Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 400

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My mobile phone number is 083 6066880 11^th July 2010

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

My MSN messenger ID is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 5^th 1^st Bob P & Robbie 61% 2^nd Dave C & Terry Q 58%

Wed 7^th 1^st Hans V & Janne = Dave C & Paul Q 59%

Fri 9^th 1^st Gus & Mark 59% 2^nd Janne & Per-Ake 57%

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Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A partner opens 1♦, (a) what do you bid?

(b) Suppose you bid 1♠ and partner rebids 3♣, what now?

♠ AKQ10973 ♠ KQJ9743

♥ J84 ♥ 2

♦ 2 ♦ 98 With Hand B partner opens 1♦, what do you bid?

♣ 98 ♣ J84

Hand C Hand D What do you open with Hand C?

♠ AQ109 ♠ Q4

♥ - ♥ J3 With Hand D LHO opens 1NT and RHO transfers with 2♦,

♦ KQJ10 ♦ A9862 do you double or pass?

♣ K9654 ♣ 8762

Bidding Sequence Quiz

E 1NT pass 2♦ dbl 2♦ is a transfer and the dbl shows ♦’s,

pass what does opener’s pass signify?

F 1NT pass 2♦ dbl 2♦ is a transfer and the dbl shows ♦’s,

redbl what does opener’s redouble signify?

G 1♦ pass 1♠ pass What is the jump to 4♠, strong with good ♠’s or

3♣ pass 4♠ weakish with good ♠’s and fast arrival?

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	1871.9 Janne Roos 1848.0 Paul Quodomine 1846.2 Hans Vikman	669.2 Janne Roos 654.6 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	344.6 Janne Roos 337.6 Hans Vikman 329.6 Tomas Wikman 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

When a transfer bid is doubled Board 3 from Friday 9^th July

Dealer: ♠ KJ72 West North East(D) South

South ♥ A10852 - - - 1NT (1)

E-W vul ♦ 7 pass 2♦ (2) dbl (3) pass (4)

♣ A43 pass redbl (5) pass pass (6)

pass

♠ 965 N ♠ Q4

♥ K764 W E ♥ J3

♦ KJ104 S ♦ A9862

♣ 105 ♣ 8762

♠ A1083

♥ Q9

♦ Q53

♣ KQJ9

(1) South decided to upgrade his hand to 15 because of the good intermediates.

(2) I prefer 2♣ Stayman with a game forcing 5-4 or 4-5 in the majors.

(3) What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? These ♦’s (and the hand) are not good enough for a double in my style and I would pass.

(4) Denying 2 or 3 ♥’s.

(5) North did not understand the pass from partner and so redoubled believing that partner had good ♦’s.

(6) South assumed that North hand good ♦’s.

And what happened? The bidding was not perfect, the defence was not perfect, but the declarer play was and 2♦** making scored 560 for a top. Other results were 4♠+1 three times and 3NT=

The bottom lines:

- Playing in a 2-1 fit redoubled is not usually recommended.

- It’s up to you what you play, but I believe that the following treatment after a transfer bid is doubled is fairly standard:

. Complete xfer = 3 cards, or 4 cards but not good enough to super-accept.

. pass = 2 cards but not a good holding in the cipher suit.

. redouble = a good holding in the cipher suit.

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

West East Book Bidding

♠ Q6 ♠ AJ2 West North East South

♥ A92 ♥ KQ - pass 1♦ pass

♦ KJ96 ♦ A107543 2NT pass 3♦ pass

♣ Q963 ♣ K4 3NT pass 6♦ all pass

You are East, declarer in 6♦. South leads the ♥4. Plan the play (trumps are 2-1).

Dave’s Column Answer Board 9 from Wednesday 8^th July

Dealer: ♠ 9854 Book Bidding

North ♥ 1086 West North East South

E-W vul ♦ Q2 - pass 1♦ pass

♣ AJ105 2NT (1) pass 3♦ pass

3NT pass 6♦ (2) all pass

♠ Q6 N ♠ AJ2

♥ A92 W E ♥ KQ (1) 10-12 balanced, no 4-card major

♦ KJ96 S ♦ A107543 (2) 4♦ as RKCB is an alternative here.

♣ Q963 ♣ K4

♠ K1073

♥ J7543 South leads the ♥4, plan the play; trumps are 2-1

♦ 8 with North starting with ♦Qx.

♣ 872

Some might win the ♥ lead, draw trumps and try the ♠ finesse. When that fails the slam is one down. As long as you can deduce which opponent has the ♣A you can make sure of the slam if you have no trump loser.

After drawing trumps, if you place the ♣A with South, lead a low ♣ from hand. If South takes the ♣A you have two winners in dummy, the ♥A and the ♣Q. If South plays low the ♣Q wins and the ♣K can later be thrown on the ♥A.

Martin Bloom of Sydney reasoned that if North had the ♠K then the slam was safe. If South had the ♠K then the ♣A was slightly more likely to be with North. In addition, against a slam South might have led the ♣A.

He therefore placed North with the ♣A. He won trick one with the ♥K and played the ♦A and a ♦ to dummy’s ♦K. Then came the ♣3. If North rose with the ♣A declarer then has twelve tricks. In practice North played low and the ♣K won. Then came the ♥Q, a ♦ to dummy and the ♥A pitching the ♣4. The ♠ finesse then lost but the slam was made.

This is a classic Morton’s Fork.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 3NT+3, 3NT+2 three times and 3NT=.

The bottom lines:

- I note that the author recommends 4♦ as RKCB here. There are often problems with using 4NT as Blackwood with a minor suit as trumps and Paul Q and myself have agreed that four-of-the-minor is RKCB.

Dave’s 2^nd Column Board 7 from Wednesday 8^th July

Dave’s second article this week is a simple bidding problem – what was your answer to question A(a) in this week’s quiz?

Dealer: ♠ AKQ10973 Table A

South ♥ J84 West North(A) East South

Both vul ♦ 2 - - - 1♦

♣ 98 pass 1♠ (1) pass 3♣ (2)

pass 4NT (3) pass 5♣ (4)

♠ 862 N ♠ 5 pass 5♠ (5) pass pass (6)

♥ A1076 W E ♥ KQ953 pass

♦ 86543 S ♦ 109

♣ 7 ♣ Q10653 Book Bidding

♠ J4 West North(A) East South

♥ 2 - - - 1♦

♦ AKQJ7 pass 1♠ (1) pass 3♣ (2)

♣ AKJ42 pass 4♠ (3) pass 4NT (7)

pass 5♠ (8) pass 6♠ (9)

all pass

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand A(a) in this week’s quiz? It is absolutely right to bid 1♠. Some players bid 4♠, saying that they want to keep the opponents out of the bidding. Not wise. North has a very nice hand, not a pre-emptive hand, and bidding 4♠ initially would not describe the hand well. A 4♠ bid would show something like Hand B – seven spades to the ♠KQJ and maybe a singleton.

(2) Forcing to game.

(3) What did you bid with this North hand A(b) in this week’s quiz? Mike Lawrence’s answer is below but I’ll just say my bit about this 4NT RKCB bid – it is appalling! Not only is it poor bidding to bid Blackwood with a weak suit in which partner has shown no values (♥’s here) as there may be two losers off the top, but here 4NT is asking for keycards with ♣’s which is pretty pointless.

(4) 0 or 3 keycards for ♣’s.

(5) Apparently North was worried that partner may have zero keycards, this is ‘impossible’ of course.

(6) Normally when you have 3 keycards, partner asks, and then signs off at the five level, you should correct to six. But here South has my sympathy as he obviously has three keycards and partner was presumably hoping for four?

Book: (3) So what did you bid with this North hand A(b) in this week’s quiz? Mike Lawrence says: ‘North should bid 4♠. It is completely unnecessary to jump because 3♠ would be forcing. A jump now should say something special about the ♠ suit and promise a prime card outside.’ I (Terry) would bid 3♠ as 4♠ may be construed as fast arrival rather than a solid suit and good hand.

(7) Now we have the right hand bidding RKCB and with ♠’s set as trumps.

(8) Two keycards plus the ♠Q.

(9) Bid with almost certainty that there is just one possible loser.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 6NT=, 6♠= twice, 4♠+2 twice.

1NT opening with a void (or small singleton) is not allowed.

♠ AQ109 One player (not a beginner) opened this East hand 25 from

♥ - Friday with 1NT. This is not only a very silly bid, but it is

♦ KQJ10 against the rules to open 1NT with a void (or small singleton).

♣ K9654 It is also pointless as you will automatically get a zero score.

Paul’s Column Mandatory falsecards

On Monday 5^th, board 5, my partner and I reached 6♠:

North South North South

Dealer: ♠ 98643 ♠ AKJ - 2NT

South ♥ A3 ♥ QJ 3♥ * 4♠ **

N/S vul ♦ A865 ♦ Q103 5♦ *** 6♠ ****

♣ 54 ♣ AKJ106 all pass

* Transfer to spades.

** Super-accept

*** Delicate slam probe cue bid

**** This South is not known for delicacy.

North realized that opposite a super-accept (a marginal call at best with 3♠) Aces might be golden. Not all slams require 33 hcp to bring in 12 tricks. The opening lead of the ♦9 was ducked to the ♦K in East and a ♦ came back won in dummy to preserve entries to South. A ♠ was played to the Ace with East playing low and West playing the ♠10. South now banged down the ♠K, dropping the ♠Q10 in West and later established the clubs for 4 tricks giving 5♠, 4♣, 2♦ and 1♥ for 12. When I asked at least 5 decent players at the club why South had rejected the idea of taking the spade finesse after re-entering dummy in © none could provide a quick answer. It’s simple really … if the ♠10 was a “true” card only the ♠Q10 would allow the contract to make since East would have begun with Qxxx if the ♠10 was singleton.

This led us later to discuss the importance of West making the mandatory false-card of ♠10 from ♠10x. If N/S have a 9+ spade fit it doesn’t matter a bit, but if the layout is as above and both follow low on the first ♠ South will have little choice but to go with the odds and finesse East for ♠Qxx.

This leads to another interesting situation on defense. After an auction where South opens a 15-17 1NT, North raises to 2NT after Stayman, and South bids the game you are East on defense. Partner leads a low ♥ and you see in North:

♠KQx

♥xxxx

♦J9x

♣Kxx You (East)

♠Xxxxx

♥Kxx

♦Q10

♣xxx

You win partner’s ♥ lead with the K and return a ♥ to his A, Q, and 10 declarer playing ♥Jx and discarding a ♠ and a ♣. If you have been doing a little counting and reasoning South will need 5 cards in a minor to bring his total to 9 and partner exits safely with a ♠. South wins with the ♠A and bangs down the ♦A, low from partner, low from dummy and … did you drop the Q in tempo?? South will now reason that West must have begun with ♦10xxx and lead low to the 9 following the logical conclusion. If you didn’t, South’s only option will be to bang down the ♦K hoping to drop your ♦Q doubleton and 9 tricks roll in. As you win your ♦10 you may mutter “Ooops!” as partner blesses your black little heart and North glares at partner.

The South hand: ♠Axx

♥Jx I’ll have a few more of these for

♦AK87x future columns.

♣AJx Paul Quodomine.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: (a) 1♠. This hand is too good for a pre-emptive 4♠

(b) 4♠, at least that’s what Mike Lawrence says, showing a good ♠ suit and something good outside. I would bid 3♠ if the 4♠ bid had not been discussed as many play that a jump to game in a game forcing sequence is fast arrival.

Hand B: 4♠. You do not want the opposition coming in. The hand is clearly far too good for 2♠ if you play that as a weak jump shift.

Hand C: 1♣ (or 1♦ or 1♠ depending upon your system/style). The point is that 1NT is not allowed with a void (or small singleton) and this opening is 100% sure to score a zero.

Hand D: Pass. I prefer better ♦’s and a better hand for a lead directing double.

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answer

E 1NT pass 2♦ dbl

pass I play that pass denies 3 (or 4) ♥’s.

F 1NT pass 2♦ dbl

redbl I play that redbl shows good ♦’s.

G 1♦ pass 1♠ pass I guess that this is up to you. At least one expert plays that

3♣ pass 4♠ it is a good hand with good ♠’s. Others play fast arrival.