Hands

Here are a few hands from the past couple of weeks, more or less at random. First, a couple of items that came up in the Grand National Teams.

You pick up
♠ x x x
♥ -
♦ A K 10 9 x x x x
♣ x x
and hear partner open 2♥ (as partners will). RHO passes - what do you do? I think your only choice is to pass. Partner went quietly two down, which was an OK result (a small gain, I think). Bidding 3♦ would be forcing, so if you try it, you will probably finish in 5♦, and the higher-level contract will offset any extra tricks you might make. We play lead-directing bids after a double, but if the auction starts
2♥ - (pass) – pass – (double);
pass – (pass) – 3♦
that obviously doesn’t apply: the opponents are trying to penalize you in 2♥, so you can’t be raising to 3♥. In this situation, 3♦ must be to play, and that means you can escape to your eight-card suit if things turn nasty.

This hand was a source of discussion:
♠ x x x
♥ J 10 x x x
♦ Q 8
♣ x x x
At our table, this hand was opposite a 2♣ opener that rebid 2NT to show about 24hcp. Do you mention the heart suit, or just bid 3NT? Our opponent simply bid 3NT, which made.

At the other table, the dealer psyched a 1♠ opening, the strong hand doubled, and over the 2♥ reply jumped to 3NT. After spending some time in the tank, our team-mate decided to pull this to 4♥. On the day, this was wrong, since 4♥ went one down and 13 IMPs went the wrong way. Probably he shouldn’t have done it, but on another day, 4♥ would make and 3NT would go down. Who knows?

At the Manhattan the other day, I was directing the Wednesday afternoon 299er (limited to players with less than 300 master points). I had to actually play, to complete a table, and so I came to pick up this hand:
♠ A 5
♥ K Q J 6
♦ A K 10 3 2
♣ J 10
Not a bad collection, much better than I usually get. So of course the auction got messy.

N    me   S    W
2♠   Dbl  Pass 3♥
Pass 4♥   4♠   Pass
Pass Dbl  All pass

Doesn’t a double seem reasonable? You have four quick tricks for defence, and you are missing some big cards for offence. Partner has basically shown nothing.

N-S game, dlr N

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

Yep, South has played you for a sucker. That adds up to -990. I tell you, I get no respect from these 299ers.

In the Thursday night pairs, we overcame some obstructive bidding to get to a fair slam.

♠ K J 9 2
♥ K 9 3 2
♦ J
♣ Q 8 5 4

  []

♠ A 6 4
♥ A 4
♦ A K
♣ K J 10 9 6 2

W    N    E    S
Pass Pass 1♥   Dble
2♦   2♠   Pass 3♣
Pass 4♣   Pass 6♣
All pass

Trick one is the ♦10, covered by jack, queen and ace, and I pause to take stock.

There are only 11hcp missing, so clearly east’s 3rd-seat opening was very light. And where did the 2♦ reply come from? West must have virtually no points, so the diamond suit must be very long, seven or eight cards probably.

Drawing trumps must come first, so I lead the J♣, ducked all round, and then put East in with another club. She gets off lead with the ♥Q, taken by the ace as west follows with the ♥8. Both opponents follow to the ♦K, dummy discarding the ♠2.

I think that if West had a singleton heart, he would have led it, so that places him with two (or possibly even three) hearts, to go with his club and his long diamonds. It is just possible for him to hold three spades to the queen, but I don’t believe it. I think East has four spades to go with her heart suit. So I cash three more clubs, discarding the ♠9 on the third one. West ditches diamonds, naturally, while East parts with one heart and (somewhat reluctantly) two spades. Now the ♥K and a heart ruff exposes the distribution, and I know that the remaining spades are 2-2. The ♠6 takes the last trick.

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

Of course, the stupid ♠Q was doubleton all along.

GNT

I’ve been a bit busy the past few weeks, one way and another. Part of the busy-ness was working towards flight B of the Grand National Teams. Since we did so well at the regional, Elwood and I decided to stick with the same team for the GNT. The opening salvo was yesterday, but sadly the team’s performance was not up to snuff, and we got knocked out.

It was very disappointing. We were in a three-way match, playing 24 boards against each team, and all three teams won one match and lost one match. The tie was then broken by total IMPs. One team was positive, one totaled -3 IMPs, and we finished at -10. But we actually beat the team that finished positive, and lost to the team that finished at -3.

What was particularly galling was that Elwood and I were distinctly unimpressed with the pair at our table, who seemed to be a scratch partnership with unclear bidding agreements, and one of them also displaying distinctly questionable judgement. But in the second quarter, he punted four times in the six boards, and generated about +25 IMPs when some unlikely games made. We got some swings back from boards where his optimism ran into normal luck, but the damage was done. Either his team-mates at the other table were good, or our team-mates had a bit of a bad day, (or more likely, a bit of both), but in the sessions where Elwood and I felt we had done well and expected to get some ground back, the gains didn’t materialize. Now, the elimination margin was 7 IMPs, but that was between us and them. So in fact, if we had managed a 4 IMP swing somewhere, +4 to us and -4 to them would have squeaked us through. In twenty four boards, there can’t have been more than about a dozen opportunities for such a swing.

Meanwhile, the third team comprised fellow Manhattan Bridge Clubbers, and Elwood and I were a little nervous about facing them, judging them to be a pretty strong team by flight B standards. And yet we did to them what the other team did to us, score-wise. A big second quarter opened a lead that they never looked like closing. In this case, the swings came from a misplayed game and from better judgement in the bidding. We got swings of 6, 5, and 4 IMPs by going plus at both tables when the pair at our table over-reached or over-competed.

Oh well.