Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                       Club News Sheet – No. 467
Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                    
My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                            30th Oct 2011
My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com
My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 24th N-S       1st   Gus & Magnus              58%            2nd        Linda & Nina             53%
                E-W      1st   Alan K & Michael C     66%            2nd        Lars B & Hans V        59%
Wed 26th N-S       1st    Bob S & Robbie          56%            2nd        Bengt & Bam B          55%
                E-W      1st   Bidin + Guttorm L         62%            2nd       Tony C & Magnus        56%
Fri 28th                 1st  Paul Q & Hans V           69%            2nd       Bjorn R & Guttorm L    65%

Bidding Quiz          Standard American (short ♣) bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A           Hand B           Do you open with Hand A, 1st seat both vul?

♠ J72               ♠ AKQ94        (a)  What do you open with Hand B?
♥ 542               ♥ AKJ76         (b)  Partner opens 2♦, what do you bid?
♦ AKQ43        ♦ 76
♣ 74                ♣ Q                                              

Bidding Sequence Quiz            
                 
C      1♠     2♦      3♦                    What is 3♦?      

D      1♠     2♦      3♠                    How strong is 3♠?

E      1♣    dbl     1♠      dbl         What is the second double?
                                                             

 

A couple of important maxims:

You need opening values to make a direct take-out double,
but do not double (without the correct shape) just because you have opening values.

You need strength to reverse,
but do not reverse (without the correct shape) just because you have strength.

 

 

Dave’s Column

North               South                                  West           North        East            South
♠ AK3             ♠ Q104                                -                  -                -                   1NT
♥ K7                ♥ AQ                                  pass             3NT          all pass
♦ 986               ♦ QJ10543                              
♣ K5432         ♣ A8                                            
                                                                                     
You are South, declarer in 3NT. West leads the ♥10, plan the play.
                                     


Dave’s Column Answer                   Board 19 from Wednesday 26th Oct. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ AK3                                           Bidding            
South               ♥ K7                                              West          North         East           South
E-W vul           ♦ 986                                             -                 -                 -                 1NT
                        ♣ K5432                                       pass           3NT           all pass      
                                                                             
♠ J75                     N             ♠ 9862                    
♥ 109853           W    E          ♥ J642              
♦ 72                       S              ♦ AK                     
♣ J96                                     ♣ Q107            
                        ♠ Q104                                         
                        ♥ AQ                                      
                        ♦ QJ10543                        
                        ♣ A8                                 Plan the play for declarer on the ♥10 lead.          

5♦ is virtually laydown, but minor suit games are notoriously hard to bid and score badly if 3NT makes an overtrick or two (as it will here if a ♥ is not led).
As it is, you are in 3NT and they have attacked your weakness and you have horrible duplication in ♥’s. At first sight, it might seem right to attack ♦’s because we learn that it is often right to try to establish tricks in our longest suit. Just see what will happen if you do. The defence will win the ♦ and play another ♥. They will then cash their ♥’s when they win the next ♦ trick. The reluctant conclusion is that the ♦’s are a mirage and you have to ignore them.
Instead, you have to hope for a 3-3 ♣ split. So win the ♥ and play three rounds of ♣’s. On a good day like today they will divide evenly and you make game with three ♠’s, two ♥’s and four ♣’s. The ♦’s do not feature.

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

 

Dave’s 2nd Column

West                East                                     West          North         East           South
♠ K63              ♠ A54                                 pass            pass           1NT           pass
♥ 1086             ♥ A643                               2NT           pass           3NT           all pass
♦ AQ94           ♦ 753                                     
♣ 654              ♣ AKQ2

You are East, declarer in 3NT. South leads the ♥K, plan the play.
                                                                       
                                                       
                                                                        
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer           Board 20 from Wednesday 26th Oct. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ QJ107                                        Bidding    
West                ♥ 75                                               West          North         East           South
both vul           ♦ 1082                                           pass           pass           1NT           pass
                        ♣ J1097                                         2NT           pass           3NT           all pass
                                                                             
♠ K63                    N             ♠ A54                     
♥ 1086               W    E          ♥ A43               
♦ AQ94                 S              ♦ 753                     
♣ 654                                    ♣ AKQ2          
                        ♠ 982                                            
                        ♥ KQJ92                                      
                        ♦ KJ6                                
                        ♣ 83                                  Plan the play for declarer on the ♥K lead.           
                       

You duck two rounds of ♥’s but win the third as North shows out, pitching a ♠. If ♣’s divide 3-3 you still need to make two ♦’s, while if the ♣’s are not breaking kindly, you will need to make three ♦’s whilst making sure to keep South off lead.
So, at trick four you play a ♦, finessing dummy’s ♦9. As it happens, North will win cheaply and play a ♠, but you win in hand and then play a ♦ to the ♦Q. When this wins, you are home if either ♣’s or ♦’s break evenly. If the ♦Q lost to the ♦K with North you would still make the contract if both minor suits broke evenly.
If you had mistakenly played a ♦ to the ♦Q earlier, you would have been unable to establish three tricks in the suit without letting South gain the lead (and you would have blown a ♦ trick if South held ♦J10x).

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club?  Various scores with the majority making 3NT, but only one –ve for E-W,  3NT-1.

 

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

1844.7 Hans Vikman
1818.0 Bob Short
1812.8 Janne Roos
1769.4 Paul Quodomine
1774.2 Sigurd Zahl
1764.9 Gerard Hardy
1756.2 Derek Tyms
1752.7 Paul Scully
1725.6 Tomas Wikman
1718.3 Bob Pelletier

649.4 Hans Vikman
648.3 Bob Short
640.2 Paul Quodomine
639.8 Per Andersson
631.1 Janne Roos
627.2= Gerard Hardy
627.2= Derek Tyms
626.5 Paul Scully
626.3 Sigurd Zahl
624.0 Lars Broman

335.5 Bob Short
332.2 Per Andersson
329.9 Hans Vikman
328.9= Gerard Hardy
328.9= Derek Tyms
325.8 Paul Scully
322.6 Dave Hurst
321.7 =Lars Broman
321.7 =Alan Kleist
320.4 Janne Roos


Bid 5-5’s top down                                              Board 13 from Monday 24th  

Dealer:             ♠ J72                                             Table A
North               ♥ 542                                             West          North(A)   East           South(B)
Both vul          ♦ AKQ43                                      -                 pass (1)      pass           1♠     (2)
                        ♣ 74                                              pass           2♠              pass           3♥     (3)
                                                                              pass           4♠   (4)     all pass
♠ 108                     N             ♠ 653                      
♥ Q1093            W    E          ♥ 8                           Table B
♦ J102                    S              ♦ 985                       West          North(A)   East           South(B)
♣ K982                                  ♣ AJ10653             -                 2♦    (1)      pass           2♥     (5)
                        ♠ AKQ94                                      pass           3♥              pass           4♥
                        ♥ AKJ76                                       all pass
                        ♦ 76                                              
                        ♣ Q                                              
                                                                                                        
Table A:    (1)  Did you open with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? The majority simply
                        passed.
                  (2)  What did you open with this South hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? This 1♠ is
                        obviously correct – bid 5-5’s from the top down.
                  (3)  In principle this is a help suit game try, but here South is always going to bid
                        game and this bid may enable a superior ♥ fit to be found.
                  (4)  Clearly enough to accept.
Table B:     (1)  This North chose to open 2♦, and this is answer to question A. You are allowed to
                        be +-1 in length for an opening pre-emptive bid and surely 2♦ is a more descriptive
                        bid and you definitely want a ♦ lead if you end up defending.
                  (5)  What did you bid with this South hand B(b) in this week’s quiz? A new suit is best
                       played as forcing, but as with an opening bid you should bid ♠’s first and then ♥’s.
                       
The bottom lines:

  1. Bid 4-4’s up the line, bid 5-5’s down the line.

And what happened? 4♥ made exactly. Everybody else was in 4♠ making six.

 

Bidding Quiz Answers  

Hand A:   Most people passed, but I like 2♦. You are allowed to be +-1 in length for
                 an opening pre-empt and this is surely the most descriptive bid and you want a ♦ led if you end up defending.
Hand B:    (a)  1♠. Bid 5-5 from the top down.
                  (b)  2♠. This is generally played as forcing, so bid ♠’s now and ♥’s next go.

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers  
                 
C      1♠     2♦      3♦                    3♦ here is best played as showing a sound raise to 3♦ or better…

D      1♠     2♦      3♠                    … because this is best played as pre-emptive,

E      1♣    dbl     1♠      dbl         The 2nd double is also take-out (for the red suits).