Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                             Club News Sheet – No. 329

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880                     1st March 2009

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 23rd      N-S     1st  Lewis B & Richard M    59%       2nd    Janne & Per-Ake             57%

                    E-W     1st   Bob Short & Per And..   67%       2nd    Paul Q & Terry Q            63%

Wed 25th      N-S     1st  Bengt & Dave C             59%       2nd    Alain & Jean-Charles        57%

                    E-W     1st  Dave H & Per And..       57%       2nd    Bob P & Nick                  57%

Fri 27th         N-S     1st  Bengt & Eddie                60%       2nd    Jean & Per-Ake               58%

                    E-W     1st  Janne & Lars B              63%       2nd    Svein & Tobjorn S           56%

     
Ron Klinger web site
     

 

 

Bidding Quiz                    Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

 

Hand A           Hand B           With Hand A you open 1 and partner responds with 2 (a

Weak jump shift). What do you bid?

AK               A96

K732            AQJ84         (a)  What do you open with Hand B?

Q53              A74             (b)  Suppose you open 1 and partner bids 1, what now?

AK107         64

 

Hand C           Hand D           With Hand C RHO opens 1NT, do you double or pass?

                               

AQ104         KJ84           

KQ               -                  With Hand D partner opens 1 and you bid 1. Partner then

K932            K10963       bids 2, what do you bid?

J103             QJ107

                       

Hand E            Hand F            With Hand E partner opens 1 and you bid 1NT. Partner then

bids 3, what do you do?

J42               63                                        

105               J10               (a)  What do you open with Hand F?

AJ1074         AKQJ          (b)  Suppose you open 1, partner bids 1, you reverse with

J107             AKQJ8              2 and partner bids 2, what now?

 

Hand G           Hand H           With Hands G and H it is favourable vulnerability.

Partner opens 1NT in 4th seat and RHO overcalls 2.

98                 KJ962          What do you bid with either hand?     

KJ962          98                                        

Q106            J106532                               

Q32             -

 

Hand J            Hand K           With Hand J you open 1 and partner bids 1NT, what do

you do?

Q                  1076542      

AKQJ7        J8                

963               97                With Hand K partner opens 1, what do you do?

AQ64           Q82


Bidding Sequence Quiz

 

L     1      pass   1      pass       What is the 3NT bid and why would responder make it

2      pass   3NT                 rather than 4?

M    1      pass   1NT   pass       Is 3 invitational, forcing or game forcing?

3                        

N     1NT   2      dbl                   What is the dbl, penalties or ‘stolen bid’ transfer to ’s?

P      1     pass   1      pass      

2      pass   2      pass       (a)  Is 3 forcing here?

3♣/♥                                     (b) What is 3?

 

 

 

Worth a double of 1NT?                                      Board 5 from Friday 27th     

 

Dealer:             J52                                             Table A

North               J76                                             West(C)     North         East          South

N-S vul            QJ7                                            -                 pass           pass         1NT

                        9852                                          dbl   (1)      pass           pass (2)    pass

 

AQ104               N               9876                  Table B

KQ                 W    E            5432                  West(C)     North         East          South

K932                  S                54                      -                 pass           pass         1NT

J103                                     K64                   pass (1)      pass           pass

                        K3                                             

A1098                                       

A1086                                      

AQ7                                          

                                                                             

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this West hand C in this week’s quiz? It’s 15 points with two tens, so surely warrants a double, doesn’t it??

(2)   Maybe East should run to 2 (as one player did and scored a top when it went just one down).

Table B:     (1)  This West chose to pass. I agree and it’s my answer to question C. Despite having the values I would not double because the KQ doubleton are bad and there is no good lead (very important).

 

And what happened? 1NT was doubled and left in twice:  +1 (380) and +3 (780). 1NT undoubled was the most popular spot, making or making +2. The top score for E-W was actually 2 minus one.

The bottom lines

-     Don’t make a borderline double of 1NT without an obviously good lead.


Raise a 4-card response with 3 cards?              
Board 32 from Monday 23rd     

 

Dealer:             10                                               Table A

West                K97653                                      West(B)     North         East          South

E-W vul           QJ                                              1NT (1)      2    (2)      3    (3)    pass

                        AK85                                         3NT (4)      all pass

 

A96                    N               KJ84                 Table B

AQJ84           W    E            -                        West(B)     North         East(D)    South

A74                    S                K10963             1    (1)      pass (5)      1            pass

64                                        QJ107                2    (6)      pass           3NT (7)    pass

                        8652                                           pass (8)      pass

732                                            

Q5                                            

Q865                                        

                                                                             

Table A:     (1)  What did you open with this West hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? I am not adverse to opening 1NT with a 5-card major and am also not adverse to having a weak doubleton. However, I don’t like both in one hand. With a good suit I much prefer 1 to 1NT and this is consistent with the writings in the NoTrump Book.

(2)  ’s and a minor.

(3)   Stayman, promising game forcing values, 4 ’s and denying a stop when playing Lebensohl.

(4)   Showing a stop and denying 4 ’s.

Table B:     (1)  This West chose to open 1, I agree and it’s my answer to question B(a).

(5)   It’s usually best to pass when RHO bids your suit.

(6)   What did you bid with this West hand B(b) in this week’s quiz? There is usually a problem when you have a balanced hand and elect not to open 1NT. However, the solution here is quite simple; with a weak doubleton a possible 4-3 fit will play well and this suit is good enough to support. I totally agree with this bid.

(7)   What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? It’s marginal, the void in partner’s suit is not good but there is a fit. The minor suits are great and I think it’s worth game. So 4 then? That’s what many will bid but, although this pair have only played together half a dozen times, they seem to have the same ideas in bidding. East was fully aware that West may have only three ’s and so he bid 3NT and that is my answer to the quiz question. 2NT is the alternative which leads to the same contract.

(8)   Obviously West passes, assuming partner has good cards in the minors.

 

And what happened? Four out of eight pairs played in the top spot of 3NT; making exactly once, +1 twice and +2 once. The bottom lines

-         In my opinion its fine to open 1NT with a 5-card major and it’s also fine to open 1NT with a weak doubleton, but open the major when you have both and it’s a decent suit. There is a whole paragraph on this in the book “The definitive guide to No Trump bidding, Stayman and Transfers” which is always at hand to borrow if you want some light reading (ho, ho).

-         Sequences like 1 - 1 - 2 generally have 4-card support but it is not guaranteed, so only jump to 4♠ as responder if you have 5 ♠’s.

-     If partner’s 1NT opening gets overcalled, play Lebensohl, there’s a lot more on this topic later in this news-sheet.


Raise partner’s weak jump shift?                       Board 8 from Monday 23rd     

 

Dealer:             AK                                             Table A

West                K732                                          West          North(A)    East          South(K)

Love all            Q53                                            pass           1             pass         2    (1)

                        AK107                                       pass           4    (2)      all pass

 

8                         N               QJ93                 Table B

Q865              W    E            A104                 West          North(A)    East          South(K)

A1042                S                KJ86                  pass           1             pass         2  (1)

J643                                     95                      pass           pass (2)      pass

                        1076542                              

J8                                              

97                                             

Q82                                          

                                                                             

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this South hand K in this week’s quiz? A weak jump shift, showing a 6-card suit with about 2-5 points is ideal. If you do not play weak jump shifts then it’s difficult. If you bid 1 then you may easily end up way too high (indeed, one pair did end up in 4-2 when South bid 1).

(2)   What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? In my opinion this hand, with just two ’s, is not even worth making an effort for game. If the hand had a couple more ’s and/or better shape then I play that 2NT is Ogust, to find out exactly how bad partner’s rubbish is.

Table B:     (2)  This would also be my choice, opposite 5 or less points game must be impossible.

 

And what happened? Two pairs stopped sensibly in 2. Three pairs overbid to 4. There were a couple or 1 openers that got passed out, but the resultant 70 or 90 is not as good as playing in 2 for 110. Remarkably, a total pass-out is also recorded on the traveler; presumably North had a couple of aces hidden behind other cards?

At our table I was East and North raised to 4. When it went two down North proudly proclaimed “but I had 19 points”. I said nothing of course, other than to thank them for the game.

The bottom lines

-         Weak jump shifts are a very useful convention, they warn partner not to continue and have a pre-emptive effect.

-         It is rare that opener has enough to try for game opposite a weak jump shift, but with 19 or so points, good trump support (AK doubleton is not good enough) and some shape then use Ogust (the responses are obviously different than when used over a weak two), this is written up on the website:

      Conventions > Section 1 > weak jump shifts (near the bottom of the page).

 

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

 

West                East                  You are West declarer in 3NT. North leads the Q and you

AK5             643               duck two rounds. Upon winning the 3rd round it’s time to    

A72              5                  tackle the ’s; which do you lead?

AJ9               543                                      

KJ95            A86432


Dave’s Column answer  Board 20 from Wednesday 25th

     

Dealer:             J974                                           West          North         East            South

West                QJ1043                                      2NT           pass           3NT           all pass

Both vul            Q876                                         

                        -

                                                                       

AK5                   N             643                      

A72                W    E          5                    

AJ9                     S              543                      

KJ95                                  A86432

                        Q108                                   

K986                                          

K102                                   

Q107                                  

 

Answer: You have to bring in the ’s for 6 tricks as you can’t afford to give up the lead. If ’s are 2-1 there is no problem as long as you don’t block the suit. If ’s are 3-0 you can pick up the suit only if South has the length. In all cases it is correct to start with the 9 to the A. If both follow, lead a to the king followed by the J and then the 5 to dummy. If North shows out on the first round of ’s, win the A, lead a taking the marked finesse, cash the K dropping the Q and finally lead the carefully preserved 5 to dummy’s 8.

So the answer to the question is the 9.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 3NT+2 twice, 3NT= and 3NT-1 four times.

The bottom lines: -

-         Do not block your suits!

 

 

 

 

Dave’s 2nd Column   Here is Dave’s 2nd input about bidding the hand.

 

63                 You hold this South hand F. What do you open and how do you        

J10               expect the auction to continue? 

AKQJ                                                          

AKQJ8        Possibilities for the opening bid are: -

 

1     may be the winner because it allows for useful descriptive continuations.

2     runs some risk that you may not get to describe your hand

2NT   is right on values but runs the risk that the defenders will lead a major through dummy which may do you in.

 

So what’s the opening bid to be? - 1, 2 or 2NT?

 


Dave’s 2nd Column answer              Board 19 from Wednesday 18th

     

Dealer:             KJ754                                        West          North         East            South(F)

South               K7                                              -                 -                 -                 1   (1)

E-W vul           7652                                           pass           1              pass           2    (2)

                        104                                            pass           2    (3)      pass           3   (4)

pass           3NT (5)

AQ9                   N             1082                    

Q9653            W    E          A842             (1)  What did you open with this South hand F(a)

104                     S              983                      in this week’s quiz? Dave’s book recommends

952                                    763                      1 to be followed by a reverse and I agree.

                        63                                        (2)  A reverse, forcing

J10                                      (3)  It is correct to show a 5-card suit here.

AKQJ                                  

AKQJ8                               

 

(4)  But this is where the book and I (Terry) disagree (I know – who am I to argue with Mike Lawrence?). What did you bid with this South hand F(b) in this week’s quiz? Mike Lawrence says to bid 3 and then partner will bid 3NT. I say maybe, but are you sure that partner will bid 3NT and are you sure that partner will take 3 as forcing? I much prefer 3, 4th suit, game forcing and asking partner to bid 3NT with a stop. To my simple mind this is far clearer than a nebulous 3. You have already shown a good hand with 5 ’s and 4 ’s and I cannot see that 3 is right here even if you have agreed that it is forcing – I would expect a 6-card suit and a desire not(!) to play in 3NT (as 4th suit was not invoked).

(5)  Mike Lawrence thinks that this is clear – it’s no so clear to me and one player passed. A reverse is a one round force and I do not see that this 3 bid is forcing if 2 is just a minimal response. Even if playing Lebensohl over a reverse there needs to be agreement if 2 shows extras (so that 3 is then forcing). It all gets a bit complicated when playing Lebensohl over a reverse (2 at (3) would be Lebensohl, not 4th suit forcing) so that 2 is indeed game forcing, but how many partnerships have discussed that?

 

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 6=, 4-1, 3NT+1 twice, 3NT-1 (declared by South) and a couple of partscore, one being 3when North presumably did indeed pass at (5).

 

I guess that world champions have agreements as to what is forcing, but we are not all world champions and I like to make life easy for my partner. 3 at (4) is very clear, 3 is not.

The final word - KISS. 


Don’t pass partner’s forcing bid                         Board 8 from Friday 27th     

 

Dealer:             Q                                                Table A

West                AKQJ7                                      West          North(J)     East          South(E)

Love all            963                                            pass           1              pass         1NT

                        AQ64                                         pass           3   (1)      pass         pass (2)

pass

K9865                N               A1073              

862                 W    E            943                    Table B

K85                    S                Q2                     West          North(J)     East          South(E)

53                                        K982                 pass           1              pass         1NT

                        J42                                             pass           3     (1)    pass         3    (2)

105                                             pass           3      (3)    pass         4    (4)

AJ1074                                      all pass

J107                                          

                                                                             

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this North hand J in this week’s quiz? This 3 bid is best, this hand is worth a game force after a 1NT response, especially as you know that partner does not have 4 useless ’s.

(2)  What did you bid with this South hand E in this week’s quiz? This is totally wrong as partner’s 3 bid is forcing to game.

Table B:     (2)  This is the correct answer to question E. Partner’s bid is forcing, so describe your hand.

(3)   There’s no need to jump as the auction is game forcing.

(4)   This is probably best, partner is almost certainly not interested in NoTrumps as he did not bid 3 - 4th suit forcing – at (3). A bid of 3 here (4th suit) is reasonable but as I said, partner is probably not interested in 3NT and 10x is good support in context.

 

And what happened? Just two pairs got to the top spot of 4 making. 3NT was bid twice and went down -1 and -2 and even 2NT went -2. There were the usual collection of spurious contracts.

The bottom lines

-         It is interesting to compare this deal with the previous one. Here South ‘knew’ that partner was not interested in 3NT because he failed to bid 4th suit forcing – and I believe that the same applies to the previous deal.

 

 

Gold Cup = Best 30

Silver Plate = Best 10

Bronze Medal = Best 5

 

 

 Current standings

  27-Feb-2009

619.5 Janne Roos

607.6 Hans Vikman

600.9 Sally Watson

593.6 Paul Quodomine

584.0 Bob Short

580.0 Johan Bratsberg

 

323.0 Janne Roos

321.3 Hans Vikman

316.7 Sally Watson

312.0 Bob Short

308.0 Paul Quodomine

305.0 Derek & Gerard

304.0 Lars Broman

303.9 Per-Ake Roskvist

300.5 Jeremy Watson

299.9 Johan Bratsberg


When your 1NT gets overcalled                         Board 22 from Friday 27th     

 

Dealer:             10753                                         Table A

East                  AQ4                                           West          North         East          South(H)

E-W vul           A8                                              -                 -                 pass         pass

                        AQ98                                         pass           1NT           2    (1)    dbl   (2)

pass           pass   (3)    pass

AQ8                   N               4                       

1052               W    E            KJ763               Table B

K94                    S                Q7                     West          North         East          South(H)

J1074                                   K6532               -                 -                 pass         pass

                        KJ962                                        pass           1NT           2    (1)    2    (2)

98                                               pass           3      (4)    pass         4    (5)

J106532                                     all pass

-                                          

                                                                             

Table A:     (1)  ’s and a minor. As in Multi Landy or Cappelletti.

(2)   What did you bid with this South hand H in this week’s quiz? This South apparently meant it as a transfer to ’s. Now I believe that there are a few players in the club who play ‘stolen bid’ at this level and so I will attempt to put a stop to the rot now. Dbl as a transfer to ’s here is a terrible treatment (what do you do with hand G?).

(3)   This North assumed that his partner’s double was penalties; after all; what else can it possibly be?   

Table B:     (2)  This South just bid sensibly, showing a hand with 5+ ’s and wanting to compete.

(4)  With 4 ’s and good top cards, North can invite although I would not argue if you chose to pass.

(5)   With superb shape, South accepts the game invitation.

 

And what happened? Three pairs got to the top spot of 4 making. 2* by East made exactly for the E-W top.

The bottom lines

-         The ‘stolen bid’ philosophy should only be applied to ’s (and then not always – it depends what 2 means). To play it for higher bids is simply nonsense as you miss the penalty double (quite useful when partner is known to have a strong balanced hand!) and Lebensohl more than copes with all possibilities. The ONLY sensible treatment for intermediate+ players is to generally play Lebensohl, which is explained on the website.

-         I lay out a fairly comprehensive scheme for when your 1NT opening gets interfered with on a new page on the website: Conventions > Section 3 > When your 1NT opening gets doubled or overcalled.


 

 


Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:    Pass. This hand is nowhere near worth bidding game. If it had a couple more ’s you could make a try using Ogust and the modified replies for weak jump shifts.

Hand B:    (a)  1. I prefer this to 1NT when the suit is good and the doubleton very weak. I prefer the doubleton to be at least Qx before I open 1NT with a 5-card major.

(b)  2. I am quite happy supporting with good 3-card support when I have a weak doubleton – it may be a Moysian fit but even then it should play well as you can take the ruffs in the short trump hand.

Hand C:    Pass. It’s a borderline double but the fact that you have no good lead swings it for me.

Hand D:    3NT. Partner’s 2 bid does not absolutely guarantee 4 card support, so 4 is not the best bid - bid 3NT which partner will correct to 4 most of the time – when he does have 4 ’s. 2NT is an alternative.

Hand E:    3. You cannot pass – partner’s bid is game forcing.

Hand F:     (a)  1.  This is the answer given by Mike Lawrence and I agree.

(b)  3? This is the answer given by Mike Lawrence and I disagree. I think that 3, 4th suit forcing and asking partner to bid 3NT with a stop is far better, especially for non experienced / non established partnerships where it is not clear what 3 means nor if it is forcing.

Hand G:    dbl, penalties. Pretty obvious whether 2 is natural or ’s and a minor.

Hand H:    2, showing a weakish hand with 5 ’s. Do not double, obviously dbl is not a ‘stolen bid’ transfer to ’s as then you would not be answering this question but still scratching your head over the (trivial) question above.

Hand J:     3. This hand is worth the game-forcing jump after a 1NT response.

Hand K:    2, weak and pre-emptive, about 2-5 points and a 6 (maybe 7) card suit. If you play strong jump shifts (or have no agreement) then I guess that you have to pass as a 1 response will surely get you into trouble. Most experienced players play weak jump shifts, but they are not standard and need to be alerted.

 

Bidding Sequence Answers

 

L      1      pass   1      pass       3NT is bid when responder has 4 trumps and decent

2      pass   3NT                 cards in the unbid suits – just in case opener has only 3 ’s.

M    1      pass   1NT   pass       3 is game forcing.

3              

N     1NT   2      dbl                   Penalties. Full stop.stolen bid transfer’ is totally illogical.

P      1     pass   1      pass      

2     pass   2      pass       (a)  3 is only forcing if you have agreed it (e.g. play Lebensohl)

3♣/♥                                    (b)  3 is 4th suit forcing, primarily looking for 3NT.

 

       

 Ron Klinger web site