Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 345

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Mon 15^th 1^st Arne & Terje 66% 2^nd Paul Q & Janne 58%

Wed 17^th 1^st Guttorm & Sally 62% 2^nd Janne & Ivy 59%

Fri 19^th 1^st Mike & Royd 55% 2^nd Bob & Robbie 53%

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Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A LHO opens 2♠ and partner doubles, what do

you do?

♠ 764 ♠ 7

♥ J1083 ♥ 1076

♦ 54 ♦ QJ1064 With Hand B RHO opens 1♣, what do you bid?

♣ 10765 ♣ AQ94

No Competition Board 2 from Wednesday 17^th

It usually pays to compete in the auction when holding a suitable hand, look what happened when N-S were silent:

Dealer: ♠ AQ85

East ♥ 84 West North East South(B)

N-S vul ♦ A9752 - - 1♣ pass (1)

♣ J5 1♥ (2) pass (3) 1♠ all pass

♠ K964 N ♠ J1032

♥ Q9532 W E ♥ AKJ (1) What did you bid with this South hand B

♦ 83 S ♦ K in this week’s quiz? A 1♦ overcall seems

♣ 87 ♣ K10632 clear to me.

♠ 7 (2) With 9 cards in the majors I am not

♥ 1076 passing 1♣.

♦ QJ1064 (3) Double (showing ♦’s and ♠’s) looks

♣ AQ94 right to me.

And what happened? 1♠= was the only + score for E-W. Other results were 2♠-1, 3♠-1, 4♠*-3 and 4♦(s)= .

The bottom lines: -

- You do not need opening values to overcall at the one level, this South hand is easily good enough.

Applying the brakes Board 17 from Monday 15^th

Dealer: ♠ 764 Table A

North ♥ J1083 West North(A) East South

love all ♦ 54 - pass 2♠ dbl

♣ 10765 pass 3♣ (1) pass 3♥ (2)

dbl pass pass 4♣

♠ 103 N ♠ AJ9852 dbl pass (3) all pass

♥ AQ64 W E ♥ 2

♦ K1082 S ♦ Q63 ‘Expert Table’

♣ A98 ♣ 432 West North(A) East South

- pass 2♠ dbl

♠ KQ pass 2NT (1) pass 3♣ (4)

♥ K975 pass 3♥ (5) pass pass

♦ AJ97 dbl all pass

♣ KQJ

Table A: (1) What did you bid with this North hand A in this week’s quiz? 3♥ is the ‘obvious’ bid if you don’t play Lebensohl here. But this North felt sure (he was right) that if he bid 3♥ then partner would raise to the doomed doubled game. So he chose 3♣ which is much less likely to excite partner.

(2) As suspected, South bid ♥’s

(3) And unfortunately the bidding has taken a turn for the worst and N-S do indeed arrive at the 4-level despite North’s effort to stay low. I guess North should bid 4♥ here and resign himself to the fact that he was always going to be playing this in 4♥ doubled no matter what he did.

‘Expert’ (1) Our experts play Lebensohl over a double of a weak two.

Table (4) So 3♣ is forced

(5) And North is able to show a very weak hand with ♥’s.

And what happened? 4♥* and 4♣* both went -2 to share the bottom. 3♥*-1 at another table was a good score.

The bottom lines: -

- Perhaps left to the more experienced player; Lebensohl is great when partner’s 1NT is overcalled, but it can also be used in other situations such as when partner doubles a weak two bid.

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

West East You are West, declarer in 4♥.

♠ Q54 ♠ A83 North leads the ♦Q, plan the play.

♥ KQ87 ♥ AJ943

♦ AK4 ♦ 853

♣ AQ4 ♣ 106

Dave’s Column answer Board 20 from Wednesday 17^th

Dealer: ♠ KJ92 Book Auction

West ♥ 10 West North East South

Love all ♦ QJ1097 2NT (1) pass 3♦ pass

♣ K72 3♥ (2) pass 3NT pass

4♥ all pass

♠ Q54 N ♠ A83

♥ KQ87 W E ♥ AJ943 My Table

♦ AK4 S ♦ 853 West North East South

♣ AQ4 ♣ 106 1♣ (1) pass 1♥ pass

♠ 1076 4♥ (3) all pass

♥ 652

♦ 62 (1) I guess most will open this 2NT, I deducted a point and bid 1♣.

♣ J9853 (2) Had I opened 2NT, I would super-accept with 4♥ here.

(3) Showing a strong hand, 18-19 with 4 ♥’s and no shortage.

Assume that you are declarer as West and receive the ♦Q lead. Plan the play, trumps are 3-1.

You might decide to draw trumps, ending in dummy. And play a ♣ to the ♣Q. North wins and continues ♦’s. You win and play a ♠ to the ♠A followed by a ♠ to the ♠Q. That also loses and when North cashes a ♦ and the ♠J you are down.

Did you play it that way? after all it’s 75%. But there are better chances. Win the ♦ lead, draw trumps and then cash the 2^nd ♦ winner and exit with a ♦. When North wins any continuation gives you your 10^th trick.

You could also succeed as the cards lie via ♦A, three rounds of ♥’s ending in dummy, followed by a ♣ finesse. North wins and plays another high ♦. You win, cash the ♣A and ruff the ♣4 and then exit with your last ♦.

Exiting with the 3^rd ♦ after drawing trumps is superior. If North wins it is all over, if South wins and switches to a low ♣ you can duck this to dummy’s ♣10 to make the contract.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 4♥= 4 times, 4♥+1 once.

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

North South You are South, declarer in 6♥. West leads the ♠9

♠ AKQJ ♠ 102 which you win in dummy and lead the ♥6, East playing

♥ 6 ♥ KJ1075432 the ♥9, which ♥ do you play? The ♥K or the ♥J?

♦ A10982 ♦ -

♣ AQ6 ♣ K92

Dave’s 2^nd Column answer Board 22 from Wednesday 10^th

Dealer: ♠ AKQJ Book bidding

East ♥ 6 West North East South

E-W vul ♦ A10982 - 1♦ pass 1♥

♣ AQ6 pass 2♠ pass 4♥

pass 4NT (1) pass 4♦ (2)

♠ 9 N ♠ 876543 pass 6♥ (3) all pass

♥ Q W E ♥ A98

♦ KJ643 S ♦ Q75 (1) RKCB

♣ J107543 ♣ 8 (2) 1 keycard (playing 0314)

♠ 102 (3) Here we see the advantage of playing 1430.

♥ KJ1075432 With the most likely response of 1 keycard,

♦ - 4♣ playing 1430, then 4♦ can be used to ask

♣ K92 for the trump queen and a safe 5♥ reached.

Anyway, you are in a dodgy 6♥ missing 4 trumps to the AQ. West leads the ♠9, how do you play? The task is simply to avoid two trump losers, so you play a trump from dummy. There is no hope if the trumps are 4-0. If trumps are 2-2, you need to guess whether to play East for the ♥Q (finesse the ♥J) or the ♥A (play the ♥K). If trumps are 3-1, only one layout will help you, a singleton ♥Q. If East has the bare queen, you must play to the ♥K at trick two. This caters for two layouts, East having Ax or Axx. Playing low to the ♥J caters only for one layout, ♥Qx with East.

Paul’s Comment: The ♠9 looks very much like a singleton, so surely any astute East will rise with the ♥A at trick two to give his partner a ruff; after all, how is East to know if South has 7 ♥’s (say the KQJxxxx) or the motley 8 ♥’s he actually held? A bad problem.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 6♥=twice, 6NT-2. 6♥-1 and 4♥+1

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: I bid 3♣. You can be pretty sure that if you bid the ‘obvious’ 3♥ then partner will raise to a disastrous 4♥ which RHO is just waiting to double. If you play Lebensohl in this situation then 2NT is obviously correct and you can stop ‘safely’ in 3♥.

Hand B: 1♦. Normally with length and strength in RHO’s suit it is best to pass, but this 5-card ♦ suit is robust and there is absolutely no problem with a ♦ overcall at the one level.

Current Championship Standings

	Gold Cup = Best 30	Silver Plate = Best 10	Bronze Medal = Best 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	1823.8 Janne Roos 1788.5 Hans Vikman 1787.6 Paul Quodomine 1768.3 Sally Watson	649.2 Janne Roos 639.3 Hans Vikman 636.2 Paul Quodomine 630.1 Sally Watson 616.9 Jeremy Watson 615.1 Lars Broman 612.3 Ivy Schlageter 611.1 Bob Short 609.2 Jean Wissing 607.6 Per Andersson	334.8 Janne Roos 329.0 Hans Vikman 326.9 Paul Quodomine 324.5 Sally Watson 321.8 Ivy Schlageter 321.7 Bob Short 321.3 Jeremy Watson 321.0 Per Andersson 316.1 Lars Broman 315.7 Jean Wissing