Friday, May 29, 2009

Eastern States (3)

So what exactly did we do at the regional?

Agent 99 and I played in two events, the horizontal IMP pairs (two sessions, one Thursday evening, one Friday evening), and a bracketed compact knockout (all day Saturday). On the Monday, I played with Elwood in a bracketed round-robin team event.

The IMP pairs was a disaster, as far as the result goes, but it was a good warm-up for the team events. It seemed like a very strong field to me - not nationally-known players, perhaps, but a lot of the local pros and experienced A players. (It was stratified, and there were only four C pairs.) It seemed like every time we sat down, we were facing a pair of veterans who knew exactly what they were doing. Thursday evening, neither Agent 99 nor I was in any sort of form, and we got hammered, basically lying some distance away last at the halfway point of the event. Friday evening we got our act together, somewhat, and actually managed to finish not last, overall. Apart from attitude, the adjustments we made before the second session related to our approach - we decided we weren't being aggressive enough on the part-score hands. At IMPs, you have to fight energetically at the one and two level, becoming more cautious at the three level. On Friday, we didn't let people push us around so much, and did more pushing of our own.

In the knockout on Saturday, we were teamed with another of the directors from the Manhattan and his wife, and that put us in the top bracket. But the field was not nearly so intimidating (most of the good players were taking a run at the Goldman Pairs). We survived two 3-way matches in the morning, then lost the semi-final after lunch, but came back strong to win the third place game. Nearly four and a half gold points for that.

In the round-robin on Monday, I played with Elwood in the same team that did well in the previous regional in New York. Unfortunately, I was as sick as a dog. I decided it was just a cold and not the swine flu, and went ahead and risked infecting most of the bridge players in NYC. It was a big event, 71 teams I think, and there were other events in the same room, so I'm not entirely kidding about most of the players being there. But I took every kind of drug I had available, and wasn't actually sneezing or coughing on passers-by. We were in the third bracket (eight teams to a bracket), and won five of our seven matches. Actually, we were kind of upset to lose the other two - we felt we lost the matches, rather than that the opposition beat us. But our performance was good enough for second in the bracket and more than six gold points.

And therein lies the tale. I started the tournament needing 10.88 gold to become a life master. I won a grand total of 10.78 gold. And there followed at least a little bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Eastern States (2)

Some answers.

A) 
Game N-S, dealer South
♠ A J 9 8
K 6
K J 9 7 5 
♣ J 5

  []

♠ Q 7 5 4
A Q 5
Q 10 3
♣ K Q 4

S    W    N    E
1NT  Pass 2♣   Pass
2♠   Pass 4♠   All Pass

Trick one was the 6 to East’s A, and the return was 4. Now what do you do? It seems fairly clear to play trumps, and if you win the Q and lead a small spade, West produces ♠10. Does that change anything?

I didn’t mention the diamond spots on the second trick. Obviously there is some danger of a diamond ruff, and actually, West played upwards, suggesting he may have hit on a useful MUD lead from three small. Normally, you would probably just play Ace and another spade, hoping to take out the (potential) ruffer’s trumps while perhaps dropping a singleton spade honor in the event of a bad break. But if East is the one short in diamonds, the finesse may be better. If it works, you can play three rounds of trumps, and even if it loses, East may have the club ace, or may err and lead a heart.

I have to say I like the idea of finessing, especially when the ♠10 appears. Fortunately, I was West, declarer had gone to sleep, and I won my doubleton ♠K to give Agent 99 a ruff, after which she cashed ♣A for down 1. Teammates scored 11 tricks, of course.

B)
Game All, dealer East

E    S    W    N  
1   Pass 2   Pass
2   Pass 4   Pass
6   All pass

South holds:

♠ K J 6 5 4
6 5 4
10 7 2
♣ 8 2

What’s your opening lead?

That final jump to slam makes no sense. East must have some sort of distributional hand, and be hoping to make even if missing two quick winners. Well, two aces seems unlikely. The best bet must be to try for AK in one suit, and therefore you ought to lead a spade.

Not so good this time. I was the smart-ass with the East cards, and Joan Dziekanski was the wrong opponent to mess with. Down one. (She won the event, and the swing on this board was enough to move her from 5th to 1st.)

C)
Game All, dealer West
♠ K 4 3
4
Q 9 7 
♣ A Q J 9 6 5 

  []

♠ Q 10 6 2
A K J 6 5 2
K 8
♣ 4

W    N    E    S
2   3♣   3   3
Pass 3NT  Pass 4
All Pass

Trick one is the A on which East drops 10. West looks at this for a long time, then switches to the ♠5. East wins the ♠A, and returns ♠9 which West ruffs with the 7. Now a small diamond runs round to your K. How do you take the rest?

When you saw the dummy, you wished you had passed 3NT. But at the time, it sounded as though the contract had gotten wrong-sided, and maybe 4 would be safer. Wrong choice, but let’s make the contract anyway.

Obviously you have to assume hearts were 3-3. You can play to drop the Q if you think West has her, or you can cross to the ♣A and finesse if you think she is on your right. You know West started with six diamonds to the AJ and a singleton spade, so picturing three hearts and three clubs looks OK. For a vulnerable weak two, I’m guessing she should have either the Q or the ♣K, or maybe even both. But maybe not. And how about East? Five spades we know, three hearts we assume, two diamonds we know, three clubs we assume. High cards might be just the ♠AJ we know about, or might include the ♣K or the Q.

I looked at this for quite a while before making up my mind. I don’t think you can place the Q a priori – the bidding makes sense either way. But the rhythm of the play – the opening lead, the long hesitation, and then the switch to a singleton – persuaded me. I decided that West had chosen to play her partner for the K for a second ruff. And the reluctance to lead the singleton, both at trick one and trick two, was because she would be ruffing with a natural trump trick, and therefore playing for a ruff only looked right when there seemed to be a chance at two ruffs. So AK, and watch that lady fall.

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

Monday, May 25, 2009

Eastern States (1)

The Eastern States Regional is done. I had a moderately successful time, gaining between 10 and 11 gold points. According to my calculations, though, I failed in the main mission. I am not yet a life master, needing a further 0.1 gold points – very frustrating.

More on that later, but first here are some questions that came up in IMP games with Agent 99. Nothing too difficult, but big swings depend on getting them right.

A) 
Game N-S, dealer South
♠ A J 9 8
K 6
K J 9 7 5 
♣ J 5

  []

♠ Q 7 5 4
A Q 5
Q 10 3
♣ K Q 4

S    W    N    E
1NT  Pass 2♣   Pass
2♠   Pass 4♠   All Pass

Trick one was the 6 to East’s A, and the return was 4. Now what do you do? It seems fairly clear to play trumps, and if you win the Q and lead a small spade, West produces ♠10. Does that change anything?

B)
Game All, dealer East

E    S    W    N  
1   Pass 2   Pass
2   Pass 4   Pass
6   All pass

South holds:

♠ K J 6 5 4
6 5 4
10 7 2
♣ 8 2

What’s your opening lead?

C)
Game All, dealer West
♠ K 4 3
4
Q 9 7 
♣ A Q J 9 6 5 

  []

♠ Q 10 6 2
A K J 6 5 2
K 8
♣ 4

W    N    E    S
2   3♣   3   3
Pass 3NT  Pass 4
All Pass

Trick one is the A on which East drops 10. West looks at this for a long time, then switches to the ♠5. East wins the ♠A, and returns ♠9 which West ruffs with the 7. Now a small diamond runs round to your K. How do you take the rest?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

second and third thoughts

As usual, the analysis of that last hand happened in the few minutes after the game was over. The two or three of us that looked at it were pleased with the conjunction of endplay and squeeze to try and get 11 tricks out of the cards, with the added fillip of the coup-like lead of the unsupported king to foil the attempt.

But after I wrote yesterday's post, the hand was back in my mind, and continued to percolate as such things do. I started to wonder: would it actually be better to play the spade ace and another, rather than taking the double finesse? That wouldn't be nearly so pretty, but it would work at least as well.

For a little while, I thought that the hand was really cooked, in that laying down the ace was better, but I don't think so now. My latest view is that both plays work on the same spade distributions, so why not go with the prettier play? But you can really start to hate this game and the self-doubt that it can generate.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

A hand

Here’s an interesting hand that came up in a pairs session with Agent 99.

Game All, dealer West
♠ Q 5 4 3
7 6
Q 10 5 2
♣ A 6 5

  []

♠ A 10 2
5
A K J 7 6 4 3
♣ Q 4

W    N    E    S
Pass Pass 2   3
4   5   All Pass

Trick one was the 2 to East’s Q, and he continued with the A which was ruffed small. On the A, West contributes the ♣7, and follows up with the ♣2 when you continue with another diamond to dummy’s 10. Now what?

East has shown AKQ, so both black kings must be on your left. It has to be right to try a spade to the ten now. This loses to the ♠J, but West is end-played. In fact, if spades are 3-3, making the fourth round a threat for a club discard, he must exit with a club now to avoid conceding two tricks! (A heart allows you to discard a spade and ruff the suit out). But even so, West is dead meat if the clubs are 6-2 (which is not so unlikely in this layout). With two tricks lost and ten winners in sight, you can simply cash the ♠A and run the diamonds to inflict a simple squeeze.

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

Agent 99 was the declarer, but didn’t manage to navigate through this one. We didn’t feel so bad when we noticed first that four hearts is cold, and second, that West can kill the squeeze by exiting with the ♣K. That still concedes the tenth trick, of course, but it takes out dummy’s entry.

I wanted to talk about this hand in one of my lectures, but I was assured that it was way, way past what the target audience would understand.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

In recovery

In the last week, I've directed four games without a screw-up, so I'm feeling a bit better now. The one that had me scared was yesterday afternoon. I agreed to direct the open game, covering for a guy who's out of town for a few days. Now, the 299ers that I usually direct are easy. They don't call the director too often, and when they do it is generally straightforward stuff. The open game is a different kettle of fish. The game is typically bigger, in terms of number of tables, more demanding, in terms of the cantankerous personalities involved, and more challenging, in terms of the types of calls you get (hesitations and the like).

In actuality, the game turned out to be small, relatively speaking, at 12 tables, and getting everybody seated at their favorite table turned out to be not a problem (much to my amazement). Usually, there is much foofaraw about who is sitting where. I anticipated some of it by printing out the player lists for the preceding two Mondays, which apparently gave me enough inside information to avoid any serious problem. I didn't have to play, and we played 3 boards a round for 8 rounds, which makes the timing easier (we always play 24 boards at the Manhattan). I pushed them along at 7 minutes a board for the first few rounds, handed out a couple of late plays to get things co-ordinated in the middle, and we finished on time even after slowing down a bit for the last few rounds. Very smooth. There was only one somewhat contentious ruling (well, the ruling wasn't contentious, but at least one of the players was). After an auction 1NT - pass - pass - 2S - all pass, it transpired that dummy had been asked what the overcall was and answered "natural", whereas declarer intended it as Capp, showing spades and a minor. Moreover, at the end of the auction, declarer didn't correct the mis-explanation. Now, 2S made, and the defence claimed that they misdefended because of the misinformation. This all seems clear enough, and I was inclined to award an adjusted score immediately. But it happened in round two, and I wanted to wait and see what happened at other tables, because it wasn't at all clear that the claimed damage was real. In the meantime, I talked it over with an experienced director who also happens to own the club. We reviewed the hand record, and his reaction was that they couldn't prove damage, and didn't deserve an adjustment. By the end of the afternoon, the loudmouthed bloody woman had touted her complaint to anyone who would listen for more than two hours, which was rather tiresome. But when the scores were in, 2S had been played several times and had been made only once. I took that as confirmation that damage had really occurred, and on that basis I adjusted the score. (But no doubt she thinks that she won some great victory by being a pain in the ass all afternoon.)

Anyway, now I think I can concentrate on the upcoming Regional. We want gold points!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Disaster

OK, I'm definitely not feeling good now. But they say confession is good for the soul, so here goes.

I directed the 299er game yesterday afternoon, no problem. One pair turned ugly when I gave them a late play, but screw them, they were way late. I patrolled over to them to tell them to hurry up and finish because the move had been called, and only then realized that they were finishing up the second of three boards. Late play!

Today, disaster struck. Another 299er game, six tables (the Saturday 299er is a small game). So I went with the relay-bystand, which is one of my favorite movements. Except today, I put the bystand in the wrong place. Ugly, ugly, ugly. And nobody to blame except me. We reshuffled the boards and in effect ran two three-round games and added them together. But that is a kludge of the first water.

And guess what? I have to do it again tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be an odd number of tables.