Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 347

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 5^th July 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

Mon 29^th N-S 1^st Jeremy & Sally 60% 2^nd Gus & Royd 59%

E-W 1^st Janne & Paul 63% 2^nd Bob S & Ian 57%

Wed 1^st N-S 1^st Janne & Linda 57% 2^nd Bob S & Ian 52%

E-W 1^st Petter & Terje 61% 2^nd Paul Q & Terry Q 55%

Fri 3^rd 1^st Derek & Gerard = 1^st Arne & Svein 60%

	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 With Hand A partner opens 1♦ and you bid 1♥. Partner then

bids 2NT (18-19), what do you do?

♠ 102 ♠ 542

♥ KJ986 ♥ Q With Hand B partner opens 2NT (20-21), what do you bid?

♦ 7 ♦ KQJ432

♣ 97542 ♣ AK10

Bidding Sequence Quiz

C 1♣ pass 1♦ pass You are playing a short club and this is the sequence.

1♥ pass 1♠ pass The 1♠ bid is natural and forcing.

2♥ pass …….. How many ♣’s does opener have?.. and how many ♥’s?

Current club championship standings

	Gold Cup = Best 30	Silver Plate = Best 10	Bronze Medal = Best 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	1833.5 Janne Roos 1799.1 Paul Quodomine 1788.5 Hans Vikman 1768.3 Sally Watson	650.3 Janne Roos 639.3 Hans Vikman 638.4 Paul Quodomine 630.1 Sally Watson 619.9 Jeremy Watson 616.8 Bob Short 615.1 Lars Broman 612.3 Ivy Schlageter 609.2 Jean Wissing 607.6 Per Andersson	334.8 Janne Roos 329.0 Hans Vikman 326.9 Paul Quodomine 324.5 Sally Watson 321.8 Ivy Schlageter 321.7 Bob Short 321.7 Jeremy Watson 321.0 Per Andersson 316.9 Terje Lie 316.1 Lars Broman

Stopping after a 2NT (18-19) rebid – pt 1 Board 1 from Monday 29^th

Here is the first of two similar articles, where responder had no agreement on how to play in three of his major after partner had jump rebid 2NT showing 18-19.

Dealer: ♠ A9876 Table A

North ♥ 42 West(A) North East South

Love all ♦ J862 - pass 1♦ pass

♣ J3 1♥ (1) pass 2NT pass

3♥ (2) pass 3NT all pass

♠ 102 N ♠ KJ4

♥ KJ986 W E ♥ Q5 ‘Expert’ Table

♦ 7 S ♦ AK943 West(A) North East South

♣ 97542 ♣ KQ8 - pass 1♦ pass

1♥ (1) pass 2NT pass

♠ Q53 3♣ (2) pass 3♦ (3) pass

♥ A1073 3♥ (4) pass pass (5) pass

♦ Q105

♣ A106

Table A: (1) Reasonable, pass is the equally unattractive possibility. The hand needs another ♥ for a weak jump shift to 2♥.

(2) What did you bid with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? Most pairs have not discussed this and West rebid his ♥’s in the hope that partner would take it as a weak bid and pass.

‘Expert’ (1) Let’s suppose that our expert also chooses to respond 1♥.

Table: (2) Our experts have an agreement here of course. They play the PARROT convention and 3♣ here is similar to the Wolff sign-off and demands that partner bids 3♦ .

(3) Forced, regardless of whether the opening bid was 1♣ or 1♦ ,

(4) This shows a weak hand and expresses a desire to play in 3♥.

(5) East obeys of course.

And what happened? 3NT-1, 3NT-2, 3NT-3, 2NT-2, 2NT-1, 2♥= and 2♥+1.

The bottom lines: -

- You need to have some sort of agreement after a strength-showing 2NT rebid. There are a few conventions, but easily the best is the PARROT convention which is described on the website.

Stopping after a 2NT (18-19) rebid – pt 2 Board 27 from Monday 29^th

Here is another example of the same problem, both occurred on Monday.

Dealer: ♠ KQ10 Table A

South ♥ KQJ4 West North East South

Love all ♦ A102 - - - pass

♣ K103 pass 1♣ dbl (1) 1♠ (2)

pass 2NT pass pass (3)

♠ 53 N ♠ A97 pass

♥ 876 W E ♥ A92

♦ J7654 S ♦ KQ8 ‘Expert’ Table

♣ A64 ♣ J952 West North East South

- - - pass

♠ J8642 pass 1♣ dbl (1) 1♠ (2)

♥ 1053 pass 2NT pass 3♣ (3)

♦ 93 pass 3♦ (4) pass 3♠ (5)

♣ Q87 pass pass pass

Table A: (1) I would pass, I guess that this East is a member of the ‘double to show points’ brigade. With just three cards in both majors, double is a terrible bid.

(2) South decided to show his 5- card major, a very dubious decision.

(3) N-S had no agreements here on how to stop in 3♠, and so South passed.

‘Expert’ (1) Let’s suppose that we have another ‘double on any hand’ opponent.

Table: (2) And let’s suppose that this expert decides to bid his ♠’s rather than passing.

(3) Here we have the PARROT convention again.

(4) Forced.

(5) And N-S reach the optimum contract.

And what happened? Contracts and results were all over the place but nobody wound up in ♠’s. 3♠ makes and would have been a clear top had they agreed to the PARROT convention.

The bottom lines: -

- Play PARROT after a 2NT rebid.

A trivial 7NT missed at ½ of the tables Board 3 from Friday 3^rd

Dealer: ♠ 542 Table A

South ♥ Q West North(B) East South

E-W vul ♦ KQJ432 - - - 2NT

♣ AK10 pass 6♦ (1) pass 7♦ (2)

all pass

♠ J973 N ♠ 86

♥ 1075 W E ♥ J9864 Table B

♦ 5 S ♦ 10987 West North(B) East South

♣ J6432 ♣ Q9 - - - 2NT

♠ AKQ10 pass 4♣ (1) pass 4NT (3)

♥ AK32 pass 7NT all pass

♦ A6

♣ 875

Table A: (1) What did you bid with North hand B in this week’s quiz? I simply cannot understand this bid – why do you want to play in ♦ ’s (rather than NT) and why do you not want to look for a grand slam?

(2) I would pass. You have said your hand with nothing to spare and partner presumably has a bust hand with loads of ♦ ’s. This South apparently raised to the grand because he had the ♦ A.

Table B: (1) This 4♣ (Gerber) is the obvious answer to question B. The ♦ suit is a great source of tricks and there are only 4-5 points missing. So check on aces and bid 6NT or 7NT accordingly. If one ace is missing, do not bid 6♦ - 6NT will make if 6♦ does as the opponents can have at most one jack more and so partner must have the ♥K.

(3) This shows 3 aces in response to Gerber.

And what happened? 7NT= three times, 7♦ = twice, 6NT+1 once.

The bottom lines: -

- With a combined 35-36 points, look for a grand and only stop in 6NT if there is an ace missing.

- KQJxxx is huge when partner has opened 2NT.

Dave’s Column Here is Dave’s input about defending the hand.

♠ AK7 N West North East South

♥ Q10 W E - - 1NT pass

♦ 743 S 4NT - 6NT all pass

♣ AK1098

♠ 10985

♥ 852 You are South and lead the ♠10. Declarer wins, cashes the

♦ A62 ♣Q and wins the next ♣ in dummy. He leads a ♦ to his ♦ K,

♣ 753 do you win with the ♦ A or not, and why?

Dave’s Column answer Board 22 from Wednesday 1^st

Dealer: ♠ 432 Book Auction

East ♥ K9643 West North East South

Both vul ♦ J109 - - 1NT pass

♣ 64 3♣ (1) pass 3NT (2) pass

6NT (3)

♠ AK7 N ♠ QJ6

♥ Q10 W E ♥ AJ7 1^st Expert Table

♦ 743 S ♦ KQ85 West North East South

♣ AK1098 ♣ QJ2 - - 1NT pass

♠ 10985 4NT (4) pass pass (5)

♥ 852

♦ A62 2^nd Expert table

♣ 753 West North East South

- - 1NT pass

2♠ (6) pass 2NT (7) pass

4NT (8) pass 6NT (9) all pass

(1) You have to agree what 3♣ means here, in SAYC it is invitational (to 3NT) and passable.

(2) I assume that this shows no slam interest,

(3) and so this bid makes no sense at all.

(4) This slam invitational bid is much better – West does not have enough to charge into slam

(5) With his totally flat 16 points East obviously declines.

(6) This pair of experts play 4-way transfers, and this shows a ♣ suit.

(7) A super-accept, here showing Qxx of ♣’s.

(8) Now West knows that there are 5 ♣ tricks and can either invite or bid an optimistic 6NT.

(9) With ♣QJx, East may possibly accept the invitation.

Anyway, it’s not a good contract, and you are South defending it. You lead the ♠10 which declarer wins with his ♠J, cashes the ♣Q and overtakes the ♣J in dummy. He then leads a ♦ to hid ♦ K – do you win with the ♦ A? Why or why not?

In actual play, South took his ♦ A. With no chance of developing a ♦ winner declarer had to take the ♥ finesse and the slam made.

What would happen if South did not take the ♦ A? Assuming he played in tempo, declarer is favorite to go wrong. Instead of risking a 50% ♥ finesse he may well play North for the ♦ A and lead up to his ♦ Q. South would win and return the suit – one down.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 6NT= twice, 3NT+3 five times.

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

North South You are South, declarer in 3NT.

♠ AKJ ♠ Q109 West leads the ♥2 which East wins with the ♥K. The ♣10

♥ J103 ♥ Q8 comes back and your ♣J is taken by the ♣Q. West continues

♦ K872 ♦ AJ1094 with the ♣A and a ♣ to your ♣K upon which East discards

♣ 542 ♣ KJ6 a ♥. Plan the play, particularly in ♦ ’s.

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 23 from Wednesday 1^st

Dealer: ♠ AKJ Book bidding

South ♥ J103 West North East South

Both vul ♦ K872 - - - 1♦

♣ 542 2♣ 3♦ (1) pass 3NT

all pass

♠ 532 N ♠ 8764

♥ A952 W E ♥ K764 (1) Many players these day play this as a weak

♦ 6 S ♦ Q53 pre-emptive raise, with 3♣ showing a sound

♣ AQ987 ♣ 103 raise to 3♦ or better.

♠ Q109

♥ Q8

♦ AJ1094

♣ KJ6

The defence started with the ♥2 and East won with the ♥K and shifted to the ♣10. West took the ♣Q and ♣A and led a third ♣ to declarer’s ♣K, East discarding a ♥. Declarer then tried the ♦ AK (8 ever 9 never) and that was three down. How would you play the hand?

South should gather all the evidence and then count and use logic rather than following a ‘rule’.

West is known to have started with 5 ♣’s, and his lead of the ♥2 suggests 4 ♥’s. South needs to know about the ♦ ’s but should not play that suit before playing three rounds of ♠’s. When West follows to all three, South knows 12 of West’s original 13 cards. South should cash the ♦ K and confidently finesse the ♦ J for 9 sure tricks.

Terry’s comment. A small ♣ lead looks clear to me (4^th highest longest and strongest and preserve the ♥A as an entry), and then declarer is on more of a guess.

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

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 3♣, with the aim of stopping in 3♥. This is provided that you play the Parrot convention which enables you to show a forcing ♥ hand or a weak one.

Hand B: 4♣, Gerber. All you need to know is how many aces partner has and then bid 6NT or 7NT.

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers

C 1♣ pass 1♦ pass 1♣ initially shows possibly just two ♣’s

1♥ pass 1♠ pass 1♥ shows 4 ♥’s and possibly still just two ♣’s

2♥ pass …….. 2♥ shows 5 ♥’s and therefore at least five ♣’s, probably six, depending upon partnership style.