Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                           Club News Sheet – No. 460

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                              4th Sept 2011

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

My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com

 

Mon 5th             1st   Frode & Niels                      57%            2nd  Gerard & Derek             56%
Wed 7th          1st   Gus & Guttorm                    61%            2nd  Paul Sc & Dave H          57%
Fri 9th             1st  Dave C & Terry                   69%            2nd Dave Hurst                     60%

Bidding Quiz          Standard American (short ♣) bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A           Hand B           With Hand A it’s both vul. What do you open in first seat?

♠ K765432      ♠ AQ9                                    
♥ -                   ♥ Q9865                                 
♦ 973               ♦ KJ8               With Hand B partner opens 3♠, what do you do? 
♣ AQ7            ♣ K3                                      

Hand C           Hand D           With Hand C partner opens 1♦, what do you bid?

♠ A42              ♠ 96              
♥ J93               ♥ AQ72           With Hand D you open 1♦ and partner bids 2♣, what do you bid?
♦ A10654        ♦ KQ32        
♣ AJ                ♣ K93  

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

1821.9 Hans Vikman
1812.8 Janne Roos
1789.6 Bob Short
1761.0 Paul Quodomine
1756.0 Sigurd Zahl
1741.5 Gerard Hardy
1733.9 Derek Tyms
1725.0 Tomas Wikman
1722.5 Paul Scully
1718.0 Bob Pelletier

647.4 Hans Vikman
639.9 Bob Short
639.8 Per Andersson
640.2 Paul Quodomine
631.1 Janne Roos
624.0 Lars Broman
619.5 Sigurd Zahl
619.4 Paul Scully
617.9 Gerard Hardy
616.8 Derek Tyms

334.0 Bob Short
332.2 Per Andersson
329.9 Hans Vikman
325.3 Paul Scully
321.9= Gerard Hardy
321.9= Derek Tyms
321.7 Lars Broman
320.4 Janne Roos
319.7 Niels Steino
319.5 Dave Hurst

Dave’s Column

West                East                                         Book Bidding
♠ K983            ♠ QJ107542                            West       North        East           South
♥ Q652            ♥ A3                                       -             -                 3♠              pass
♦ AQJ              ♦ 83                                        4♠          all pass
♣ A4               ♣ 96
        

You are East, declarer in 4♠. South leads the ♣K. You could lose one trick in each suit if you
are not careful. What is your best chance to make ten tricks? Plan the play.


Dave’s Column Answer               Board 14 from Wednesday 7th Sept. 
     
Dealer:             ♠ 6                                                 Bidding            
East                 ♥ K987                                          West          North         East           South
Love all           ♦ K1097                                        -                 -                 3♠              pass
                        ♣ J853                                           pass           4♠              al pass
                                                                             
♠ K983                  N             ♠ QJ107542           
♥ Q652              W    E          ♥ A3                      
♦ AQJ                    S              ♦ 83                  
♣ A4                                     ♣ 96
                        ♠ A                                         
                        ♥ J104                               South leads the ♣K, plan the play for declarer.
                        ♦ 6542                              
                        ♣ KQ1072                       
                                                                       
It is not a good idea to pin all of your hopes on the ♦ finesse. That is only a 50% chance.
It would be an error to duck the first ♣. South has an easy switch to the ♥J and when North
turns up with both red kings, you will fail. It would also be wrong to take the ♣A and lead a
trump as South will win, cash the ♣K and lead the ♥j and it’s curtains again.
You have four losers, one too many. Loser can be eliminated by ruffing in the short trump
hand (not applicable here) or by discarding on dummy’s extra winners. Here dummy has no
extra winner yet and so you have to set up that extra trick at once. Win the ♣A and lead the ♦Q
at trick two (you have no convenient entry to take the ♦ finesse). Now you have an extra
winner in dummy on which you can discard a ♥ loser.
And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Everybody was in 4♠-1.
The bottom line:

  1. In order to eliminate a loser, you may need to delay drawing trumps in order to set up an
    extra trick urgently.

     

    Dave’s 2nd Column

    North               South                                       Bidding
    ♠ K765432      ♠ AQ9                                     West       North(A)      East        South(B)
    ♥ -                   ♥ Q9865                                  -                 3♠  (1)        pass        ?    (2)
    ♦ 973               ♦ KJ8                                      
    ♣ AQ7            ♣ K3                                      
                                                    (1)  What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz?
                                                    (2)  What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz?
                                                                                 
    Dave’s second column this week is about bidding.
    When first played, North opened 3♠ and everybody passed. North made 12 tricks for +230.
    South argued that North had two defensive tricks and should open 1♠. North countered that
    the hand was not a 1-level bid and that the ♠ game was decent without the ♣A.
    Where did N-S go wrong?


    Dave’s 2nd Column Answer           Board 13 from Wednesday 7th Sept.
         
    Dealer:             ♠ K765432                                    Bidding
    North               ♥ -                                                 West          North(A)      East           South(B)
    Both vul            ♦ 973                                             -                 3♠    (1)      pass           ?       (2)
                            ♣ AQ7                                         
                                                                           
    ♠ 8                         N             ♠ J10                      
    ♥ A1043            W    E          ♥ KJ72             
    ♦ Q1062                S              ♦ A54                     
    ♣ 10654                                ♣ J982                    
                            ♠ AQ9                                          
                            ♥ Q9865          (1)  What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz?
                            ♦ KJ8               (2)  What did you bid with this South hand B in this week’s quiz?
                            ♣ K3                                            

    Pre-emptive bidding has evolved to the point that there are no absolute truths. The
    requirements for a first seat three level opening are a matter for partnership discussion. I (the
    original author) like to have a good suit, and not too much outside. The North hand, wth two
    outside first-round controls and a poor suit, would not qualify. Given a choice between 1♠ and
    3♠, I would open 1♠ and believe that that would be the mainstream choice.
    The purist in me, however, would prefer to pass now and bid later. The hand would be
    described well by a passed hand jump in ♠’s over opposition bidding. But if the opponents were
    at the three of four level I would be committed to bidding in any case (indeed, that is part of the
    case for opening 1♠). Partner would know that I had long ♠’s, unsuitable for an opening action
    (outside cards, weak suit, insufficient high cards for an opening bid). In the actual lay-out N-S
    would have no trouble reaching game after a pass by North and a 1♥ opening by South.
    Nonetheless, South should raise a 3♠ opening to 4♠. It’s always a good idea to raise with a
    fit. Here you expect to make 4♠ with a high frequency.

     

    Inverted Minors                                                  Board 13 from Friday 9th

    When you have a decent hand with just one good minor suit and partner opens your minor,
    you have a problem using natural methods. Tables A & B on the next page were from the
    individual with unfamiliar partnerships.


    Dealer:             ♠ 96                                               Table A
    North               ♥ AQ72                                         West          North         East           South(C)
    Both  vul         ♦ KQ32                                         -                 1♦              pass           1♥     (1)
                            ♣ K93                                           pass           2♥              pass           3NT
                                                                                  pass           4♥              pass           pass  (2)
    ♠ 873                     N             ♠ KQJ105              
    ♥ K1084            W    E          ♥ 65                         Table B
    ♦ J                          S              ♦ 987                       West          North(D)   East           South(C)
    ♣ Q8652                                ♣ 1074                    -                 1♦              pass           2♣    (2)
                            ♠ A42                                            pass           pass  (3)     pass
                            ♥ J93                                            
                            ♦ A10654                                      Inverted minors auction
                            ♣ AJ                                              West          North         East           South(C)
                                                                                  -                 1♦              pass           2♦     (1)
                                                                                  pass           2♥     (4)     pass           3NT  (5)           all pass                                                                                                            

    Table A:    (1)  What did you bid with this South hand C in this week’s quiz? This is very awkward
                            playing natural methods. You have no forcing ♦ raise available and 3NT
                            would be wrong if there is no ♥ stop or if there is a ♦ slam. So you have to lie, but
                            I personally do not like to lie in a major!
                      (2)  South just has to hope that 4♥ makes.
    Table B:     (1)  This is the recommended bid for question C if you have no conventional means of
                            solving this problem – lie in the other minor.
                      (3)  Unfortunately North did not realize that the bid was forcing!
                            But what did you bid with this North hand D in this week’s quiz? This example is
                            a good advert for playing that a reverse does not necessarily show extra values
                            after a two-level response. I don’t like 2NT with no semblance of a ♠ stop and 2♥
                            must surely be best…
    Inverted:     (1)  … But playing Inverted Minors, all of your problems are solved and 2♦ is forcing.
                      (4)  Partner’s 2♦ bid denies a 4-card major and one bids stoppers up the line. So 2♥
                            here is just showing a ♥ stop.
                      (5)  South now has an easy 3NT bid. An alternative is to show the ♠ stop hoping that
                             partner will play the hand in the eventual 3NT.

    The bottom lines:

    1. Playing Inverted Minors solves the problem of having excellent support for partner’s minor.
    2. An Inverted minor auction is forcing to 2NT or 3-of-the minor. If either party has extras he
      must push on and cannot sign off with 2NT or 3m..

    Bidding Quiz Answers  

    Hand A:   Pass, 1♠ or 3♠. This is a Dave column problem and the author puts the case for all
                      three, with his preference being the order above.
    Hand B:    4♠. With these ♠ honours the game should usually make.
    Hand C:   2♣. You have a problem as no ♦ bid is forcing. So you have to lie and it’s best to
                      lie with 2♣ (this is better than lying in a major as you may well end up playing in
                      the major). You could simply bid 3NT but it’s best to take it slowly with no ♥ stop.
                      Of course if you play Inverted Minors you bid 2♦ (forcing).
    Hand D:   2♥, that’s if you do not play this reverse as showing extra values or reversing shape
                      after a two-level response, which seems very sensible to me in this sequence. 2♦
                      with a 4-card suit does not look attractive and neither does 2NT with no ♠ stop.
                      3♣ is an alternative I suppose?