Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                       Club News Sheet – No. 475
Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                    
My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                            25th Dec 2011
My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com
My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 19th N-S      1st   Sean & Jeremy               66%            2nd  Jubol & Ari                    55%
                 E-W     1st   Jan & Alan                     62%            2nd  Bob S & Jens                 57%
Wed 21st   N-S     1st   Gus & Enzo                   61%            2nd  Paul Q & Terry               60%
                 E-W     1st   Bengt & Bam                 63%            2nd  Gerard & Derek             56%
Fri 23rd     N-S      1st  Bob & Judy Gardham    61%            2nd Sean & Jeremy               57%
                 E-W     1st   Gus & Enzo                   60%            2nd  Terje L & Petter             56%

 

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

 

Hand A           With Hand A it is unfavorable vulnerability, what do you open in first seat?
♠ 9                                                                  
♥ -                                                                  
♦ KQ643                                                        
♣ KQJ8632

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz        

B      2♥     2NT                                 What is the 2NT overcall, Unusual for the minors or natural?

 

Dave’s Column

Dealer:             ♠ AK32                                         Bidding            
North               ♥ 8                                                 West          North         East           South
Both vul            ♦ AQ53                                         pass           1♦              1♥              2♣
                        ♣ Q864                                         4♥              5♣             pass           pass    
                                                                              5♥              dbl             all pass
♠ 1086                   N                                      
♥ K9432            W    E                                        
♦ KJ1098               S                            You are North defending 5♥ doubled. Partner leads the        
♣ -                                                       ♦2 (shame he didn’t lead a ♠), plan the defence.                                                                   


Dave’s Column Answer                 Board 4 from Wednesday 21st Dec. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ AK32                                         Bidding            
North               ♥ 8                                                 West          North         East           South
Both vul             ♦ AQ53                                         pass           1♦              1♥              2♣
                        ♣ Q864                                         4♥              5♣             pass           pass    
                                                                              5♥              dbl             all pass
♠ 1086                   N             ♠ 9754              
♥ K9432            W    E          ♥ AJ1075              
♦ KJ1098               S              ♦ -                     
♣ -                                         ♣ KJ97             
                        ♠ QJ                                             
                        ♥ Q6                                 
                        ♦ 7642                              
                        ♣ A10532                         Plan the defence for North when partner leads the ♦2.   

 

Even looking at all four hands it’s tough to see how to defeat this contract on a ♦ lead. An important clue is in the biding.
How many ♦’s can partner hold? He probably has only one or two ♥’s, did not make a negative double or bid to show ♠’s, and is known to have ♣’s. So partner rates to also have ♦ length.
Declarer is surely void in ♦’s, and dummy’s imposing ♦ spots mean that declarer can easily establish three tricks in the suit by ruffing out your ♦ honours. Declarer can certainly draw trumps in two rounds, so he will get five trump tricks in hand, three ♦ tricks and three ♣ ruffs in dummy. That adds up to minus 850 for you.
Your best chance, therefore, is to put up a smoke screen and lead the ♦A at trick one! Yes, it will make the ♦K an instant winner and declarer will get one pitch but will surely go wrong in the play, attempting a crossruff which fails on the lie of the cards.

 

Dave’s 2nd Column

North               South                                  West          North         East           South
♠ 9                   ♠ KQ642                            -                 1♣             1♥              1♠
♥ -                   ♥ K1085                             2♥              3♣             pass           3NT
♦ KQ643         ♦ AJ9                                  pass            4♣             pass           5♣
♣ KQJ8632     ♣ 10                                    all pass
                                                                                          
                       
You are North, declarer in 5♣. East leads the ♦7 which you win with the ♦A and West plays the ♦10. Plan the play.                       

                                                                       
                                                       
                                                                        
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer           Board 5 from Wednesday 21st Dec. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ 9                                                 Bidding    
North               ♥ -                                                 West          North(A)   East           South
N-S vul            ♦ KQ643                                       -                 1♣   (1)      1♥              1♠
                        ♣ KQJ8632                                   2♥              3♣   (2)      pass           3NT
                                                                              pass           4♣             pass           5♣
♠ A83                    N             ♠ J1075                   all pass
♥ J932               W    E          ♥ AQ764          
♦ 10852                 S              ♦ 7                     Note: This is bidding that I invented as the
♣ 95                                      ♣ A74               article started with a Precision 2♣ and ended
                        ♠ KQ642                                 up in 5♣.        
                        ♥ K1085                           
                        ♦ AJ9                                 East leads the ♦7 which you win with the ♦A and
                        ♣ 10                                   West plays the ♦10. Plan the play. 

  1. What did you open with this North hand a in this week’s quiz? The hand is a three loser ten playing trick hand but I would not open 2♣, as I like to have more points for that opening. There are other options such as 5♣ which may work well if the opponents have a major. More about this on the back page.
  2. Not only would I open this hand, but I would reverse into 3♦ here! Actually, that may well lead to an eventual 5♦ contract which is likely to make.

                       
Anyway, onto the play in 5♣. Everyone at the table knows that East has led a singleton ♦. East no doubt has the ♣A – if West has it you are doomed. East plans to put partner in when he wins with the ♣A and the play of the ♦10 at trick one indicates that he has the ♠A. Can you do anything about it?
The winning play must be made at trick two: play the ♥K and discard your ♠9. East wins and now has another top ♥, but you have severed communications. East will probably play a ♠, but you can ruff and knock out the ♣A, losing only the ♥ and the ♣A.
This play, designed to cut off communication between two opponents, is known as a scissors coup.

 

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

1899.8 Hans Vikman
1838.5 Bob Short
1817.0 Janne Roos
1812.9 Sigurd Zahl
1805.7 Paul Quodomine
1781.2 Alan Kleist
1779.6 Jeremy Watson
1775.5 Jan v Koss
1772.0 Gerard Hardy
1771.3 Lars Broman

660.1 Hans Vikman
648.3 Bob Short
640.2 Paul Quodomine
639.8 Per Andersson
636.6 Jeremy Watson
632.3 Alan Kleist
631.9 = Lars Broman
631.9 = Sean Burgess
631.6 Sigurd Zahl
631.1 Janne Roos

335.5 Bob Short
335.1 Hans Vikman
332.2 Per Andersson
328.9 = Gerard Hardy
328.9 = Derek Tyms
328.6 Jeremy Watson
327.8 Alan Kleist
327.5 Paul Quodomine
327.4 = Lars Broman
327.4 = Sean Burgess


The New Year’s Teams

The yearly teams event will hopefully be held on Sun 8 Jan, depending on the co-operation of the bowling green management. Please put your name(s) down (as an individual, pair or team) on the sign-up page on the notice board on the right as you leave the bridge room. The entry fee is 100 bht per person regardless of membership. 50 bht is automatically taken by the Bowling Green and the rest will be distributed between the two winning teams. There will be some sort of free buffet or lunch snack which has yet to be determined. BUT, the venue is not yet decided as we had problems with the Bowling Green owners last year and I do not know at the time of writing if this can be resolved this year.
Remember, these results will count towards (next year’s) Championship results and the top teams usually get very good %’s at teams events.

 
Bidding Quiz Answers  

Hand A:   1♣, 5♣, pass or what?

Opinions from some of the club’s top players vary greatly on this hand:
Paul Q:      Pass. The hand has no aces, does not have 2½ quick tricks, has no major and has no
                  good rebid. I may forgive one fault or perhaps two, but not four.
Hans V:     5♣
Terry Q:     1♣. What a huge ‘eleven’ count. The hand is 23 for the rule of 20 and what’s more
                  it is only three losers. Many will open 2♣ with ten playing tricks, but I like more
                  points for that opening. So I would open 1♣ with an intention of reversing into ♦’s
                  next go.

So first, my comments on Paul’s insight: No aces, not 2½ quick tricks – both totally
irrelevant in my view with a hand that has one 1st round control and three solid 2nd round
controls. No major? What has this to do with the price of bananas? No rebid? I consider the
hand easily good enough for a reverse into ♦’s or a jump rebid in ♣’s. Points Smoints, it’s
tricks that are important, not points.
And Hans’ 5♣? Culbertson’s rules for pre-empts assume that partner has one trick and that
(at this vulnerability) you will go two down. But with a trick in partner’s hand you make! This
hand is FAR too good for any kind of pre-empt, even at the five level (in fact if you take
Culbertson’s rule seriously then the correct pre-empt is 7♣!!). Partner needs just two aces for a
cold slam. It’s true that this 5♣ bid may work and keep the opponents out of a major
game/slam, but I think it’s more likely that you have the game/slam. Opposite a passed partner
5♣ has its merits, but not in first seat.

Obviously I have a totally different assessment of the hand from Paul Q and Hans V. So who’s right?
Up to you, but I note that this is a Dave column hand and the expert player did open (with a precision
2♣, showing ♣’s and 11-15 points) with no comment from the authors.

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers      

B     2♥      2NT             2NT here is natural, good 15-18 with ♥ stop(s). It seems to be a bid that
                                       many miss at the club, usually preferring a totally unsuitable double.