Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                       Club News Sheet – No. 476
Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                    
My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                            1st Jan 2012
My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com
My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 26th N-S      1st   Sean & Jeremy               70%            2nd  Jean & Tomas                 58%
                 E-W     1st   Jan & Kjell                     64%            2nd  Gerard & Derek             61%
Wed 28th  N-S      1st   Sean & Jeremy               66%            2nd  Bengt & Bam                 54%
                 E-W     1st   Frode & Tomas              64%            2nd  Gus & Enzo                   55%
Fri 30th     N-S      1st  Sean & Jeremy               63%            2nd Paul Q & Hans V           56%
                 E-W     1st   Frode & Bengt                          =       Terry & Ursula                     57%

 

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

 

Hand A           Hand B           What do you open with Hand A, 1st seat, both vul.
♠ 9853             ♠ J64                                      
♥ AKQ1062    ♥ 98                 With Hand B RHO opens:    
♦ -                    ♦ AQ98432     (a)  1♥, what do you bid?      
♣ J92               ♣ 8                  (b)  2♥, what do you bid?
                       

Bidding Sequence Quiz        

C      1♥     1NT   dbl                         What is the dbl, penalties or negative showing ♠’s?

D      1♠     dbl     2♠      pass             What is the 3♠ bid, invitational or just competitive?
         3♠

 

The triple
Congratulations to Jeremy and Sean for achieving the triple last week. Their three big scores had a huge effect on the championship results with Jeremy taking third place in the Gold and Sean taking the Silver (best 10).


Final 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
1820.3 Jeremy Watson
1817.0 Janne Roos
1812.9 Sigurd Zahl
1805.7 Paul Quodomine
1781.2 Alan Kleist
1777.4 Gerard Hardy
1775.5 Jan v Koss
1771.3 Lars Broman

660.1 Hans Vikman
653.1 Jeremy Watson
650.8 Sean Burgess
648.3 Bob Short
640.2 Paul Quodomine
639.8 Per Andersson
633.2 Jan v Koss
632.3 Alan Kleist
631.9 Lars Broman
631.6 Sigurd Zahl

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


The power of the weak jump overcall               Board 4 from Monday 26th 

Years ago everybody played strong or intermediate jump overcalls, but these days most play them as weak.
Here is an example of how effective they can be.

Dealer:             ♠ 9853                                           Table A
West                ♥ AKQ1062                                  West          North(A)   East(B)      South
Both vul          ♦ -                                                  pass           2♥    (1)      pass (2)      4♥     (3)
                        ♣ J92                                             all pass
                                                                             
♠ Q72                    N             ♠ J64                       Table B
♥ 72                   W    E          ♥ 98                         West          North(A)   East(B)      South
♦ K1076                S              ♦ AQ98432             pass           1♥     (1)     3♦    (4)      ?       (5)
♣ 10653                                 ♣ 8                         
                        ♠ AK10                                        
                        ♥ J54                                            
                        ♦ J5                                               
                        ♣ AKQ74                                            
                                                                                                        
Table A:    (1)  What did you open with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? This hand is far
                        too good for a 2♥ opening.
                  (2)  What did you bid with this East hand B(b) in this week’s quiz? There is no such
                         thing as a pre-empt over a pre-empt (3♦ and 4♦ would both show good hands).
                        So this pass is correct.
                  (3)  opposite a weak two this hand obviously has no slam ambitions.
Table B:     (1)  This is the correct opening in answer to question A; it conforms with the rule of
                        20, has the points in the long suit, and had great shape.
                  (4)  What did you bid with this East hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? It may be a little dangerous vulnerable, but a weak jump to 3♦ works wonders here.
                  (5)  Without very sophisticated bidding methods it’s not that easy for N-S to reach a slam now. Any Blackwood bid here is unwise as there may well be two ♦ losers off the top and the 3♦ overcall took up a lot of bidding space, and the problem is that the hand with the ♦ void is a minimal opener.
                                     
The bottom lines:

  1. The rule of 20 (with points in the long suits) is an excellent guide for opening marginal hands in 1st or 2nd seat.

And what happened? 6♥+1, 4♥+3 six times.

 

Dave’s Column

West                East                                         West                North               East           South
♠ A108632      ♠ K54                                      1♠                    pass                 2♦              pass
♥ AK3             ♥ 10654                                  2♠                    pass                 3♠              pass
♦ 3                   ♦ A10965                                4NT                 pass                 5♣             pass    
♣ K84             ♣ A                                        5♦                    pass                 5NT           pass
                                                                        6♠                    all pass      

You are West declarer in 4♠. North leads the ♣J, plan the play assuming the trumps split 3-1 which they do.
Dave’s Column Answer                 Board 20 from Wednesday 28th Dec. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ Q97                                            Bidding            
West                ♥ 972                                             West          North         East           South
Both vul          ♦ KQJ2                                          1♠              pass           2♦    (1)      pass
                        ♣ J107                                           2♠              pass           3♠              pass    
                                                                              4NT           pass           5♣             pass
♠ A108632            N             ♠ K54                      5♦    (2)      pass           5♠    (3)      pass
♥ AK3               W    E          ♥ 10654                  6♠              all pass
♦ 3                         S              ♦ A10965         
♣ K84                                   ♣ A                   (1)  game forcing playing 2/1
                        ♠ J                                           (2)  do you have the trump queen?     
                        ♥ QJ8                                      (3)  no, a return to the trump suit denies the queen
                        ♦ 874                                
                        ♣ Q96532                         Plan the play on the ♣J lead. 

The contract is easy if trumps are 2-2 (draw trumps, ruff a ♣ and concede a ♥ loser). But can you make it if the trumps are 3-1?
Had you received a ♦ or ♥ lead there would be few entry problems. It would take a while but you can establish dummy’s 5th ♦ to discard a ♥ while still playing two rounds of trumps. However, with the ♣ lead removing an entry from dummy prematurely, things are going to be a bit trickier.
The secret lies in a remote loser on loser play. The key is to time the play in the safest possible way.
Win the ♣A and play the ♦A. trump a ♦ and lead a 2nd ♣, ruffing in dummy. Play a 3rd ♦ and if South ruffs high, discard a ♥ loser. If South ruffs low, over-ruff. If South follows with a ♦, as is the case, ruff low. Only now do you play trumps with a low ♠ to the ♠K. A 4th ♦ is played and if South follows you must discard your losing ♥ and hope for a 2-2 trump split. As it is, South shows out and you can ruff safely, establishing dummy’s 5th ♦. You now play the ♣K and trump it in dummy and you can now finally discard your losing ♥ on dummy’s established ♦.

 

 

Dave’s 2nd Column

North               South                                  West          North         East           South
♠ K109            ♠ A6                                   -                 -                 -                 1♣
♥ Q52              ♥ AK                                  pass            1♦              pass           3♣
♦ AKQ93        ♦ 85                                     pass           4NT           pass           5♣
♣ 97                ♣ KJ10652                         pass           6NT           all pass                                                               
                       
You are North, declarer in 6NT and East leads the ♥J.  Plan the play (if you try the ♦’s at some stage West shows out).     

                                                                       
                                                       
                                                                        
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer           Board 23 from Wednesday 21st Dec. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ K109                                          Bidding    
South               ♥ Q52                                            West          North         East           South
both vul           ♦ AKQ93                                      -                 -                 -                 1♣
                        ♣ 97                                              pass           1♦              pass           3♣
                                                                              pass           4NT           pass           5♣
♠ J853                   N             ♠ Q742                    pass           6NT           all pass
♥ 98764             W    E          ♥ J10                
♦ -                          S              ♦ J107642         
♣A843                                  ♣ Q                  
                        ♠ A6                                             
                        ♥ AK3                               Plan the play on the ♥J lead.
                        ♦ 85                                  
                        ♣ KJ10652                       

You have eight top tricks and will need to develop four ♣ winners unless the ♦’s divide 3-3 and the ♣Q is onside. So you should aim to set up a lot of ♣ winners.
Today’s hand illustrates a curious habit that many players have when declaring. They tend to play high-low with only two cards, as if defending.
Win the ♥Q and lead the 7, not the ♣9. This seems like such a tiny matter but it isn’t. Consider the play if declarer plays the ♣9. East will cover perforce and the ♣ suit will provide only two tricks as West will win his ♣8.
With adequate entries in dummy, declarer must lead the ♣7 in order to cope with most 4-1 breaks. That ♣9 is an important card that should not be squandered.   

 

The New Year’s Teams

The yearly teams event will now definitely be held on Sun 8 Jan, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It seems that the Bowling Green management are incapable of  putting on a sensible buffet (last year was a disaster) and so there will be a free brunch at about 13.00 with , as I understand it, free tea and coffee,  and we will see how that works out.

 
Bidding Quiz Answers  

Hand A:   1♥. The hand is too strong for a weak 2♥ even vulnerable and some do not like to
                  open a weak two with an outside major. Personally, the poor ♠ suit would not deter
                  me but the hand conforms with the rule of 20 and has great shape. A clear 1♥
                  opener.
Hand B:    (a)  3♦, a weak jump overcall.
                  (b)  pass, do not pre-empt over a pre-empt. Any ♦ bid here shows a strong hand.

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers      

C      1♥     1NT   dbl                         This is a penalty double and says nothing about the ♠ suit.

D      1♠     dbl     2♠      pass             3♠ here is purely competitive. If opener wants to invite then
         3♠                                             he has to bid 3♥.