Our website is www.pattayabridge.com Club News Sheet – No. 414

Our blogsite is www.pattayabridge.wordpress.com

My mobile phone number is 083 6066880 17^th Oct 2010

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

Mon 11^th N-S 1^st Tomas & Sally 63% 2^nd Bob S & Royd 60%

E-W 1^st Dave C & Tonni 66% 2^nd Richard m & Terry Q 63%

Wed 13^th N-S 1^st Guttorm & Johan 63% 2^nd Dave C & Mike G 60%

E-W 1^st Alan K & Jan 64% 2^nd Hans V & Janne 59%

Fri 15^th 1^st Dave C & Tomas 59% 2^nd Alan K & Jan 58%

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Bidding Quiz Standard American bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.

Hand A Hand B With Hand A partner opens 2♠, what do you bid?

♠ Q3 ♠ K95432

♥ AKJ1092 ♥ 1097 With Hand B LHO opens 1♥ and partner bids 2NT (UNT),

♦ - ♦ 873 (a) What do you bid if RHO passes?

♣ KQJ108 ♣ 7 (b) What do you bid if RHO doubles?

Hand C Hand D

♠ KJ1083 ♠ KJ103 With Hands C and D partner opens 1♣ and RHO overcalls1♥,

♥ Q76 ♥ Q76 what do you bid?

♦ 972 ♦ 9872

♣ J5 ♣ J5

Bidding Quiz

E 1♣ pass 2♠ What is the 2♠ jump shift, very weak or strong?

F 1♥ dbl 2NT What is the 2NT bid?

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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	1915.1 Janne Roos 1895.2 Hans Vikman 1862.9 Paul Quodomine 1773.3 Tomas Wikman 1728.8 Johan Bratsburg	670.4 Janne Roos 662.4 Hans Vikman 642.6 Tomas Wikman 640.1 Paul Quodomine 632.7 Sally Watson 627.0 Derek & Gerard 625.6 Jean Wissing 619.8 Lars Broman 617.7 Johan Bratsburg 617.4 Alan Kleist	344.6 Janne Roos 338.9 Hans Vikman 332.3 Tomas Wikman 327.5 Derek & Gerard 325.6 Sally Watson 323.8 Tonni Kjaer 323.5 Jeremy Watson 323.4 Paul Quodomine 322.9 Lars Broman 321.4 Jean Wissing

A Free bid. Board 1 from Friday 15^th Oct

Dealer: ♠ Q8 West(B) North East South

North ♥ AK542 - 1♥ 2NT (1) dbl (2)

Love all ♦ K64 3♦ (3) pass pass 4♥

♣ J108 pass pass 5♦ (4) pass

pass dbl all pass

♠ K95432 N ♠ J7

♥ 1097 W E ♥ - (1) UNT – showing the minors.

♦ 873 S ♦ A10952 (2) presumably showing values?

♣ 7 ♣ KQ6542 (3) What did you bid with this West hand B in

♠ A106 this week’s quiz? West later said that he had

♥ QJ863 a distinct preference for ♦’s. But I would pass

♦ QJ as I feel that it’s a free bid showing values.

♣ A93 (4) One should not pre-empt and then bid again,

but this is different. West has shown values in support of ♦’s (in my opinion) and with decent playing strength it’s not clear that East’s 2NT is actually pre-emptive.

And what happened? 4♥ makes for 420, but 5♦* was bid at two tables and costs 500. I have no idea how one E-W pair reached 7♦* (-5).

The bottom lines:

- A free bid shows values.

- In this particular situation there is absolutely no reason for West to bid at (3) because if the double is passed to partner and he bids 3♣ then West can correct to 3♦.

Responding to a weak two Board 9 from Wednesday 16^th Oct

It was a disaster for N-S at table B, who would you blame?

Dealer: ♠ AKJ52 Table A

West ♥ 875 West North East South

E-W vul ♦ J8752 - pass pass 1♥

♣ - pass 2♥ pass 4♦ (1)

pass 4♠ (2) pass 6♥

♠ 1087 N ♠ 964 all pass

♥ 4 W E ♥ Q63

♦ KQ1043 S ♦ A96 Table B

♣ A972 ♣ 6543 West North East South(A)

♠ Q3 - 2♠ (3) pass 4♠ (4)

♥ AKJ1092 all pass

♦ -

♣ KQJ108

Table A: (1) Splinter.

(2) cue bid.

Table B: (3) This North elected to open the North hand with a weak 2♠. Now I am not adverse to opening a weak two with 5-cards and an outside 5-card suit, but with three ♥’s the hand may possibly play better in ♥’s, so pass is the alternative.

(4) What did you bid with this South hand A in this week’s quiz? Naively assuming that partner has six ♠’s, this South simply raised to game. A 3♥ bid (forcing of course) would have worked out better although it’s unlikely that slam will be reached after the opening bid.

And what happened? 6♥= twice, 4♥+2, 4♥+1 three times, 4♠-1.

The bottom lines:

- Remember RONF – a new suit opposite a weak two is forcing.

Dave’s Column Here is Dave’s 1^st problem, on defence.

♠ 76 N Book Bidding

♥ AK985 W E West North East South

♦ K53 S - - - 1♣

♣ K82 1♥ 1♠ pass 3♠

♠ AQ52 pass 4♠ all pass

♥ 43

♦ AJ

♣ AQ1063

You are West, defending 4♠. Partner leads the ♥J. Plan the defence and what do you lead at trick having won with the ♥K?

Dave’s Column Answer Board 19 from Wednesday 13^th October

Dealer: ♠ KJ1083 Book Bidding

South ♥ Q76 West North(C) East South

E-W vul ♦ 972 - - - 1♣

♣ J5 1♥ 1♠ (1) pass 3♠ (2)

pass 4♠ (3) all pass

♠ 76 N ♠ 94

♥ AK985 W E ♥ J102

♦ K53 S ♦ Q10864 (1) Hand C, promising 5 ♠’s

♣ K82 ♣ 974 (2) This is the bidding from the book. I (Terry)

♠ AQ52 would bid 4♠; knowing that there is a 5-4 fit,

♥ 43 holding great black suits, three aces and

♦ AJ no wasted ♥ values.

♣ AQ1063 (3) I (Terry) am also unhappy about this bid.

North has already shown 5 ♠’s and so this hand is little more than minimum. But then who am I to disagree* with Eddie Kantar twice?

*Note. This is based an article by Eddie Kantar about excellent defensive play he witnessed. The bidding is that at the table; he may or may not agree with it, but does not comment in the original article.

East leads the ♥J, plan the defense as West.

You (West) have two ♥ winners and a ♣ winner. What you must do is establish a ♦ trick before cashing the 2^nd ♥ (otherwise North can discard the ♦J on the ♥Q which he is known to hold). So you must immediately shift to a ♦ at trick two. You have to hope that partner has the ♦Q, otherwise the contract is unbeatable.

And what happened at the Pattaya bridge club? 4♠= five times, 3♠+1 twice, 4♠-1.

Dave’s 2^nd Column Here is Dave’s 2^nd problem on declarer play.

West East Book Bidding

♠ 7 ♠ Q54 West North East South

♥ AKJ1053 ♥ Q984 - - 1♣ 2♠

♦ 752 ♦ AKJ 3♥ pass 4♥ all pass

♣ A95 ♣ Q63

You are West, declarer in 4♥. North leads the ♠A and continues with the ♠9 when South encourages. Plan the play.

Dave’s 2^nd Column Answer Board 22 from Wednesday 13^th Oct

Dealer: ♠ A96 Book Bidding

East ♥ 62 West North East South

E-W vul ♦ 10843 - - 1♣ 2♠

♣ J1084 3♥ pass 4♥ pass

pass pass (1)

♠ 7 N ♠ Q54 all pass

♥ AKJ1053 W E ♥ Q984

♦ 752 S ♦ AKJ (1) At this vulnerability, North could consider

♣ A95 ♣ Q63 a 4♠ bid either here or the round before.

♠ KJ10832 But then who am I (Terry) to ‘disagree’

♥ 7 with Philip Alder? (again, there was no

♦ Q96 comment on the bidding).

♣ K72

North leads the ♠A and South encourages. North continues with the ♠9, what is declarer’s basic plan?

Declarer has nine top tricks. Six ♥’s, two ♦’s and one ♣. You can make 4♥ in more than one way if you correctly read the full layout – but there is a guaranteed line if you assume that South has the ♠K.

Play low from the dummy at tick two and trump in hand. Draw trumps ending in dummy and then play the ♠Q. When South covers with his ♠K, do not ruff but instead discard a losing ♣ or ♦.

What can South do now? He is endplayed. If he shifts to either minor it concedes a trick and a ♠ continuation gives a ruff and discard.

And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 3NT*+2, 4♠*(S)-3 twice, 4♥-1 twice, 5♥-2 three times. Note that three North’s at our club did indeed push West up to 5♥.

Bidding Quiz Answers

Hand A: 3♥ (forcing). A 4♠ bid is reasonable, but the hand may play better in ♥’s and it costs nothing to try.

Hand B: (a) 3♦ of course, you definitely prefer ♦’s to ♣’s.

(b) pass. A 3♦ bid now is a ‘free bid’ and shows values. There is no need to show that you prefer ♦’s at this stage in the auction. Mind you, this is my opinion, and one of the club’s leading players did indeed bid 3♦, so maybe I’m wrong here? (but I doubt it).

Hand C: 1♠. Obviously

Hand D: dbl. With just four ♠’s most people, when playing negative doubles, double to show exactly four ♠’s and leave a direct 1♠ bid to promise five ♠’s.

Bidding Sequence Quiz Answer

E 1♣ pass 2♠ The jump shift may be played as either strong or very weak. ‘Standard’ is that it is strong and I would assume this with an unfamiliar partner. However, most at our club play it as weak. I would not use the bid if unsure how partner would take it.

F 1♥ dbl 2NT This 2NT bid after a double is best played as the Truscott 9or Jordan) 2NT, promising a sound raise to 3♥ or better.

Close to the tripple

I note that Dave Cutler nearly got the triple (he got two wins and a 2^nd). That’s a great result since he jointly runs the club and only has a regular partner on Fridays.

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