Online hand records are wrong; they seem to link to Thursday's hands, although the pair results are for Friday's game.
Board 2: West holds 10x AKQxx xx 9xxx, not vulnerable. This is a suit that screams to be bid. In third seat, a light 1H opening is possible, but personally I'd open 2H in any position; at matchpoints I would even do so vulnerable vs. not. You will take five tricks a majority of the time, whether on a 5-3 fit or 5-2 with a 3-3 break. You would like a heart lead against any contract. You don't need to make a habit of opening weak twos with a five card suit but it pays to make an exception for AKQxx, and no, this requires no alert or special indication on your card -- it's called judgement.
Absent the weak two, North opens 1D; East might risk a 1S overcall on KQxx xx J987x Ax but I expect most passed. South responds 1S and now West overcalls 2H. North has a minimum in high cards but good playing strength in the minors with xx xx AKQ10x KJ108. With 5-5 it would be clear to bid but N/S are vulnerable and pass seems prudent -- partner has another bid coming. East should remember West did not open and should not take a bid without a fit -- that nice 10 count may be just enough for partner to make, and East's cards look good for defense.
Around to South, who has no obvious rebid holding AJxxx J10xx x Qxx. Defending looks better than overbidding on a misfit. Should South double? What would that mean? Probably either penalties if that's the general partnership style for undiscussed doubles, or "do something" if it isn't. Careful defense can hold West to 6 tricks: North cashes two top diamonds (South pitching a club) and switches to a spade; South returns the Queen of clubs. Declarer leads another club hoping to ruff in dummy, but North wins and leads another spade. Dummy is now finished: South can over-ruff in clubs and keep pounding away at spades. +100 N/S would have scored 9 out of 12 matchpoints.
2NT was the top-scoring contract for N/S, reached by three pairs; after West's overcall, if N/S play most low-level doubles as takeout (and not playing support doubles) North can double to show clubs and South can retreat to 2NT. I don't know how North reached 2NT. Even better would be if South passed the double for penalties and a tidy +300.
Now back to that 2H opening -- North cannot double (no spades) or bid 2NT (no stopper, and not strong enough) and so must overcall 3D (or make a very timid pass.) 3D is likely to end the auction and fail miserably on the bad split.
Board 7: West opens 1C and North jumps to 2S, weak. East has no sensible bid; South raises on AQ10x 1098 KJx xxx . How high? "Law of Total Tricks" newbies might leap to 4S (ten trumps = bid 10 tricks, either to make or as a sacrifice) but keep in mind that 4333 shape calls for a "negative adjustment." Kit Woolsey recommends bidding to the level where you aren't sure what they can make. You expect at most one spade trick, a diamond or two, and possibly a side trick from partner; beating 4H seems unlikely, but it doesn't look like they have a heart fit. So, 4S to preempt 3NT and make them guess about five of a minor looks right despite the flat shape. On a bad day partner might be down four but down two seems more likely.
West must act again with -- KQxx Axxx AK10xx; hard to see an alternative to doubling for takeout -- even if partner passes you may be able to beat 4S. East expects a spade void or at most a singleton based on the N/S bidding; it isn't clear 5D will make so I think I'd pass for penalties. E/W can take the first seven tricks for 1100 and a top -- maybe that 4S bid wasn't such a good idea! But in practice no spade bidder was doubled -- defense is tough is and most pairs prefer to bid or go quietly without an trump stack.
If East bids 5D it looks best to cash two top hearts, two clubs, another heart, and then crossruff for 11 tricks.
Board 8: West has too much for 1NT, not enough for 2NT; he plans to open 1C and rebid 2NT to show 18 or 19. Don't mark your card "15-17" and "20-21" if you routinely open 1NT on 18 and 2NT on 19. East responds 1S with his 5-5 hand, planning to rebid the hearts twice if possible. ("Up-the-line" only applies when you expect partner to cooperate; you do not expect partner to rebid in a 3 card spade suit so responding 1H is clearly wrong.) West jumps to 2NT as planned.
It's vital for East to know what bids are forcing after this jump. The simplest and generally best answer is "any non-game bid." East will often have slam ambitions and may need time to fix the suit. So, three of any suit should be treated as 100% forcing. Discuss this with partner -- it would be a shame to bid 3H as East and have West pass with the usual "you know what I've got" comment. (Really? How does East know how many hearts West has?)
Assuming East can bid 3H with no risk of being passed, West should not simply raise to 4H -- with a boatload of controls, West should cue-bid "on the way." Spades, hearts and clubs have all been bid and so ought to be natural, but 4D cannot make sense as a suggestion of where to play and so must be a slam try, either showing a diamond control or "last train" (general, non-specific slam try) if that's the partnership style. East is delighted and can head for 6H by way of 4NT (Blackwood or RKCB.)
South has no good lead; perhaps a diamond won't cost anything. Declarer has plenty of tricks after pulling trumps, leading to the King of spades and later finessing against the Jack. The "free finessse" in diamonds doesn't matter. Five pairs bid and made slam and four more made 12 tricks at game. Almost half the pairs played in the inferior spade fit but as often happens with double fits it made no difference.
Board 9: North opens 2C; I expect most Souths responded 2D "waiting" or "semi-positive." If you play 2D negative, South should respond 2NT (8-10 more or less balanced) and of course "Steps" bidders would reply 2S (7-9.) North shows his heart suit and South must drive to slam. A reasonable sequence might be 2C-2D; 2H-3H (forcing; 2NT or 3C or an initial 2H "bust" would cover a weak hand, depending on your agreements); 3S-4D (control cue-bids); 4NT-etc. All but one pair bid slam, with top scores for making 13 tricks or bidding 6NT. 13 tricks are likely if East leads the Jack of diamonds (declarer can later finesse him for the ten) and unlikely otherwise. If N/S employ a key card sequence such as 4NT-5D (one key card); 5NT-6C (all the key cards plus the Queen of trumps; no side King); pass, East should lead his singleton trump to avoid breaking any suit for declarer. Against a less informative auction East would hate to save declarer a guess in the trump suit and should instead lead one of his Jacks.
Board 13: Yet another powerful hand; North has a reasonable 2C opening despite "only" 18 hcp, based on 5 quick tricks and 6-4 in the red suits. If you play 2H as a super-bust, you might prefer to open 1H, or agree with partner that you can pass a 2H response. (That agreement should only apply at matchpoints, never IMP scoring.) South responds 2D in most styles, or 2H = 4-6 playing "Steps." West should try to jam the bidding with a 3S preempt -- the enemy has exchanged strength information but not shape. North could make a "forcing pass" (we don't let the enemy play any contract undoubled after a 2C opening) but the shapely hand argues for a straightforward 4H call.
East has a mild spade fit -- should he try 4S? It isn't clear the enemy have a fit, but East's low doubleton heart makes that more likely than not and East has no reasonable prospects of beating 4H. Partner is likely to have at least seven spades (vulnerable) so 4S looks correct. South can now bid, double, pass (forcing) or plan to "pass and pull" (pass and then bid if partner doubles.) Among experts, "pass and pull" is generally treated as the strongest sequence, but I expect few club pairs have discussed that idea. Given the preempt and raise, a genuine penalty double is unlikely; I think South should double with any hand that sees no compelling reason to bid. Pass then becomes mildly encouraging and that looks correct if South's initial response did not promise any values. Again, we don't let them play undoubled after our 2C opening.
North has a good defensive hand so 4S doubled seems like the normal contract. However, the defense only collects North's five quic tricks and, as it happens, 5H can be made. Three N/S pairs reached 5H making; one went set; and three E/W pairs stole the contract at 4S undoubled. Even if North does not open 2C I can't see allowing 4S to escape undoubled.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Friday, October 19th 2012
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Board 3: South opens 1D with a shapely 18 count. North has enugh playing strength to consider a jump shift, but with no Aces 1S looks best. South shows 17+ with a 2H reverse -- this must be strong since partner may not have hearts and would be forced to bid 2NT or 3S with a weak hand. In the modern style this is forcing, but what do responder's rebids mean? A good method over reverses is an extension of lebensohl -- North rebids 2S to show 5+ (weak or strong) and otherwise bids 2NT with any weak hand. This asks opener to bid 3C, allowing responder to pass or correct to 3D or 3H on a minimum hand. Direct rebids of 3D or 3H therefore show 8+ and are forcing to game. This makes it far easier to show good hands than a style where every minimum rebid by responder is weak.
On today's hand, then, North can rebid either 2S (showing the 5th spade) or 3D (showing diamond support and 8+ hcp.) I like 3D; if opener has 3 spades that will be his natural third bid. Instead, South bids 3NT and can feel he's put partner in a good position to decide whether to pass or bid on. With his great playing strength I would continue with 4D as North. This should always be viewed as a slam try, not a passable (let's play part-score in a minor insted of game!) nonsense bid. With his excellent controls South should certainly drive to slam. Although it is tempting to aim for 6NT rather than 6D, the score-sheet reveals the usual truth about slams with fewer than 33 hcp: any making slam scores well, while a minus score at 6NT when 6D would make would be a very cold bottom. 6NT scored an 11 top, 6D making seven (on a non-heart lead) scored 10, and 6D making 6 scored a solid 8.
Board 13: North opens a routine 1C. South, with a prime 4405 14 count, should be thinking "possible slam." The easiest way to clue partner in about that is an immediate, 2 level jump shift -- there's still plenty of bidding room and you can support clubs at your next bid. However, there's one flaw: the heart suit (QJ9x) lacks first or second round control, but is too good to bury with a jump to 2S. So, like everyone else in the room, I'm sure I'd bid an amorphous 1H. Sure, this bid is 100% forcing, but it's awfully hard to show this much strength later. North rebids 1S. Neither 3S nor 4S by South would be forcing (in the modern style) or do justice to this hand, but a 4D splinter can help -- singleton or void in diamonds, four card support, game-going values. A common range for responder's splinters is 11-14 hcp, maybe a bit stronger when raising opener's second suit since thre won't be a nine-card fit. Call it 12-15 then. Opener counts only five losers (two spades, a heart, no diamonds opposite the shortage, and two clubs.) At about 3 points a trick, responder's 12 hcp can be expected to cover 4 losers, so slam looks plausible. Visualizing, perhaps responder has AQxx Axx x Qxxxx -- hmm, not so great, need responder to have QJ in clubs. Once again, the Ace opposite the singleton is a subtle form of "wasted values" -- give opener KJxx Kx xx AKxxx and slam would be a laydown (on only 26 hcp!) 4S would be a reasonable, cautious bid, especially at matchpoints where a minus score when you have the cards almost always scores badly.
If North does decide to push on, 4NT (RKCB) is as good as anything since North has controls in every suit. South has 2 key cards, the Queen of trumps, and a void. What should South reply? I personally have no agreements about showing a void and think most partnerships are better off ignoring them in reply to 4NT. Over a splinter, in particular, if partner were interested in a possible void he might cue-bid rather than launch into 4NT. And that's exactly the case today. So, South replies 5S (2 key cards plus the Queen of trumps) and North ends the bidding at 6S. East cashes his Ace of hearts (no point in leading the singleton with this much strength against a slam, partner won't have an entry to give you a ruff) and declarer claims 4 spades, 5 clubs, a diamond and two hearts. Only one pair reached 6S, so 6C making six would also be an excellent (and bullet-proof) contract. If East leads, say a diamond, South should ruff, drive out the Ace of hearts, make sure trumps aren't 5-0, and claim the same tricks. A club is more frightening -- declarer wins, plays two rounds of trumps, and cannot finish pulling trumps until the heart tricks are established. If West has the Ace of hearts and can return a club, you're down one, but there's no better line and the slam succeeds when East, not West, produces the missing Ace.
Board 3: South opens 1D with a shapely 18 count. North has enugh playing strength to consider a jump shift, but with no Aces 1S looks best. South shows 17+ with a 2H reverse -- this must be strong since partner may not have hearts and would be forced to bid 2NT or 3S with a weak hand. In the modern style this is forcing, but what do responder's rebids mean? A good method over reverses is an extension of lebensohl -- North rebids 2S to show 5+ (weak or strong) and otherwise bids 2NT with any weak hand. This asks opener to bid 3C, allowing responder to pass or correct to 3D or 3H on a minimum hand. Direct rebids of 3D or 3H therefore show 8+ and are forcing to game. This makes it far easier to show good hands than a style where every minimum rebid by responder is weak.
On today's hand, then, North can rebid either 2S (showing the 5th spade) or 3D (showing diamond support and 8+ hcp.) I like 3D; if opener has 3 spades that will be his natural third bid. Instead, South bids 3NT and can feel he's put partner in a good position to decide whether to pass or bid on. With his great playing strength I would continue with 4D as North. This should always be viewed as a slam try, not a passable (let's play part-score in a minor insted of game!) nonsense bid. With his excellent controls South should certainly drive to slam. Although it is tempting to aim for 6NT rather than 6D, the score-sheet reveals the usual truth about slams with fewer than 33 hcp: any making slam scores well, while a minus score at 6NT when 6D would make would be a very cold bottom. 6NT scored an 11 top, 6D making seven (on a non-heart lead) scored 10, and 6D making 6 scored a solid 8.
Board 13: North opens a routine 1C. South, with a prime 4405 14 count, should be thinking "possible slam." The easiest way to clue partner in about that is an immediate, 2 level jump shift -- there's still plenty of bidding room and you can support clubs at your next bid. However, there's one flaw: the heart suit (QJ9x) lacks first or second round control, but is too good to bury with a jump to 2S. So, like everyone else in the room, I'm sure I'd bid an amorphous 1H. Sure, this bid is 100% forcing, but it's awfully hard to show this much strength later. North rebids 1S. Neither 3S nor 4S by South would be forcing (in the modern style) or do justice to this hand, but a 4D splinter can help -- singleton or void in diamonds, four card support, game-going values. A common range for responder's splinters is 11-14 hcp, maybe a bit stronger when raising opener's second suit since thre won't be a nine-card fit. Call it 12-15 then. Opener counts only five losers (two spades, a heart, no diamonds opposite the shortage, and two clubs.) At about 3 points a trick, responder's 12 hcp can be expected to cover 4 losers, so slam looks plausible. Visualizing, perhaps responder has AQxx Axx x Qxxxx -- hmm, not so great, need responder to have QJ in clubs. Once again, the Ace opposite the singleton is a subtle form of "wasted values" -- give opener KJxx Kx xx AKxxx and slam would be a laydown (on only 26 hcp!) 4S would be a reasonable, cautious bid, especially at matchpoints where a minus score when you have the cards almost always scores badly.
If North does decide to push on, 4NT (RKCB) is as good as anything since North has controls in every suit. South has 2 key cards, the Queen of trumps, and a void. What should South reply? I personally have no agreements about showing a void and think most partnerships are better off ignoring them in reply to 4NT. Over a splinter, in particular, if partner were interested in a possible void he might cue-bid rather than launch into 4NT. And that's exactly the case today. So, South replies 5S (2 key cards plus the Queen of trumps) and North ends the bidding at 6S. East cashes his Ace of hearts (no point in leading the singleton with this much strength against a slam, partner won't have an entry to give you a ruff) and declarer claims 4 spades, 5 clubs, a diamond and two hearts. Only one pair reached 6S, so 6C making six would also be an excellent (and bullet-proof) contract. If East leads, say a diamond, South should ruff, drive out the Ace of hearts, make sure trumps aren't 5-0, and claim the same tricks. A club is more frightening -- declarer wins, plays two rounds of trumps, and cannot finish pulling trumps until the heart tricks are established. If West has the Ace of hearts and can return a club, you're down one, but there's no better line and the slam succeeds when East, not West, produces the missing Ace.
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