Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 398

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My mobile phone number is 083 6066880 27^th June 2010

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

My MSN messenger ID is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 21^st 1^st Arin & Rochelle 59% 2^nd Mike g & Kenneth 56%

Wed 23^rd 1^st Dino & Per-Ake 63% 2^nd Sally & Martine 63%

Fri 25^th 1^st Jan & Michael S 69% 2^nd Sean & Terje Lie 55%

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Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A you open 2♥ and LHO overcalls 2♠. Partner

doubles, what do you bid?

♠ 65 ♠ KJ9752

♥ KQ10875 ♥ 7 With Hand B it’s unfavourable vulnerability. You open 1♠ and

♦ Q108 ♦ AK103 LHO bids 3♥, partner bids 4♥ (good ♠ raise) and RHO bids 5♥.

♣ 54 ♣ 63 You bid 6♠ passed to RHO who bids 7♥! Wow! What do you do?

Hand C Hand D With Hand C partner opens 1♦, what do you bid?

♠ Q82 ♠ AJ103

♥ KQ4 ♥ A With Hand D partner opens a weak 2♥ and RHO overcalls

♦ Q42 ♦ A9432 2♠. What do you do?

♣ KQJ10 ♣ Q109

Hand E Hand F With Hand E partner opens 1NT, how do you plan to bid

the hand?

♠ A ♠ AK10

♥ A53 ♥ AK74

♦ AKQ1043 ♦ A How do you plan to bid Hand F? If you open 2♣ then partner

♣ J94 ♣ AKJ74 bids negative or waiting according to your agreements.

Bidding Sequence Quiz

G 1♠ 3♥ 4♥ 5♥ The final pass is obviously forcing, asking partner to

6♠ pass pass 7♥ either double or bid 7♠, but what does it say about

pass opener’s ♥ holding? And what would a double show?

H 2♥ 2♠ dbl What is the double; penalties, negative or what?

J 2♣ pass 2♦ pass How do you play this 3NT rebid after opening 2♣?

3NT

K 3NT How do you play the 3NT opening?

It’s Penalties! Board 5 from Monday 21^st June

I think there were dubious bids at both of these tables.

Dealer: ♠ 65 Table A

North ♥ KQ10875 West North East South(D)

N-S vul ♦ Q108 - 2♥ 2♠ 2NT (1)

♣ 54 all pass

♠ 8 N ♠ KQ9742 Table B

♥ 32 W E ♥ J964 West North(A) East South(D)

♦ J765 S ♦ K - 2♥ 2♠ dbl (1)

♣ AJ8763 ♣ K2 pass 3♥ (2) pass 4♥ (3)

♠ AJ103 all pass

♥ A

♦ A9432

♣ Q109

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this South hand D in this week’s quiz? This 2NT bid, presumably natural in their style, is a very poor choice. You obviously have excellent ♠ stops but there may well be no entry to partner’s hand.

Table B: (1) This is the answer to question D, it is penalties and with these great ♠’s and a singleton in partner’s suit you obviously want to defend.

(2) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? When you pre-empt then partner is the captain and there is no reason to bid again. There is no excuse whatsoever for North to remove partner’s double, especially when holding two ♠’s.

(3) Pass is wiser, but South was presumably annoyed at seeing the penalty slip away?

And what happened? 2NT-3, 4♥-2, 3♥=, 2♥+1 and 2♠(E)-2.

The bottom lines:

- When partner opens with a pre-empt and RHO overcalls, then a double is penalties.

- Don’t bid again if you open with a pre-empt; partner is the captain.

Bid your hand in one go Board 20 from Monday 21^st June

If there is a bid that describes your hand in one go, then that usually is the best bid.

Dealer: ♠ K9 Table A

West ♥ J10985 West North East(C) South

both vul ♦ 8753 1♦ pass 2♣ (1) pass

♣ 63 3NT (2) pass pass (3) pass

♠ A3 N ♠ Q82 Table B

♥ A72 W E ♥ KQ4 West North East(C) South(D)

♦ AK1096 S ♦ Q42 1♦ pass 3NT (1) pass

♣ A94 ♣ KQJ10 6NT (4) all pass

♠ J107654

♥ 63

♦ J

♣ 8752

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand C in this week’s quiz? This was a popular choice but I don’t like it at all.

(2) I can’t see that West can do much else here unless there are specific partnership agreements.

(3) And what is East to do now? A 4NT try maybe – but what if partner has only 14 points? Would he have rebid 2NT with that? All of this is agreements that are often not discussed and all can be avoided if East bid as Table B.

Table B: (1) This is the answer to question C. Although this 3NT bid takes up a lot of room it is very specific – 13-15 points, balanced with no 4-card major and this shape is absolutely typical for the bid.

(4) West has an easy raise, and even a very pessimistic invitational 4NT would probably reach the small slam.

And what happened? With the ♦J dropping there are obviously 13 tricks off the top but an initial ♠ lead from South was a problem and caused a safety play at two tables. So 6NT=, 3NT+4 three times and 3NT+3.

The bottom lines:

- If there is a bid that accurately describes you hand, then bid it!

A forcing pass Board 15 from Monday 21^st June

All four players here were pretty experienced with good bidding right up to the last hurdle – which the N-S pair had not discussed.

Dealer: ♠ AQ64 West North East South(B)

South ♥ 9 - - - 1♠

N-S vul ♦ QJ7 3♥ 4♥ (1) 5♥ (2) 6♠ (3)

♣ AKQ94 pass pass 7♥ (4) pass (5)

pass 7♠ all pass

♠ 10 N ♠ 83

♥ KQJ8432 W E ♥ A1065

♦ 852 S ♦ 964 (1) Showing a great ♠ raise and slam ambitions

♣ 82 ♣ J1075 (2) Making a Blackwood bid impossible.

♠ KJ9752 (3) Who needs Blackwood?

♥ 7 (4) East is sure that 6♠ makes, and 7♥ should

♦ AK103 cost only 1100 or 1400.

♣ 63

(5) Now it’s crunch time for N-S! What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? South passed (obviously forcing) and North assumed that this showed 1^st round ♥ control and so bid the grand. The ♥K lead spelled defeat.

So how do you play forcing passes? Have you ever discussed it? I guess you can play it how you like, but Paul Q and myself believe that our treatment is ‘standard’. We pass with first round control and double without it. Apparently both Janne and Jeremy play it the other way round.

And what happened? Two others bid 6♠ but nobody else found the 7♥ sacrifice. Two N-S’s stopped in 5♠ for reasons beyond my comprehension.

The bottom lines:

- The forcing pass is a fairly complex bid which established partnerships need to discuss. Indeed, Paul Q informed me that he has had so many problems with various partners with the bid over the years that he does not really like to use it!

- As for the two who stopped in 5♠. I don’t know their bidding, but if you use Blackwood and find that there is one ace (or keycard) missing then you should bid the slam – one should not use Blackwood to gauge strength, the strength should already have been established and Blackwood is used to check for top losers.

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

West East Book Bidding

♠ A8 ♠ K973 West North East South

♥ A97 ♥ KQ10 2NT pass 6NT all pass

♦ AKQ ♦ 1098

♣ KJ1087 ♣ A65

You are West, declarer in 6NT. North leads a ♦, how do you play the ♣ suit?

Dave’s Column Board 20 from Wednesday 23^rd June

Dealer: ♠ 542 Book Bidding

West ♥ 84 West North East South

both vul ♦ 765 2NT pass 6NT all pass

♣ Q9432

♠ A8 N ♠ K973 North leads a ♦, plan the play.

♥ A97 W E ♥ KQ10

♦ AKQ S ♦ 1098

♣ KJ1087 ♣ A65

♠ QJ106

♥ J6532

♦ J432

♣ -

In the article, declarer led a ♣ to dummy’s ♣A at trick two, if the missing ♣’s broke 3-2 or 4-1 then there may be a ♣ loser but that would be all. Even if all 5 ♣’s lay with South there would be 4 ♣ tricks. Unfortunately when South showed out the slam went one down.

The correct play at trick two is to play the ♣J and let it ride if North plays low. If South wins with the ♣Q then declarer has the rest. There are always 4 ♣ tricks, and thus the slam, on any distribution of the ♣ suit if the ♣J is initially led.

Actually, a ♣ to the ♣A would have succeeded (by end-playing North) but the safety play guarantees the slam.

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

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

North South Book Bidding

♠ - ♠ K97532 West North East South

♥ AK ♥ 542 - 2♣ pass 2♠

♦ A754 ♦ K3 pass 3♣ pass 3♠

♣ AKQ9875 ♣ J2 pass 5♣ pass 6♣

all pass

You are North, declarer in 6♣. East leads the ♦6, where do you win the trick and what do you play at trick two? Plan the play.

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 21 from Wednesday 23^rd June

Dealer: ♠ - Book Bidding

North ♥ AK West North East South

N-S vul ♦ A754 - 2♣ pass 2♠

♣ AKQ9875 pass 3♣ pass 3♠

pass 5♣ pass 6♣

♠ AQJ N ♠ 10864 all pass

♥ J98 W E ♥ Q10763

♦ QJ10982 S ♦ 6

♣ 10 ♣ 643

♠ K97532 East leads the ♦6, plan the play.

♥ 542

♦ K3

♣ J2

In the article, declarer won the opening lead with dummy’s ♦K and led a 2^nd ♦ to his ♦A. East ruffed and shifted to a ♣. North won in his hand and ruffed a ♦ with the ♣J but his last ♦ was a loser – so down one.

A trump opening lead would beat 6♣, but after East’s opening lead is not a trump North can safeguard the slam by taking the ♦K and then playing a low ♦ from both hands. He wins West’s trump return and ruffs his last low ♦. Ruff a ♠ to hand and draw trumps to get the rest of the tricks.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 6♣=, 4♦*(W)-5, 3NT-4 and 3NT+2.

Play Problem

West East

♠ 2 ♠ QJ West North East South

♥ K97632 ♥ A105 - pass 1NT pass

♦ A104 ♦ K763 2♦ pass 2♥ pass

♣ 983 ♣ KQJ10 4♥ all pass

You are East, declarer in 4♥. It’s pairs scoring and so an overtrick is important. South leads the ♠A and switches to a ♣ to North’s ♣A. North continues with a ♣ which you win. You lead a ♥ to dummy’s ♥K upon which South plays the ♥J and North the ♥4. You lead a ♥ from dummy and North plays the ♥8, do you finesse or play ‘8 ever nine never’ and go for the drop? Is this a 50% decision? You should assume that South would play randomly if holding the ♥QJ doubleton.

Play problem answer Board 1 from Friday 18^th June

Dealer: ♠ 976 West North East South

North ♥ Q84 - pass 1NT pass (1)

Love all ♦ J852 2♦ pass 2♥ pass

♣ A75 4♥ (2) all pass

♠ 2 N ♠ QJ (1) Obviously South should bid ♠’s, but this

♥ K97632 W E ♥ A105 South was a beginner.

♦ A104 S ♦ K763 (2) The singleton prompted West to bid game.

♣ 983 ♣ KQJ10

♠ AK108543

♥ J South led the ♠A and switched to a ♣. North returned a

♦ Q9 ♣ which declarer won. He led a trump to the ♥K and

♣ 642 noted the ♥J from South. Assuming that South would play the ♥J or ♥Q randomly from this doubleton, Declarer should now finesse North for the ♥Q. This is NOT a 50% guess but a 66% example of restricted choice.

And what happened? East played for the ♥’s to split 2-2 and so made the contract exactly instead of with an overtrick, but this was still a top as at the other tables N-S played in ♠’s; 3♠= and 4♠*-2.

One of my pet hates Board 18 from Friday 25^th June

How do you play sequence J in this week’s quiz?

Dealer: ♠ 974 West North East South(F)

East ♥ QJ93 - - pass 2♣

N-S vul ♦ 109432 pass 2♦ pass 3NT (1)

♣ 9 pass pass (2) pass

♠ 8532 N ♠ QJ6 (1) What did you bid with this South hand F in

♥ 1086 W E ♥ 52 this week’s quiz? This jump to 3NT (or a

♦ Q6 S ♦ KJ875 strong 3NT opening) is one of my pet hates but

♣ Q832 ♣ 1065 was chosen by two players on Friday. When

♠ AK10 partner is very weak he will not want to bid

♥ AK74 Stayman or transfer and get one level higher.

♦ A (2) North risks a 4NT contract if he tries Stayman.

♣ AKJ74

This is a classic example, and here a ♥ contract makes 13 tricks whereas 3NT makes only 10 tricks. What’s the solution? Never use sequence J! You need to be able to show the very strong hand with a 2NT bid so that partner can use Stayman or transfers below the level of 3NT. If you play the Multi 2♦ then use 2♣ - 2♦ - 2NT to show 26+ balanced; if you play Benjamin twos then use 2♦ - 2♥ - 2NT to show 26+; and if you have 2♣ as your only strong bid then play the Kokish Relay where 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 2♠ (forced) - 2NT shows 26+. Of course if South chooses a 3♣ rebid with this hand F then a ♥ contact is easily reached.

And what happened? 3NT=, 3NT+2 and 6♥+1.

Roman Keycard Blackwood void responses Board 18 from Wednesday 16^th June

Dealer: ♠ 2 Table A

East ♥ KJ1075 West North East South

N-S vul ♦ 10965 - - pass 1♠

♣ KJ8 pass 1NT pass 4♠ (1)

all pass

♠ J8653 N ♠ 9

♥ 82 W E ♥ Q4 Table B

♦ A4 S ♦ QJ87 West North East South

♣ Q973 ♣ A106542 - - pass 1♠

♠ AKQ1074 pass 1NT pass 3♥ (1)

♥ A963 pass 4NT (2) pass 5NT (3)

♦ K32 pass 6♣ (4) pass 6♠ (5)

♣ - pass 7♥ all pass

Table A: (1) I guess it’s toss-up between 3♥ and 4♠. 3♠ would not be forcing and so this South chose to bid his great 6-carder rather than the poor ♥ suit.

Table B: (1) This South chose to show the ♥ suit.

(2) RKCB for ♥’s, perhaps this is optimistic with a void in partner’s 1^st bid suit?

(3) Two (or zero or four) keycards and a void

(4) I believe that North did not understand the 5NT bid.

(5) South had no idea what was going on and so bid his great ♠ suit.

And what happened? A real mixed bag: 7♥-1, 6♥*-4, 5♥-1, 4♠-1 and 2♠= for a top! 4♥ is clearly where you want to play, but I guess it’s not easy to stop there?

The bottom lines:

- The void responses to RKCB were, I believe, devised by Eddie Kantar and they are up on our website.

- It’s perhaps debatable whether the South hand is worth a game forcing jump at its 2^nd turn and it may well be possible to stop in 4♥ if playing Benjamin twos. The sequence could be 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♠ - 3♥ - 4♥ - pass, where 2♣ only guarantees 8-9 tricks.

- I happen to be in the middle of reading a great book by Sabine Aukin – “I love this Game” and I note one deal where she used similar RKCB void responses to reach a great slam which was missed at the other table.

AKQxxx is not 9 points Board 28 from Friday 25^th June

Dealer: ♠ K7642 Table A

West ♥ J1098 West North East(E) South

N-S vul ♦ 85 1NT pass 6NT (1) all pass

♣ 32

♠ J95 N ♠ A Recommended Auction

♥ KQ42 W E ♥ A53 West North East(E) South

♦ J9 S ♦ AKQ1043 1NT pass 4♣ (1) pass

♣ AKQ10 ♣ J94 4♥ (2) pass 7NT all pass

♠ Q1083

♥76

♦ 762

♣ 8765

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand E in this week’s quiz? With a combined 33-35 points two Easts simply chose 6NT.

Recom…: (1) This is my answer to question E. I do not consider this hand to be just 18 points, especially when partner has opened 1NT and must have at least two ♦’s. So I would check that there is not an ace missing and then jump to 7NT if that is indeed the case.

And what happened? Two pairs stopped in 6NT+1 and so did the sit-out pair after the sequence 1NT – 5NT (invitational to the grand) – 6NT. One pair bid 7♦= for the top.

The bottom lines:

- AKQxxx is worth much more than 9 points, and if partner has opened 1NT (thus promising at least two) then this is expected to produce six tricks.

- Looking at this East hand it is almost certain to make 13 tricks opposite a strong 1NT. In fact the West hand is nothing special and not maximum but there are 14 top tricks.

- I cannot really understand the 7♦ bid – surely if 7♦ makes then so does 7NT and you want partner to play the hand as he may possibly have a tenace in the suit led (perhaps ♣’s or ♥’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	1871.3 Janne Roos 1846.9 Paul Quodomine 1819.1 Hans Vikman	658.5 Janne Roos 642.1 Hans Vikman 640.1 Paul Quodomine 626.8 Tomas Wikman 622.1 Sally Watson 619.8 Lars Broman 615.9 Jean Wissing 609.5 Duplessy & Coutlet 597.8 Bengt Malgren 597.3 Jan v Koss	335.5 Janne Roos 329.6 Tomas Wikman 327.9 Hans Vikman 325.4 Sally Watson 323.4 Paul Quodomine 322.9 Lars Broman 320.3 Jean Wissing 319.5 Duplessy & Coutlet 316.0 Sigurd Zahl 314.2 Niels Krojhaard

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: Pass. Partner’s double is penalties and there is no reason on earth to remove it. You have said your hand and partner is in charge. This is one of the beauties of pre-empts, your pre-empt may force an over-bid which partner can clobber, to remove his double negates one of the major purposes of a pre-empt.

Hand B: Double. Provided that’s how you play forcing passes. I play that a double here denies 1^st round control of their suit and a pass shows 1^st round control and asks partner to bid on or double as he sees fit.

Hand C: 3NT. 13-15, balanced and no 4-card major. Because this hand is so perfect for the bid a nebulous 2♣ receives a zero from me – you may well have difficulties showing the extra strength later and if you can very accurately define your hand to partner in one go then I can see no reason not to.

Hand D: Double – penalties. Any NT bid is very poor as you may well have no entry to partner’s hand.

Hand E: 4♣, followed by 7NT if there is no ace missing. With the ♦ suit expected to produce 6 tricks it is very likely that there are 13 tricks off the top.

Hand F: There are two reasonable options according to your agreements. One is to open 2♣ (or your strongest bid) and then bid 3♣; any ♥ fit should then come to light. The other reasonable option is to rebid in NoTrumps – but DO NOT rebid 3NT. That is one of my pet hates and means that you may well miss a 4-4 or even 4-5 ♥ fit. So if you prefer to rebid in NoTrumps then play Benjamin twos (2♦ - 2♥ - 2NT), Multi 2♦ (2♣ - 2♦ - 2NT) or the Kokish Relay (2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 2♠ - 2NT). Of course if you play the Kokish relay and also 2♥ negative then you have a small problem if partner responds 2♥ to show a bust hand (I guess you then have to bid 3NT) and that is perhaps an advantage of playing Benjamin or Multi?

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answer

G 1♠ 3♥ 4♥ 5♥ This sequence actually occurred on Monday and there

6♠ pass pass 7♥ was some disagreement about the meaning of pass.

pass Janne and Jeremy both passed when holding a singleton ♥ but Paul Q and myself are both of the opinion that pass shows first round ♥ control and that double would show no first round ♥ control.

H 2♥ 2♠ dbl Penalties. Negative doubles do not apply when partner pre-empts.

J 2♣ pass 2♦ pass I don’t! I think that this is a terrible sequence to show a big

3NT balanced hand as partner may be too weak to risk Stayman or transfers. I guess you can use it with a huge hand with no 3-card major and no interest in playing in a major?

K 3NT Again, I do not like to play this as a very strong balanced hand. I prefer the gambling 3NT with absolutely no outside ace or king.