Club News Sheet – No. 246 www.pattayabridge.com 29^th July 2007

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880

It is best to use my home number to contact me unless I am at the bridge club.

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

My MSN messenger ID is tj_quested@hotmail.com

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Mon 23^rd 1^st Frode & Kees P 68% 2^nd Paul K & Jean-Charles 58%

Wed 25^th 1^st Jean-Charles & Paul K 56% 2^nd Eddie & Terry 55%

Fri 27^th 1^st Jan & Sally 57% 2^nd Kees P & Paul Sav… 51%

Bidding Quiz Standard American is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A partner opens 1NT, what do you bid?

♠ QJ7 ♠ Q10942

♥ 1085 ♥ K63 With Hand B RHO opens a weak 2♦, what do you do?

♦ J432 ♦ Q3

♣ A108 ♣ A82

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

♠ A6 ♠ A63

♥ Q92 ♥ Q92 What do you open with Hand D?

♦ AQ1043 ♦ AQ104

♣ QJ7 ♣ QJ7

Hand E Hand F With Hand E RHO opens 1♠, what do you bid?

♠ 4 ♠ A10742

♥ A ♥ 82 With Hand F partner opens 1NT and RHO doubles, what

♦ Q964 ♦ J852 do you bid?

♣ AKQJ1095 ♣ 52

Bidding Sequences Quiz All of these sequences occurred this week

G 1♣ pass pass dbl Is 3♥ forcing?

2♣ 2♠ pass 3♥

H 1NT dbl 2♠ What is 2♠?

The Club Championships The current standings are: -

Gold Cup = Best 30 Silver plate = Best 10 Bronze medal = Best 5

1816.8 Janne Roos 666.8 Janne Roos 350.4 Janne Roos

1793.3 Jan v Koss 650.5 Jan v Koss 340.2 Jan v Koss

1763.4 Dave Cutler 634.5 Lars Gustaffson 336.2 Bengt Malmgren

631.9 Paul Savelkral 332.9 Paul Savelkral

627.2 Dave Cutler 325.6 Gunnar Barthel

Please note

My mobile phone number has recently changed. It’s now 083 6066880.

That dreaded 4333 type shape again Board 4 from Monday 23^rd

Dealer: ♠ 8653 Table A

West ♥ KQ3 West North East(A) South

both vul ♦ K86 1NT pass 2NT (1) pass

♣ 643 3NT (2) all pass

♠ K92 N ♠ QJ7 Table B

♥ AJ64 W E ♥ 1085 West North East(A) South

♦ A97 S ♦ J432 1NT pass pass (1) pass

♣ KQ2 ♣ A108

♠ A104 It’s a 25 combined points with a double stop

♥ 972 in every suit – so why does 3NT not make?

♦ Q105

♣ J975

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this East hand A in this week’s quiz? With a decent 8 points one should normally invite, but is this a decent 8 points? It’s totally flat (so knock off a point for the 4333 type shape) but it does have two tens. But considering that the only 4 card suit is J432 that really is a big minus and I would bid as Table B.

(2) Dave considers this acceptance to be automatic – with a maximum 17 count. But I think it’s close – it’s that dreaded 4333 type shape again. Dave thinks that East should raise to 2NT ‘every time’ and that West has an automatic 3NT bid and you should consider yourself unlucky when you go down with a combined 25 count. I disagree, with a good understanding of hand evaluation you can often avoid being ‘unlucky’.

Table B: (1) This East (Kenneth and one other) got it right. This poor 3343 hand is not worth an invite, even if you have a partner of Dave’s undoubted declarer skills at the helm.

And what happened? Everybody made 8 tricks except one player who made just 7. Dave got a joint top at Table B thanks to Kenneth’s belief in what I write in the news-sheets.

The bottom lines: -

- 4333 type shape is TERRIBLE. This is a totally classic example; both East and West are 4333 type shape and 3NT is hopeless even with the combined 25 count.

- Deduct a point for the 4333 type shape.

- Understand hand evaluation. There’s a document on the web (Hand Evaluation in the links column on the left).

A 1NT opener? West hand 12 from Monday 23^rd

Hand C Hand D What did you open with this West hand C in this week’s quiz?

♠ A6 ♠ A63 I understand that one West was criticized by his partner when he

♥ Q92 ♥ Q92 opened 1NT, partner saying that he should de-value the hand.

♦ AQ1043 ♦ AQ104 It looks like this is me being mis-quoted again; Hand C with

♣ QJ7 ♣ QJ7 that excellent 5-card ♦ suit is a great 1NT opener. Hand D, however, should be devalued (4333 type shape) and I would open Hand D with 1♦ and rebid 1NT (12-14).

.

Double and bid shows a strong hand Board 11 from Friday 27^th

E-W missed game at table C, who would you blame?

Dealer: ♠ 64 Table A

South ♥ 10932 West North East South

Love all ♦ 8742 - - - 1♣

♣ Q108 pass pass dbl (1) pass

1♠ pass 3♥ (2) pass

♠ Q1095 N ♠ J82 4♥ (3) all pass

♥ KJ4 W E ♥ AQ876

♦ J6 S ♦ AK93 Table B

♣ 9753 ♣ A West North East South

♠ AK73 - - - 1♣

♥ 5 pass pass dbl (1) pass

♦ Q105 1♠ pass 3NT (2) all pass

♣ KJ762

Table C

West North East South

- - - 1♣

pass pass dbl (1) 2♣ (4)

2♠ (5) pass 3♥ (6) pass

pass (7) pass

Table A: (1) This hand really is a bit strong for a simple overcall – especially in the balancing seat, and double is best.

(2) This now shows a very strong hand. Partner’s 2♠ bid promised zero points and so this jump to 3♥ must be very strong. This is about minimum for the bid.

(3) With 6 points and excellent ♥’s, West has an easy raise to 4♥.

Table B: (1) This East also correctly doubled.

(2) This is a very poor bid, with just a singleton ♣ stop, as it precludes finding a possible 5-3 fit in either major, the 3♥ bid chosen at table A is far better, with 2♥ and 3♣ as reasonable alternatives.

Table C: (1) This East also correctly doubled…

(4) … but this south muddied the waters a little with a 2♣ bid.

(5) This is a free bid (West would pass with 5 or less points) and shows about 6-9 pts.

(6) But here is where East went wrong. This is a totally different scenario from the 3♥ bid at (2) on table A. West has already shown 6+ points and East knows that there are game values. He needs to know if partner has 3 ♥’s or 5 ♠’s but unfortunately 3♥ is not forcing here – it is highly invitational. The best bid is 3♣.

(7) West has already shown his hand and pass here is correct as he certainly has no extras. He received some unjustified stick from his partner but I said that I agreed with the pass.

And what happened? 3NT went one down; so 3♥+2 scored an average and 4♥ making was the top. The bottom lines:

- With game values, don’t make an invitational bid.

- Double and bid (or jump bid) shows a strong hand but it is not forcing.

- The only forcing bid having doubled is a cuebid of opener’s suit.

This week’s silly double Board 24 from Friday 27^th

Dealer: ♠ Q10942 West North(B) East South

West ♥ K63 2♦ dbl (1) 4♦ (2) 5♦ (3)

Love all ♦ Q3 6♦ (4) dbl (5) pass 6♥ (6)

♣ A82 pass 6♠ all pass

♠ 3 N ♠ 76 (1) What did you bid with this North hand B in

♥ Q W E ♥ J842 this week’s quiz? It seems I am saying the

♦ AKJ964 S ♦ 10875 same thing week after week in vain. Double

♣ 107643 ♣ KJ5 is a really stupid bid here and a 2♠ overcall

♠ AKJ85 is totally obvious.

♥ A10975 (2) A good bid – make it difficult for N-S to

♦ 2 find their fit after the fatuous double.

♣ Q9 (3) This South knew the limitations of his bidding

partner. Double here is the best bid (responsive

- pick a suit) but South suspected that North may well pass.

(4) It’s not usually a good idea to bid again having pre-empted, especially at the 6-level! But this hand has great shape and it certainly looks like opponent’s have a slam. Come alive with six-five. Nice bid on this exceptional occasion after partner has jump supported (6♦ doubled went for just 300 at another table).

(5) Penalties. It looks like North’s 5 card ♠ suit is not going to be mentioned – as I said – it was a ridiculous double.

(6) But luckily for North, South came to the rescue.

(7) I don’t know if North realized that South’s bidding promised both majors, but after some thought he reluctantly mentioned his 5 card ♠ suit for the first time at the six level.

And what happened? The play in 6♠ was quite interesting. A ♦ was led and West won with the ♦K and returned a ♣. Declarer rose with the ace and drew trumps in two rounds. He then led the ♥K and noted the drop of the ♥Q. How should declarer now play the ♥ suit? Should he play West for ♥QJ doubleton or play East for ♥J842? At another table declarer went down in 5♠ when he played for ♥QJ doubleton, thus losing a ♥ and a ♣ in addition the ♦A. Our 6♠ declarer, however, has a limited knowledge of restricted choice and played the finesse - 6♠ thus made exactly for a top. The bottom lines: -

- Do not double when holding a 5 card major and just three (or less) in the other major.

- It was lucky that this South knew enough about his bidding partner’s bidding incompetence that he was able to extract a ♠ bid out of him at the six level.

- Declarer should play East for ♥Jxxx when the ♥Q falls. This is virtually the same as the situation when there are 4 cards out missing the QJ and an honour falls on the first round.

- Have a look on the website (General Bridge Topics > 8-ever 9-never or Restricted Choice).

Dave’s Column Here is this week’s Dave input involving the best play for the contract.

West East You are East, playing in 7NT on the lead of the ♠10. Which

♠ AJ4 ♠ KQ7 suits do you play on first?

♥ AQ65 ♥ K93

♦ A74 ♦ KQ83

♣ AK3 ♣ Q107

Dave’s Column answer Board 2 from Wednesday 25^th

Dealer: ♠ 652 West North East South

East ♥ 10872 - - 1NT (1) pass

N-S vul ♦ J1065 2♣ pass 2♦ pass

♣ 84 7NT all pass

♠ AJ4 N ♠ KQ7 (1) With this totally flat shape I would open 1♦

♥ AQ65 W E ♥ K93 and rebid 1NT (12-14).

♦ A74 S ♦ KQ83

♣ AK3 ♣ Q107 I was later asked how to bid to 7NT if East did

♠ 10983 indeed downgrade to a 12-14 hand. It could go: -

♥ J4

♦ 92 West North East South

♣ J9652 - - 1♦ (1) pass

1♥ pass 1NT pass

5NT (2) pass 7NT all pass

(2) Standard here is that 4NT is quantitative and asks partner to bid 6NT if maximum, otherwise pass. But West wants a quantitative bid to 7NT. You could use the otherwise redundant bid of 4♠ as a quantitative bid (it’s explained in the No Trump bidding book) but you would have to agree that and also agree that it applies when the opening bid is not 1NT. This 5NT bid is probably the easiest bid – it is not an invitation to 6NT (that would be 4NT) and so it obviously asks partner to bid the grand if maximum, else 6NT.

Anyway. Onto the play in 7NT. South leads the ♠10, you win and see that you have 12 top tricks. A 3-3 split in either red suit will give you the 13^th trick. Should you test these suits immediately?

No!

Win the ♠ lead and play two more rounds of ♠’s. then continue with three rounds of ♣’s. North is then squeezed; on the last ♣ he must throw either a ♥ or a ♦. When you play the two red suits in turn you will find that one of them is now good.

Terry’s comments: This analysis is obviously completely correct. Eddie found an equally good line when he tested just one red suit and then played out the black suits – North was squeezed exactly the same. Only Eddie found the squeeze play. One other made 13 tricks when he tried both red suits and North threw the wrong card at trick 12.

And what happened? 7NT = twice, 7NT-1 once and 6NT = twice.

The bottom lines: -

- These E-W hand have all the aces, all the kings and all of the queens – why is 7NT so difficult to make (it would not have made if South had 4 in one red suit and North had 4 in the other). The answer is that both East and West have the dreaded 4333 type shape!

- This grand slam, with 37 points, is actually about 70%. It makes if either red suit splits (about 60%) and this increases to about 70% when adding the odds of one player holding both red suits – as long as you know how to execute the squeeze.

- Dave thinks that this East hand is an automatic 1NT opener. I disagree and will always deduct a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape.

The jump cuebid overcall Board 19 from Wednesday 25^th

Dealer: ♠ 852 Table A

West ♥ J10875 West(E) North East South

E-W vul ♦ K8753 - - - 1♠

♣ - dbl (1) pass (2) 2♥ 4♠

pass (3) pass pass

♠ 4 N ♠ Q93

♥ A W E ♥ 9643 Table B

♦ Q964 S ♦ AJ10 West(E) North East South

♣ AKQJ1095 ♣ 732 - - - 1♠

♠ AKJ1076 3♠ (1) pass (4) 4♥ (5) 4♠

♥ KQ2 5♣ pass 5♥ (6) pass

♦ 2 pass dbl (7) pass (8) pass

♣ 864 pass (9)

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this West hand E in this week’s quiz? This is a very powerful hand and if you don’t have any methods then double is best, to be followed by a ♣ bid that hopefully does not go past 3NT if that is the best contract.

(2) This hand is worth a raise after a double; 2♠ or 3♠ are fine.

(3) Well I ask you – what is the point of doubling at (1) if you are not going to mention this ♣ suit? Maybe this West thought it not solid enough?

Table B: (1) This East-West pair are rather more experienced and there is an established(?) (25+ years) way to show exactly this hand type. With a long solid minor and (hopefully) the other two suits stopped, the jump cuebid asks partner to bid 3NT if he has a stop in the suit opened.

(4) At this point North asked what the 3♠ bid meant and East said that he did not know. A few moments later East said that he thought it showed a strong hand with ♥’s and a minor.

(5) So East supported partner’s supposed ♥’s.

(6) East still thought that West had ♥’s.

(7) Rather foolish – it is usually unwise to double the opponents in a silly contract when thy can run to a making slam!

(8) Unfortunately East still did not work out what was going on. 6♣ would have worked.

(9) And West was in an ethical dilemma. He knew that partner expected him to have ♥’s but is not allowed to use this information. Whether it would be justified for West to bid 6♣ now (after the double) is a moot point and I would not like to rule on it. But as it happens I was West and so I had to be totally ethical as I might be accused of cheating?

And what happened? 5♥* went for 2000. 6♣ would have made for 920 or more (it would presumably have been doubled). The bottom lines: -

- I was East and I thought that the jump cuebid overcall to ask partner to bid 3NT with a stop was standard. But Eddie, Bob and Paul Kelly did not know what it meant. Kenneth and Dave both did.

- In Crowhurst’s ‘Acol in Competition’ (written 1980) he explains the need for the bid on page 275.

- I could not find the sequence in an American book but I e-mailed Lewis and he said: -

- “It seems very clear that it is saying 3NT is our spot - if u have a ♠ stopper bid 3NT. What else could it mean?  example 2♠ would announce a great hand unless you are playing Michaels. It can’t be a ♠ hand. I don’t see any other choice other than bid 3NT with a stop in ♠’s.”

So what should East have bid at (5) had he understood the bid? The ♠ partial stop is very dicey, he could risk 3NT but 5♣ (pass or correct – although East knows that West’s suit is ♣’s) is probably best. 5♣ is a good contract and 6♣ only makes with the ♦K luckily onside.

As I said, I thought that this jump cuebid overcall was standard but the sequence is not mentioned in either of the Max Hardy books nor in Lawrence’s “The Complete Book on Overcalls”. So I had a rummage around on the internet and searched Google for ‘bridge jump cuebid overcall’. To my surprise there was nothing at all apart from an article on “Anderson’s cuebids” which suggest that a normal cuebid and jump cuebid both show hands with a long solid minor. I cannot see that anybody would want to play that as everybody plays Michael’s cue bids these days, don’t they?

So – there’s nothing on the web!! As soon as it gets indexed by Google the search for (bridge) Jump Cuebid Overcall should deliver the page I have just written on our website and maybe also a reference to this news-sheet. It will be interesting to see how soon new stuff gets recognised by Google and other search engines – I’ll keep you posted.

Systems off after 1NT is doubled. West hand board 8 from Friday 27^th

♠ A10742 Partner opens 1NT and RHO doubles. What did you bid with this Hand F

♥ 82 in this week’s quiz?

♦ J852 You should bid 2♠ - standard is that systems are off after interference. Chuck,

♣ 52 Lewis, Eddie, Dave and myself all play this; as do most experts. Best is to

also play Lebensohl but that is perhaps a little complex for beginners.

You can choose to play transfers etc. if you wish but it has little sense and has to be agreed (and alerted) and I would never agree to play it myself. Please bear this in mind if Dave or myself are calling for dummies. I usually play whatever my partner wishes, but I refuse to play systems on after intervention and I’m pretty sure that Dave feels the same.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: Pass. Deduct a point for the totally flat 3343 shape. It’s true that the hand does have two tens, but the only ‘long’ suit is J432 and it’s not worth a raise.

Hand B: 2♠, obviously. Double is a very poor bid with a mediocre hand with 5 ♠’s and just 3 ♥’s and ♣’s.

Hand C: 1NT, this hand is well worth a 15-17 1NT. 2353 shape is good.

Hand D: 1♦ (with a 12-14 1NT rebid in mind). 3343 shape is bad.

Hand E: 3♠, a jump cuebid overcall, asking partner to bid 3NT with a ♠ stop. You will probably find it very difficult to get to 3NT if partner has a ♠ stop if you start off with a double.

Hand F: 2♠, natural. Systems are off after 1NT gets doubled.

Bidding Sequences Answers

G 1♣ pass pass dbl 3♥ is strong but not forcing. The only forcing bid is 3♣.

2♣ 2♠ pass 3♥

H 1NT dbl 2♠ 2♠ is natural, to play. Systems are off after a 1NT opening is doubled.