Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 479
Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com
My mobile phone number is 083 6066880 22nd Jan 2012
My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com
My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com
Mon 16th N-S 1st Sean & Jeremy 67% 2nd Dino & Enzo 56%
E-W 1st Bob S & Lars G 62% 2nd Sigurd & Georgsson 60%
Wed 18th N-S 1st Flurio & Pezzini 62% 2nd Sean & Jeremy 60%
E-W 1st Jan & Olaf 74% 2nd Alan K & Dino 53%
Fri 20th N-S 1st Sean & Jeremy 57% 2nd Judy & Bob G 54%
E-W 1st Gus & Enzo 65% 2nd Alan K & Frode 60%
Bidding Quiz Standard American (short ♣) bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.
Hand A Hand B With Hand A LHO opens 3♠, what do you bid?
♠ A92 ♠ K
♥ K5 ♥ A10864 With Hand B everybody is vulnerable. Partner opens 1♠ and
♦ AKJ107 ♦ J854 RHO overcalls 2♥, what do you do?
♣ A87 ♣ J97
Hand C Hand D With Hand C both are vul and you open 1♠, LHO overcalls 2♥
and this is passed round to you, what do you bid?
♠ AJ86543 ♠ AJ86543
♥ Q ♥ - With Hand D both are vul and you open 1♠, LHO overcalls 2♥
♦ A97 ♦ AKQ97 and this is passed round to you, what do you bid?
♣ K6 ♣ 6
Bidding Sequence Quiz
E 3♠ dbl What is dbl? take-out, penalties or ‘optional’?
Playing Negative Doubles. Board 16 from Monday 16th
Don’t miss the penalty double when playing Negative Doubles!
Dealer: ♠ K Table A
East ♥ A10864 West North(B) East South(C)
Both vul ♦ J854 - - pass 1♠
♣ J97 2♥ (1) pass (2) pass 2♠ (3)
pass ? (4)
♠ Q10 N ♠ 972
♥ KJ752 W E ♥ 93 Table B
♦ 65 S ♦ 10632 West North(B) East South(C)
♣ AK64 ♣ AQ85 - - pass 1♠
♠ AJ86543 2♥ (1) pass (2) pass 2♠ (3)
♥ Q all pass
♦ A97
♣ K6
Table A: (1) Not a very good ♥ suit, but with 13 points many (most?) will be tempted to
overcall with this hand.
(2) What did you bid with this North hand B in this week’s quiz? You would like to
double for penalties but cannot when playing Negative Doubles. So pass and trust
that partner will find a re-opening double.
(3) What did you bid with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? Now I am pretty
sure of the popular answer here as I polled a similar hand (with just six ♠’s) a few
years ago and the vast majority chose to re-bid their suit rather than double. So
presumably a huge majority will rebid 2♠ here?
(4) North has no good bid now, shame his partner did not double.
Table B: (3) This South is a very firm believer in the re-opening double and chose that instead
of re-bidding his ♠’s. I cannot see the logic of the ‘majority’ who re-bid their ♠’s
and this dbl is my answer to question 3. My criteria for a re-opening double is that
if you would stand a penalty double from partner if not playing Negative Doubles,
then double. With good top cards, vulnerable opponents, and a probable ♠ lead
from partner, this hand should be delighted to defend.
The bottom lines:
And what happened? Only the one pair went for the penalty, and they got +1100 for a clear
outright top. Apart from a spurious ♦ contract, every else played in various numbers of ♠’s.
Dave’s 2nd Column
North South West North East South
♠ AKQJ9 ♠ 654 - 1♠ pass 2♠
♥ 852 ♥ A73 pass 4♠ all pass
♦ A743 ♦ K62
♣ A ♣ 10983
You are North declarer in 4♠. East leads the ♠3, plan the play.
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer Board 23 from Wednesday 18th Jan
Dealer: ♠ AKQJ9 Bidding
North ♥ 852 West North East South
N-S vul ♦ A743 - 1♠ pass 2♠
♣ A pass 4♠ all pass
♠ 107 N ♠ 832
♥ Q1064 W E ♥ KJ9
♦ J10 S ♦ Q985
♣ Q7652 ♣ KJ4
♠ 654 East leads the ♠3, plan the play.
♥ A73
♦ K62
♣ 10983
North was so afraid of a ♦ over-ruff that he drew all the trumps but went one down when
the ♦’s did not break. Instead of pinning all of his hopes on a 3-3 ♦ break declarer should lead
a low ♦ at trick two. He wins the trump return and cashes the ♦AK. When the third rounds of
♦’s stands up he can safely ruff the fourth ♦ because the hand that started with three ♠’s also
has the four ♦’s. Very lucky.
And what happened? 4♠+1, 4♠= and 4♠-1 four times. I (Terry) had no problem with the
hand, rather than playing in a poor 4♠ which needs both accurate declarer play and a very
lucky lie of the cards, I played in 3NT from the South hand and simply claimed the contract
when a low ♣ was led.
The bottom lines: I am not that keen in playing in the 5-3 fit when the 3-card trump hand
has no honours in the suit and no ruffing possibilities.
Dave’s Column
West East West North East South
♠ Q10532 ♠ AJ7 pass pass 1NT pass
♥ 1093 ♥ AQ85 2♦ pass 2♠ pass
♦ A65 ♦ KQJ 3NT pass 4♠ all pass
♣ K9 ♣ 1062
You are East declarer in 4♠. West leads the ♥Q, plan the play. The ♦10 is led and you win
with the ♦A in dummy and run the ♠10 which wins. You continue with a low trump to the ♠J and cash the ♠A. How do you continue?
Dave’s Column Answer Board 20 from Wednesday 18th Jan
Dealer: ♠ K94 Bidding
West ♥ J742 West North East South
both vul ♦ 87 pass pass 1NT pass
♣ AQ53 2♦ pass 2♠ pass
3NT pass 4♠ all pass
♠ Q10532 N ♠ AJ7
♥ 1093 W E ♥ AQ85
♦ A65 S ♦ KQJ
♣ K9 ♣ 1062
♠ 86
♥ K6
♦ 109432
♣ J874
The ♦10 is led and you win with the ♦A in dummy and run the ♠10 which wins. You
continue with a low trump to the ♠J and cash the ♠A. How do you continue?
The idea here is to force two entries to dummy in order to finesse twice in ♥’s in the event
that you have two ♣ losers. You can arrange a ♣ ruff for one entry but you need an assist from
your opponents for the 2nd entry. To help them to help you, cash the ♦KQ now and then play a
♣ towards the ♣K. The finesse loses but North (or South) will eventually have to lead a ♥ or
give you a ♣ ruff in dummy (best). You run the ♥10 and when this loses South either has to
give you a ruff and discard or else lead a ♥.
If you do not cash the ♦’s first, North will win his ♣A,Q and a third, putting you in dummy.
You then have to guess which ♥ to finesse, in this case if you finesse the ♥Q this loses and ♦
return locks you in hand and you lose a ♥.
And what happened? 4♠=twice, 4♠-1 five times.
Bidding Quiz Answers
Hand A: 3NT. Double is a terrible bid as it goes past 3NT which is where you want to be
opposite 99% of hands and with this ♠ holding it’s very unlikely that partner can bid
3NT. Even if the hand did have four ♥’s I would still bid 3NT. This is North hand 8
from Friday 13th and a very experienced player did indeed double (for penalties?).
Hand B: Pass, and trust that partner understands the re-opening double when playing
Negative Doubles.
Hand C: Dbl. Partner has a ♥ penalty hand and you should be delighted to defend. I fully
realize that 99% of players disagree and will bid 2♠. Sometimes 99% of people are
totally wrong. If partner does not have the penalty hand (very unlikely) and bids,
that’s no problem as you can play in ♠’s at the appropriate level. If you want to
know what happened, 2♥* went -4 for 1100, which is certainly better than the ♠
partscore that most played in and the 4♠+1 and 650 that just one pair reached.
One top player said that he bid 2♠ because he needs to set 2♥* by three tricks in
order to compensate for his vulnerable game. I don’t understand this – there is
presumably no ♠ fit and so absolutely no guarantee of game; and if there is a 4♠
game opposite shortage then 2♥* is almost certainly going three or more down.
Hand D: 3♦. This hand is different, you do not have a defensive hand and although you are
sure partner has a penalty hand, it’s best to bid.
E 3♠ dbl This double is played as take-out by most. It surprised me when two of
the club’s top players said they play it as penalties.