Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                           Club News Sheet – No. 394

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                          30th May 2010

My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com

My MSN messenger ID is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 24th          1st    Paul Q & Janne              64%       2nd    Hans & Sean                          56%

Wed 26th          1st    Hans V & Janne             63%       2nd    PaulQ & Terry Q                   62%

Fri  28th            1st    Bob & Werner               63%       2nd    Guttorm & Johan                    62%

        

       
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Bidding Quiz                    Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

 

Hand A           Hand B           Hand A was a question posted on our blog site. RHO opens 1, what do you bid?

Jxxxx            1063                                    

KQx             1073             With Hand B RHO opens 1 at love all. (a)  What do you bid?

AJ                 AKQ           (b)  Suppose you pass, LHO bids 1, RHO bids 1, LHO bids 2

AQx             A987                  and this is passed round to you, what do you do?               

                                                                   

                                                               

Bidding Sequence Quiz

 

C     1     pass   1      pass              Assuming that you play 2 as forcing (NMF or similar)

        1NT   pass   3                          then what is 3 and is it forcing?

 

     
Ron Klinger web site
     
 

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

1840.5 Paul Quodomine

1836.3 Janne Roos

1802.6 Hans Vikman

649.7 Janne Roos

641.4 Hans Vikman

639.9 Paul Quodomine

626.8 Tomas Wikman

619.8 Lars Broman

615.9 Jean Wissing

615.9 Sally Watson

609.5 Duplessy & Coutlet

597.8 Bengt Malgren

591.0 Johan Bratsburg

 

330.4 Janne Roos

329.6 Tomas Wikman

327.9 Hans Vikman

324.8 Sally Watson

323.4 Paul Quodomine

322.9 Lars Broman

320.3 Jean Wissing

319.5 Duplessy & Coutlet

309.3 Jeremy Watson

308.2 Bob Short


Paul’s Column

 

The bridge adage that “The five level belongs to the opponents.” is a time-tested one that in at least 80% of the cases applies.  To bid on at the five level you must either be convinced the opponents will MAKE their contract, and the penalty to your side will not exceed the value of their game, or that you are only one trick short of slam.

Some examples from Friday May 21, ALL perpetrated by my partner and myself, serve as examples.

Number One, board Six

 

A106

J7

AK753

1084

 

J95432                                              Q7

9854                                                  KQ

J                                                       Q104

Q6                                                    AKJ972

 

K8

A10632

9862

53

 

East / West were playing Acol and East opened one club.  West made a very dubious one spade response and North came in with 2 diamonds.  To enter a live auction like this one North should have some decent values.  East bid 3NT showing, systemically, 17-18 hcp balanced and certainly a diamond stopper.  South passed and West pulled to 4 spades, passed around to South who now “saved” in 5 diamonds, hammered by East, when 4 spades would have failed by 2 tricks on normal play.  A very poor result.

 


K7                                             Number Two, board 17

10763

106

KJ952

AJ862                                                Q1093

VOID                                                J2

A76432                                            KJ8

84                                                     Q1076

J

AKQ9864

Q9

A3

 

After two passes South opened 1 heart and West bid 2 hearts Michaels (Spades and a minor).  North raised to 3 hearts, normally enough, and East “walked the dog” bidding only 3 spades convinced the opponents would bid 4 hearts and with his excellent spade fit AND support for either minor West held he might buy the contract in 4 spades.  South did indeed bid 4 hearts, pass, pass, and now East bid 4 spades as planned.  South, a notorious over-bidder, went on to 5 hearts with his 5 loser hand … destined to failure of course … but West was there with 5 spades which was doubled and another poor result.

 

Number Three, board 18

 

“Note that this is the very next board against the same exuberant opponent sitting South, again with a 5 loser hand.”

 

A85

953

862

AQJ9

 

Q32                                                   K109764

AK842                                              10

97                                                     43

1042                                                 K853

 

J

QJ76

AKQJ105

76

 

I have been accused of only reporting my partnership’s GOOD results so I will note here that I was East and committed a DOUBLE “faux pas”.  I opened with 2 spades, certainly acceptable (W vs R) and South doubled.  West raised mildly to 3 spades passed by North and East and South bid 4 diamonds.  North chose to believe him and naturally bid 5 diamonds … and I, moron that I was at that moment, ALSO chose to believe him and bid 5 spades violating both the principles of “You do NOT preempt and bid again.” and also “The 5 level belongs to the opponents.”  5 diamonds would have gone down quickly on the natural A K and a ruff! Eventually followed by a club winner as well!  5 spades doubled was awful!!


On another note, Terry and I have a disagreement about this one, a defensive problem.

 

A82

Q94

AK65

K82

 

KJ4                                                       10976

J632                                                      A10875

Q932                                                    J

73                                                         A106

 

Q93

K

10874

QJ954

 

North opened 1 NT (15-17) and East ventured a very dubious 2 (natural) overcall.  Even with the favorable colors, N/S red, E/W white, you couldn’t pay me enough to bid this on a moth-eaten 5 card suit.  South now bid an enterprising 3NT!  West, apparently believing both his partner and South, “saved” in 4.  Whacked of course.  South led the Q and got an encouraging card from North.  Upon winning the A East led the J, apparently worried about a possible spade ruff should that suit lie unfavorably.  North won his K and returned the 4.  East naturally enough ducked and South’s K won.  South then led a club to North’s K and North made the only return to give East a problem … the 9!  North had already worked out the heart position since South would NEVER bid 3NT with a void!  Now place yourself in the East seat seeing 16 hcp between you and West, and having heard South bid a confident 3NT.

 

Terry Comment. I don’t remember the hand, who was N,S E or W,  and don’t know what point Paul is trying to make or what the disagreement was. But if I was East I would play a low - restricted choice. If there is no inference from the bidding then this is not an even bet (8 ever 9 never) but restricted choice. The mathematical odds are 2-1 that North has the Q when South played the K on the first round. The only questions are whether you think that South would bid 3NT with a singleton K and whether North would lead a away from Q9.

 

<end of Paul’s column>

 

No Psyches please                                               Board 30 from Friday 30th May

 

J107                   Continueing the topic ‘you couldn’t pay me enough to bid this on a       

84                       moth-eaten suit’ one player actually opened this hand with 3 in first seat

85                      at love all. Not only is this ridiculous, but is illegal in this club! In does not

KJ9532              conform with the Australian Rule of 15 for pre-empts’. I would have

given him an adjusted score but he deservedly got -1100 on the board when his partner thought that he had his bid and bid 3NT (doubled minus 5) so I did not need to adjust anything.


Balance with a 4-card suit?                                 Board 24 from Monday 24th May

 

A player in the balancing seat is obliged to bid his partner’s hand – here is an extreme example:

 

Dealer:             A742                                          Table A

West                AK2                                           West          North         East(B)     South

Love all            J1096                                         pass           1             pass (1)    1

                        52                                              pass   (2)    1              pass         2

pass           pass           pass (3)                 

J9                       N               1063                  

Q4                  W    E            1073                  

532                    S                AKQ                  Table B

QJ10643                              A987                  West          North         East(B)     South

pass           1              pass (1)    1

KQ85                                         pass   (2)    1              pass         2

J9865                                         pass           pass           3   (3)    3

874                                            all pass

K                                        

 

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this East hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? The hand is not strong enough for 1NT and double is ridiculous with this flat hand with just 3 cards in both majors. That just leaves pass.  

(2)   2 is a bid dangerous between two bidding opponents and this hand is not strong enough nor good enough for a weak jump to 3.

(3)   What did you bid with this East hand B(b) in this week’s quiz? I guess that this pass is reasonable but I don’t want to sell out to 2.

Table B:     (1)  This is my answer to question B(b). The opponents have bid three suits and it’s very likely that partner has ’s.

 

And what happened? 2 made +1. Two pairs were pushed to 3and one guessed the ’s wrong and went one down. At the fourth table E-W saved in 4 going just two down undoubled.

The bottom lines:

-         Understand balancing.

 

 

 

 

Dave’s Column                     Here is Dave’s first input on declarer play of the hand.                                                                                                 

North               South                                       Book Bidding

K86              A92                                      West          North       East          South

KQ975         AJ1086                                -                 -               -               1

97                 A5                                        pass           3            pass         4

Q64             A107                                    all pass

                       

You are South, declarer in 4. West leads a , how do you eventually play the suit?

                                                 

Dave’s Column answer                      Board 23 from Wednesday 26th May  

     

Dealer:             K86                                            Book Bidding

South               KQ975                                       West          North         East            South

Both vul            97                                              -                 -                 -                 1

                        Q64                                           pass           3              pass           4 

all pass

QJ103                N             754                      

3                     W    E          42                  

K10842             S              QJ63                    The secret here is to play the ’s for no

J83                                     K952                   more than one loser.  Can you do it no

                        A92                                           matter how the ’s are distributed?

AJ1086                                     

A5                             

A107                 

 

A more accurate statement would be: the trick here is not to play ’s at all unless the opponents force the issue.

Win the lead and draw trumps. Play two more rounds of ’s . Whoever wins the third round (West here) has to lead a . Take the A and return the suit. It doesn’t matter who wins the 2nd trick, he will be forced to play a or give a ruff and discard. If he plays a play 2nd hand low from hand or dummy and you are assured of two tricks (because you have the 10).

 

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 4= twice, 4-1 and 6-3.

 

 

Dave’s 2nd Column         Here is Dave’s second problem on the play of the hand.

                                                                                                                                   

West                East                                          Book Bidding

852               AK7                                     West        North       East        South

K10              J82                                       2NT         pass         3NT       all pass

AKQJ           873                                      

AK53           7642                                                                   

 

You are West, declarer in 3NT and North leads the Q. On this hand you would have expected a lead since the defenders have eight of those. A lead would have given you nine tricks.

But the lead was a . South follows with the 8, where is a ninth trick coming from now assuming that North has led from QJ109?

Is there a sure play for nine tricks?

 


Dave’s 2nd Column answer                    Board 24 from Wednesday 26th May

     

Dealer:             J104                                           Book Bidding

West                AQ4                                           West          North         East            South

Love all            1054                                          2NT           pass           3NT           all pass

                        QJ109                                       

 

852                     N             AK7               North leads the Q, plan the play.

K10                W    E          J82                

AKQJ                 S              873                      

AK53                                 7642             

                        Q963                                          

97653                        

962                            

8                       

 

Is there a sure play for nine tricks?

There is. All West has to do is find the right play at trick two after winning the first tick. Do you see it?

      Lead a . The K or the 10 will both work. The idea is that you will set up a winner and also have an entry to dummy to enjoy it. You lose just two ’s and two ’s.

Trap: A big trap (which declarer fell for against me and my partner) is for declarer to go to dummy with a in order to lead a . If North has, for instance, the A and Q, he will win and may return a . That would remove your last entry to dummy before you have a winner.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 3NT= twice, 3NT= twice.

 


Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:    1NT. This is far better than 1 (with this poor suit) or double (which will almost certainly lead to the wrong contract. To double and then correct an expected red suit contract to ’s shows a much better hand and better suit. With these excellent stops, 1NT is very clear.

Hand B:    3. You do not want to sell out to 2, and if they have a fit then so do you. Since they have bid three suits a double is pretty pointless and so I bid 3.

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answer

 

C     1      pass   1      pass              Assuming that you play 2 as forcing (NMF or similar)

        1NT   pass   3                          then 3 here is weakish, to play, usually 6 ’s with 4 ’s.

   

       
       

 Ron Klinger web site