Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 355

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880 30^th Aug 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

Mon 24^th 1^st = Dave & Terry Q = Janne & Paul Q 61%

Wed 26^th 1^st Bill P & Bob S 56% 2^nd John B & Kenneth 56%

Fri 28^th 1^st Janne & Paul S 59% 2^nd Bill P & Bob S 54%

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Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A LHO opens 1♠, partner overcalls 2♣ and RHO

bids 2♠, what do you do?

♠ 643 ♠ K

♥ A1052 ♥ KQJ10

♦ AQ97 ♦ AK8 With Hand B partner opens 1♦ (4+) and you bid 1♥. Partner bids

♣ 53 ♣ AQJ73 2♥ and you ask for keycards. He has two, and if you ask he has

no king, what do you bid?

Current 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	1894.9 Janne Roos 1875.8 Hans Vikman 1842.6 Paul Quodomine 1789.8 Sally Watson 1719.4 Bob Short	673.8 Janne Roos 672.4 Hans Vikman 649.3 Paul Quodomine 633.8 Sally Watson 619.9 Jeremy Watson 618.1 Bob Short 615.1 Lars Broman 614.1 Ivy Schlageter 611.3 Gerard Hardy 611.3 Derek Tyms	350.7 Hans Vikman 350.6 Janne Roos 333.3 Paul Quodomine 324.5 Sally Watson 321.8 Ivy Schlageter 321.7 Bob Short 321.7 Jeremy Watson 321.0 Per Andersson 316.9 Terje Lie 316.1 Lars Broman

Enough for a Grand? Board 24 from Friday 28^th

Dealer: ♠ 107653 Table A

West ♥ 4 West North East(B) South

Love all ♦ 943 1♦ pass 1♥ (1) pass

♣ 10952 2♥ pass 4NT pass

5♥ pass 7♥ (2) all pass

♠ AJ9 N ♠ K

♥ A832 W E ♥ KQJ10 Table B

♦ QJ62 S ♦ AK8 West North East(B) South

♣ 64 ♣ AQJ73 1♦ pass 1♥ (1) pass

♠ Q842 2♥ pass 4NT pass

♥ 9765 5♥ pass 5NT (2) pass

♦ 1075 6♣ (3) pass 6NT (4) all pass

♣ K8

Table A: (1) 2♣ is an alternative, but since you know you are going to slam I think it makes little difference.

(2) What did you bid with this East hand B in this week’s quiz? There is a combined 35+ points with a known 4-4 ♥ fit and all of the keycards. Holding a singleton this East decided to bid the grand in ♥’s.

Table B: (2) This East was not so optimistic. They were playing a short ♣ (thus 4 ♦’s) and so he knew his partner probably had at most 5 black cards, so there would likely be at most one ♠ ruff. It seemed to him that the only realistic chance of a grand slam is if partner has the ♣K, and so he asked.

(3) This pair play simple number of kings, so this showed zero. Playing specific King responses the answer would be 6♥ - a return to the presumed trump suit.

(4) With these decent ♣’s, it seemed that the ♣K was the only possible loser and so East chose 6NT as it scores more than 6♥.

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

- It is usually best to play in a good 4-4 major suit fit, but if you have so many points that 12 trick seem inevitable, then bid NoTrumps.

- It’s against the odds to bid a grand slam on a finesse.

A bad hand for Lebensohl Board 13 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ AK976 West North East South

North ♥ J1074 - pass pass pass

Both vul ♦ J109 1NT 2♠ (1) 3NT (2) pass

♣ 10 4♥ (3) all pass

♠ QJ N ♠ 1085 (1) N-S had agreed to play the Meckwell

♥ AQ986 W E ♥ 53 defence to 1NT, and dbl systematically

♦ A732 S ♦ KQ65 shows both majors (with other options).

♣ K6 ♣ AQ73 North had the convention written down in

♠ 432 front of him but was apparently unable

♥ K2 to locate the correct bid.

♦ 84 (2) Showing values for 3NT but denying a ♠

♣ J98542 stop (playing Lebensohl).

(3) With no ♠ stop himself West bid the obvious 4♥

And what happened? 4♥-1, 3NT= and three ♦ partscores.

The bottom lines: -

- I guess ability to remember a convention discussed just 20 minutes before, and the inability to read the system bid on a crib sheet on the table after studying it, sometimes simply lucks out. And sometimes such luck will win a competition by one pip.

- Lebensohl is a great convention, unfortunately it is not good enough to detect 10xx opposite QJ as a stop. From West’s point of view, ♠10xx (or possibly singleton ♠K) was the only holding that East could possibly have to provide a stop – very unlucky.

- Of course had North made the correct systematic bid to show both majors then East would simply have bid 3NT to play (implying nothing about his major suits) and 3NT makes easily.

- The Meckwell defence to 1NT is briefly described on the website: Conventions > section 3 > Defense to 1NT

Playing the wrong board Board 1 from Friday 28^th

Board 1 was unfortunately played by the wrong pairs the first round it was played. When it was subsequently played it appears that one player took advantage by making a different bid. So I have changed it so that the original score (with the two incorrect players playing the board) stands and the two subsequent replays of the boards do not count. I believe that this is close to the WBF rules and is what will happen if this occurs again.

Paul’s Column

1) A responsive double Board 22 Monday 24^th

Dealer: ♠ J102 Table A

East ♥ KJ97 West North East(A) South

E-W vul ♦ 8652 - - pass 1♠

♣ 84 2♣ 2♠ (1) pass (2) all pass

♠ K7 N ♠ 643 Table B

♥ 86 W E ♥ A1052 West North East(A) South

♦ J104 S ♦ AQ97 - - pass 1♠

♣ AKJ972 ♣ 53 2♣ pass pass (3) dbl (4)

♠ AQ985 pass 2♠ 3♣ (5) all pass

♥ Q43

♦ K3

♣ Q106

Table A: (1) This is just about worth a raise after the overcall.

(2) What did you bid with this East hand A in this week’s quiz? This passive pass is not the answer.

Table B: (3) This East correctly surmised that his side had the majority of the points but he did not know what to do, and I agree it’s not easy. Knowing that the opponents play negative doubles and that opener would likely re-open with a double he decided to pass, quite reasonable.

(4) “automatic”.

(5) East is in virtually the same position as (2) above. He thought for a while and then bid 3♣, quite reasonable and it worked well, but actually the best bid here is as described below.

And what happened? 3♣ made +1 for a top, all other scores went to N-S, mostly for playing in 2♠.

I (Paul) did not find ‘Responsive Double’ under "conventions" on the website (Terry comment - actually there is a link in section 3 to ‘Conventional Doubles’ where it is mentioned), but since it is so useful and since such a textbook example occurred I think it is worth mentioning.

Most players are very familiar with take out doubles of opening bids, and "negative" doubles of over-calls to show values and length in the unbid suits.  The responsive double is of a similar nature.  As the name implies it is "responding" to partner's overcall when the next hand competes with a raise of opener. 

At Table A South opened 1♠ and West over-called 2♣.  North scraped up a raise to 2♠ (yeah, I was North and it was pretty thin opposite a possible 4 card suit) and this East hand passed.  2♠ was the final contract and made exactly 2.

This East hand, opposite a vulnerable 2♣ over-call, is perfect for a "responsive" double ... it has good 4 card holdings in both unbid suits, reasonable defense, and usually denies 3 card support for partner's suit but also usually holds 2.  The over-caller declined to rebid clubs with AKJxxx and the K7 of spades, perhaps fearing his side was "out-gunned" and vulnerable, but the responsive double would have told him he could proceed with some protection.  A club contract would have produced 10 tricks for +130 versus -110.  Imagine if the over-caller held ♠K7 ♥KQ86 ♦J ♣A10xxxx.  Hearts are a good fit, might even produce game on a good day, but the suit would never have been mentioned.  The responsive doubler should guarantee at least a good 4 card holding in the unbid major to allow for hands like this. 

2) Confession is good for the Soul Board 8 from Monday 24^th

Or so they say.  I don't mind, after some critical comments regarding opponents or partner's bids/plays, telling a few about myself.
Playing a new system of responses to over-calls which are treated as opening bids I held:

♠ K3
♥ A9
♦ AQ84
♣ J10764

RHO with all white opened 1♣.  I got frisky and over-called 1♦!  Yes, that's bold but the auction was about to get a lot hotter.  LHO bid 2♥ (weak) and partner was in there with 2♠, passed to me.  This I had drilled into me by my Swedish friends was forcing (unlike standard). I prefer that it be constructive and NON-forcing but I'm in a fix here.  I can't pass or that big guy polishing the baseball bat will be pissed off and I can't outrun him!  I figured that having dug a hole into which our score would be buried I'd bid 2NT.  Partner, ever the optimist, raised to 3NT!  Perhaps he hasn't seen my over-calls before.
On the low ♣ lead he tabled:

♠ Q9864
♥ QJ84
♦ K93
♣ 2

Not the contract of my dreams, other than ones I wake up screaming from!
The ♣ was won on my right with the ♣K, a ♣ returned to the ♣J and ♣Q, pitching a ♠ from dummy, and a 3rd ♣ played to the ♣A on my right again pitching a ♠.  Now the ♥5 from my right, an obvious singleton, and I can see my fate.  It involves a large and enraged man with a baseball bat!
I ducked, what else, and LHO won the ♥K and returned a ♥ won in hand.  The position was now this:

♠ Q98 ♠ K3
♥ QJ ♥ void
♦ K93 ♦ AQ84
♣ void ♣ 107

Thank Buddha they didn't cash the spade ace!!  Being in hand I cashed the two good ♣’s pitching another two ♠’s, crossed to the ♦K, and cashed the ♥’s reducing to ♠Q and ♦93 in dummy and ♥AQ8 in hand giving up my ♠K3.  RHO had to discard on the last heart from dummy with ♠A and ♦J1052.  Such an easy squeeze, and to think I ever questioned forcing responses to overcalls!
(I should always be so lucky!)

3) If you are going to play a new system… you are going to screw up.

Board 9 from Monday 24^th

The Swedes (Hans and Janne) are trying to teach me their Swedish system of responses to 1NT openings.  Thus far this blockhead has seldom gotten it right.  Sometimes the opponents are equally adrift however.  Here’s an example

Holding:

♠ 1076
♥ A72
♦ KQ106
♣ AKJ

I opened 1NT.  Partner bid 2♦, relay to 2♥, but I totally forgot that it had multiple meanings of which one was "I'm going to bid 2♠ TO PLAY."  He did indeed bid 2♠.  With the system notes in my hip pocket and my mind on a golf course in Hua Hin (or perhaps a really cute waitress) I now bid 3NT!  Disaster! (?)

Partner held:

♠ K9853
♥ 863
♦ 52
♣ Q54

There's that baseball bat again, and he's a REALLY big guy.  OOPS!  A low ♣ was led to my ♣K and I passed the ♠6 to the ♠J.  A ♣ came back won in hand and a second ♠ lead popped the ♠A on my left.  At this point apparently neither opponent realized I was rather lacking in ♥ stoppers.  A third ♣ was led won with the ♣Q, RHO discarding a ♥, and I cashed tthree ♠’s in dummy discarding two ♥’s from hand.  With the lead in dummy I was down to the ♥A and ♦KQ106.  The ♦K lead sealed the deal with LHO having already discarded one from J83 and RHO one from A974. 3NT making +1 was a clear top.
Morals:
1) KNOW YOUR SYSTEM!
2) If you screw it up, don't GIVE up.  Maybe something good will happen.  And maybe you can outrun your partner later anyway!

<end of Paul’s column>

Dave’s Column Here is Dave’s first on the play of the hand.

North South You are North, declarer in 4♠. East leads the ♦A,

plan the play.

♠ AKQ42 ♠ 963

♥ AK863 ♥ Q4

♦ K ♦ 9843

♣ K8 ♣ 6532

Dave’s Column answer Board 17 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ AKQ42 Book bidding

North ♥ AK863 West North East South

Love all ♦ K - 2♣ (1) pass 2♦

♣ K8 pass 2♠ pass 2NT

pass 3♥ pass 4♠

♠ 105 N ♠ J87 all pass

♥ J1072 W E ♥ 95

♦ J1075 S ♦ AQ62 (1) Many experienced players do not like to

♣ QJ10 ♣ A974 open 2♣ on two-suiters like this, especially

♠ 963 with a possibly worthless ♦K.

♥ Q4

♦ 9843 East leads the ♦A, plan the play.

♣ 6532

What a silly lead! The lead of the ♦A into a strong 2♣ opener seems ludicrous to me (imagine North’s minors reversed), I would lead the seemingly obvious ♠7 and the ♣A is surely better than the ♦A away from the ♦Q?

Anyway, let’s proceed assuming that East does actually lead the seemingly ludicrous ♦A, I don’t think that it affects the problem.

After North ruffed the second ♦, he drew trumps in three rounds and led a ♣ to the ♣K. East took the ♣A and forced North to ruff another ♦ with his last trump. North would still have been safe if the ♥’s had split 3-3, but he went two down when West turned up with ♥J1072.

North does better to cash only two high trumps. He next take the ♥Q and ♥A and leads a low ♥. If East discards, North ruffs in dummy and can ruff a ♦, draw trumps and run the ♥’s, losing two ♣’s and a ♦.

If instead East ruffs with the ♠J on the third ♥, dummy throws a ♣. North ruffs the ♦ return and throws two more ♣’s from dummy on the good ♥’s. He loses a ♣ but ruffs a ♣ in dummy.

Did you foresee that North might get his tenth trick by ruffing a ♣ in dummy?

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 4♠+1, 2♥+1, 1♥+1 and 1♠+2 twice.

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

West East You are East, declarer in 4♥.

♠ A43 ♠ KQ7 South leads the ♦J which you win with the ♦K.

♥ 1063 ♥ AK842 You cash the ♥A and see South drop the ♥J,

♦ A75 ♦ K43 how do you continue?

♣ 8632 ♣ A5

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 18 from Wednesday 26^th

Dealer: ♠ 1096 Book bidding

East ♥ Q975 West North East South

N-S vul ♦ 962 - - 1♥ pass

♣ KQJ 2♥ pass 4♥ all pass

♠ A43 N ♠ KQ7 South leads the ♦J which you win with the ♦K.

♥ 1063 W E ♥ AK842 You cash the ♥A and see South drop the ♥J,

♦ A75 S ♦ K43 how do you continue?

♣ 8632 ♣ A5

♠ J852

♥ J

♦ QJ108

♣ 10974

You should be cautious, realising the value of the ♥8. Do not continue with the ♥K because if South discards you will lose two ♥’s, one ♦ and one ♣. Instead, be willing to sacrifice a potential overtrick to guarantee your contract. At trick three lead a low ♥ from hand.

Here, North takes dummy’s ♥10 with his ♥Q and returns the ♣K. Win with your ♣A, play a ♠ (or ♦) to dummy’s ace and lead a ♥ to your hand. You cover North’s card and draw his remaining trump and have ten tricks.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 4♥+1, 4♥=twice and 4♥-1 twice.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: dbl. This is a responsive (or competitive) double. Showing the two unbid suits and usually doubleton support for partner. You know that your side has the majority of the points and so you have to make a noise, this is the best noise with 3♣ being the less attractive alternative.

Hand B: 6NT. It is unlikely that you will make 13 tricks without the ♣’s coming in for more than one trick, so bid the higher scoring small slam.