree (I know – who am I to argue with Mike Lawrence?). What did you bid with this South hand F(b) in this week’s quiz? Mike Lawrence says to bid 3♣ and then partner will bid 3NT. I say maybe, but are you sure that partner will bid 3NT and are you sure that partner will take 3♣ as forcing? I much prefer 3♥, 4^th suit, game forcing and asking partner to bid 3NT with a ♥ stop. To my simple mind this is far clearer than a nebulous 3♣. You have already shown a good hand with 5 ♣’s and 4 ♦’s and I cannot see that 3♣ is right here even if you have agreed that it is forcing – I would expect a 6-card ♣ suit and a desire not(!) to play in 3NT (as 4^th suit was not invoked).

(5) Mike Lawrence thinks that this is clear – it’s no so clear to me and one player passed. A reverse is a one round force and I do not see that this 3♣ bid is forcing if 2♠ is just a minimal response. Even if playing Lebensohl over a reverse there needs to be agreement if 2♠ shows extras (so that 3♣ is then forcing). It all gets a bit complicated when playing Lebensohl over a reverse (2♥ at (3) would be Lebensohl, not 4^th suit forcing) so that 2♠ is indeed game forcing, but how many partnerships have discussed that?

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 6♣=, 4♣-1, 3NT+1 twice, 3NT-1 (declared by South) and a couple of partscore, one being 3♣ when North presumably did indeed pass at (5).

I guess that world champions have agreements as to what is forcing, but we are not all world champions and I like to make life easy for my partner. 3♥ at (4) is very clear, 3♣ is not.

The final word - KISS.

Don’t pass partner’s forcing bid Board 8 from Friday 27^th

Dealer: ♠ Q Table A

West ♥ AKQJ7 West North(J) East South(E)

Love all ♦ 963 pass 1♥ pass 1NT

♣ AQ64 pass 3♣ (1) pass pass (2)

pass

♠ K9865 N ♠ A1073

♥ 862 W E ♥ 943 Table B

♦ K85 S ♦ Q2 West North(J) East South(E)

♣ 53 ♣ K982 pass 1♥ pass 1NT

♠ J42 pass 3♣ (1) pass 3♦ (2)

♥ 105 pass 3♥ (3) pass 4♥ (4)

♦ AJ1074 all pass

♣ J107

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand J in this week’s quiz? This 3♣ bid is best, this hand is worth a game force after a 1NT response, especially as you know that partner does not have 4 useless ♠’s.

(2) What did you bid with this South hand E in this week’s quiz? This is totally wrong as partner’s 3♣ bid is forcing to game.

Table B: (2) This is the correct answer to question E. Partner’s bid is forcing, so describe your hand.

(3) There’s no need to jump as the auction is game forcing.

(4) This is probably best, partner is almost certainly not interested in NoTrumps as he did not bid 3♠ - 4^th suit forcing – at (3). A bid of 3♠ here (4^th suit) is reasonable but as I said, partner is probably not interested in 3NT and ♥10x is good support in context.

And what happened? Just two pairs got to the top spot of 4♥ making. 3NT was bid twice and went down -1 and -2 and even 2NT went -2. There were the usual collection of spurious contracts.

The bottom lines

- It is interesting to compare this deal with the previous one. Here South ‘knew’ that partner was not interested in 3NT because he failed to bid 4^th suit forcing – and I believe that the same applies to the previous deal.

Gold Cup = Best 30	Silver Plate = Best 10	Bronze Medal = Best 5
Current standings 27-Feb-2009	619.5 Janne Roos 607.6 Hans Vikman 600.9 Sally Watson 593.6 Paul Quodomine 584.0 Bob Short 580.0 Johan Bratsberg	323.0 Janne Roos 321.3 Hans Vikman 316.7 Sally Watson 312.0 Bob Short 308.0 Paul Quodomine 305.0 Derek & Gerard 304.0 Lars Broman 303.9 Per-Ake Roskvist 300.5 Jeremy Watson 299.9 Johan Bratsberg

When your 1NT gets overcalled Board 22 from Friday 27^th

Dealer: ♠ 10753 Table A

East ♥ AQ4 West North East South(H)

E-W vul ♦ A8 - - pass pass

♣ AQ98 pass 1NT 2♥ (1) dbl (2)

pass pass (3) pass

♠ AQ8 N ♠ 4

♥ 1052 W E ♥ KJ763 Table B

♦ K94 S ♦ Q7 West North East South(H)

♣ J1074 ♣ K6532 - - pass pass

♠ KJ962 pass 1NT 2♥ (1) 2♠ (2)

♥ 98 pass 3♠ (4) pass 4♠ (5)

♦ J106532 all pass

♣ -

Table A: (1) ♥’s and a minor. As in Multi Landy or Cappelletti.

(2) What did you bid with this South hand H in this week’s quiz? This South apparently meant it as a transfer to ♠’s. Now I believe that there are a few players in the club who play ‘stolen bid’ at this level and so I will attempt to put a stop to the rot now. Dbl as a transfer to ♠’s here is a terrible treatment (what do you do with hand G?).

(3) This North assumed that his partner’s double was penalties; after all; what else can it possibly be?

Table B: (2) This South just bid sensibly, showing a hand with 5+ ♠’s and wanting to compete.

(4) With 4 ♠’s and good top cards, North can invite although I would not argue if you chose to pass.

(5) With superb shape, South accepts the game invitation.

And what happened? Three pairs got to the top spot of 4♠ making. 2♥* by East made exactly for the E-W top.

The bottom lines

- The ‘stolen bid’ philosophy should only be applied to ♣’s (and then not always – it depends what 2♣ means). To play it for higher bids is simply nonsense as you miss the penalty double (quite useful when partner is known to have a strong balanced hand!) and Lebensohl more than copes with all possibilities. The ONLY sensible treatment for intermediate+ players is to generally play Lebensohl, which is explained on the website.

- I lay out a fairly comprehensive scheme for when your 1NT opening gets interfered with on a new page on the website: Conventions > Section 3 > When your 1NT opening gets doubled or overcalled.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: Pass. This hand is nowhere near worth bidding game. If it had a couple more ♠’s you could make a try using Ogust and the modified replies for weak jump shifts.

Hand B: (a) 1♥. I prefer this to 1NT when the ♥ suit is good and the doubleton very weak. I prefer the doubleton to be at least Qx before I open 1NT with a 5-card major.

(b) 2♠. I am quite happy supporting with good 3-card support when I have a weak doubleton – it may be a Moysian fit but even then it should play well as you can take the ♣ ruffs in the short trump hand.

Hand C: Pass. It’s a borderline double but the fact that you have no good lead swings it for me.

Hand D: 3NT. Partner’s 2♠ bid does not absolutely guarantee 4 card support, so 4♠ is not the best bid - bid 3NT which partner will correct to 4♠ most of the time – when he does have 4 ♠’s. 2NT is an alternative.

Hand E: 3♦. You cannot pass – partner’s bid is game forcing.

Hand F: (a) 1♣. This is the answer given by Mike Lawrence and I agree.

(b) 3♣? This is the answer given by Mike Lawrence and I disagree. I think that 3♥, 4^th suit forcing and asking partner to bid 3NT with a ♥ stop is far better, especially for non experienced / non established partnerships where it is not clear what 3♣ means nor if it is forcing.

Hand G: dbl, penalties. Pretty obvious whether 2♥ is natural or ♥’s and a minor.

Hand H: 2♠, showing a weakish hand with 5 ♠’s. Do not double, obviously dbl is not a ‘stolen bid’ transfer to ♠’s as then you would not be answering this question but still scratching your head over the (trivial) question above.

Hand J: 3♣. This hand is worth the game-forcing jump after a 1NT response.

Hand K: 2♠, weak and pre-emptive, about 2-5 points and a 6 (maybe 7) card suit. If you play strong jump shifts (or have no agreement) then I guess that you have to pass as a 1♠ response will surely get you into trouble. Most experienced players play weak jump shifts, but they are not standard and need to be alerted.

Bidding Sequence Answers

L 1♥ pass 1♠ pass 3NT is bid when responder has 4 trumps and decent

2♠ pass 3NT cards in the unbid suits – just in case opener has only 3 ♠’s.

M 1♥ pass 1NT pass 3♣ is game forcing.

3♣

N 1NT 2♥ dbl Penalties. Full stop. “stolen bid transfer’ is totally illogical.

P 1♣ pass 1♠ pass

2♦ pass 2♠ pass (a) 3♣ is only forcing if you have agreed it (e.g. play Lebensohl)

3♣/♥ (b) 3♥ is 4^th suit forcing, primarily looking for 3NT.