Our website is www.pattayabridge.com                             Club News Sheet – No. 294

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com                                 

My home phone is 038 422924 and my mobile number is 083 6066880              22nd June 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

       
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Mon 23rd      1st  Bob & Robbie = Dave & Ivy                                                        59%

Wed 25th      1st  Janne & PerAke           65 %      2nd    Dave & Terry = Bob & Nick        56%

Fri 27th         1st  Janne & Jan                  63%       2nd    Oli & Sally                                   57%

 

Bidding Quiz                    Stand American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

 

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

 

A542            K86              With Hand B what do you bid if:

A43              1075             (a) partner opens 1NT?

9873             AQ42           (b) partner opens 1?     

AK               J52

                                                                       

Hand C           Hand D           With Hand C partner opens 1 and RHO bids 1, what do

you bid?

K2                Q6                                      

A10              AKQJ9732 

KQ10863     Q8                With Hand D partner opens 1 and you bid 1. Partner then

J83               5                    jumps to 2 (game forcing), what do you bid?

 

Hand E            Hand F            Hand G           With Hand E partner opens 1, what do you bid?

                                             

7                   AQ97           KJ1072        With Hand F you open 1 and LHO overcalls 1.

A852            K754            5                   What do you do if:    (a) partner bids 2?

AKQ10865  J7                  A92                                              (b) partner bids 3?

9                  Q64             AQ63          

                                                                        With Hand G you open 1 and partner bids 2, what do you bid?

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz

 

H     1     1      2                    Is 2 forcing?

J      1     1      3                    What is 3?

K     1      2     3                    What is 3?

L      1     pass   1      pass       2 is natural and strong, 3 is 4th suit and 3NT shows a stop.

        2      pass   3      pass      (a)  What does 4 mean?

        3NT   pass   4/5                (b)  What does 5 mean??

M    1     pass   1      pass       The jump to 2 is strong, but is it passable, forcing for one

        2                                        round, or game forcing?


Hand Evaluation                                            Board 13 from Monday 20th 

 

Dealer:             QJ73                                          Table A

North               KJ2                                            West(A)     North         East(B)       South

both vul            K65                                           1NT (1)      pass           3NT (2)      all pass

764                                     

Table B     

A542                 N             K86                      West(A)     North         East(B)       South

A43               W    E          1075                     1             pass           1NT (3)      all pass

9873                  S              AQ42                  

AK                                     J52                      

                        109                                           

Q986                                        

J10                                             

Q10983                                    

 

Table A:     (1)  What did you open with this West hand A in this week’s quiz? Before evaluation it is 15 points; but read any book on hand evaluation and you will discover that AK doubleton is not worth 7 points - points are good in long suits. By the same token xxxx is very bad - you need points in your longer suits. This hand has 4 quick tricks and that’s about it - with very few possibilities of generating extra tricks. It is not worth 1NT and should bid as table B.

(2)  What did you bid with this East hand B(a) in this week’s quiz? I think it’s borderline. Knock off a point for the totally flat shape but add on a bit for the ten. I would not argue with 2NT or 3NT but would probably settle for 2NT at pairs (maybe 3NT if vulnerable at teams).

Table B:     (1)  This West got it right and opened just 1.

(3)  What did you bid with this East hand B(b) in this week’s quiz? It’s not good enough for 2NT and raising ’s is not attractive with this flat shape, 1NT is best.

 

And what happened? 1NT made +1 for a joint top. At two other tables 2NT and 3NT both went one down.

The bottom lines: -

-         Understand Hand Evaluation. This West hand IS NOT worth 15 points. This deal demonstrates why perfectly. East has a fairly reasonable raise to 3NT, suits split reasonably well and the K is onside – yet 3NT stands no chance! Put the K with South and even 2NT goes down. Why, with a combined 25 points and no bad splits, is 3NT not making? It is not unlucky - the main reason is that the West hand is not worth a 1NT opener; AK doubleton is a waste of 7 ‘points’ – points belong in long suits. The other reason also concerns hand evaluation; this East hand, because of the 3343 shape, is only worth 9 points, but it does have a ten and so the raise to 3NT is not as bad as the opening 1NT bid.

 


Don’t bid Blackwood with a weak suit                Board 11 from Wednesday 22nd  

 

Nobody likes to have A,K cashed against their slam and so it is unwise to bid Blackwood if you have a wide open suit in which partner has promised nothing.

 

Dealer:             KJ73                                          Table A

South               1054                                           West          North         East(D)      South

Love all            7542                                          1             pass           1              pass

96                                              2    (1)      pass           4NT   (2)    pass

                                                      5              pass           pass   (3)    pass

A984                 N             Q6                       

-                     W    E          AKQJ9732          “Expert” Table

KJ93                 S              Q8                       West          North         East(D)      South

AKQ32                              5                          1             pass           1              pass

                        1052                                          2    (1)      pass           3    (2)      pass

86                                              3NT (4)      pass           5   (5)      pass

A106                                         5              pass           6              all pass

J10874                                      

 

Table A:     (1)  A ‘high’ reverse – game forcing.

                  (2)  What did you bid with this East hand D in this week’s quiz? Jumping into Blackwood is rarely a good idea – it’s usually best to find out more about partner’s hand. Anyway, this East chose Blackwood which is a poor bid for a number of reasons:

                        (i)   If partner has two aces then you don’t know if the opponents have two tricks off the top or not.

(ii)  With this RKCB bid ’s are trumps and so there will be two aces missing

if partner responds 5 when holding the K (quite likely as he has bid ’s).

(3)  East had no idea if there were two losers off the top or not and so passed.

“Expert”     (2)  This is easily the best answer to question D. Fourth suit forcing enables

 Table:              East to find out more about partner’s hand – and in particular if he has a stop.

                  (4) I have a stop – showing a stop in the 4th suit (by bidding NoTrumps) is always the first priority.

(5)  This is Gerber – a jump in ’s after partner’s NoTrump bid. 4 would be natural looking for a slam. The big advantage here over bidding 4NT at (2) at Table A is that not only does East know that partner has the ace or king, but this Gerber bid asks for aces and the unimportant K will not be included.

 

And what happened? At the other two tables they did not even make a try and played in 4. Everybody made 12 tricks.

The bottom lines: -

-     Don’t jump straight into Blackwood if there is a better bid.

-     Don’t use RKCB if the ‘trump’ suit king is of no use to you.

-     Don’t use Blackwood with a weak suit in which partner has shown nothing.

-     It is usually unwise/unsound to bid Blackwood/Gerber unless you are prepared to bid slam with one keycard/ace missing.

-     Gerber is always a jump in ’s after partner has bid NoTrumps.

 


40% slams are against the odds                         Board 21 from Wednesday 22nd 

 

A slam missing an ace and also QJ10x in the trump suit should be avoided if you have the bidding expertise in your repertoire. Roman Keycard Blackwood will often be sufficient.

 

Dealer:             J984                                           Table A

North               Q10                                            West(E)     North         East            South

N-S vul            J4                                               -                 pass           1              pass

Q10862                                     4   (1)      pass           4    (2)      pass

                                                      6    (3)      all pass                

7                        N             KQ                      

A852              W    E          K9763                  “Expert” Table

AKQ10865       S              9732                    West(E)     North         East            South

9                                        A4                        -                 pass           1              pass

                        A106532                                   2NT (1)      pass           4    (4)      pass

J4                                              4NT (5)      pass           5    (6)      pass

-                                                  pass (7)      pass

KJ753                                       

 

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this West hand E in this week’s quiz? This 4 bid was apparently asking for aces and is just as inefficient, perhaps more so, than the RKCB bid at table A on the previous article.

                  (2)  One ace (the 4 bid did not even ask about the K)

(3)  A total and very silly gamble that is way against the odds.

“Expert”     (1)  Our experts know to ‘take it slow’ of course. This 2NT bid is Jacoby 2NT, it

 Table:              sets ’s as trumps and asks opener to describe his hand.

                  (4) This jump to 4 shows a total minimum.

(5)  West is still interested in slam of course, and he needs to know about keycards and also if partner has the Q (or six ’s). RKCB does this perfectly.

(6)  two keycards, but not the Q and only 5 ’s

(7)  Knowing that slam is against the odds, West sensibly stops at the 5-level.

 

And what happened? 4+2 once and 6= twice. The miserable slam luckily rolled home when the trumps split 2-2 and East fortunately had the K.

The bottom lines: -

-     Don’t jump straight into an ace ask if there is a better bid.

-     With a trump suit, one needs to play RKCB and include the trump king in the initial response.

-     Primitive, crude... as I don’t wish to be sued for libel, I shall not say any more about West’s bidding at table A; and anyway, I don’t have enough room on this page.

-     A 2-2 split is 40%.


A new suit after intervention                               Board 22 from Monday 20th 

 

A couple of people got this fairly basic bidding situation very wrong on Monday:

 

Dealer:             84                                               Table A

East                  QJ932                                        West(C)     North         East(F)       South

E-W vul           95                                               -                 -                 1             1

10752                                        3    (1)      pass           pass (2)      pass

 

K2                     N             AQ97                   Table B

A10                W    E          K754                    West(C)     North         East(F)       South

KQ10863          S              J7                          -                 -                 1             1

J83                                     Q64                     2    (1)      pass           pass (3)      pass

                        J10653                                     

86                                             

A42                                           

AK9                                          

 

Table A:     (1)  What did you bid with this West hand C in this week’s quiz? This West thought that 3 was natural, strong and forcing; so he bid it.

(2)  What did you bid with this West hand F(b) in this week’s quiz? East thought that 3 was weak and so he passed. He has my sympathies and I would do the same as it’s unlikely that it’s a splinter agreeing ’s.

Table B:     (1)  This West got it right and bid a natural forcing 2.

(3)  What did you bid with this East hand F(a) in this week’s quiz? With these nice ’s 2NT looks pretty obvious. Unfortunately East did not appreciate that 2 was forcing.

 

And what happened? 3 made +1, 2 made +3 but the other two tables bid to 3NT making +1 and +2. The bottom lines: -

-         If partner opens and RHO overcalls, then a new suit by you is natural and forcing. This is true unless you have explicitly agreed to play Negative Free Bids, which I do not recommend and few people in the club play them – and if you do then they need alerting.

-         The meaning of the jump (as at Table A) has to be agreed. West at table A actually came over to me during the game and asked. I said that 2 was natural and forcing, so that 3 is then either a splinter or a weak bid, according to partnership agreement. He then went back and said to his partner ‘Terry says either weak or strong – according to partnership agreement’. I am used to being mis-quoted, but to get it wrong in the ten seconds walking from one table to the next really is a bit extreme.

-         Anyway, in my opinion it’s probably best to play it as a splinter over a major suit opening and as a weak natural jump shift over a minor suit opening.

 

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

 

West                East                You are East, declarer in 6 (or 6NT). South leads the Q,

43                 AKQJ10     plan the play.

AKQ65        32              

876               AK9                                          

742              AJ6                                           


Dave’s Column answer                      Board 18 from Wednesday 25th    

     

Dealer:             86                                               West          North         East            South

East                  J987                                           -                 -                 2             pass

N-S vul            532                                            2              pass           2              pass

                        Q1083                                       3              pass           3NT           pass    

5NT (1)      pass           6              all pass

43                       N             AKQJ10        

AKQ65          W    E          32                   (1)  Pick a slam.

876                     S              AK9                            

742                                    AJ6                      South leads the Q, plan the play

                        9752                                    

104                                      

QJ104                                  

K95                                           

 

There is a loser and two possible losers. The bright side is that you did not receive a lead and you have an extra winner in ’s and perhaps more depending upon the division of the suit.

Now count tricks. You have five ’s, three ’s, two ’s and one for a total of eleven. You need one more trick.

Consider the suit, if you needed 5 tricks, or had to make your 12 tricks without letting the opponents in (if they had initially led a ) then the suit must divide 3-3 (36%). However, you only need 4 tricks. Do you see it?

Win the opening lead with the A, draw trumps, discarding minor suits, and DUCK a . Win the minor suit return and if ’s break 4-2 you make your slam.

 

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Two pairs were in the better contract of 6NT but both missed the duck and went one down. The top score was a cautious 2+3

 

Terry’s Comment. 6 is the best contract (assuming a lead) as you can then try the ’s from the top as you have an entry to the 5th if they split 4-2 (it is a trump).

Any slam is hopeless on a lead, but these problems are contrived such that the opening lead is obvious.


Dave’s 2nd Column                                 Board 17 from Wednesday 25th   

     

This is a hand that Dave played against Bridge Baron. He put it in to see if anyone would emulate the BB’s conservative bidding

 

Dealer:             KJ1072                                      Bridge Baron Bidding

North               5                                                 West          North(G)    East            South

Love all            A92                                            -                 1              pass           2

AQ63                                         pass           2NT (1)      pass           3NT (2)

 

Q83                   N             953                       Table A

J86                 W    E          Q1073                  West          North(G)    East            South

KJ874                 S              10653                   -                 1              pass           2

98                                      105                      pass           3   (1)      pass           4NT (3)

                        A6                                             pass           5    (4)      pass           7   (5)

AK942                                      all pass

Q                                               

KJ742                                       

 

Bridge        (1)  What did you bid with this North hand G in this week’s quiz? It is a matter of

Baron:              style/partnership understanding if you bid 2NT here (12-14) and if 3 is a reverse showing extra values or not.

(2)  With a total of 29-31 and a presumed mis-fit Bridge Baron declined to investigate slam.

Table A:     (1)  I like to play that after a two-level response a reverse does not show extra values, but simply shape. So 3 is what I bid and is my answer to question G. Experts, however, disagree whether the reverse after a two-level response should show extras or not. Playing 2/1, where the sequence 1 - 2 is game forcing it is perhaps more obvious to play that 3 simply shows shape but the experts disagree on that also.

(3)   RKCB for ’s.

(4)   Two keycards + the Q.

(5)   That’s all we need.

                                                       

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Everybody found the fit; 6+1 once and 7= twice. When Dave played the hand in partnership with Bridge Baron the bidding was as table A.


Bidding Quiz Answers

 

Hand A:     1. This hand, with the poor AK doubleton and miserable suit is not worth 15 points and so not good enough for a 1NT opening.

Hand B:    (a)  2NT. Knock off a point for the flat 4333 type shape and it’s not quite worth 3NT.

(b)  1NT. Knock off a point for the flat 4333 type shape and it’s nowhere near a 2NT invite. Supporting ’s is a poor choice even if partner promises 4 ’s.

Hand C:    2, natural and forcing.

Hand D:    3, 4th suit forcing. Leaping straight into Blackwood is rarely a good idea and Blackwood is also a bad idea with a weak suit (’s) in which partner has promised nothing. Also, a RKCB 4NT bid here would include the ‘useless’ K in the answer and so gets you nowhere unless partner has all four missing keycards. It’s best to take things slowly with a big hand in a game-forcing auction and 3 (4th suit forcing) is clearly best, especially as the response will tell you if partner has a control. 3 (still game forcing) is a less good alternative but better than 4NT.

Hand E:    2NT. The Jacoby 2NT setting ’s as trumps and asking partner to define his hand further. If you do not play Jacoby 2NT or similar there is no satisfactory way to look for slam as you need to set ’s as trumps and no bid is forcing. That just leaves the very crude 4NT bid (which at least asks for keycards in ’s) but you have no idea if partner has a shapely 11 count or a good 19 points. Jacoby 2NT followed by RKCB solves everything.

Hand F:     (a)  2NT, with these ’s that’s fairly obvious as long as you realize that partner’s 2 bid is 100% forcing.

(b)  Pass. With no agreement to the contrary I think it’s best to play a new-suit jump by partner as weak when you have opened a minor. The other possibility is that it’s a splinter, but that seems unlikely with this hand and also if you play a short club. As 2 is forcing it would be silly to play 3 as natural and strong.

Hand G:    2NT or 3? This depends upon your agreement as to whether 3 shows reversing values (15+) or not after a two level response. I play that it does not show extras and so I bid 3.

 

 

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answers

 

H     1     1      2                    2 is natural and forcing.

J      1     1      3                    I would play this as a weak jump shift after a minor suit opening.

K     1      2     3                    I would play this as a splinter after a major suit opening.

L      1     pass   1      pass       (a)  4 is natural and looking for a slam.

        2      pass   3      pass       (b)  5 is Gerber. Gerber is always a JUMP in ’s (4 or 5)

        3NT   pass   4/5                      when partner’s last bid was NoTrumps.

M    1     pass   1      pass       This jump to 2 is called a ‘high’ reverse and is absolutely

        2                                        forcing to game.