Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                             Club News Sheet – No. 320

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880              28th Dec 2008

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

Mon 22nd     N-S     1st  Lars B & Lars G            59%       2nd    Jeremy & sally                  59%

                    E-W     1st   Tommy & Petter             65%       2nd    Dave & Robbie                63%

Wed 24th      N-S     1st  Hans & Lars B               57%       2nd    Paul Q & terry                  56%

                    E-W     1st   Bob S & Johan               61%       2nd    Gunn & Torbiorn              54%

Fri 26th                     1st  Janne & Jeremy              65%       2nd    Jean W & Terry               62%

                   

       
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Pattaya Bridge Club to Pattaya Bridge home page
       
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Bidding Quiz                    Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

 

Hand A           Hand B           What do you open with Hand A?

 

QJ10            A95                                           

AK3             J542             With Hand B partner opens 1NT and you bid 2. Partner

Q83              AJ6               replies 2, what do you bid.     

K832           1054

 

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

 

62                 4

1092             AJ                With hand D you are vulnerable and the opponents are not.

AKQJ865     9743            Partner opens 3NT (gambling) and RHO doubles, what do

6                  Q109532     you do?           

 

     
Ron Klinger web site
     

Bidding Sequence Quiz

 

G     1     1    1        1          What is the 1 bid, natural or 4th suit forcing?

                                                                       

Christmas Day Party

 

The Xmas party and teams-of-4 event was a great success, many thanks to Paul Quodomine who organised it all. The final result after 4 of the 5 rounds seemed almost certain, with the team of Arnt Blix, Alan Purdy, Hans Bijvoet and a couple more (sorry, I don’t have their names to hand) having won all of their matches and sitting on top 24 VPs clear of the 2nd placed team of Hans Vikman, Jean Wissing, Lars Broman and Janne Roos. So it would appear to need a miracle for them not to win. But miracles do sometimes happen, Hans Vickman’s team won the last round 20-0 and Arnt Blix’s team lost 15-5 and so lost the final by just one VP!

 

Editorial

 

1)      If we have a Howell movement where a pair moves from one direction to the other at the same table, then please physically move. This avoids mis-boarding and scoring errors.

2)      Annual membership fees are due soon. It will save time on Monday 2nd Jan if people pay before then.

 

 

The Gambling 3NT                                              Board 26 from Friday 26th

 

Dealer:             4                                                 Table A

East                  AJ                                              West          North         East          South(C)

N-S vul            9743                                          -                 -                 -               1    (1)

                        Q109532                                   1    (2)      2    (3)      5            pass

pass           dbl   (4)      all pass    

K10987              N             AQJ53                

Q643              W    E          K875                   Table B

-                         S              106                      West          North         East          South(C)

AKJ4                                 87                        -                 -                 -               3    (1)

                        62                                               dbl   (5)      pass           4    (6)    pass

1092                                          4              pass (7)      all pass

AKQJ865                                 

6                                                ‘Expert' Table

                                                      West          North(D)    East          South(C)

-                 -                 -               3NT   (1)

                                                      dbl             5    (8)      ?    (9)

Table A:     (1)  What did you open with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? This has come up in previous news-sheets and the answer is not 1.

(2)  Double is the alternative, but 1 here is very reasonable as there will presumably be enough room to bid again later.

(3)  Presumably showing a sound raise to 3?

(4)  A bit wild with a singleton trump, but North thought that South had the odd trick or two for the opening bid.

Table B:     (1)  This was another popular choice for question C. I prefer it to 1.

(5) At the three level West has no alternative but to double for take-out.

(6)   Showing both majors.

(7)  Opposite a pre-empt, North knows not to double.

‘Expert’      (1)  This is the best answer to question C – a gambling 3NT showing a long

 Table:              totally solid (7-8) card minor with nothing outside.

(8)  What did you bid with this North hand D in this week’s quiz? Knowing of the 7-8 tricks in ’s opposite, North can pre-empt at the 5-level. He can be pretty sure of at least two ruffs and although it’s adverse vulnerability the contract should go at most one down. The opponents must be cold for a major suit game (maybe slam) of course.

(9)  It’s not clear what East should do now, maybe there’s a slam?

And what happened? Six different results : 6-1, 5-1, 4+2, 5*=, 3+2 and 6*-2.

The bottom lines: -

-         The gambling 3NT is an excellent convention – it describes your hand perfectly.

 

Dave’s Column           Here is Dave’s input involving the play of the hand.

 

West                East                        You are West, declarer in 6 and North leads the K.

A109765      K82                    Plan the play.

2                   AK743      

A1073          K862         

AJ                5

 


Dave’s Column answer                      Board 16 from Wednesday 24th

     

Dealer:             QJ4                                            West          North         East            South

East                  J986                                           -                 -                 1              pass

E-W vul           J4                                                1              pass           2              pass

                        KQ109                                      3              pass           4              pass

5             pass           5              pass

A109765            N             K82                      6              pass

2                     W    E          AK743          

A1073                S              K862              North leads the K, plan the play

AJ                                      5                   

                        3                                          

Q105                                  

Q95                                     

876432                               

 

What generally happened was that declarer took his A, ruffed a in dummy, and cashed his two high trumps. When South discarded to reveal the trump loser declarer was held to just 11 tricks

So how should West guard against a possible 3-1 trump break? He should win the A but does not need to ruff his other immediately. Instead, West should cash the A and lead a to dummy’s A. After ruffing a low he leads a trump to dummy’s K, revealing the bad, but not unexpected, break. However, thanks to his careful play, West retains control. He cashes dummy’s K discarding a and ruffs another to establish dummy’s 5th . Now the delayed ruff pays dividends – it places the lead in dummy for the lead of the last and a 2nd discard. Now, whether North ruffs or not, he only scores his natural trump trick.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Just one pair bid slam and went -1. All of the other pairs stopped in 4 making just +1.

 

 

Dave’s 2nd Column           Here is Dave’s 2nd input involving the play of the hand.

 

North               South                 You are North, declarer in 6 and East leads the 2. North

AKQ            65                   takes West’s 10 with the A, cashes the AK as both defenders     

AKQ94        J1086             follow, cashes the KQ with East following and dummy

3                   AKQ4           discarding the 7 and West discarding the 2.

J964             K107             The AKQ are played, declarer discarding two ’s as both opponents follow. Declarer plays the 4 from table and

West discards the 3. How should declarer continue?

                                               

                                                       

                                                     


Dave’s Column answer                      Board 17 from Wednesday 24th  

     

Dealer:             AKQ                                          West          North         East            South

West                AKQ94                                      -                 1              pass           2NT (1)

Love all            3                                                pass           3    (2)      pass           4    (3)

                        J964                                           pass           4NT           pass           5   (4)

pass           6              all pass

107                   N               J98432                

52                 W    E            73                   (1)  Jacoby 2NT. I personally prefer to have a  

J92                   S                108765                better hand, but this partnership’s style is to bid

AQ8532                             -                           2NT with an opening hand and 4-card support

                        65                                         (2)  shortage 

J1086                                  (3)  Fast arrival – South’s hand has gone downhill.        

AKQ4                                  (4)  1 keycard playing 1430.      

K107                                  

 

The complete deal is above, after the running commentary given on the previous page the end position is : -

 

                        -                                           Declarer leads the 4 from dummy and West   

                        Q94                                      discards the 3, what should declarer do?

                        -                                            He should count the hand!  

                        J9                                         West has shown exactly 2 ’s, 2 ’s and 3 ’s,

so the rest of his cards are all ’s – six of them.

-                       N               J98                 That leaves East with zero ’s and declarer  

-                   W    E            -                     should run the 4, discarding a . Whatever  

-                       S                108                East plays declarer ruffs in dummy and     

AQ853                               -                     discards his remaining from hand.   

                        -                                          

J10                                             

4                        

K10                  

 

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Five out of seven North’s bid 6 and they all went down. 4 made +1 and 5* by East went -5 for 1100 away.

 

     


That infamous 4333 type shape again                Board 4 from the Xmas teams-of-4 

 

I have just one board from the Xmas teams of four match, and the result for the winning team or runners-up of the competition depended upon it! – there was just one VP difference! (although the hero of the hand – Lewis, North at table B – was from another team!)

Dealer:             QJ10                                          Table A

East                  AK3                                           West          North(A)    East          South(C)

Both vul            Q83                                           -                 -                 pass         pass

                        K832                                         pass           1NT   (1)    pass         2   (2)

pass           2              pass         3NT (3)

K73                    N             8642                    all pass

Q98                W    E          1076                   

K1052                S              974                      Table B

QJ3                                    A97                      West          North(B)    East          South

                        A95                                            -                 -                 pass         pass

J542                                          pass           1   (1)      pass         1

AJ6                                            pass           1NT (4)     pass         pass

1054                                          pass (5)      pass

Table A:     (1)  What did you open with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? A balanced 15 count so ‘automatically’, without a second glance, open 1NT? That’s what Hans Bijvoet bid here, and I expect most players who do not regularly read the news-sheets, would open. Hans Bijvoet and I have a long history of disagreements over bidding, and this is no exception. I would bid as table B but others, including the well-known (?) Jean-Francois Fohrer, simply ignore totally flat shape and open 1NT. Counting to 15 seems to be the limit of hand evaluation techniques by some so-called ‘experts’.

(2)  2♣, Stayman, is clear here.

(3)  But what did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz? At pairs scoring there is no doubt in my mind – this is a rubbish (3433) hand with just one point in the ‘long’ suit and I would bid an invitational 2NT. At teams one must go for thin vulnerable games and 3NT, as bid by Alan Purdy here, is reasonable I suppose (but only when vulnerable at teams scoring).

Table B:     (1)  This was Lewis, my frequent partner at the club. He is obviously very familiar with my opinions about the 4333 type shape and even with the ‘working’ 10 he correctly decided that the hand was not good enough for an opening 15-17 1NT. I totally agree and this is my (our) answer to question A.

(4)   Showing a balanced 12-14, which is all that this hand is worth.

(5)   West asked about the 1NT rebid, asking “12-14?”. Paul Quodomine (South partnering Lewis) replied "Usually, though he could have 15 with a 4-3-3-3

pattern and poor spot cards." I just love these guys (Paul Q and Lewis). They totally agree with me (and most real experts) about how bad the 4333 shape is.

And what happened? This deal would have been enough for Alan/Hans’ team to win the competition had either of them known about how bad the 4333 shape is. 3NT went -2 and 1NT made exactly. The bottom lines: -

-         4333 is the WORST POSSIBLE SHAPE. If you bother to read some of the blogs written by Jean-Francois Fohrer on the club blogsite (www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com) he goes into lengths to explain how good(!) the shape is in a NoTrump contract. Even making 1NT was a struggle with these N-S cards!! 4333 is garbage – deduct a point and ignore the French!

 

The Club Championships

 

Here are the latest standings in the club competitions. It’s nearly all over now, but apart from Hans winning, everything else is very close and depends upon the results of the next two sessions.

 

 

Gold Cup = Best 30

Silver Plate = Best 10

Bronze Medal = Best 5

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

 

1904.0 Hans Vikman

1856.5 Sally Watson

1849.9 Dave Cutler

1848.4 Janne Roos

1845.6 Lewis Berg

1817.1 Lars Gustafsson

1806.6 Bob Pelletier

1790.3 Ivy Schlageter

1786.1 Derek & Gerard

1761.3 Jeremy Watson

 

 

683.5 Hans Vikman

664.9 Sally Watson

663.8 Jeremy Watson

661.8 Dave Cutler

652.2 Lewis Berg

651.0 Lars Gustafsson

648.3 Janne Roos

646.8 Derek & Gerard

645.6 Janne Roos

643.6 Ivy Schlageter

 

 

352.6 Hans Vikman

342.3 Dave Cutler

341.1 Jeremy Watson

341.1 Sally Watson

339.7 Lars Gustafsson

335.8 Lewis Berg 

335.3 Ivy Schlageter

333.8 Derek & Gerard

327.4 Tomas Wikman

326.2 Bob Pelletier

 

 

 

Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:    1, deduct a point for the totally flat 3343 shape with insufficient intermediates to compensate.

Hand B:    2NT, invitational. Again, deduct a point for the totally flat 4333 type shape. The only exception is that you may try bidding 3NT when vulnerable at IMP scoring.

Hand C:    3NT, showing a 7-8 completely solid minor suit with nothing outside.

Hand D:    5. At adverse vulnerability you can afford to go just one down, so 6 is probably too high at this vulnerability. You know partner has 7 (maybe 8) tricks and you should get two ruffs with your hand.

 

Bidding Sequence Answers

 

G       1   1    1    1              The meaning of 1 here is up to partnership understanding. The sequence came up at the Xmas teams of 4. Alan bid it meaning it as 4th suit forcing. His partner Hans explained the bid as natural (and forcing). I’m with Hans here and I play 2 as 4th suit forcing, but it’s up to you.

       

 Ron Klinger web site