Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                       Club News Sheet – No. 481
Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                    
My mobile phone number is 083 6066880                                                            5thJan 2012
My e-mail is terry@pattayabridge.com or pattayabridge@yahoo.com
My Windows Live Messenger is tj_quested@hotmail.com

Mon 30th  N-S      1st   Sean & Jeremy               62%            2nd  Paul Q & Martin H        52%
                 E-W     1st   Bob S & Lars G             65%            2nd  Gerard & Derek             59%
Wed 1st    N-S      1st   Jeremy & Ron                61%            2nd  Paul Q & Dave C           59%
                 E-W     1st   Enzo & Alan K              55%            2nd  Gerard & Derek             54%
Fri 3rd       N-S      1st   Alan K & Per-Ake         68%            2nd  Bob S & Ari J                57%
                E-W     1st     Jens & Kristinn               60%            2nd  Henry & Sigurd              52%

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

 

Hand A           Hand B                 With Hand A partner opens 1NT and RHO bids 2♣ (both
                                                      Majors). What do you bid?
♠ Q4                ♠ K96                                     
♥ 743               ♥ J102                                    
♦ Q                  ♦ AK54                 With Hand B you open 1NT and LHO bids 2♣ (both Majors).
♣ K1086532   ♣ A97                   Partner bids 3♣, what do you bid?

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz        

C      1NT  2♣     3♣                                       2♣ was for the majors, is 3♣ forcing?

D      1NT  2♥      pass   3♦                              2♥ showed ♥’s and a minor, what is 3♦?

 

 


An adjusted score?                                              14 from Friday 3rd Feb 

I was asked to give an adjusted score on this board because there no alert. After hearing
what happen and what West would have bid had there been an alert I said the there was no
damage. West was not happy with this ruling as and appealed. At the end of the session the
only senior player left was Alan Kleist and he said that E-W were damaged.
Upon re-examining the hand at home, I am convinced that my original ruling was correct
and the failure to alert did no harm to E-W (in fact it helped them) and I let the result stand.
Would experienced players please give me their comments.
     
Dealer:             ♠ AJ73                                          Bidding            
East                 ♥ 85                                               West          North         East           South
Love all           ♦ 98732                                         -                 -                 1NT           2♣    (1)
                        ♣ J4                                               pass  (2)     2♠    (3)      pass           pass                                                                                                                                                                                3♣              pass            pass          3♠
♠ Q4                      N             ♠ K96                      all pass
♥ 743                 W    E          ♥ J102                    
♦ Q                        S              ♦ AK54             (1)  Not alerted
♣ K1086532                         ♣ A97               (2)  assuming 2♣ was natural, West passed (I
                        ♠ 10853                                         would double but that is irrelevant).
                        ♥ AKQ96                                (3)  As I understand it, North bid 2♠ and then
                        ♦ J106                                            belatedly said that partner’s bid showed the
                        ♣ Q                                               majors.

I was called over. I asked what West would have bid had the 2♣ bid been alerted. He said
that he would have bid 3♣. This is generally played as forcing and I judged that E-W would get
in a mess and ruled that no harm was done.
West later appealed but I still believe that I am correct. 3♣ makes and so he thought that he
should have been allowed to play there as North would not venture 3♠ with such a weak hand.
This latter is probably true but 3♣ is forcing and East would surly try 3NT which goes 2 down.
If West wants to play in 3♣ then he should learn the Lebensohl convention. If West had told
me that he would have bid 2NT (Lebensohl) at (2) then I would indeed have changed the score to
3♣= by East. With a 7 card suit and 7 points I would bid 3♣ (forcing) or maybe a direct 3NT and
say ‘sorry partner’ when he goes 2 down in 3NT.
Of course if East had a slightly different hand, say with the ♥4 in place of the ♦4, then 3NT
makes I would  have adjusted the result to 3NT=.

The bottom lines:

  1. If there is a failure to alert, you may get an adjusted score, but only if you were damaged.

And the score you get should be for the contract that you are most likely to reach had there
been no failure to alert. In this example E-W scored +50 for 3♠-1, I doubt that they would
have been impressed if I changed it to 3NT-2 and so -100; in light of their appealing my
decision, perhaps I should have done this?

  1. Learn the Lebensohl convention, it is the most under-rated convention out there.

Dave’s Column              Bidding: a convoluted auction to 6♣ by North         

North               South                           You are West, declarer in 6♣. It looks trivial – you have  
♠ 65           ♠ AK7                         12 top tricks provided the trumps are not 5-0. If East has
♥ J1075           ♥ KQ                           ♣Jxxxx there is no hope, so plan the play if West has
♦ A2                ♦ KJ853                       ♣Jxxxx.
♣ AK1094      ♣ Q63                  


Dave’s Column Answer              Board 11 from Wednesday 25th Jan 
     
Dealer:             ♠ 65                                               Bidding            
South               ♥ J1075                                        
Love all           ♦ A2                                              a convoluted auction to 6♣ by North
                        ♣ AK1094
                                                                                               
♠ Q108                  N             ♠ J9432                  
♥ A93                W    E          ♥ 8642                    
♦ 74                       S              ♦ Q1096           
♣ J8752                                 ♣ -                    
                        ♠ AK7                                    
                        ♥ KQ                                
                        ♦ KJ853                             Plan the play on the ♠3 lead.
                        ♣ Q63                              

You won the ♠ lead and played the ♣Q. Right? If you didn’t, you should have.
If East start with ♣Jxxxx he has a sure trump trick and if he ha ♣Jxxx you will not find out
soon enough to do anything about it. So you should plan to guard against the bad trump breaks
that you can manage, i.e. when West has them. If both follow to the first round of ♣’s then it’s
fairly easy. The big payoff for cashing the ♣Q comes when East shows out. Finesse the ♣10
next and be sure to knock out the ♥A before drawing all the trumps.

 

Dave’s 2nd Column

West                East                                     West          North         East           South
♠ AJ6              ♠ K5432                             -                 -                 1NT           pass
♥ AKJ8643     ♥ Q102                              6♥              all pass
♦ J2                  ♦ K3                                       
♣ 3                                                  ♣ AK5
                                                       
You are West, declarer in 6♥. North leads the ♣Q. Trumps are 2-1, plan the play.

                                                                                     


Dave’s 2nd Column Answer            Board 10 from Wednesday 4th Feb 
     
Dealer:             ♠ Q107                                          Bidding            
East                 ♥ 5                                                 West          North         East           South
both vul           ♦ Q8654                                        -                 -                 1NT           6♥
                        ♣ QJ108                                        all pass
                                                                             
♠ AJ6                    N             ♠ K5432           
♥ AKJ8643       W     E          ♥ Q102                   
♦ J2                        S              ♦ K3                       
♣ 3                                                                  ♣ AK5 
                        ♠ 98                                        
                        ♥ 97                                   North leads the ♣Q. Trumps are 2-1, plan the play.
                        ♦ A1097                           
                        ♣ 97642                           

Win the opening lead, play the ♥A and a ♥ to dummy, cash the ♠AK to see if the ♠Q drops. If
it drops you are home with all the tricks. If the ♠Q does not drop discard a ♠ on the ♣K and ruff a
♠. Dummy’s remaining ♥ is an entry to the now good ♠’s and you again make an overtrick.

 

Bidding Quiz Answers  

Hand A:   3♣ (forcing) or 3NT. If you feel that the hand is not good enough for game then you
                  can let partner play in 3♣ if you understand the Lebensohl convention.
Hand B:    3NT. Nothing else is sensible.

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers      

C      1NT   2♣      3♣                      Forcing. When partner opens 1NT and RHO overcalls then
                                                           2-level bids are to play and 3-level bids are forcing.
                                                           You have many more options if you play Lebensohl.
                                                          
D      1NT   2♥      pass    3♦             3♦ is to play, it simply says that my suit is longer than either
                                                           of partner’s suits.