Misadventures In Manhattan

The other day, Agent 99 and I started a session by missing two slams. That’s really not like us at all.

Game all, dlr S

          ♠ 10
          ♥ A Q 10 7 6 5 4
          ♦ 8 6
          ♣ J 7 2
♠ K 5 4 3             ♠ A Q 8 6 2
♥ 8         [ ]       ♥ K J
♦ A K 10 9 5 4        ♦ Q 7 3 2
♣ A K                 ♣ Q 10
          ♠ J 9 7
          ♥ 9 3 2
          ♦ J
          ♣ 9 8 6 5 4 3

S       W        N        E
Pass  1♦      3♥      3♠
Pass  4♠      Pass   Pass
Pass

Sitting East, I thought about making a try, since we have some sort of double-fit and I have the ♥K behind the pre-empt. But I couldn’t justify it. Of course, there is no excuse for West’s bid of 4♠ except that it was the first board and she hadn’t warmed up yet. At her second turn, her hand has become enormous. Just bidding 4NT seems reasonable, settling for 6♠ when an ace is missing.

Next board:

Love all, dlr W

                         ♠ 3
          ♥ 10 7 5 3
          ♦ 10 6 5 4
          ♣ A 8 7 4
♠ K Q 8 7 4           ♠ A 6
♥ 9         [ ]       ♥ A J 4
♦ A 9 8 2             ♦ K Q 7 3
♣ K Q 10              ♣ J 5 3 2
          ♠ J 10 9 5 2
          ♥ K Q 8 6 2
          ♦ J
          ♣ 9 6

S W N E
Pass  1♠      Pass  2♦
Pass  3♦      Pass  3NT
Pass  Pass   Pass

The system bid on my hand is really 1NT forcing, to be followed by 3NT (13-15). That would really give us no chance of reaching a slam. But once I made the “wrong” response of 2♦, we had a chance. In practice, playing matchpoints, it’s a hard choice (from either side) to suggest a diamond contract and almost guarantee bypassing 3NT. And truthfully, the two hands are a great fit which is not going to be easy to diagnose properly, while the 4-1 trump break means that I would have to be very careful playing the hand. Even though Deep Finesse says that 6♦ is always there, I can see a lot of ways to go down. So I don’t mind missing this one so much.

I’m back to playing with the guy I broke up with a few weeks ago. So far, we haven’t had any great results, but the partnership seems to be working a little better. One of the teachers at the Manhattan tends to intimidate the weaker players with boisterous bidding tactics (not out of malice, just because he has fun bouncing the bidding around). On the next hand, he was quite well-behaved, but we managed to take advantage anyway.

Game all, dlr W

          ♠ A 5
         ♥ K Q J 6 5 4
         ♦ J 6 2
         ♣ 7 5
♠ 10 2              ♠ K Q 7 6
♥ 10 8 3   [ ]      ♥ 9
♦ Q 8 4             ♦ A K 10 9 7
♣ A 10 8 3 2        ♣ K Q 9
         ♠ J 9 8 4 3
         ♥ A 7 2
         ♦ 5 3
         ♣ J 6 4

W N E S
Pass  1♥      Dble  2♥
Pass  Pass   Dble  Pass
3♣     3♥     Dble  Pass
Pass  Pass

My bidding box had run out of doubles, but I didn’t need any more. I started with my trump, and partner got in twice to lead two more, preventing a diamond ruff. At that point, declarer just conceded two down, there being no hope for more. That got most of the matchpoints, since people weren’t reaching the minor-suit games.

It’s not often that you score as high as 59% and only come in 5th, but that’s what happened to me playing with my old regular partner a few weeks ago. It was a tough field, with some visiting pros to augment the supply of regulars, and four pairs managed to get over 60%. We came 5th with 59.66%, not bad for a pair of rabbits.

The only board I remember actually came right at the end. A pair of not-bad opponents was victimized by distribution and trappy bidding.

Love all, dlr E

           ♠ Q 6 2
          ♥ K J 6 3
          ♦ K 8 6 3 2
          ♣ J
♠ J                  ♠ K 10 3
♥ Q 10 9 8 7[ ]      ♥ A 5 4
♦ A 10 9             ♦ Q J 7 5
♣ 9 7 6 4            ♣ A 10 2
          ♠ A 9 8 7 5 4
          ♥ 2
          ♦ 4
          ♣ K Q 8 5 3

E S W N
1♦     1♠     Dble  2♠
Pass  Pass  3♥     3♠
Dble  Pass  Pass  Pass

I was just about good enough to bid 3♠ at my first turn, counting about 8 losers. I figured that the ♦K would have to be downgraded with the diamond bid on my left, but against that, the heart honors were well-placed. Still, I went with prudence first, but couldn’t resist pushing to 3♠ the next time. That had the effect of drawing E-W into a penalty double that was tight at best, and in fact partner made the contract in great style, picking up the trumps for one loser by leading to the ♠Q and then finessing the ♠9 on the way back.